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<p>Yes, by a long shot. Compare these US News rankings for the bottom five in the Big Ten versus the bottom five in the Pac 10:</p>
<p>School/US News ranking/(PA rating)</p>
<p>Big Ten:</p>
<p>Minnesota #61 (3.6)
Purdue #66 (3.7)
Iowa #66 (3.5)
Indiana #71 (3.7)
Michigan State #71 (3.4) </p>
<p>Pac 10:</p>
<p>Arizona #96 (3.5)
Oregon #108 (3.3)
Washington State #116 (2.9)
Arizona State #121 (3.2)
Oregon State “third tier” (2.9)</p>
<p>Of these groups, arguably only Michigan State and U Arizona are truly comparable, with Arizona actually edging out MSU in peer assessment rating. But it’s not hard to see why Michigan State’s overall US News ranking is so far above Arizona’s. With only about 25% more students (36,072 undergrads, versus 29,070 at Arizona), Michigan State has almost twice as many faculty (2,576 full-time, to 1,408 at Arizona). And while Michigan State is only slightly more selective (73.8% acceptance rate, versus 79.5% at Arizona), it does a much better job in retaining freshmen (90.5%, versus 79.2% at Arizona) and graduating its students within six years (74.0%, versus 56.0% at Arizona). So bottom line, the 11th best school in the Big Ten is overall markedly stronger than the 6th best school in the Pac 10, and numbers 7 through 10 in the Pac 10 are not even close.</p>