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Top 100 World Universities 2013-14 (THE Rankings)
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Replies to: Top 100 World Universities 2013-14 (THE Rankings)
In the NRC-95 rankings, UCLA was:
#3 in linguistics
#4 in psychology
#5 in philosophy
#5 in sociology
#6 in history
#8 in political science
In the current QS World University rankings, UCLA is:
#3 in linguistics
#6 in sociology
#7 in psychology
#8 in history
#10 in mathematics
#12 in english language & lit
#16 in politics and international studies
#17 in philosophy
In the current USNWR department rankings, UCLA is:
#2 in psychology
#8 in mathematics (#2 in logic, #2 in applied math, #3 in analysis)
#9 in history
#9 in sociology
#10 in political science
#10 in english
Then there's film, in which Hollywood Reporter pegged them at #4.
I don't know what is the threshold for "renowned", but I would think top 10 or so ought to qualify.
Even lower UCs are known for their academic majors. UCSD = Bioengineering; UC Davis = Veterinary sciences, agricultural; UCSB = physics and creative studies. UCLA = ???? Film?
UCLA has a strong and robust alumni network in film. In terms of representation, it's probably second only to USC.
I don't think people come to UCLA for a particular major, and that's probably a good thing. They come for a well rounded college experience, with great opportunities, and top academics in several fields. I actually did come for a major (UCLA was a very important institution in the history of analytic philosophy due to its relationship with Rudolph Carnap.) However, I can't say that i knew many others that did.
But yes, many of UCLA's alums are pre-professional, which is why is also why it's not known for drawing students from a particular major. The university has the largest undergraduate representation in the California bar, is generally one of the top 2 ABA feeders (in terms of applicants,) and one of the top 2 med school feeders (in terms of applicants.)
Talking with the students, you'd find out that many liberal arts majors are pre-law/pre-graduate school; science majors are either pre-med or some other health science related profession (pre-dent/pre-nurse); Comp. sci and engineering students will likely look for work in their major fields afterwards; Biz-econ students go into business (perhaps later getting an MBA); communications students go into marketing/PR, etc.
But even if UCLA isn't particularly well known for a major, its students still do well even in fields the university may not be 'renown' for.
UCLA math students place third in prestigious North American competition / UCLA Newsroom
When you think of Yale, what majors is it known for?
Hmm, I'd have to think.
When you think of Georgetown, what majors is it known for?
International Relations immediately comes to mind.
When you think of Harvard, what majors is it particularly known for?
Again, I'd have to think.
When you think of Chicago, what majors is it known for?
Economics immediately comes to mind.
How about the University of Iowa?
Its Creative Writing program is rather renowned.
As is the English department at tiny Kenyon College.
Yet I can't think of any one program in particular for which Brown University is renowned.
In driving up the THE rankings, what matters more than anything else is "research influence". The key factor is journal citations.
Harvard? of course law and business.
Yale? I can immediately say law and english.
World ranking based on university popularity (not by any surveys but by true university web sites traffic from internationals)
Top 100 Universities in North America | 2013 World University Ranking
Methodology
4 International Colleges & Universities - About Us
"The aim of this website is to provide an approximate popularity ranking of world Universities and Colleges based upon the popularity of their websites. This is intended to help international students and academic staff to understand how popular a specific University/College is in a foreign country."
I like the web-based pure popularity ranking. I think there's something to it.
What percentage of college web site traffic is related to campus-internal business and information-sharing? Big schools get a bump over small schools from that part of their traffic (at least).
Two Americans, German win Nobel medicine prize - NBC News.com
'furd and Yale too.
Internal sharing didn't count. They only measure web site hits from internationals.
+1 for UCLA too (Sheckman did his undergrad there.)