<p>UCLA and UCSB also sent wrong numbers (last year ranking; I don’t have this year’s copy). According to NAE website, UCLA and Northwestern really have the same number of NAE members. But in US News, the percentage was 14.1% for UCLA and only 5% for Northwestern (14.1% is only slightly lower than MIT’s %). The # full-time professors at both schools are roughly the same. </p>
<p>Although this category accounts for 7.5% and therefore looks insignificant on paper, the impact can be significant. This is probably because the difference in the score is very tiny among those at the top-30 so any clear advantage in a seemingly minor category gets magnified. In the case of Northwestern vs UCLA, Northwestern had better numbers in all categories except this NAE % (14.1% vs 5% when actually they are supposed to be about the same) . The end result? Northwestern was ranked 20th while UCLA was ranked 13th, instead of lower than Northwestern.</p>