Cal's Academic Power Ranking

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>A board moderator and University of Michigan alum decided to do an analysis of top research universities. I think we all know what academic powerhouse comes on top... ;)</p>

<p>Berkeley cannot be beat for academic breadth and depth.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1241939-university-michigans-academic-power-rating.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1241939-university-michigans-academic-power-rating.html&lt;/a>

[quote]

So I decided to do a comparative study of the top research universities using departmental ratings as a basis of comparison. My results are derived from the unweighted average of departments as they are rated by the USNWR graduate programs edition. Since they are entirely based on the reputational scores of learned scholars in their respective fields and do not depend on some random methodology, I think the results are fairly accurate. Below were the results (needless to say, Michigan rocks!):</p>

<p>SCIENCES (Bilogy, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, Pshycis):</p>

<h1>1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 98.67</h1>

<h1>2 University of California-Berkeley 97.33</h1>

<h1>3 Stanford University 97.00</h1>

<h1>4 California Institute of Technology 94.33</h1>

<h1>5 Harvard University 91.67</h1>

<h1>6 Princeton University 89.33</h1>

<h1>7 Cornell University 87.33</h1>

<h1>8 Columbia University 85.33</h1>

<h1>9 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 83.67</h1>

<h1>10 University of Chicago 83.33</h1>

<h1>10 University of Texas-Austin 83.33</h1>

<h1>10 Yale University 83.33</h1>

<h1>13 University of Wisconsin-Madison 83.00</h1>

<h1>14 University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign 82.67</h1>

<h1>15 University of California-Los Angeles 81.00</h1>

<h1>16 University of Pennsylvania 80.00</h1>

<h1>16 University of Washington 80.00</h1>

<h1>18 Northwestern University 77.20</h1>

<h1>19 University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 75.60</h1>

<h1>20 Duke University 74.00</h1>

<p>HUMANITIES/SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics, English, History, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology):</p>

<h1>1 Stanford University 95.00</h1>

<h1>1 University of California-Berkeley 95.00</h1>

<h1>3 Harvard University 94.33</h1>

<h1>4 Princeton University 93.67</h1>

<h1>5 Yale University 91. 33</h1>

<h1>6 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 90.00</h1>

<h1>7 University of Chicago 89.67</h1>

<h1>8 Columbia University 87.67</h1>

<h1>9 University of California-Los Angeles 86.67</h1>

<h1>10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 85.50</h1>

<h1>11 University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 85.20</h1>

<h1>12 University of Pennsylvania 84.33</h1>

<h1>12 University of Wisconsin-Madison 84.33</h1>

<h1>14 Northwestern University 82.67</h1>

<h1>15 Duke University 82.20</h1>

<h1>16 Cornell University 82.00</h1>

<h1>17 University of Texas-Austin 77.67</h1>

<h1>18 Washington University-St Louis 74.80</h1>

<p>COMBINED AVERAGE IN THE 12 TRADITIONAL DISCIPLINES:</p>

<h1>1 University of California-Berkeley 96.17</h1>

<h1>2 Stanford University 96.00</h1>

<h1>3 Harvard University 93.00</h1>

<h1>4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 92.09</h1>

<h1>5 Princeton University 91.50</h1>

<h1>6. Yale University 87.33</h1>

<h1>7. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 86.84</h1>

<h1>8 Columbia University 86.50</h1>

<h1>8 University of Chicago 86.50</h1>

<h1>10 Cornell University 84.67</h1>

<h1>11 University of California-Los Angeles 83.84</h1>

<h1>12 University of Wisconsin-Madison 83.67</h1>

<h1>13 University of Pennsylvania 82.17</h1>

<h1>14 University of Texas-Austin 80.50</h1>

<h1>15 University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 80.40</h1>

<h1>16 Northwestern University 79.94</h1>

<h1>17 Duke University 78.10</h1>

<p>If one were to add undergraduate Business and Engineering to the equation, weighing the two combined as 1/3 of the total, with the sciences weighed at 1/3 and the humanities and social sciences at another 1/3, you would get the following result:</p>

