OT: US News 2011 Rank Big10
US News Academic Rankings
Public School Rank
- University of Michigan #4
- Wisconsin #13
- Penn State #15
- Illinois #15
- Ohio State #18
- Purdue #18
- Minnesota #23
- Iowa #29
- Indiana #32
- Michigan State #34
- Nebraska #47
National University Rank
- Northwestern #12
- University of Michigan #29
- Wisconsin #45
- Penn State #45
- Illinois #47
- Ohio State #56
- Purdue #56
- Minnesota #64
- Iowa #72
- Indiana #75
- Michigan State #79
- Nebraska #104
I just went through and pulled all the Big10 schools to compile this list myself but here it the link to the National Rankings: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities. Big Ten has a pretty good showing in public universities. Of course, U of Cal dominated as it always does.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:02 PM ^
29 is a joke. there are not 28 better institutions of higher learning than michigan.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:05 PM ^
All but 3 of the 28 that are "better" than Michigan are private institutions.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
And I think you can call UVA, Berkeley, UNC, and Michigan and tie...
March 15th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^
Texas is right there too. US News loves UCLA as well.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
a lack of state funding doesn't make them better. i attended michigan undergrad and a private school on that list of 28 for law school and don't think that the private school was better.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^
The USNews rankings are biased towards smaller, private schools. UM consistently scores high on the academic reputation survey.
Any ranking is going to be biased and uninformed. Comments here aren't any different. Why would academic reputation be any better? Professor X things Professor Y's a genius. Maybe he can't teach to save his life and has no interest in it, but he publishes some sweet papers. Let's say UM's a tie with Cal. What does that even mean? Like you can condense the education of tens of thousands of students over hundreds of majors to some single data point. When it comes to your education, you reap what you sow. None of these rankings are about teaching ability. Who knows how well that actually correlates with a professor's reputation in the field. If you could quantify it, I don't think it'd be all that strong. Resources and opportunities obviously help, especially considering how many students don't know what to do or change their focus, that's just one more reason Michigan's a great school. Then again, if you really know what you want, and won't be working on particle physics or something,an intimate, private setting at some liberal arts school may be what's best for YOU. Rankings matter mostly because people care about them. Thus, the mere fact of being highly ranked might make a university better in the sense that it looks more impressive to an employer.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
Yes, but even many of those aren't better. Also - UCLA is not better than UM. They get the boost because it's harder to get into, but that has more to do with being in the most populous state in the country, in one of the biggest cities in the country, and being in warm weather. There are thousands of kids in the non-Michigan midwest who don't consider UM for $$$ reasons. For high schoolers in CA, of which they are nearly a million, UCLA is a great school and financially within reach.
Long story short, every kid in CA and many outside of it apply to UCLA, and it's a smaller school than UM. Thus, it's much harder to get into and US News thinks that means it's better. Just because a school is more appealing for one reason or another does not make it better. Another example - NYU.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^
I just looked at the actual rankings and I made a mistake... didn't think UCLA would be above us - wow! UCLA shouldn't be that high.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
On OSU's public school ranking I think you have the numbers transposed or you left off a digit or something.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
k thx
March 15th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
We used to be the #2 public university and ranked #25 nationaly when I was in school only ten years ago. Get your shit together UM.
At the same time, osu academics were a complete joke. How the hell is Purdue ranked lower that it now?
I'm having a bad day and needed to vent, sorry.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
i think we should be able to get ahead of virginia, but getting ahead of public schools in california is nearly impossible given the statistics usnews uses to measure quality. they have so many applicants and so few spaces in california, that certain scores are necessarily going to be higher.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:13 PM ^
like I said above, you can pretty much swap UNC, UVA, Michigan and Berkeley on any given year. They're all pretty equal.
Having said that, Michigan moves to #1 overall when you factor in intangibles!
