The Most Well-Rounded Undergraduate Experiences

College Search & Selection
1

<p>In response to a comment on another thread and just for amusement, I did a back of the envelope comparison of the well-roundedness of the USWNR Top 75 national universities for Academics (60% weight), Social Life (25%), and Athletic Life (15%).</p>

<p>For academics, I used the USWNR rankings and assigned the following ratings:
5.0 = 1-6 HYPSM + Caltech
4.5 = Colleges ranked from 7-25
4.0 = Colleges ranked from 26-50
3.5 = Colleges ranked from 51-75</p>

<p>For Social Life and Athletic Life, I guessed. :) Guesses were based on direct knowledge of the colleges as well as some sources that I have looked at for the past few years, eg, CP, Sparknotes, etc. as well as the comments that I have read here on CC. </p>

<p>Let’s not take this too seriously. This is for fun and people will definitely apply different weights and ratings and even I was a little surprised at some of the results. But it can be a fun way to look at this stuff for people who are searching for a well-rounded undergraduate experience. </p>

<p>Rank , Score , School ( Academics (60%) , Cocktails (25%) , Balls (15%) )</p>

<p>1 , 5.00 , Stanford ( 5 , 5 , 5 )</p>

<p>2 , 4.70 , Duke ( 4.5 , 5 , 5 )
2 , 4.70 , U VIRGINIA ( 4.5 , 5 , 5 )
2 , 4.70 , UC BERKELEY ( 4.5 , 5 , 5 )
2 , 4.70 , UCLA ( 4.5 , 5 , 5 )
2 , 4.70 , Vanderbilt ( 4.5 , 5 , 5 )</p>

<p>7 , 4.45 , Notre Dame ( 4.5 , 4 , 5 )
7 , 4.45 , Princeton ( 5 , 4 , 3 )</p>

<p>9 , 4.40 , PENN STATE ( 4 , 5 , 5 )
9 , 4.40 , U FLORIDA ( 4 , 5 , 5 )
9 , 4.40 , U ILLINOIS ( 4 , 5 , 5 )
9 , 4.40 , U Miami ( 4 , 5 , 5 )
9 , 4.40 , U N CAROLINA ( 4 , 5 , 5 )
9 , 4.40 , U TEXAS ( 4 , 5 , 5 )
9 , 4.40 , U WASHINGTON ( 4 , 5 , 5 )
9 , 4.40 , U WISCONSIN ( 4 , 5 , 5 )
9 , 4.40 , USC ( 4 , 5 , 5 )</p>

<p>18 , 4.30 , Cornell ( 4.5 , 4 , 4 )
18 , 4.30 , Georgetown ( 4.5 , 4 , 4 )
18 , 4.30 , Northwestern ( 4.5 , 4 , 4 )</p>

<p>21 , 4.20 , Harvard ( 5 , 3 , 3 )</p>

<p>22 , 4.15 , Boston College ( 4 , 4 , 5 )
22 , 4.15 , Brown ( 4.5 , 4 , 3 )
22 , 4.15 , U MICHIGAN ( 4 , 4 , 5 )
22 , 4.15 , U Penn ( 4.5 , 4 , 3 )
22 , 4.15 , Wake Forest ( 4 , 4 , 5 )</p>

<p>27 , 4.10 , CLEMSON ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , INDIANA U ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , MICHIGAN ST ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , OHIO STATE ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , RUTGERS ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , Syracuse ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , TEXAS A&M ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , Tulane ( 4 , 5 , 3 )
27 , 4.10 , U CONNECTICUT ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , U GEORGIA ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , U MINNESOTA ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )
27 , 4.10 , U PITTSBURGH ( 3.5 , 5 , 5 )</p>

<p>39 , 4.05 , Rice ( 4.5 , 3 , 4 )
39 , 4.05 , Yale ( 5 , 3 , 2 )</p>

<p>41 , 4.00 , Dartmouth ( 4.5 , 4 , 2 )
42 , 3.95 , UC S BARBARA ( 4 , 5 , 2 )
42 , 3.95 , SMU ( 3.5 , 5 , 4 )
44 , 3.90 , GEORGIA TECH ( 4 , 3 , 5 )
45 , 3.85 , U MARYLAND ( 3.5 , 4 , 5 )
45 , 3.85 , PURDUE ( 3.5 , 4 , 5 )
45 , 3.85 , U IOWA ( 3.5 , 4 , 5 )
45 , 3.85 , VIRGINIA TECH ( 3.5 , 4 , 5 )
49 , 3.80 , MIT ( 5 , 2 , 2 )
49 , 3.80 , Pepperdine ( 3.5 , 5 , 3 )
51 , 3.75 , Columbia ( 4.5 , 3 , 2 )
51 , 3.75 , Wash U ( 4.5 , 3 , 2 )
53 , 3.70 , Lehigh ( 4 , 4 , 2 )
53 , 3.70 , U DELAWARE ( 3.5 , 4 , 4 )
55 , 3.65 , Johns Hopkins ( 4.5 , 2 , 3 )
56 , 3.60 , WILLIAM & MARY ( 4 , 3 , 3 )
57 , 3.55 , Boston University ( 3.5 , 4 , 3 )
58 , 3.50 , Emory ( 4.5 , 2 , 2 )
59 , 3.45 , UC SAN DIEGO ( 4 , 3 , 2 )
59 , 3.45 , UC DAVIS ( 4 , 3 , 2 )
59 , 3.45 , UC IRVINE ( 4 , 3 , 2 )
62 , 3.40 , Caltech ( 5 , 1 , 1 )
62 , 3.40 , George Washington ( 3.5 , 4 , 2 )
64 , 3.35 , BYU ( 3.5 , 2 , 5 )
65 , 3.30 , Brandeis ( 4 , 3 , 1 )
65 , 3.30 , NYU ( 4 , 3 , 1 )
65 , 3.30 , Fordham ( 3.5 , 3 , 3 )
68 , 3.25 , Carnegie Mellon ( 4.5 , 1 , 2 )
69 , 3.20 , U Rochester ( 4 , 2 , 2 )
70 , 3.10 , U Chicago ( 4.5 , 1 , 1 )
71 , 3.05 , Tufts ( 4 , 2 , 1 )
72 , 3.00 , UC S CRUZ ( 3.5 , 3 , 1 )
73 , 2.80 , Case Western ( 4 , 1 , 1 )
73 , 2.80 , Rensselaer ( 4 , 1 , 1 )
75 , 2.75 , Worcester ( 3.5 , 2 , 1 )
76 , 2.50 , Yeshiva ( 3.5 , 1 , 1 )</p>

