<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>