So I decided to do a comparative study of the top research universities using departmental ratings as a basis of comparison. My results are derived from the unweighted average of departments as they are rated by the USNWR graduate programs edition. Since they are entirely based on the reputational scores of learned scholars in their respective fields and do not depend on some random methodology, I think the results are fairly accurate. Below were the results (needless to say, Michigan rocks!):</p>
<p>SCIENCES (Bilogy, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, Pshycis):</p>
<h1>1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 98.67</h1>
<h1>2 University of California-Berkeley 97.33</h1>
<h1>3 Stanford University 97.00</h1>
<h1>4 California Institute of Technology 94.33</h1>
<h1>5 Harvard University 91.67</h1>
<h1>6 Princeton University 89.33</h1>
<h1>7 Cornell University 87.33</h1>
<h1>8 Columbia University 85.33</h1>
<h1>9 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 83.67</h1>
<h1>10 University of Chicago 83.33</h1>
<h1>10 University of Texas-Austin 83.33</h1>
<h1>10 Yale University 83.33</h1>
<h1>13 University of Wisconsin-Madison 83.00</h1>
<h1>14 University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign 82.67</h1>
<h1>15 University of California-Los Angeles 81.00</h1>
<h1>16 University of Pennsylvania 80.00</h1>
<h1>16 University of Washington 80.00</h1>
<h1>18 Northwestern University 77.20</h1>
<h1>19 University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 75.60</h1>
<h1>20 Duke University 74.00</h1>
<p>HUMANITIES/SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics, English, History, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology):</p>
<h1>1 Stanford University 95.00</h1>
<h1>1 University of California-Berkeley 95.00</h1>
<h1>3 Harvard University 94.33</h1>
<h1>4 Princeton University 93.67</h1>
<h1>5 Yale University 91. 33</h1>
<h1>6 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 90.00</h1>
<h1>7 University of Chicago 89.67</h1>
<h1>8 Columbia University 87.67</h1>
<h1>9 University of California-Los Angeles 86.67</h1>
<h1>10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 85.50</h1>
<h1>11 University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 85.20</h1>
<h1>12 University of Pennsylvania 84.33</h1>
<h1>12 University of Wisconsin-Madison 84.33</h1>
<h1>14 Northwestern University 82.67</h1>
<h1>15 Duke University 82.20</h1>
<h1>16 Cornell University 82.00</h1>
<h1>17 University of Texas-Austin 77.67</h1>
<h1>18 Washington University-St Louis 74.80</h1>
<p>COMBINED AVERAGE IN THE 12 TRADITIONAL DISCIPLINES:</p>
<h1>1 University of California-Berkeley 96.17</h1>
<h1>2 Stanford University 96.00</h1>
<h1>3 Harvard University 93.00</h1>
<h1>4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 92.09</h1>
<h1>5 Princeton University 91.50</h1>
<h1>6. Yale University 87.33</h1>
<h1>7. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 86.84</h1>
<h1>8 Columbia University 86.50</h1>
<h1>8 University of Chicago 86.50</h1>
<h1>10 Cornell University 84.67</h1>
<h1>11 University of California-Los Angeles 83.84</h1>
<h1>12 University of Wisconsin-Madison 83.67</h1>
<h1>13 University of Pennsylvania 82.17</h1>
<h1>14 University of Texas-Austin 80.50</h1>
<h1>15 University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 80.40</h1>
<h1>16 Northwestern University 79.94</h1>
<h1>17 Duke University 78.10</h1>
<p>If one were to add undergraduate Business and Engineering to the equation, weighing the two combined as 1/3 of the total, with the sciences weighed at 1/3 and the humanities and social sciences at another 1/3, you would get the following result:</p>
<h1>1 University of California-Berkeley 94.44</h1>
<h1>2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 93.06</h1>
<h1>3 Stanford University 90.00</h1>
<h1>4 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 87.22</h1>
<h1>5 Princeton University 84.67</h1>
<h1>6 Cornell University 83.78</h1>
<h1>7 Harvard Universty 83.67</h1>
<h1>8 University of Pennsylvania 82.11</h1>
<h1>9 Columbia University 82.00</h1>
<h1>9 Yale University 82.00</h1>
<p>