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<p>Well, I know a lot of university faculty—as well as a few presidents and provosts—who would say Illinois completely dominates Notre Dame in the area of faculty quality. Better engineering and computer science. Better physics. Better chemistry. Better biological sciences. Better English department. Better poli sci. Better psych. Better history. Business, maybe about equal, and I’m sure Notre Dame has it all over Illinois in the theology/religion department, but apart from that it’s hard to think of many academic disciplines where Notre Dame’s faculty is anywhere near as distinguished as Illinois’.</p>
<p>Now I already know your next move: you’re going to say, “But what about test scores, and admit rate, and s/f ratio, where Notre Dame is far stronger than Illinois?” My reply: those things are already counted separately in the US News ranking; counting them again toward PA would be double-counting. On the other hand, faculty quality is considered nowhere else in the US News ranking. I believe it does factor heavily in the PA score.</p>