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Tier I
Miami #79
Buffalo #120
Ohio #124
Temple #132
Bowling Green #170
Ball State #179
Western Mich. #179
Kent State #183

Tier II
Toledo
Akron
Central Mich.
Northern Ill.

Regional Tier I
Eastern Mich. #81

MAC Expansion Candidates

Tier I
Delaware #75
UMass #99
Stony Brook #99
Albany #143
Illinios State #156
Southern Illinois #183

Tier II
Florida International
Florida Atlantic

Regional Tier I
James Madison #3
Western Kentucky #35
Marshall #47
Missouri State #52
Middle Tennesse #56
Arkansas State #58
Eastern Kentucky #59
Troy #65

Regional Tier II
Youngstown State
Cleveland State
Number of Tier I schools by Non-AQ conference:

MAC (8)
CUSA (6)
MWC (5)
WAC (4)
SBC (0)

-The MAC has the most Tier I schools of any non-AQ conference. CMU, Toledo, NIU are on the way up with Tier II status. Eastern Michigan has no hope of gaining Tier I status as its way down the list of regional colleges.

-The best expansion candidates for the MAC are going to be in the Tier I. The SBC schools are mostly regional colleges. Youngstown State and Cleveland State are Tier II regional schools, the MAC should avoid both.
Some other schools that have also been mentioned as MAC expansion candidates in these threads:

USC 23rd

University of Oklahoma 111th

Texas State University- San MArcos 40th Regional Tier one

Other MAC candidates anyone?
(08-17-2010 09:57 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote: [ -> ]Some other schools that have also been mentioned as MAC expansion candidates in these threads:

USC 23rd

University of Oklahoma 111th

Texas State University- San MArcos 40th Regional Tier one

Other MAC candidates anyone?

USNWR is simply one way to look at other universities and is aimed mostly at freshman and transfer students looking to enroll in college. It just happens to be the one that comes up because of its wide distribution. If you look at the USNWR criteria a good percentage of the score (22.5%) comes from what other administrators and high school counselors think of your school. They also do not consider graduate programs and research budgets, something that MAC presidents would definitely look at when evaluating candidates. Schools do not use USNWR rankings when they determine what their peer institutions are.

Here is CMU's and the criteria can be found here if anyone is interested. Notice some of the schools that have been mentioned in expansion are listed.

Final List of 10 Peer Institutions
Central Michigan University
Bowling Green State University
Western Michigan University
Ball State University
Miami University – Oxford
Kent State University
Eastern Michigan University
Middle Tennessee State University
Illinois State University
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
James Madison University
(08-17-2010 09:57 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote: [ -> ]Some other schools that have also been mentioned as MAC expansion candidates in these threads:

USC 23rd

University of Oklahoma 111th

Texas State University- San MArcos 40th Regional Tier one

Other MAC candidates anyone?

The Malibu College for Wayward Girls.
(08-17-2010 10:45 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote: [ -> ]
(08-17-2010 09:57 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote: [ -> ]Some other schools that have also been mentioned as MAC expansion candidates in these threads:

USC 23rd

University of Oklahoma 111th

Texas State University- San MArcos 40th Regional Tier one

Other MAC candidates anyone?

The Malibu College for Wayward Girls.


First tier number one and my personal choice to replace OU when OU drops down to FCS.
(08-17-2010 09:57 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote: [ -> ]Some other schools that have also been mentioned as MAC expansion candidates in these threads:

USC 23rd

University of Oklahoma 111th

Texas State University- San MArcos 40th Regional Tier one

Other MAC candidates anyone?

Do I really need to re-state the obvious: #19.

But thanks to H2O for fixing KC's gross oversight.
Also, the MAC has one institution with AAU status.

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476
Did they change the way their tiers work recently?
(08-19-2010 12:06 PM)uakronkid Wrote: [ -> ]Did they change the way their tiers work recently?

They did away with Tiers 3 and 4, expanded Tier 1, and plugged the mass of bottom schools in Tier 2. I assume college admins bitched about being ranked in a '4th' tier of anything so USNWR prettied it up for them.
(08-19-2010 01:10 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote: [ -> ]
(08-19-2010 12:06 PM)uakronkid Wrote: [ -> ]Did they change the way their tiers work recently?

They did away with Tiers 3 and 4, expanded Tier 1, and plugged the mass of bottom schools in Tier 2. I assume college admins bitched about being ranked in a '4th' tier of anything so USNWR prettied it up for them.

I see. I still think the only way to stop the complaining is to eliminate the popularity contest portion of the rankings. More than half the colleges boycott it, and the rest rate themselves the highest and rate down their rivals.
The only way to stop the complaining is to stop the rankings. They have become too much of a short cut, or just plain lazy, way to recruit students for that to happen.

They are fine for what they are, but the USNWR rankings are taken way too seriously. Had to laugh last year when a student editorial from my graduate school, Northwestern, offered a loud alarm that NU was at risk of becoming a safety school because it had fallen to 12th. It was a call to action for a Top 10 rating or face doom forever in the employment market. Geesch.

Personally don't care one way or the other, but a Provost at a National University shared a view once that the peer ranking was one of the more credible criteria, in his view, because it reflected how the institution's research, academic quality and overall management was respected by peers who had some ability to evaluate.
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