<p>Here are the N. America Top 50 (world rank is the 2nd number):
1 1 Harvard University<br>
2 2 University of California, Berkeley<br>
3 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
4 4 California Inst Tech<br>
5 7 Stanford University
6 8 Yale University<br>
7 9 Princeton University<br>
8 13 U. of Chicago<br>
9 15 University of Texas-Austin<br>
10 19 Columbia University<br>
11 20 University of California, San Francisco<br>
12 21 McGill University<br>
13 23 Cornell University<br>
14 24 University of California, San Diego<br>
15 25 Johns Hopkins University<br>
16 26 UCLA
17 28 UPenn<br>
18 31 U. of Michigan<br>
19 35 U. of Illinois<br>
20 37 U. of Toronto<br>
21 38 Carnegie Mellon University<br>
22 45 UMass
23 46 British Columbia University<br>
24 52 Duke University<br>
25 59 Purdue University<br>
26 61 Brown University<br>
27 65 Georgia Institute of Technology<br>
28 66 Wisconsin University<br>
29 72 University of California, Santa Barbara<br>
30 73 Northwestern University<br>
31 74 U. of Washington<br>
32 75 Boston University<br>
33 79 New York University<br>
34 81 Yeshiva University<br>
35 82 U. of Minnesota
36 86 U. of Rochester<br>
37 88 Case Western Reserve University<br>
38 90 U. of Alabama<br>
39 104 Tufts University<br>
40 105 Texas A&M University<br>
41 106 U. of Iowa<br>
42 107 U. of Colorado<br>
43 109 Washington University- St Louis<br>
44 115 Brandeis University<br>
45 116 Michigan State University<br>
46 117 UNC
47 118 UVA<br>
48 130 Penn State University<br>
49 134 U. of Maryland<br>
50 136 Stony Brook, State University of New York </p>
<p>Basically, the Times writes in an article that (they think) these rankings are much more accurate than the ones from Shanghai Jiao Tong U., because the categories are much more relevant - peer review, international faculty, international students, faculty/student ratio, and the number of faculty citations. A school like UCSF can be found on the list because the ranking takes the school as a whole, which also means that the liberal arts colleges get a bit shafted. But, as a whole, I think the ranking methodology is much better than that of the Shanghai Top 500. To see the world rankings, go to <a href="http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/%5B/url%5D">http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/</a> . I am surprised by a few things - UT-Austin (probably my future school) above Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern, Michigan, etc. I guess this is because of UT's solid science program, which the Times attributed to Austin being the "Silicon Valley of the South," along with its huge size, which helps UT because of the bias toward schools that generate the most citations. However, I would put as much credence in these rankings as those of US News, simply because of the susceptiliblity to manipulation by college admissions offices (Wash U., Duke, Brown, etc.) and other figures factored into the US News rankings that do not correlate directly to quality education/innovation. Still, I don't really think ANY ranking does a good job of quantifying a school's true quality of education - job salaries would probably be the best venue, but even that method would have biases for networking and a sort of "prestige misperception" by employers (but a much more relevant way than largely arbitrary ratios).</p>
<p>UT Austin's faculty is second to none, and although student body does include some brainless party animals, it has some of the brightest students in its honor programs (notably Business Honor, & Plan II). UT Austin's graduate schools are even better. College's obssession with faculty research is another big factor for its international fame (thus, less teaching).</p>
<p>Not as funny as Northwestern at #73, behind U Mass and UCSB; UVa at #118, behind almost everybody including Alabama, Iowa and Michigan State; and no show for Dartmouth and Notre Dame...</p>
<p>And who says State U's are not respected...I counted at least 20 State U's among the US Top 50. Looks to me our State U's are quite well known internationally.</p>
<p>What a joke!! And a very bad joke on any student who uses a ranking like this to choose his college. And here is the punchline: Every single one of your classes is taught by a foreign teaching assistant who barely speaks English. you can't understand the lectures!!! Oh, but this is the very feature that puts your school at the top of these rankings!!! HA HA HA !!!</p>
<p>Interesting list, does the Cornell ranking indicate the effectivness of the School of Industrial Labor Relations, the college of arts and sciences, or perhaps the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences? Is the quality gap between the number 2 school and the number 10 school the same as the quality gap between the number 12 school and the number 20? Other than taking pride that our school is higher on the list than our brothers...is there a point beyond that it made someone's list?</p>
<p>Who was it on these boards who was saying that Dartmouth, Penn etc. weren't known abroad at all????.....Whoever said it should read this thread!</p>
<p>CH and Virginia are so far down because the criteria they choose to emphasize in this ranking (faculty, research) aren't their strongest aspects. Likewise, the criteria obviously does benefit the big research institutions like Berkeley, MIT etc.</p>
<p>Intl'85, stick around this board a few years and you'll see so many stupid rankings that it will be very difficult to rank just which set of rankings is the stupidest.</p>
<p>While rankings are not a good way to make a college choice, this list does reflect the international prestige of many institutions. For example, while a degree from Amherst or even Dartmouth might be harder to get access to, a degree from Berkeley, Texas, or Illinois is going to carry much more weight in London, Mexico City, Berlin or even Vancouver. Larger schools with great reputations, despite their drawbacks, tend to be among the most recognizable institutions globally.</p>