<p>What is this supposed to indirectly promote; U.Wisconsin-Madison?</p>
<p>Ivy_Grad,</p>
<p>An argument can certainly be made for UT-Austin being better than UVa. The rest, I can't say.</p>
<p>No, it promotes Michigan. Basically it promotes data over unfounded opinions. Tell me you did not learn something.</p>
<p>I learned you are more biased than I thought you were.</p>
<p>i am laughing at that ranking..............so ridiculous. the majority of CC-ers would give it no credibility.</p>
<p>I think you are the biased one. Just because the facts do not fit your uninformed opinion--that's bias.
This is the mission statement of the research center at the U of Florida that does the study. They have an advisory board of educational experts from across the US. </p>
<p><a href="http://thecenter.ufl.edu/mission.html%5B/url%5D">http://thecenter.ufl.edu/mission.html</a></p>
<p>Mission </p>
<p>TheCenter is a research enterprise focused on the competitive national context for major research universities. TheCenter's work draws on the insight and recommendations of many colleagues throughout the country who contribute data, information, and perspective and TheCenter relies heavily on the initiative and insight of its advisory board. TheCenter's major research and publication effort falls within the The Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance, an activity supported by a generous gift from Mr. Lewis M. Schott. Over more than a decade, TheCenter's staff developed a variety of methods for measuring and improving university performance. Originally developed to guide improvement at the University of Florida during the 1990s and later adapted to different institutional contexts at UmassAmherst and the University at Buffalo, the effectiveness of these techniques brought national attention and a commitment to translate the methodology from particular implementations at various universities to a general data drive perspective applicable to any research university.</p>
<p>To those of you who think this ranking puts ASU and Washington ahead of Umich, I really don't know what rankings you're looking at, certainly not the ones provided. What I like about this ranking is that it's entirely objective and trasparent as far as its methodology. No "prestige ranking" or something subjective like that. You can disagree with the things they consider, but at least you see some good data and it's very clear how they compiled the rankings. It shows some surprising statistics in some areas (the unusually high ranking of U of Minnesota and unusually low ranking of uVA). It has some worth in that.</p>
<p>Virginia that low, UCSD that low, and others seem strange. Dont particularly like this ranking.... but no ranking is perfect. Id stick with US News top publics.</p>
<p>Yea, I'm the biased one when almost nobody agrees with your crazy obscure ranking you probably found by scouring the internet for hours.</p>
<p>UVA is so underranked I feel stupid for just looking at that ranking.</p>
<p>The rankings are perfectly fair given the clearly documented methodology.</p>
<p>but the thing is that the most people here don't think THAT methodology is appropriate for ranking colleges.</p>
<p>for example: i can have my own methodology
the length of the college name, the longer the better, 25% of the ranking
amount of students, the more the better, more brains. 50% of the ranking
amount of hot girls on campus, the more the better. 25% of the ranking.</p>
<p>University of Texas or University of Mississippi will probably dominate in this ranking according to my methodology, but CC-ers will think my ranking is dumb.</p>
<p>for the similar reason, they think this ranking is dumb. recruiters will probably laugh at it as well.</p>
<p>^^ Totally agree.</p>
<p>
[quote]
for example: i can have my own methodology
the length of the college name, the longer the better, 25% of the ranking
amount of students, the more the better, more brains. 50% of the ranking
amount of hot girls on campus, the more the better. 25% of the ranking.</p>
<p>University of Texas or University of Mississippi will probably dominate in this ranking
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I disagree.</p>
<p>1) Arizona State University
2) University of Texas
3) University of Florida
4) University of Arizona
5) Pepperdine University</p>
<p>honorable mentions: UCSD, UCSB, LSU, Vanderbilt</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>The ranking is neither obscure nor hard to find. It is listed with many others at the University of Illinois site. Maybe they should sell it in a magazine. That would give it instant validity.
Maybe UVa is not the powerhouse people like to think it is. That's why, as we debate here, UVa is undertaking a program to improve the level of research and attract what they call "National Academy" level profs. They finally got one from Texas and issued press releases about it. </p>
<p>Ivy_Grad,</p>
<p>If it's hot students, UCLA's better than UCSD. Unfortunately with the end of my tenure there, the ranking dropped quite a bit. ;)</p>
<p>(TONGUE IN CHEEK YOU PEOPLE WHO DON'T GET IT)</p>
<p>Not only is the methodology well documented, all the backup data is provided...unlike many so-called "rankings". You can simply dig into this data, devise your own weighting criteria, and come to your own personal rankings. If you try hard enough, you may even get something that comes close to your own preconceived notions.</p>
<p>In case you doubt my UVa story:</p>
<p>That tells me that they are not currently up to the level of the best state universities in this regard.</p>
<p>part of the problem here is that you titled the thread "top public schools" when the list is about "top public research [as determined by weird stats] schools"</p>
<p>the research can be debated, but this list clearly doesn't aim to point out strengths in undergraduate education.</p>
<p>The US News and World Report is widely criticized for much of the criteria used to determine the outcomes. A ranking that has powerhouses in the top tier seems to not only be reasonable but a fresh approach from the highly disputed (and rightfully so) US News, our god and overlord of this website.</p>