US News 2012 Top University Rankings released. UM #28

Submitted by samber2009 on

US news released their 2012 rankings this morning. Michigan is #4 public school and #28 overall.  Northwestern tops the Big Ten (duh) at #12 overall.  Wisconsin at# 42, Penn State and  Illinois tie at #45, Ohio #55,  Purdue #62, Minnesota #68, Iowa and State #71, IU #75, Nebraska... still looking.

Link

EDIT: Nebraska is #101 (thanks bronxblue). I must have scrolled over that a few times because I really did not see them.

JimLahey

September 13th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^

I don't understand the obsession with rankings and how people treat them as if they actually mean anything. Americans see university rankings like religious gospel.

Not to rain on the parade, UM is a great school and nice to be ranked highly. But the culture of incredibly subjective ranking systems just baffles me.

Vasav

September 13th, 2011 at 12:51 PM ^

While I agree that they are very sbujective, the obsession with them comes from being able to digest information on a large number of schools. Mind you I'm not defending the rankings, but just seeing organized data makes people happy. Think of how often you see charts on MGoBlog.

Bb011

September 13th, 2011 at 12:53 PM ^

They pretty much just confirm things that people already know. Michigan is a better school than MSU. Harvard is a better school than UNC. Once you get down to the actual rankings though its not too important, and I don't think most people think of it as that important. You won't see people saying michigan is way better than tufts becuase we're 28 and they are 29. (people may think we're a better school for other reasons but no one will bring a ranking into it like that)

bronxblue

September 13th, 2011 at 1:17 PM ^

I always treated the rankings are nothing more than general signposts, noting which schools were generally recognized in a field.  I don't think UM is as "good" of a school overall as Harvard, but I wouldn't really try to parse down between UVa and UCLA, for example.  I think it is just a by-product of the mind's desire to have heuristics that help to give order to what is otherwise a massive amount of subjective data.

superstringer

September 13th, 2011 at 1:45 PM ^

Rankings by BCS Conference.

TOP TOPS:  PAC 12

This conference is loaded with top-ranking schools, but then lags with a lot of bottom-dwellers.

Stanford 5

Cal 21

USC 23

UCLA 25

Washington 42

Colorado 94

Oregon 101

Wash State 115

Arizona 124

Utah 124

Arizona State 132

Oregon State 138

 

 ALMOST TOP TOPS:  ACC

This conference is like the Pac12 with a bunch of top schools (just not quite as good as the Pac 12), but its bottom half is not as bad as the Pac12.

Duke 10

Virginia 25

Wake Forest 25

North Carolina 29

Boston College 31

Georgia Tech 36

Miami 38

Maryland 55

Clemson 68

Virginia Tech 71

Florida State 101

NC State 101

NOT AS TOP GOOD, NOT AS BOTTOM BAD: BIG TEN

We are sort of the every-guy's conference, with a bunch of above-average schools and only one in the triple digits.

Northwestern 12

Michigan 28

Wisconsin 42

Penn State 45

Illinois 45

Ohio State 55

Purdue 62

Minnesota 68

Michigan State 71

Iowa 71

Indiana 75

Nebraska 101

ODDLY NOT SUCKY:  THE ESS EE SEE

Thought they'd have putrid rankings, but oddly, they aren't as bad overall as other conferences.  Have one really quality school, but that's it.  Half the conference is in the triple-digits, however.


Vanderbilt 17

Florida 58

Texas A&M 58

Georgia 62

Alabama 75

Auburn 82

Tennessee 101

South Carolina 111

Kentucky 124

LSU 128

Arkansas 132

Mississippi 143

Mississippi St. 157



ABOUT RIGHT:  BIG XII

Mostly shitty schools. Just not the shittiest of the BCS conferences.

Texas 45

Baylor 75

Missouri 90

Iowa State 97

Kansas 101


Oklahoma 101

Oklahoma St. 132


Kansas State 143

Texas Tech 160

ODDLY SUCKIEST:  BIG EAST

Thought they'd be better, but that's really due to the basketball-only schools (G'town, ND, etc.).  On the football side, the highest-ranked are about middle of the others.  Really bad bottom half, however.

Connecticut 58

Pittsburgh 58

Syracuse 62

Rutgers 68

TCU 97

Cincinnati 143

Louisville 164

West Virginia 164

South Florida 181




 

superstringer

September 13th, 2011 at 1:51 PM ^

A&M vaults to the SEC's #2 spot (tied with Florida).  But for A&M, their academic association goes UP too -- the Big XII is pretty putrid.

As to some rumored realignments...

If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State (and reportedly Texas Tech too) move to the Pac 12 ... that would PULL DOWN the Pac 12 quality.  Three more double-digit schools, to join the party schools in Arizona etc.

