Top 10 Universities by U.S. Region

<p>The following are lists of top universities by U.S. regions. I made the list because I felt it was important to see which universities hold the most weight in their territorial region. </p>

<p>_ = Top 50 line.</p>

<p>Enjoy.</p>

<p>Do you disagree or agree?</p>

<p>W E S T
Pacific<a href=“All%20the%20Universities%20are%20in%20the%20Top%2050”>/b</a>
1 Stanford University, CA
2 California Institute of Technology, CA
3 University of California–Berkeley, CA

4 University of Southern California, CA
5 University of California–Los Angeles, CA

6 University of California–San Diego, CA*
7 University of California–Davis, CA*
7 University of California–Santa Barbara, CA*
9 University of California–Irvine, CA*
9 University of Washington, WA*
_</p>

<p>Mountain
_
1 Colorado School of Mines, CO*
2 Brigham Young University–Provo, UT
3 University of Colorado–Boulder, CO*
3 University of Denver, CO
5 University of Arizona, AZ*
6 Colorado State University, CO*
7 University of Utah, UT*
8 Arizona State University, AZ*
9 University of Idaho, ID*
9 University of Wyoming, WY*</p>

<p>M I D W E S T
West-North Central
1 Washington University in St. Louis, MO
_
2 University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, MN*
3 University of Iowa, IA*
4 St. Louis University, MO
5 Iowa State University, IA*
6 University of Missouri, MO*
7 University of Kansas, KS*
7 University of Nebraska–Lincoln, NE*
9 University of St. Thomas, MN
10 Missouri University of Science & Technology, MO*</p>

<p>East-North Central
1 University of Chicago, IL
2 Northwestern University, IL
3 University of Notre Dame, IN
4 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, MI*
5 Case Western Reserve University, OH
6 University of Wisconsin–Madison, WI*
7 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, IL*
_
8 Ohio State University–Columbus, OH*
8 Purdue University–West Lafayette, IL*
10 Indiana University–Bloomington, IN</p>

<p>S O U T H
West-South Central
1 Rice University, TX
2 University of Texas–Austin, TX*
_
3 Tulane University, LA
4 Southern Methodist University, TX
5 Texas A&M University–College Station, TX*
6 Baylor University, TX
7 University of Tulsa, OK
8 Texas Christian University, TX
9 University of Oklahoma, OK*
10 Louisiana State University–Baton Rouge, LA</p>

<p>East-South Central
1 Vanderbilt University, TN
_
2 University of Alabama, AL*
3 Auburn University, AL
4 Samford University, AL
4 University of Tennessee, TN*
6 University of Kentucky, KY*
7 University of Mississippi, MS*
8 Mississippi State University, MS*
8 University of Alabama–Birmingham, AL*
10 University of Louisville, KY*</p>

<p>South Atlantic<a href=“All%20the%20Universities%20are%20in%20the%20Top%2050”>/b</a>
1 Duke University, NC
2 Johns Hopkins University, MD
3 Emory University, GA
4 Georgetown University, DC
5 University of Virginia, VA

5 Wake Forest University, NC
7 University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, NC

8 College of William and Mary, VA*
9 Georgia Institute of Technology, GA*
10 University of Miami, FL
_</p>

<p>N O R T H E A S T
*Middle Atlantic<a href=“All%20the%20Universities%20are%20in%20the%20Top%2050”>/b</a>
1 Princeton University, NJ
2 Columbia University, NY
3 University of Pennsylvania, PA
4 Cornell University, NY
5 Carnegie Mellon University, PA
6 New York University, NY
7 Lehigh University, PA
7 University of Rochester, NY
9 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
10 Pennsylvania State University–University Park, PA

_</p>

<p>New England
1 Harvard University, MA
2 Yale University, CT
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA
4 Dartmouth College, NH
5 Brown University, RI
6 Tufts University, MA
7 Boston College, MA
8 Brandeis University, MA
_
9 Boston University, MA
10 Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA</p>

<p>What’s the point? There’s perfect mobility in the US, so there’s are no “territorial region[s.]”</p>