<h1>1 University of California-Berkeley 94.44</h1>

<h1>2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 93.06</h1>

<h1>3 Stanford University 90.00</h1>

<h1>4 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 87.22</h1>

<h1>5 Princeton University 84.67</h1>

<h1>6 Cornell University 83.78</h1>

<h1>7 Harvard Universty 83.67</h1>

<h1>8 University of Pennsylvania 82.11</h1>

<h1>9 Columbia University 82.00</h1>

<h1>9 Yale University 82.00</h1>

<p>

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<p>I doubt that anybody is denying Berkeley’s research prowess, and for this reason, Berkeley is certainly an excellent school for PhD students. The real question is whether that matters to most undergraduates. Let’s face it - the vast majority of undergraduates are not interested in research. They just want to be taught well and garner a decent job, or a professional grad school admission that will lead them to a decent job.</p>

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<p>^ Berkeley prepares many students for a decent job or grad school admission. I would say more kids visiting this site are likely interested in research vs. the average student.</p>

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<p>Yay for Berkeley research!</p>

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<p>Go bears!!!</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Well, that’s a very low bar, don’t you think. After all, the average student across the country is likely more interested in the shenanigans of Snooki and the Kardashians than in research. </p>

<p>But to your point, certainly, Berkeley prepares many students for decent jobs or graduate school, with the former surely being far more important for most undergrads than the latter. But it is also true that many Berkeley does not prepare many other students for decent jobs or graduate school - a point that you yourself have identified with regards to certain majors such as MCB.</p>

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<p>^ What have I said about MCB majors?</p>

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<p>Love the post. It’s too bad USNWR factors in endowment so heavily. </p>

<p>As for sakky’s comments, I do agree that most students are interested in garnering a decent job instead of research…but this post was about the grad school education at Berkeley, not the undergraduate. I think other threads have and would more accurately pertain to an analysis of the undergraduate student body and their aspirations.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I’ve always agreed with you that there are probably too many MCB students at Berkeley.</p>

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<p>^ Hmmm. I don’t recall ever saying there were too many MCB students.</p>

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<p>oh sakky.</p>

<p>sakky sakky sakky.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I believe what you said is that MCB offers poor job prospects at the bachelor’s degree level. Is that not an implication that fewer students should major in it? Or are you saying that those job prospects have no bearing on whether you think people should choose that major? </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Oh flutterfly_28</p>

<p>flutterfly<em>28, flutterfly</em>28, flutterfly_28</p>

<p>Do you have something useful to add to the discussion?</p>

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<p>I do not.</p>

<p>But you do not either!</p>

<p>(Just thought I’d jump in here and try to derail this thread before someone gets riled up and starts attempting to debate you.)</p>

<p>Who are you anyway?</p>

<p>And what do you do in your life?</p>

<p>Tell me please!</p>

<p>So curious.</p>

<p>Please please please.</p>

<p>EDIT: PLEASE!</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Umm, I think I have indeed advanced the discussion. It may not have advanced it in a direction that you wanted, but I’d like to think that I have added ideas to the discussion. </p>

<p>You, on the other hand, have done nothing of the sort. If you have something to add to the discussion, then by all means do so. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Um, why do I have to answer any of this? I don’t ask you personal questions. </p>

<p>If you don’t like my posts, fair enough, don’t read them. Feel free to skip any posts that I write. Then you don’t have to waste any of your time, and I don’t have to put up with your flak. We both win.</p>

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<p>Okay… read everything UCBChemEGrad has said so far in the thread. I don’t see anything about MCB majors and he doesn’t seem to know what you’re talking about either. Are you getting your information from other threads? Because you seemed to be engaging in a very unidirectional attack for a while there.</p>

<p>And you can ignore my posts all you want too, I just think other people need to be warned about you before they waste hours of their lives even reading some of your posts.</p>

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<p>Sakky, I don’t recall ever saying anything about MCB majors. Perhaps you’re confusing it with BME. I have claimed there are too many BME students and not enough job prospects. I’ve said it’s better to major in a broader engineering discipline for undergrads. </p>

<p>Berkeley doesn’t have a BME program.</p>

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<p>lol WAY WAY too many combined posts in this thread.</p>

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<p>Hey Sakky,</p>

<p>You post a lot here in the Berkeley forum. Care to explain your relationship with UC Berkeley? Are you an alumni? What exactly was your major? Have you taught at Berkeley?</p>