Notre Dame would help the Big Ten (ND is 19), but Texas is middle of the pack for us.  Pitt, Rutgers and Syracuse are all about the same with each other, as well as about half of our conference.

Missouri isn't as highly ranked as I'd thought; maybe it shows how bad the ranking are, but you're telling me, an Auburn degree is better than a Missouri degree?  No way.

white_pony_rocks

September 13th, 2011 at 2:19 PM ^

serioulsy though, there are only 3 rankings with any merit, ARWU, QS, and Times-Higher.  newsweek, us news, P-Review, ect, are all junk.  In the ARWU ranking U of M is 22nd in the world, QS has U of M 14th in the world, and Times-Higher has U of M 15th.  I have asked some professors about rankings and they told me that these 3 are considered the best of the best, so looks like U of M is a lot better than 28th in the US

 

edit: the fact that EMU isnt even listed in the tiers of nat'l universities, only in the regional breakdown, and then only 81st, makes me very sad even if I don't put much value into the US News list

jmblue

September 13th, 2011 at 7:49 PM ^

I'm leery of the notion that you can evaluate universities on a worldwide scale.  Educational systems can vary considerably from one country to the next.  For example, in France the most prestigious academic outcome for a high school graduate isn't even to go to a university, but to a different kind of institution known as a grande école

The reality is that whatever our "real" ranking might be, the U.S. News one is the only one the general public pays attention to.

house of pain

September 13th, 2011 at 1:55 PM ^

I didn't want to start a new thread because it probably would have been deleted, but I feel this is somewhat relative. I have been doing research of graduate Sport Management programs, and I was wondering if anyone has any insight to UM's. I have general information and have spoken with advisors but I was wondering if anyone had any other useful information about it.

willow

September 13th, 2011 at 2:34 PM ^

I have a young relative who was denied admission to Michigan LSA and welcomed at Kalamazoo.  It is a small, fine school.

Someone mentioned class size and student-teacher ratio.   It is important to note that differents styles of learning (and certain academic disciplines) benefit from a more personal, smaller environment than others.  Michigan is not perfect, but it's amaizing  given its size and academic diversity it offers to its students.  Seldom does anyone  have to transfer to change majors because the new program is most likely available and highly ranked nationally.

As far as the number of PhD's, a MA, professional degree or PhD is more important to a liberal arts graduate than some of the other academic programs.

USC is not nearly so selective for undergraduates.  They are most well known for their graduate programs.

Some years ago, I believe that the state legislature changed the out-of-state ratio students from 40% to about 30%.  Whether valid or not, that changed the perception of how highly selective Michigan is.  Regardless, the quality is indisputable!

bluebyyou

September 13th, 2011 at 2:44 PM ^

These rankings always drive me up a wall.  To the extent that you can evaluate individual programs, the number of programs at U of M that rank in the top 10, even by USNWR's own ranking system, is enormous.  Our engineering school, where I would guess about 20 percent of the undergraduates attend, is always in the top 10.  Ross, although much smaller, is always near the top.  I know our class size is large and that we accept a large percentage of applicants, but when you get to U of M, the opportunites that exist simply are a pipe dream in all but the top national universities. 

We have 200 majors, most of them excellent.  Almost no one else even comes close.

M - Flightsci

September 13th, 2011 at 3:52 PM ^

justingoblue, are you going Navy OCS?  If so, have fun!  There are some great recruiters in Ann Arbor, they do a great work.  I hope you were able to score BDCP or at least some free Blue Angel VIP tickets!

 

Also, Michigan's "profile" picture on the USNWR ranking sucks.  That's how I chose my college...

jc

September 13th, 2011 at 10:18 PM ^

The academic year, for undergrad programs at least, is divided into the Fall trimester, Winter trimester, Spring half-trimester and Summer half-trimester. While the registrar's office refers to these periods as "semesters" and "half-semesters," in length, they are trimesters. This is why Michigan's winter break is atypically short compared to other universities and why the school year for those not taking Spring or Summer classes ends in April, as opposed to May. If you compare Michigan's academic calendar to say MSU's, you'll see the difference.

UMxWolverines

September 13th, 2011 at 8:56 PM ^

"Notre Dame’s athletic teams, known as the Fighting Irish, play in the NCAA Division I and are particularly competitive on the football field."

This is obviously not a good source.

xcrunner1617

September 13th, 2011 at 10:14 PM ^

It surely is a great sign to see Michigan continually near the top of university rankings.  The fact that Michigan is a public institution in a state with such a terrible economy the last few years only serves to further this accomplishment.  I don't think it can be understated the difficulties the school has overcome to maintain this high level of education.