<p>Newsweek and AWRU are essentialy identical. Newsweek hasn’t been updated since 2006 and the basis for its rankings were the Shanghai numbers. I have a major problem with both, as well as the FSPI, simply tries to evaluate universities on the basis of the volume of research they produce. It doesn’t even evaluate the quality of the research, either, just whether it’s coming.</p>
<p>While I feel that research is an important part of a school’s reputation, I don’t think that it can be used to classify the school as a whole. Nor do I think that it’s relevant to a HS senior’s decision process. Peer rankings, on the other hand, measure what academics think of a school. Generally, these academics are those who will be admitting you to grad school. They are not just European, but are truly global (which is why there are so many non-American schools on the list). Yes, London really does have that many outstanding schools–Imperial, University College, LSE, King’s, and LBS would all be top universities in the US. I personally think that a peer review would be much more relevant to the person viewing this site than a “who lives by publish or perish” ranking. Which is why I think that if you look at the peer ratings of US News, you get a much better picture. You’re really just comparing similar ranks and using them to justify that schools deserve to be where those ranks place them. Those rankings are going to be biased against any school that does not have a med school by a tremendous deal, which is why you see UT so low. They really have absolutely nothing to do with undergraduate education whatsoever.</p>
<p>Simply put, if you compare Berkeley’s grad students to UT’s I think you will find them very even. Berkeley’s faculty may be more distinguished, but not by much. If you compare the top 60% of UT’s undergrad population to Berkeley’s undergrad population as a whole, I think you will find them very even. The only real difference I see is that UT is more egalitarian and has around 10,000 more students than Berkeley.</p>
<p>But to answer the original question…it is incredibly hard.</p>