Top Ten most Prestigious Public Universities

College Search & Selection
601

<p>Hawkette it is impossible to answer the question. In my 4 years at Michigan, in over 40 classes I took, not a single student I knew was ever turned away by a professor. Virtually all the students I knew took their studies seriously and professors always respond to that. I assume that faculty everywhere will gladly meet students halfway.</p>

602

<p>As I see it, overall rankings can serve only two purposes:</p>

<p>1) An estimate of how well a school fulfills its intended purpose from the perspective of an interested outsider ie a taxpayer or donor.</p>

<p>2) An estimate of how well a school will suit any hypothetical student.</p>

<p>For #1, I look to the NRC Average of Nonzero Scores ranking, compiled at TAMU:

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UCSD
  3. Michigan
  4. UCLA
  5. Wisconsin
  6. Texas
  7. Washington
  8. Illinois
  9. Minnesota
  10. North Carolina</p>

<p>For #2, I look to the NRC Average of All 41 Scores ranking, also compiled at TAMU:

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. Michigan
  3. Wisconsin
  4. UCLA
  5. Texas
  6. Washington
  7. Illinois
  8. Minnesota
  9. Ohio State
  10. Penn State</p>

<p>These rankings are old, but I think they still are roughly accurate. I particularly like the second one.</p>

603

<p>NSSE provides something to use on this question. The UW 2008 survey of seniors indicated 35% often/frequently discussed carreer plans with facutly. 21% often/freq discussed reading outside class. 18% freq/often worked on non class projects with faculty</p>

<p>Uva seniors the same year had very similar numbers. 32% discussed career plans freq/often, 21% discussed readings outside class freq/often, and 16% worked on outside projects freq or often. </p>

<p>In all cases a much higher percentage did the above ā€œsometimesā€.</p>

604

<p>1Penn state
2penn state berks
3pen state altoona
4university of pittsburg
5temple
6clarion
7kutztown
8University of scranton
9Penn state Lehigh valley
10 FIT</p>

605

<p>Thanks, barrons.</p>

<p>ucb,
Btw, barrons is the one who used the expression ā€œserious students.ā€ I was only repeating as I interpreted his comment as a differentiator of the student populations. No intent to offend.</p>

<p>alex,
The question is not about an individual student and certainly not about your experience (whatā€™s next? a slide slow of your time in Michigan in the early 1990s??).</p>

606

<p>" As I see it, overall rankings can serve only two purposes:</p>

<p>1) An estimate of how well a school fulfills its intended purpose from the perspective of an interested outsider ie a taxpayer or donor.</p>

<p>2) An estimate of how well a school will suit any hypothetical student.</p>

<p>For #1, I look to the NRC Average of Nonzero Scores ranking, compiled at TAMU:

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UCSD
  3. Michigan
  4. UCLA
  5. Wisconsin
  6. Texas
  7. Washington
  8. Illinois
  9. Minnesota
  10. North Carolina</p>

<p>For #2, I look to the NRC Average of All 41 Scores ranking, also compiled at TAMU:

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. Michigan
  3. Wisconsin
  4. UCLA
  5. Texas
  6. Washington
  7. Illinois
  8. Minnesota
  9. Ohio State
  10. Penn State</p>

<p>These rankings are old, but I think they still are roughly accurate. I particularly like the second one."</p>

<p>Notice the placement of the UNC and the total lack of an appearance in the top 10 here for UVA. I still stand by my earlier statements about both schools being a bit overrated.</p>

607

<p>Serious students was not the best choice of words. I should have said heavily involved students. Most students are happy and do perfectly well without getting heavily involved with the faculty doing outside projects and such. For those planning on an academic type career itā€™s probably more important. For the many going into the work force or to professional schools just having a few profs that know you well enough to to a recommendation is enough. That is easy enough to do by normal classroom activity and good grades.</p>

608

<p>I am looking for anyone who might know about uscā€™s school of public policy. I am currently fininshing up my bachelor degree with a gpa of 3.7 overall. Iā€™ve been working as a police officer for the past 8 years. I spent 11 years in active duty Navy and 8 years in the Navy reserves. Unfortunately, I cannot do much more as far as internships due to having to work full-time. I have not taken the GRE but plan on it. What else can I do to make myself attractive to USC?</p>

