U.S. News is made up of a collection of idiots

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>Despite the fact that rankings are generally moronic overall, how is it logical to rank Michigan 19th in the world but 27th in the country? Not that I really give a damn about all that crap, but it's just such a logical flaw and another opportunity for me to insult the system of rankings.</p>

2

<p>haha, if you look at the ranking criteria, the two are completely different. when you look at the scores michigan gets in the world rankings, you will notice that most of those did not factor in to the “national universities” rankings. still, it’s pretty cool to say that um is ranked the 19th best university IN THE WORLD</p>

3

<p>The USNews world ranking seems to promote international universities more than they should be to seem more worldly. 4 of the top 6 Universities in England?</p>

4

<p>Yea I figured it had to obviously be a difference in criteria; just seems moronic to have different criteria for international vs. domestic.</p>

5

<p>“Yea I figured it had to obviously be a difference in criteria; just seems moronic to have different criteria for international vs. domestic.”</p>

<p>They wanted to promote international universities more…</p>

6

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<p>So you’re saying these different criteria that bump up many international universities consequently bump up UM but not other domestic colleges</p>

7

<p>Yeah, probably. I don’t see a better explanation, unless you think England really has better universities than America.</p>

8

<p>I am not certain, but Michigan’s world-wide ranking at USNWR might include use different criteria than domestic rankings. I believe the overall domestic rankings put too much weight on undergraduate programs, which is ridiculous in it’s own right. As I’ve stated many times, it’s the graduate and professional disciplines that make a university truly great and well known world-wide.</p>

9

<p>According to this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/868388-you-familiar-us-news-top-25-national-universities.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/868388-you-familiar-us-news-top-25-national-universities.html&lt;/a&gt; , Michigan was ranked #12 in the 1980’s. Why did they drop from #12 to #27 in the national rankings?</p>

10

<p>^ because U.S. News is made up of a collection of idiots. Duhhh :)</p>

11

<p>This had been talked about by Alexandre in an earlier thread (the drop from the 70s-80s to present day).</p>

12

<p>Michigan’s drop in the USNWR has nothing to do with academics but with the USNWR methodology, which has changed a great deal between when it started back in 1983 and now. In the 1980s, the USNWR was entirely based on the Peer Assessment score and Michigan was ranked between #7 and #12 depending on the year. Since 1989, the USNWR started adding different cirteria, most of which hurt Public universities, into the mix, hence explaining the sudden drop of Cal and Michigan from the top 10 to out of the top 20. But Michigan’s Peer Assessment score has not changed since the 1980s. In the latest USNWR ranking, Michigan’s Peer Assessment score was tied with the likes of Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Johns Jopkins, Northwestern, Penn and UVa at #13, so the University has not declined academically.</p>