2

<p>What do you mean by “Cocktails” and “Balls”?</p>

3

<p>Sorry I should have explained that. “Cocktails” means Social Life. “Balls” refers to the various ball sports that are the most prominent part of college sports, eg, football, basketball, baseball.</p>

4

<p>I think you gave a fair assessment to Clemson</p>

5

<p>I personally believe that rice’s social life rating is too low and it should at least be raised to 4(it is definitely not lower than other schools such as Brown, Northwestern, UPenn etc) Its residential college system gives it a unique social life that makes its more appealing than other schools of its caliber.</p>

6

<p>UCSD deserves a 0 for athletics.</p>

7

<p>Interesting rating, I am amused! :0</p>

<p>“For academics, I used the USWNR rankings and assigned the following ratings:
4.0 = Colleges ranked from 26-50
3.5 = Colleges ranked from 51-75”</p>

<p>Hopefully by the end of next weekend, tOSU can score a 4.0 on the academic scale as it is currently tied at #53 with Maryland & George Washington University. Go Bucks! lol</p>

8

<p>I think this ranking was basically created to make sports schools look good, which often given their size I would say can be a negative not a positive. The social life component, particularly, seems way off. Also seems unfair to classify schools in such big buckets (7 to 25). Seems worthless to me.</p>

9

<p>Hawkette, why does Ann Arbor get a 4 for social while Madison gets a 5? UCLA should be dropped a bit IMO
…football is played 20 miles away and the Westside is not what I call “student oriented”…</p>

<p>Oh and Palo Alto is boring…a high end shopping mall?! Blech!</p>

10

<p>slipper,
Sports was only weighted 15%. However, I think that many publics which offer big-time college sports also offer a very ebullient social scene and that is weighted 25%. How would you have done it??</p>

<p>As for the academic ranking buckets (7-25, 26-50, 51-75), I think we sometimes make too much on CC of relatively small ranking differences. For example, how different really is a place like Georgetown (ranking of 22 by USNWR) and a place like U Penn (ranking of # 4 by USNWR) or several others ranked in the Top 10? All of these are pretty darn and very selective places.</p>

11

<p>This is tremendously subjective. Hawkette is providing her opinion - nothing wrong with that. Let’s just remember that it is, after all, a single opinion.</p>

12

<p>Hawkette, you could use PA score instead to provide granularity… ;)</p>

13

<p>Emory social life, from what I hear, is not a 2. I would say a 3 is a fair assessment. The 2 for sports hurts but I guess that’s pretty fair.</p>

14

<p>ucb,
If you read various sources/websites and talk to students, you frequently hear that the social life at all publics is pretty darn good, but some are especially strong like the ones to which I assigned a “5” rating. With specific regard to U Michigan and U Wisconsin, I have often heard and read that U Wisconsin is stronger socially and that was why I rated them differently. I accept that different folks could see it differently. Any Badgers and Wolverines want to weigh in??</p>

15

<p>noimag,
Yes, it’s an opinion…and I’d like to read some others. I can’t have gotten it all right. So let’s hear it!</p>

<p>ucb,
If only PA scores had something to do with undergraduate academics, then I might consider it. But alas, it does not… :)</p>

16

<p>“UCSD deserves a 0 for athletics” </p>

<p>Given Hawkette’s euphemism for “athletics,” UCSD would probably be a 0.5. 0.0 would have to be reserved for Smith, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Mills, etc.</p>

17

<p>Well…well rounded is a matter of conjecture and subjective assessment. Some people think of well rounded as a well balanced academic experience, with a strong core requirement, and the availability of sports, including club sports. I would imagine that a heavier weighting is assigned to Div1A and highly popular sports dynasties. Social life can be heavily weighted to sorority and fraternity life and for some that is heaven and for others that is hell. </p>

<p>I heard one mom tell me, in all seriousness, “college is not for class and all that academic crap. Its for parties and making friends and then finding a job selling something.” Her kids are at UGA.</p>

18

<p>Well rounded should also include the four seasons.</p>

19

<p>“college is not for class and all that academic crap. Its for parties and making friends and then finding a job selling something.”</p>

<p>An overstatement, perhaps, but it really IS true that only a fraction of what you learn in your college years takes place IN a classroom.</p>

20

<p>UChicago! 1/1 woo!</p>

<p>Although, consider that UChicago has higher sports participation on all levels (varsity, club, intramural) than many academic peers, including ‘athletic’ neighbor Northwestern.</p>