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<p>Berkeley = 4.7</p>
<p>Michigan = 4.4</p>
<p>Some others…</p>
<p>
And guess who was No. 1? ;)</p>
<p>No school, not even Harvard is the best in everything. These arguments where we try to judge schools on every academic department is pointless. (How many threads are created each year around this topic alone?) </p>
<p>Honestly, college is 4 years of your life. I love how no one else also judges a school by how it engages its alumni after college…and not just through sports. I have to say as a UVa alumnus, I attend alumni mixers (we just had our big Holiday Party here in NYC attended by 400+ alums), financial/art/media/real estate alumni panels that help us improve our lives, webinars (on Fridays from UVa) that help us negotiate for higher pay among other topics, workshops to help alumni parents get their kids into college, the list goes on. </p>
<p>For me, UVa has surpassed my expectations of the school, and I’m still ACTIVELY benefiting from it 10 years later here in New York.</p>
<p>How can you rank that?</p>
<p>“No school, not even Harvard is the best in everything.”</p>
<p>Stanford comes pretty close.</p>
<p>Stanford doesn’t have elite Public Affairs, Divinity, Architecture or Nursing programs. I would agree rjkofnovi that it’s the most well-rounded school on the planet but even Stanford has its limits.</p>
<p>This is why departmental and professional program comparisons are pointless. Not all schools choose to specialize in everything. The University of Chicago doesn’t even offer Engineering but yet its considered one of the 10 best schools in the world.</p>
<p>“Stanford doesn’t have elite Public Affairs, Architecture or Nursing programs”</p>
<p>Michigan does. :-)</p>
<p>UT Austin actually has the No. 2 architecture school in the nation in addition to top nursing and public policy/affairs programs.</p>
<p>^^^But no top medical or T14 law school. Michigan does. :-)</p>
<p>^UT Austin has a top 14 law school, it’s just not a T14 law school.</p>
1 Like
<p>Yes, I know. ;-)</p>
<p>^^So in conclusion of this thread, UC Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA and UT Austin are the <em>best</em> and most well-rounded public universities, closely followed by UVa and UNC-CH!!</p>
<p>^ Wisconsin and Washington too… haha</p>
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<p>That must be why USNWR has UCB as the #1 public, UVA and UCLA tied for #2, Michigan #3, UNC #4, and W&M #5. If you look at the selectivity of the school concerning admissions (acceptance rate, SAT averages, GPA averages for incoming freshman, etc.), it correlates accordingly with USNWR’s rankings. That aside, ALL schools offer great undergraduate and graduate programs; the “best” one depends on what you’re wanting to study as well as what kind of environment you’re seeking (warm/cold weather, big/small, conservative/liberal, strong Greek presence/little Greek involvement, etc.)</p>
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<p>The only reason it correlates so closely with USNWR rankings is precisely because the USNWR rankings weigh those criteria most heavily in the methodology. However, if you look at measures such as faculty quality, departmental rankings across broad disciplines, research strength, etc. then UT-Austin, Wisconsin, and Washington are indeed much stronger than UVA and UNC.</p>
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<p>Quite simply, no. Please look at law school rankings, med school rankings, business school rankings, etc. Then look at undergraduate programs of the more popular majors (not obscure ones) and the corresponding ranks. Look at the freshman retention rate, class sizes, % of courses taught by TAs, median income of graduates, etc., etc. Lastly, look at the caliber of student attending each of these schools (SAT averages, GPAs, # of APs/scores, etc.). I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from, but USNWR’S rankings of the publics are actually quite accurate.</p>
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<p>1) Michigan - 7th
2) UC Berkeley & UVa - 9th
3) UT Austin - 14th
4) UCLA - 16th</p>
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</p>
<p>1) UC Berkeley - 7th
2) UVa - 13th
3) UCLA & Michigan - 14th
4) UT Austin - 17th
5) UNC CH - 19th</p>
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</p>
<p>Undergrad Engineering:</p>
<p>1) UC Berkeley - 3rd
3) Illinois - 5th
4) UT Austin - 8th
5) Michigan - 9th
6) UCLA - 14th
7) Wisconsin - 16th</p>
<p>Sciences (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Math, Computer Science)</p>
<p>1) UC Berkeley - 2.2
2) Wisconsin - 13.2
3) Michigan - 13.6
4) Illinois - 14
5) UT Austin - 14.8
6) UCLA - 16.2</p>
<p>Liberal Arts (English, History, Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, )</p>
<p>1) UC Berkeley - 2
2) Michigan - 6
3) UCLA - 8.4
4) Wisconsin - 11.2
5) UNC CH - 11.8
6) UT Austin - 15.4</p>
<p>As you can see, of the top 8 public universities I included, Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, and UT-Austin are the only ones that appear in the top 20 of each of these rankings.</p>
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<p>I personally think that most of these measures have nothing to do with how good a school is. If you do, that’s fine. Everyone has their own methodologies for rankings.</p>
<p>Here’s one last statisitc I think is important.</p>
<p>University Endowments:</p>
<p>1) Michigan - $7.8B
2) UT Austin - $7.2B
3) UVa - $5.24B
4) UC Berkeley - $3.15B
5) UNC CH - $2.22B
6) UCLA - $1.8B
7) Wisconsin - $1.6B
8) Illinois - $955M</p>
<p>"Undergrad Engineering:</p>
<p>1) UC Berkeley - 3rd
3) Illinois - 5th
4) UT Austin - 8th
5) Michigan - 9th
6) UCLA - 14th
7) Wisconsin - 16th"</p>
<p>Michigan is number at #6 and UTA is not ranked in the top 10 at USNWR for UNDERGRADUATE engineering. You were looking at the grad school rankings. :-)</p>
<p>[Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs | Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate)</p>
<p>^This is the first time I’ve ever been wrong in my life, so don’t think this will ever happen again, rjk, but I’ll correct my mistake… </p>
<p>Here’s the list of the best UNDERGRAD engineering schools ;)</p>
<p>1) UC Berkeley - 3rd
2) Michigan / Illinois - 6th
3) UT Austin - 11th
4) Wisconsin - 13th
5) UCLA - 20th</p>
<p>Wisconsin has more than 1 endowment. Three major ones total over $4 Billion.
UW Foundation–$1.8 Billion
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation $2.1 Billion
UW-Madison- $ 400 million</p>
<p>If you look at endowment, it needs to be average endowment per student. Because UVa has a much smaller total enrollment than most well-known public universities, UVa’s endowment per student would put it way at the top of that measurement. However, UVa gets thousands of dollars less per student per year in state funding than Michigan, UNC and some other publics. </p>
<p>UVa has been widely recognized as a very cost-efficient institution. Some rankings actually penalize universities if they don’t spend as much per student as other universities. UVa is also one of the few public universities that meets 100% of the financial needs of out of state US students.</p>
<p>UVa’s smaller enrollment also has some other influences on measurements. It naturally would be expected to have fewer winners of top academic awards, for example, because it has fewer students and professors than many public universities.</p>
<p>I’m also constantly amazed that everyone looks at endowment, and doesn’t look at debt. I know of at least two universities that appear to have a nice endowment, but their debt is actually equal to their endowment.</p>
<p>Agree that UVa is well managed. Aid for OOS may be reduced soon. Under review.</p>