<p>Michigan is always ranked between #21 and #25 in the USNWR. Well, for the last 15 years or so anyway.</p>
<p>Acceptance rate is not really a factor in the USNWR ranking anymore. The University of Chicago has an acceptance rate of 40% and still manages to be ranked in the top 10. </p>
<p>What really hurts Michigan are Faculty and Financial resources, both of which aren’t bad but blown out of proportion by the USNWR. If Michigan reported faculty:student ratios as private universities do, and if it managed to improve class sizes cosmetically, it would jump quite a few spots in the rankings. And if Financial Resources took into account state vs private funding means and tuition structures, again, Michigan would jump a few more spots. Finally, if the USNWR dropped the alumni donation rate, Michigan would also improve in the rankings. Those are the three criteria that really hurt Michigan. </p>
<p>Peer Assessment score and student selectivity are fine.</p>
<p>Michigan’s Peer Assessment score (4.5) is in the same ball park as Brown (4.4), Chicago (4.6), Columbia (4.6), Cornell (4.6), Dartmouth (4.3), Duke (4.4), Johns Hopkins (4.6), Northwestern (4.3) and Penn (4.5).</p>
<p>In terms of selectivity, Michigan managed to be ranked in the same range as Carnegie Mellon, Chicago, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt. Not bad for a university with 25,000 undergrads!</p>