<p>I thought this would be an interesting and helpful thread for alot of people. There are alot of good public universities out there, many better than privates, not to mention alot more affordable. </p>
<p>The UC's are probably at the top, but after that it probably comes down to UNC, Umich, and UVA. Which publics do you guys think are the best? (in either a speicality or just overall academics)</p>
<p>I think you got it. I'd add UT Austin, comparable to the top tier
UC's = UCB, UCLA, UCSD.</p>
<p>University of Virginia</p>
<p>Berkeley is the top public school in the nation, according to the rankings.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley and UCLA</p>
<p>Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, Michigan</p>
<p>William and Mary is up there</p>
<p>many of the ratings for UC Berkeley are inflated...the main reason why it is listed as a top school is not just for average test scores, but for the fact that it completely owns every other school in terms of research funds.</p>
<p>I think it is silly to "rank" schools because all schools have their strengths and weaknesses. For instance, UNC's undergraduate bio program is likely on par with UC Berkeley's.</p>
<p>UCs;)</p>
<p>(10 characters)</p>
<p>uc berkeley, virginia, michigan, ucla, unc, ucsd. maybe wisconsin. Thats where my elite public list ends.</p>
<p>uiuc? (if not, why not?)</p>
<p>Uci!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>UCB, UCLA, but I prefer UCSD :).</p>
<p>i don't mean to sound bitter about berkeley being ranked higher than uva - especially since i think for the overwhelming majority of grad school programs, berkeley is a much better choice (i'd put uva law above and business about the same). but when it comes to undergrad i think there are only 2 factors that make berkeley ranked marginally higher than uva in the usnews.</p>
<p>1st, their peer assessment score is much higher - i believe like 4.8 to 4.3. While yes the peer assessment is from university presidents - i find it highly unlikely that the majority of university professors have attended berkeley or uva. so basicly - they go by what they know. berkeley being a research powerhouse - and having many famous discoveries in the 1960s - really helps that score go up. UVa - not a big research school is penalized.</p>
<p>2nd, berkeley's skewed selectivity. Berkeley i believe was ranked like 13th or 11th in selectivity while uva was ranked in the mid 20s. However, you have to note that california has about 5x the population of virginia, and all the uc's can be applied by using the same application. because so many more people apply to berkeley (and its so much easier because it uses common app - as opposed to uva really obnoxious application), they can be much more selective - and thats why 99% of their students are in the top 10% of their hs class (harvard is only 95%) - as opposed to about 87% for uva. but uva's test scores are higher than berkeley's - which suggests that on a whole uva's students are just as strong (if not stronger...virginia has one of the best school systems, california has one of the worst) - and its just as selective.</p>
<p>that being said - berkeley is ranked 1 spot ahead of uva. I think if people step back and look at the reason why berkeley is ranked higher than uva - theyd realize that its not as concrete as people make it seem.</p>
<p>University of Florida</p>
<p>jags86, I appreciate your restraint in explaining why you don't agree with the rankings that put berkeley as the #1 public. It's really easy to drop into gargolyle mode and spit bile about the school that you feel has usurped your school's proper rank, but I do have a hard time believing that you'd raise these questions about peer ranking and selectivity had The University been ranked #1.</p>
<p>Berkeley does NOT have 99% in the top 5 percent of their HS class. those US news stats about class rank are wrong; UCs don't even consider it i think. hell, i'm not even close to top 5 percent and i got into ucsd which according to us news is 99% in the top 5 percnt as well. the class rank stats are bogus...but i wanna get into cal!! plzplzplz. sorry i got off on a tangent.</p>
<p>infamy
i didnt say top 5% i said top 10% - and i wasn't talking about ucsd i was talking about berkeley. Also, the schools report those stats and thats what berkeley has for it...99% in the top 10% - so thats the number they use when calculating selectivity rank.</p>
<p>GS
no i wouldn't have brought it up because i do believe uva should be ranked higher than berkeley - if we're dealing with undergraduate education. If uva had received a 4.4 like it did in 2005 it would have been ranked either the same or higher than berkeley. if california doesn't have 5x the students to choose from, it would not be as "selective" as its selectivity rank seems. I simply pointed out that the 2 factors which bump berkeley ahead of uva are not things which make berkeley a better school. People look at rankings and assume that since its ranked 1 spot higher its automaticly better. </p>
<p>it seems that berkeley is "way ahead" in these 2 fields - 1 of which accounts for 25% of the total raw score...yet its only 1 spot higher than uva. somethings fishy about that - the school must be lacking a lot in other areas. Also, i'm not bashing berkeley - i think its a great school - i just think uva is getting the shaft.</p>
<p>yeah i know u were talkin about UCB. i'm just sayin, the US News stuff about class rank for UCs aren't accurate. there's no way UCs are more selective than Ivy Leagues..that's all i was trying to get across. so therefore, if US News counted that in, it is definitely flawed.</p>
<p>^^^I agree that usnews is flawed. Berkeley should be much higher:)</p>