<p>I honestly don't believe I'm making this post. But... It's almost August so it's that time of year again. How do you guys think we'll fair in this year's U.S. News rankings? I'm only looking for posts on Michigan's behalf. I don't care about any other school. (Yes, Michigan completely brainwashed me. :)) I have a feeling we'll do well (and heaven forbid we fall... not that it really matters in the end if we do), but I want to know what my fellow wolverines think.</p>
<p>When do the rankings come out? I haven't received a definitive answer.</p>
<p>Someone said August 16th.</p>
<p>It's near.</p>
<p>I personally think the rankings are bogus, but anyways, I love rankings at the same time...I heard August 18.</p>
<p>well, i just want michigan to move up to be the best public university in the U.S.</p>
<p>I want Michigan to move up at least 10 spots. Maybe then people will give it the recognition it deserves. But mostly, I want it to beat Vanderbilt. Because Vanderbilt over Michigan is just BS.</p>
<p>Sadly, I'm a little too competitive about these things...</p>
<p>The one thing I don't understand is how Michigan can be top 5/10 in a lot of individidual departments but overall it's 25? Berkeley seems to be the same way. Top in everything except overall. I thought maybe usnews had some statistical measurement weighing heavily against public schools.</p>
<p>"The one thing I don't understand is how Michigan can be top 5/10 in a lot of individidual departments but overall it's 25?"</p>
<p>Because the grad rankings you're talking about are usually grad school rankings. Many people choose Berkeley over Harvard when it comes to a given PhD program, but not for undergrad (typically).</p>
<p>I agree and chose Michigan over Vanderbilt. However, I don't think we'll move ahead of Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is more selective and has excellent education and music schools, along with some other decent departments. We would have to make up 5 points to pass Vanderbilt. That won't happen any time soon. </p>
<p>I predict we'll go from 25th to 23rd. We will at least pass UCLA, and maybe Georgetown or Carnegie Mellon. We'll find out August 18th.</p>
<p>awesomeeee</p>
<p>What makes Vanderbilt's education excellent? I don't get it. The only thing particularly great about it is its school of education, which is admittedly, very superior.</p>
<p>Are the undergrad rankings of departments anything like the grad rankings? For example, I know our poli sci (for grad school) is among the best in the country. Could we say the same (or almost the same) for our undergrad poli sci program, or are our grad and undergrad programs very different in quality?</p>
<p>The USNWR college rankings come out in the next 3 weeks. I don't think Michigan will move much. I'd say it will be ranked anwhere between #22 and #25. </p>
<p>Redhare, you are right, it doesn't make sense how Michigan's departments are mostly ranked in the top 10 (at the undergraduate level I may add) and yet, overall, it manages to be ranked out of the top 10. The reason for this, as you guessed it, is the USNWR forumal, which intentionally punishes state funded universities. </p>
<p>And yes, the quality of graduate program trickles down to the undergraduate level. The only exception to that rule are the huge publics with few resources, like Minnesota, Purdue, UCSD and a few others, that have amazing graduate programs, but struggle with resources and funding. However, top graduate programs at resource-rich universities like Cornell, Michigan, Northwestern etc...generally translate into top undergraduate programs. In fact, Michigan's Chemistry and Economics programs are reportedly better at the undergraduate level than at the graduate level. </p>
<p>Personally, I usually look at two things in the USNWR:</p>
<p>1) Peer assessment score. Michigan is always in the 4.5-4.7 range, tied for 7th-13th place (depending on the year) with the likes of Brown, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Johns Hopkins and Penn. This year, I think Michigan will get a 4.6 score in this section once again.</p>
<p>2) Selectivity ranking. Michigan is always one of the 30 most selective universities, but it does not usually crack the top 15 in this section. Michigan was #18 in 2004 and #21 last year. This year, Michigan will probably stay around #21, but next year, I think Michigan will once again make the top 20 list.</p>
<p>Those are the only two criteria that actually measure something concrete and meaningful.</p>
<p>alexandre, you should someday become a dean or president at UM :]</p>
<p>hey alexandre, what do you think about uva vs michigan?</p>
<p>To me, the peer assessment is the most important ranking. Michigan received a 4.5 peer assessment and #24 in selectivity in last year's USNews rankings. We were tied for 13th with U Penn in peer assessment; we were ahead of Brown and Dartmouth, but behind Chicago, Cornell, Duke, and Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>Don't you have to be a PhD to become Dean or President at a university? But I wouldn't mind being an HR director at Michigan! hehe Working for Michigan and living in Ann Arbor would be a dream.</p>
<p>Mojojojo, Michigan and UVA are peers. I personally think Michigan is slightly better, but that's an opinion. In terms of USNWR rankings, I think UVA and Michigan will be ranked roughly the same for quite some time.</p>
<p>Last year, Vanderbilt was number 7 in Faculty Resources and we were number 60. This is the largest factor in why we have so much ground to make up to catch Vanderbilt. Here's how USNews defines faculty resources:</p>
<p>Faculty resources (20 percent). Research shows that the more satisfied students are about their contact with professors, the more they will learn and the more likely it is they will graduate. We use six factors from the 2004-05 academic year to assess a school's commitment to instruction. Class size has two components: the proportion of classes with fewer than 20 students (30 percent of the faculty resources score) and the proportion with 50 or more students (10 percent of the score). Faculty salary (35 percent) is the average faculty pay, plus benefits, during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 academic years, adjusted for regional differences in the cost of living (using indexes from the consulting firm Runzheimer International). We also weigh the proportion of professors with the highest degree in their fields (15 percent), the student-faculty ratio (5 percent), and the proportion of faculty who are full time (5 percent).</p>
<p>freakin' vandy..</p>
<p>"Michigan's departments are mostly ranked in the top 10 (at the undergraduate level I may add)"</p>
<p>Which rankings are you referring to here? I thought USNews only ranks undergraduate business and engineering, and most other rankings I have seen have been for graduate programs.</p>
<p>Also, which factors are artificially skewed towards privates?</p>