March 15th, 2011 at 12:52 PM ^
Disagree on UNC. UNC is clearly below UM, UVA and Berkeley, both on an undergrad and graduate level. UNC is certainly in that next group, but I would compare UNC more to Texas and Wisconsin than UM and UVA.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^
Bottom line, as long as we stay a strong #2 in the Big Ten and top 4 among public universities, I'm not worried.
(Edit: meant as a response to UAUM's post about OSU's academics a few posts up.)
Until ~2001, any student that graduated from high school in Ohio got an automatic acceptance to OSU. Since Ohio has a high population (7th in the nation in the 2000 and 2010 censuses) that meant two things--OSU had/has a TON of students (currently around 38,000 undergrads--U of M has around 26,000), and many of them were not very bright. OSU still has around a 50% acceptance rate, but cutting out that portion of the bottom 50% that they used to have to take can account for the rather large jump they've made in the rankings over that time.
OSU has also made an effort to improve its academics by throwing a lot of money at the in-state kids that used to leave for places like Michigan, Notre Dame, Purdue and others. I grew up in Ohio and graduated from Michigan, but I know quite a few people who I would say are as smart or smarter than me who went to OSU because they could go there for free or close to free, whereas the better out-of-state schools they got into were not affordable--one friend of mine got into Northwestern but ended up going to OSU for financial reasons.
The thing is, the way USNWR rates schools, big public institutions tend to be lumped together and are generally unable to move up or down the lists, while smaller schools can ratchet up the admissions numbers a bit and jump ahead. Globally UM is a great research and academic institution, and so if some smaller school like Wake Forest or Tufts jumps ahead by one metric, I'm not super-worried.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
Michigan at #29 is a joke. You can compare the value of degrees in the job market from M versus a number of those schools, which is really what's important. Still a joke though.
GW at #51? GW: Where you can buy a degree.
Looked at GW when looking at grad schools and couldn't get over the little you get for so much money. Going to Michigan was the best choice I've ever made.
Ohio State tied with Purdue? bahahahahhahahahahah
March 15th, 2011 at 12:14 PM ^
Dear "Ls" and "As" in LSA Undergrad,
Stop dragging us down.
Love, Engineering and everyone else.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^
Truer words have never been spoken. Engineering, Business, Law, and Medicine - all top-10 programs.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
way wrong, man. LSA is a huge strength. michigan's political science department and social research departments are top 5 in the country.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:20 PM ^
We sure know it's not the rest of us in "real majors." /s, kinda
March 15th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^
I believe he was referring to the L and A parts only. Political Science and Social Research would be included in the S (science) portion, of which, he is not including.
Before the sciences contingent gets all high and mighty, I'm pretty sure that Dinosaurs, Ice Ages Past and Present, Continents Adrift (srsly), Introduction to Botany, Physics 106 (whatever that was called), and several other whimsical and fantastical classes dot your resume. They were enjoyable.
I would take another look at the sig line before you decide what "he" was not including.
March 15th, 2011 at 11:19 PM ^
I am actually a woman as well so I was just going with percentages here... most people are this site are guys. Sorry to my fellow ladies.
I majored in political science, and I'll gladly attest to that. Alternatively, here's Richard Feynman making the case that 'social science' is an oxymoron:
As a bonus, here's Richard Feynman playing the bongos:
just sayin'
And #1 aerospace program.
Suck it sociology.
If you ain't first, you're last.
I didn't have to take math or do silly homework assignments all the time.
Suck that, engineering.
I don't have to rationalize to other people how I had a real major.
Eat it, sociology.
Don't forget about my music! #1 department in the B1G! Probably a shade or two below a Juilliard but the variety and quality of programs, as well as the overall quality of the faculty and support staff, are second-to-none. Not to mention that music majors get to perform in Hill, Rackham, and the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre in the Michigan League, among other first-rate University and off-campus venues.
Lol if you're referring to the S's including Chemistry, Biochem, Physics, and various fields in Biology, Michigan isn't spectacular (read: still very, very good, but like under 15th in the country good).
