<p>Michigan has improved slightly to 12th from 13th, a couple of years back. Unlike USNWR, this survery does not compute rankings in a way that harms public universities. Thus, it has Berkeley 5th, UCLA 8th, Illinois 24th (?), U Texas and Washington 27th, and Wisconsin 30th. I'm sure Goldenboy will appreciate that his beloved Duke trails all those publics he loves to rag on, and comes in 31st.</p>
<p>Just scanning the list, the one public that did not get any love was UVa. Other than that, most of the usual suspects, at least in terms of U.S. universities.</p>
<p>Well, the link you provide ranks universities based on world reputation, which includes graduate schools (I’m not sure if it includes the undergraduate colleges or not) in an individual university’s rankings. Mich’s grad schools have a great reputation (and deservedly so), but its undergraduate colleges aren’t Top 20 material. They’re good, but not better than those of UPenn, Johns Hopkins, and Cornell. There’s just no way.</p>
<p>Also, the reason why UVA didn’t “get any love” was that its grad schools are not on par with those of Mich or Berkeley.</p>
<p>And don’t say that USNWR “puts public schools at a disadvantage” as if it were being unfair. Schools like Berkeley, UCLA, and UNC-Chapel Hill tend to have lower average test scores than their private counterparts at similar rankings, as well as larger classes and lower 4-year graduation rates. Be it the fault of state laws requiring a certain percent of the school to be in-state (an unavoidable situation with state-funded public colleges), such disadvantages form an environment that is less conducive to learning than it could be. </p>
<p>Top public colleges can, to some extent, round out these issues in the USNWR rankings with good teaching, plentiful resources, a wide range of academic opportunities, and greater selectivity in admitting out-of-state students (which often ends up in the school playing the “stats game”), but there’s a limit to how much such qualities can make up for the weaknesses that tends to come about with public schools. There are some great public institutions out there, but I don’t think that schools like Mich or any of the UCs are underrated on USNWR.</p>
<p>Even that ranking includes grad school rankings. Come on. That list puts Rice, Emory, Vandy, and Notre Dame outside of the top 75, when all of those schools have better undergraduate schools than UMich. USNWR is much more relevant for incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>I agree. USNWR has its flaws, but it is the best for incoming freshmen who are going to be undergrads. Times rankings place much more emphasis grad studies.</p>
<p>I don’t have a problem with USNWR including test scores and gpa of incoming freshman as part of its ranking formula, and yes the top privates that don’t have to admit a certain percentage from in-state will do bettter with those numbers. But some of the other criteria it uses are ridiculous and can only be included to put a thumb on the scale for private schools. My personal favorite is Percent Alumni Giving??? GIVE ME A BREAK. All that shows is that people who go to private schools tend to be richer than people who go to public schools, that has NOTHING to do with undergraduagte education. That is how USNWR shows its bias for private schools.</p>
<p>In addition, one thing that USNWR never looks at is the breadth of instruction. A large public that has classes in everything is a distinct advantage for undergrads, many of which change their majors multiple times. USNWR doesn’t include that because a large public will always have advantage on breadth of instruction and USNWR has to make sure that its rankings are dominated by smaller private schools. The numbers and types of classes a university offers is orders of magnitude more relevant than the percent of alumni who give money, but USNWR doesn’t include that as a factor.</p>
<p>Michor, you’re exactly right and the privates are notorious for lying about freshman stats, and all of that is kind of splitting hairs anyway after a certain point (3.8 vs 3.7 etc)</p>
<p>“That list puts Rice, Emory, Vandy, and Notre Dame outside of the top 75, when all of those schools have better undergraduate schools than UMich.”</p>
<p>“That list puts Rice, Emory, Vandy, and Notre Dame outside of the top 75, when all of those schools have better undergraduate schools than UMich.”</p>
<p>How would we know how good of a school Emory actually is? If they lied about incoming test scores for the past ten years, who knows what else they have been lying about. That an Emory student, who must know very well that his/her school has been unethical, would come into this forum to disaparage Michigan is pretty bizarre IMHO. If it were me, I would be hiding from criticism and keeping my uninformed opinions to myself.</p>
<p>A lot of posters on this thread seem to misunderstand the world rankings. The point is not whether or not Michigan really is one of the best universities in the world, but rather, whether or not it is one of the most recognized and respected universities in the World. It is a reputation ranking. Quality rankings are debatable as they rely on more scientific data that are grounded in fact (or myth in the case of Emory ). But reputation is purely opinion based, and as we all know from CC, people’s opinions are firm and unshakeable.</p>
<p>USNWR kept Emory at #20 despite the score scandal for a reason (unlike GWU which was kicked off of the rankings), so don’t pretend like it doesn’t have great academics.</p>
<p>@rjkofnovi What schools are “better” than others depends on one’s specific goals, but if most people go to college to prepare themselves for a good job in a field they like, then the 4 schools I mentioned are better for that purpose. Grad school and job placement are pretty important.</p>
<p>Also, I’m not trying to “disparage Michigan” here. I applied to Mich (got deferred initially), and I do like the school.There are just too many people here on CC who try to make Mich undergrad (except maybe the business/engineering schools) out to be something that it isn’t.</p>
). But reputation is purely opinion based, and as we all know from CC, people’s opinions are firm and unshakeable.</p>