609

<p>Not to be a fanboy for the school or anything (I had the option of Berkeley as well), but I feel that UCLA is a bit low on most of the rankings in here. #4 and #5? Seems low for the ā€œmost selectiveā€ public school out there, at least based on acceptance rate. As far as top programs go, I realize that Berkeley and Michigan have many more than UCLA. However, I always thought of ā€œprestigeā€ as some arbitrary measurement correlating more with acceptance rate than anything.</p>

610

<p>parchee, you look like a strong candidate. </p>

<p>Might want to post your question here:
[University</a> of Southern California - College Confidential](<a href=ā€œhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/]Universityā€>University of Southern California - College Confidential Forums)
and here:
[Graduate</a> School - College Confidential](<a href=ā€œhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/]Graduateā€>Graduate School - College Confidential Forums)</p>

611

<p>

Youā€™re exactly right that Berkeley and (less so) Michigan have many more top programs than UCLAā€¦and thatā€™s why they are rated much higher. But the superficial 'ruins will only look at superficial selectivity ratesā€¦howā€™s that .5% or whatever higher selectivity working for ya? Go look at faculty academic qualifications as a comparisonā€¦ then come back and make a better caseā€¦</p>

612

<p>UCB dude: take it easy. I was never saying UCLA was better than Berkeley. I associate ā€œprestigeā€ mostly with exclusivity, or in this case, acceptance rate. So in terms of ā€œprestigeā€, wouldnā€™t UCLA be somewhere between 1-3? Probably tied or right behind Berkeley?</p>

<p>Note: I donā€™t think ā€œprestigeā€ is in any way a legitimate form to rank universitiesā€¦Iā€™m just playing the game that was set up by this thread.</p>

613

<p>I would like to point out one aspect other than that the University of California at Berkeley is indisputably the premier public university in the world. UC Berkeley is not just limited to being the best public higher education institution but it is one of the very few public universities that has the ability to be on the same levels with top private schools such as Harvard University, Stanford University, and Princeton University. </p>

<p>The university has the 3rd most Nobel prize winners as a university (Harvard - 1st, Stanford - 2nd). It ranks very highly in almost all academic fields as shown in the US News & World Report Subject Rankings 2010. Other rankings also place Berkeley in top positions e.g. ARWU 2010, Washington Monthly etc. Moreover, UC Berkeley has an incredibly strong reputation both nationally and internationally. Hence, unlike other public universities, whose influence can be considered to be regional or possibly national, the University of California at Berkeley has global prestige that makes it very advantageous for its students after they graduate from school when finding an employment opportunity whether at corporations or at the government. </p>

<p>In conclusion, it should always be kept in mind that UC Berkeley is not just a ā€œtop publicā€ university but one of the very best universities (both public and private).</p>

614

<p>Why not rank the faculty rather than the students? All large flagships in this class have large numbers of very high quality students. The faculty is what you really are paying. Not hanging around with some kid who may have studied harder for the SAT or taken it 5 times along with a prep class or two. Most studies find the SAT highly unobjective and biased.</p>

<p>The ARWU ranking provides a good relatively current view of faculty strength. You could add in the numbers of NAS members, average number of faculty winning major awards over the last five years, and research funding ranking and get a pretty fair picture of faculty quality without resortiong to reputation surveys.</p>

615

<p>

Have you ever been into a public university lecture hall? Have you ever tried learning in one? No, the quality of Berkeley education is not on par with Harvard or Stanford or top 20 privates for the matter. Public universities are awful undergraduate institutions. </p>

<p>Maybe their graduate school is fine but it has far less students.</p>

<p>

Students should account for at least half the prestige of a school. At the end of the day, what does it matter if professor X went to Y when the students themselves canā€™t pull through? The purpose of an university to crank out good workers and that is what we need to measure. Not the means (professors) by which it got there.</p>

<p>Then when you account to the faculty ratio of schools like Berkeley and it becomes clear it doesnā€™t really matter how many Nobel Laureates are present. The most important academic force that pushes students forward will be the students themselves, who arenā€™t exactly Ivy League" impressive.</p>