The "L" and "A" programs at UM are, however, fucking spectacular as well as rigorous. Most programs in Anthropology, History, Humanities, Classics, Literature, Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy, Music, Languages (including English), Political Science rarely if ever dip below top 10 in the nation.
Yes Engineering is very good at UM, but it's not in the LSA.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^
A public institution, University of Michigan--Ann Arbor was founded in 1817. University of Michigan--Ann Arbor offers a Greek system, where 19.0 percent of the student body is involved in a sorority and 15.0 percent is involved in a fraternity.Could we have a less academic description. Weak.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
These ranking are so subjecttive. US News ranked the 400 Best World Universities. So how can they be the 28th best in the Nation but 15th best in the World?
#15 Michigan
#26 Northwestern
#48 Wisconsin
#63 Illinois
#87 Purdue
#96 Minnesota
#98 Penn State
#124 Ohio State
#188 Iowa
#207 Michigan State
#219 Notre Dame
#227 Indiana
Nebraska is not ranked.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^
I have a hard time believing Notre Dame would be #219... Its a very good school.. Much better than Sparty. That's a joke
March 15th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^
Those World Rankings are based on global perspective, which means who have the .5 billion high school students in India and China heard of?
They're going to have heard of the top tier, like Harvard, etc. and then they're going to know of the big schools that accpet lots of foreign students, like a Michigan or ohio state, versus a Notre Dame, who doesn't have the sheer number of foreign students.
That ranking is next to meaningless.
Correct. ND has a good undergrad school, but their grad programs range from average to kinda bad, Michigan's grad programs, OTOH, range from spectacular to literally the best. This makes a huge difference.
Also, when you get a chance, take a look at University endowments on wikipedia. Michigan is a very big fish when it comes to this stuff.
The national rankings relate only to undergraduate education, while the world rankings speak to the university overall (undergrad, grad, research). This makes sense, Michigan's grad programs are generally more well respected than their (also well respected, but slight less so) undergrad programs.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^
March 15th, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^
In my experience, brand matters. Michigan has a great brand, and thus is a great school. Harvard has the best brand, and thus is the best school. I went to a no-name undergrad school too, and felt like I got a great education, but no one has heard of it, so I didn't necessarily get the real return I wanted out of it.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:55 PM ^
That's why people with the same standardized test scores (which would indicate equal intelligence), but different undergrad schools get accepted to different grad schools.
All other factos being equal, if someone goes to UM for undergrad and has a 30 on his LSAT, they will get accepted at better law schools than someone who went to osu and got a 30 on their LSAT.
I can attest to this from personal experience with law schools. They look at the quality of the undergrad with equal importance to the LSAT. They also took race into account back then. Not anymore thanks to Prop 2.
Law School admissions is gray matter. I had a 75% chance of getting into Wayne State with LSAT and GPA but was denied. I can only determine it was my race and my undergrad. My gender may had an impact but I doubt it.
I think if someone gets a 30 on the LSAT, they won't get into law school no matter where they went to undergrad. Well, Cooley might let them in, but that's about the only place.
I was thinking what an excellent score would be for college apps, like on an ACT, then needed to consider we were talking about colleged and forgot to convert it to a high LSAT.
I'm certain that that's not possible.
Yup, quick Google-search reveals that the range is 120-180. Cooley would still take somebody with a 30 on the LSAT, though.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:31 PM ^
Dang -- either OSU has come up in the world or, as someone else here suggested, the digits were switched and they're really 81.
I'm sure glad the Big Ten's academic profile was boosted by the Huskers. I kid! Really, I'm glad to have their football program in the conference. They seem to be getting better at hoops, too.
Also, UNC has really come up in the world over the past thirty years. It's my understanding that they used to look *up* to Wisconsin. You can read about that here (and probably other places):
http://www.amazon.com/Whistling-Dixie-John-Shelton-Reed/dp/0156961741