<p>Influence is based partly on media access, so it’s reasonable to give bumps to places like Columbia, NYU, Cornell Medical, UCLA, and USC. Location not only brings faculty to reporters, it means that recruitment is much more rigorous than at places where academics don’t particularly want to live.</p>
<p>It’s also reasonable to put Duke on the list, not only because it is on multiple “top 20 in the world lists” but because it is the leading university in the southeast, and so has a big influence on its region of the country.</p>
<p>Overall, though Harvard is the winner in terms of overall clout–though I guess that’s obvious.</p>
<p>I agree that media access might play a role in influence. When a media outlet with a large urban or even a national audience needs a comment, it generally will seek out one from its local universities. That certainly results in some recognition, but I’m not sure that’s always the same thing as influence. Large sports schools probably have greater media exposure and recognition, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into influence.</p>
<p>Even though Duke is the leading university in its region, does it have influence any national or international context? I’m not sure that it does. Other than in basketball, I frequently do hear a fair amount in the media about this or that study that was done at Duke medical center. So it does project a positive image as a leading medical center. I don’t know if this translate into any sort of influence outside the region otherwise.</p>
<p>^ Yeah, I made it up and, yeah, it’s somewhat a matter of perceptions, as these things are. There’s not a lot of rules. I only explained that the thread wasn’t intended to be about rankings.</p>
<p>I think there’s a drop-off after Harvard, Yale, and maybe Chicago, but i was thinking a case could be made for including at least all of the T14 law schools. Their grads get hired at the top law firms, get the SC clerkships, etc. that would seem to spread their influence on a national level.</p>
<p>Virginia’s law school has a somewhat special status in the US since the Judge Advocate General’s School is located adjacent to the UVA law school.</p>
<p>No doubt its relative proximity to Washington DC influences the perception of its status, too, since some well-known politicians are UVA law grads.</p>