<p>Disagree, because region does mean equal areas of population, so having ten top universities per region is stupid. For instance, the University of Florida is one of the best flagship public schools and it is in the Top 50, but it doesn’t make it onto your list because there happens to be 10 better schools in the Southeast. Meanwhile, in Tornado-Alley-North, you have schools outside of the Top 100 and close to it.</p>

<p>Secondly, what sort of ratings are these based on? Undergraduate rankings? USNWR? THE? WSJ? Your own opinion?</p>

<p>Also, the regions you make in general are sort of odd geographically. For instance, LSU would be in the same geographic/political cloth as Alabama and Mississippi, not Oklahoma.</p>

<p>The OP’s list is full of flaws. There are essentially five major regions in the US (West, Southwest, Southeast, Midwest and Northeast). I would also limit it to the top 5 universities. In my opinion, my list would look something like this:</p>

<p>W E S T
1 Stanford University, CA
2 California Institute of Technology, CA
3 University of California–Berkeley, CA*
4 University of California–Los Angeles, CA*
5 University of Washington–Seattle, WA*
Honorable Mention: University of Southern California, CA
_</p>

<p>M I D W E S T
1 University of Chicago, IL
2 Northwestern University, IL
3 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, MI*
4 University of Wisconsin–Madison, WI*
5 Washington University in St. Louis, MO
Honorable Mention: University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, IL*
_</p>

<p>S O U T H W E S T
1 Rice University, TX
2 University of Texas–Austin, TX*
3 Texas A&M University–College Station, TX*
4 Colorado School of Mines, CO*
5 University of Colorado–Boulder, CO*
Honorable Mention: University of Arizona–Tucson, AZ*
_</p>

<p>S O U T H E A S T
1 Duke University, NC
2 Johns Hopkins University, MD
3 Georgetown University, DC
4 University of Virginia–Charlottesville, VA*
5 University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, NC*
Honorable Mention: Vanderbilt University, TN
_</p>

<p>N O R T H E A S T
1 Harvard University, MA
2 Yale University, CT
3 Princeton University, NJ
4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA
5 Columbia University, NY
Honorable Mention: University of Pennsylvania, PA</p>

<p>First of all, this is a completely subjective topic, so bashing people because of their “flaws” is pointless. States and countries are clearly defined; regions are subjective terms to refer to geographic areas. Example: I would not consider Rice University to be in the Southwest at all…it’s far closer to Louisiana than the nearest major “southwestern” city, San Antonio or Austin. So, IN MY OPINION, here are the major regions in the U.S. with only the top universities in that region, in no specific order (again, my opinion):</p>

<p>PACIFIC (Washington, Oregon, and California; 47 Million):
-Stanford
-CalTech
-Berkeley
-UCLA
-USC
-Washington
-UCSD
-UCI
-UCSB
-UC-Davis</p>

<p>MOUNTAIN WEST (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico; 21.8 Million):
-CU-Boulder
-U of Arizona
-BYU
-AF Academy
-CO School of Mines
-Utah</p>

<p>MIDWEST/GREAT PLAINS (North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas; 20 Million):
-Washington Univ.
-U of Minnesota
-U of Iowa
-U of Nebraska
-U of Missouri
-U of Kansas</p>

<p>MIDWEST/GREAT LAKES (Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana; 46.4 Million):
-U of Chicago
-Northwestern
-U of Michigan
-Notre Dame
-U of Wisconsin
-U of Illinois
-Ohio State
-Case Western
-Purdue
-U of Indiana
-Michigan State</p>

<p>SOUTH-CENTRAL (Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi; 38.5 Million):
-Rice
-UT-Austin
-Texas A&M
-Southern Methodist
-Tulane
-Baylor
-U of Oklahoma</p>

<p>SOUTHEAST/DEEP SOUTH (Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky; 57 Million):
-Vanderbilt
-Emory
-Duke
-U of North Carolina
-U of Georgia
-U of Florida
-U of Alabama
-U of Miami
-Florida State
-Clemson
-Georgia Tech
-Wake Forest</p>

<p>CENTRAL ATLANTIC (Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware; 31 Million):
-U of Virginia
-Georgetown
-George Washington
-U of Maryland
-Penn
-Penn State
-William & Mary
-Princeton
-U of Delaware</p>