616

<p>Well, for what itā€™s worth, the current iteration of th USNWR Best Universities has the top 5 Publics as:</p>

<h1>22 UC Berkeley</h1>

<h1>25 UVA/UCLA tie</h1>

<h1>28 Michigan</h1>

<h1>30 UNC</h1>

<p>ranked close enough together, at the undergraduate level, to render debate about the exact order to be simply an amusement.</p>

<p>However, at the Ph.D. program level, averaging the top 4/5 NRC scores in the 5 general areas, it is:</p>

<p>UC Berkeley #1 with Harvard and Stanford
UC San Diego #7 approx.
Michigan, #9 approx.
Wisconsin #12 approx.
UCLA #13 approx.</p>

617

<p>The number of large lectures one takes at any big state U is far less than even a quarter of all classes you will take. Many advanced level classes will have 10-40 students. Much depends on the major. And many of the same intro classes are over 100 students at Harvard and Stanford too. How many in the average H/S intro to econ class?, intro to psych? etc. Itā€™s not 20. Now if you think there is a big difference between 100 or 200 in an intro class there might be a difference. Iā€™d say not much.</p>

<p>And sometimes a large lecture hall is just necessary.</p>

<p><a href=ā€œhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Goldberg[/url]ā€>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Goldberg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

618

<p>

Oh youā€™d be surprised. You clearly havenā€™t been to any of the UCs before. -.-</p>

<p>Here are some of the upperdiv courses a Berkeley electrical engineering student gets to choose from.
<a href=ā€œhttp://osoc.berkeley.edu/OSOC/osoc?p_term=FL&x=35&y=7&p_classif=L&p_deptname=Electrical+Engineering&p_presuf=--+Choose+a+Course+Prefix%2FSuffix+--&p_dept=&p_course=&p_title=&p_instr=&p_exam=&p_ccn=&p_day=&p_hour=&p_bldg=&p_units=&p_restr=&p_info=&p_updt=[/url]ā€>http://osoc.berkeley.edu/OSOC/osoc?p_term=FL&x=35&y=7&p_classif=L&p_deptname=Electrical+Engineering&p_presuf=--+Choose+a+Course+Prefix%2FSuffix+--&p_dept=&p_course=&p_title=&p_instr=&p_exam=&p_ccn=&p_day=&p_hour=&p_bldg=&p_units=&p_restr=&p_info=&p_updt=&lt;/a&gt;
Please do note that all discussions are supplements to lectures and do not come with a professor. The lectures are the actual courses which are lettered in BLUE.</p>

<p>If you asked me, all the public universities, Berkeley included, should be ranked lower than they currently are on the basis of 1) their student bodies and 2) their horrid student-faculty ratios.</p>

619

<p>sentimentGX4:</p>

<p>Letā€™s do some math. At UCLA, for example, you need 180 Quarter units to graduate.</p>

<p>Thats 45 classes over 12 quarters.</p>

<p>The large lecture classes are typically Econ 1, Bio 1, Calc, xxx1, xxx1, etc.</p>

<p>I think 25%, or approx. 11 classes, is a fair estimation of the number of 100+ person classes. It would be at most 33%, or about 15. As one works higher in a Major, most of the classes will be under 50 people, and many with as few as 15.</p>

620

<p>

Yeah, I attend UCLA and can tell you that that isnā€™t true.</p>

<p>This is what an Econ major looks at. Upper div undergrad classes are numbered 100 - 200.
[Schedule</a> of Classes Course Selection](<a href=ā€œhttp://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/crsredir.aspx?termsel=10S&subareasel=ECON]Scheduleā€>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/crsredir.aspx?termsel=10S&subareasel=ECON)
This is what an Electrical Engineering at looks at. Upper div undergrad classes are numbered 100 - 200.
[Schedule</a> of Classes Course Selection](<a href=ā€œhttp://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/crsredir.aspx?termsel=10F&subareasel=EL+ENGR]Scheduleā€>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/crsredir.aspx?termsel=10F&subareasel=EL+ENGR)</p>

<p>Itā€™s the same story as Berkeley if not worse. Public universities are great for independent learners! Thatā€™s the most positive way I can put it.</p>

<p>(I will concede that Humanities majors enjoy small classes, though.)</p>