<p>Hi</p>
<p>I am an international student, and one of the school’s I have applied to in the US is the University of Virginia. </p>
<p>From what I’ve heard this university has got a very good reputation in the States, and is generally considered to be a top-tier state school. </p>
<p>However, my picture of this school is shattered when I look at the international rankings of universities: QS World University Rankings has placed UVA at 126th place, Times has it at 135th place etc. </p>
<p>In comparison, a school like University of Illinois is usually ranked around 30-50th worldwide, but is not considered (?) to be as prestigious as UVA. </p>
<p>What is causing this gap between public perception and the rankings in the case of UVA?</p>
<p>Rankings … they all depend on the metrics the ranker uses. If the metrics are focused on research and graduate level education you get one set of numbers. If they are focused on teaching and undergraduate education you get another. If they are biased toward engineering you get one set of numbers and if at the arts another.</p>
<p>So the University of Illinois – highly regarded in physics research, advanced (most post graduate) computer science, etc. – is a well known (outside of the United States) entity, but it is less well known for its undergraduate education.</p>
<p>I expect that you’re applying for an undergraduate degree. I seriously doubt that the QS ranking consider the quality of undergraduate education of a university in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>So there is no “perception gap”. The University of Virginia is highly regarded for Undergraduate Education in the United States. What Americans view as exceptional undergraduate education differs significantly from what the British, or the French, or the German, or the Japanese, etc. view it to be.</p>