<p>NORTHEASY/NEW ENGLAND (New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine; 33.7 Million):
-Harvard
-Yale
-MIT
-Columbia
-Dartmouth
-Cornell
-NYU
-Boston College
-U of Connecticut
-Brown
-Tufts
-Etc.</p>

<p>There are my regions and what I consider to be the best universities in each region. Feel free to disagree with me as much as you like. Also, I did this off the top of my head so if there’s some obvious school that I missed, I apologize. Finally…I’ve lived in 7 states across the country and I’ve been to almost 40 of the lower 48. So through my experiences, these geographic sub-groups make the most sense to me.</p>

<p>IvyPBear,
There is no real point. It’s just fun for geography nerds to break down an area into sub-groups, much like the “best schools in each state” type of a thread.</p>

<p>

Two of your lists are completely flawed.</p>

<p>M I D W E S T
1 University of Chicago, IL
2 Northwestern University, IL
3 Washington University in St. Louis, MO
4 Notre Dame, IN
5 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, MI*
Honorable Mention: University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, IL*</p>

<p>Michigan is not better than WashU or ND and Wisconsin doesn’t belong in the top 5.</p>

<p>S O U T H E A S T
1 Duke University, NC
2 Johns Hopkins University, MD
3 Georgetown University, DC
4 Vanderbilt University, TN
5 University of Virginia–Charlottesville, VA*
Honorable Mention: University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, NC*</p>

<p>Vandy is better than UVA and UNC.</p>

<p>The Wisconsin faculty could eat Notre Dame’s faculty for lunch. How silly.</p>

<p>FWIW, here’s how it would go if we used the new Times Higher Education rankings (just released):</p>

<p>NORTHEAST

  1. Harvard
  2. MIT
  3. Princeton
  4. Yale
  5. Cornell
    Honorable mention: Columbia, Penn</p>

<p>MIDWEST

  1. Chicago
  2. Michigan
  3. Northwestern
  4. Illinois
  5. Wash U
    Honorable mention: Wisconsin, Minnesota</p>

<p>SOUTHEAST

  1. Johns Hopkins
  2. Duke
  3. Georgia Tech
  4. UNC Chapel Hill
  5. Vanderbilt
    Honorable mention: Emory, UVA, William & Mary</p>

<p>SOUTHWEST/ROCKY MOUNTAIN

  1. Rice
  2. U Colorado
  3. Utah
  4. Arizona
  5. Arizona State
    Honorable mention: None (Not sure what happened to UT-Austin)</p>

<p>WEST

  1. Caltech
  2. Stanford
  3. UC Berkeley
  4. UCLA
  5. U Washington
    Honorable mention: UCSB, UCSD</p>

<p>The institutional resources and the student body that Notre Dame has make Wisconsin look like a community college for aspiring farmers (oh wait that’s what it is haha).</p>

<p>^you are a child.</p>

<p>“Michigan is not better than WashU or ND.”</p>

<p>^hahahah.</p>

<p>Posters should be clear about what part of a Univeristy is under evaluation. When no qualification is made, it is assumed that we’re discussion the ENTIRE school… undergrad, professional degree programs, Ph.D. programs.</p>

<p>the ENTIRE schools at Michigan, Wisconsin (and Illinois) would mop the floor with Notre Dame or Northwestern or WashU without breaking stride. Sort of like a Battleship vs. a PT boat.</p>

<p>*The institutional resources and the student body that Notre Dame has make Wisconsin look like a community college for aspiring farmers (oh wait that’s what it is haha). *</p>

<p>As someone who’s excited about possibly attending Wisconsin next year, I find this extremely offensive…</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Here is some information to compare “institutional resources” at these schools:</p>

<p> Library Size (in number of volumes) <a href=“source:%20%5Burl=The Largest Libraries in the U.S.”>/u</a>
Michigan … 7,800,389
Wisconsin … 7,232,850
WUSTL … 3,608,538
Notre Dame … 3,054,075</p>

<p> Annual Research Expenditures<a href=“%5Burl=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2010/national_university_research.php]National%20University%20Rankings%202010%20|%20Washington%20Monthly[/url]”>/u</a>
Wisconsin … $841M
Michigan … $809M
WUSTL … $573M
Notre Dame … $77M</p>

<p> Faculty in National Academies (rank among national universities)<a href=“%5Burl=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2010/national_university_research.php]National%20University%20Rankings%202010%20|%20Washington%20Monthly[/url]”>/u</a>
Wisconsin … 19th
WUSTL … 30th
Michigan … 33rd
Notre Dame … 92nd</p>

<p>Museums
[Museums</a> at the University of Michigan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museums_at_the_University_of_Michigan]Museums”>List of museums and collections at the University of Michigan - Wikipedia)
[University</a> of Wisconsin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<a href=“Lots%20and%20lots%20of%20special%20collections%20at%20UM%20and%20UW;%20by%20comparison,%20the%20Snite%20and%20Kemper%20art%20museums%20seem%20to%20be%20about%20it%20at%20ND%20and%20WUSTL,%20respectively%20…%20maybe%20I’ve%20missed%20some.”>/url</a></p>

<p>Observatories
Wisconsin - (15.6 in. refractor at Washburn Observatory; 3.5 meter WIYN telescope owned and operated in a consortium with Indiana, Yale, and NAOA; [url=<a href=“http://www.wiyn.org/]WIYN”>http://www.wiyn.org/]WIYN</a> Observatory](<a href=“University of Wisconsin–Madison - Wikipedia”>University of Wisconsin–Madison - Wikipedia) )
Michigan - (85 ft. diameter parabolic reflector at Peach Mountain Observatory; [Michigan</a> Astronomy | Observatories](<a href=“http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/obs/obs.php]Michigan”>http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/obs/obs.php) )
WUSTL - (6 in. refractor at Crow Observatory; [Crow</a> Observatory | Department of Physics](<a href=“Resources | Department of Physics”>Resources | Department of Physics))
ND - (is currently building an observatory on the roof of the new Jordan Hall; not much info seems to be available on the existing ND observatory - [Notre</a> Dame Observatory](<a href=“http://www.nd.edu/~comet/]Notre”>http://www.nd.edu/~comet/))</p>

<p>This is all extremely silly, I am sure everyone posting realizes that at some level. I will only comment as a factual item that Wash U is adjacent to Forest Park, which contains the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, a botanical garden (there is also a larger botanical garden a few miles from there), and other resources, and they are all free. There is also a planetarium/science center, but that is not free I don’t believe. While these may not be part of the school, proximity-wise it is comparable to the size of the campuses at Wisconsin and Michigan, (in other words walkable/bikeable) and so is a similar resource. If the idea is to research potential experiences at the schools, it is a fair comparison.</p>

<p>“The institutional resources and the student body that Notre Dame has make Wisconsin look like a community college for aspiring farmers (oh wait that’s what it is haha)”</p>

<p>Thats funny. I have to say that made me laugh a lot. but seriously though show some maturity</p>

<p>"The OP’s list is full of flaws. There are essentially five major regions in the US (West, Southwest, Southeast, Midwest and Northeast). I would also limit it to the top 5 universities. In my opinion, my list would look something like this:</p>

<p>M I D W E S T
1 University of Chicago, IL
2 Northwestern University, IL
3 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, MI*
4 University of Wisconsin–Madison, WI*
5 Washington University in St. Louis, MO
Honorable Mention: University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, IL*
_"</p>

<p>Sure…according to a Northwestern and Michigan alumnus. I think lesdiablesbleus’ list for the midwest is more accurate.</p>

<p>M I D W E S T
1 University of Chicago, IL
2 Northwestern University, IL
3 Washington University in St. Louis, MO
4 Notre Dame, IN
5 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, MI*
Honorable Mention: University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, IL*</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes, maybe so. I’m not detracting from WUSTL or ND. These are all excellent schools. As for which is 3rd and which is 5th in the Midwest, I suppose that depends on your criteria. Personally, I happen to like LACs. My point here is only that, in terms of “institutional resources” actually managed by each school, available for student research and instruction, the best public universities (including UM and UW) are at least competitive with some of the top private universities.</p>

<p>SMU should be in place of Baylor for the Southwest/South region best schools</p>