Updated.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/ran...iversities

Reddit post by 2024 P5 football conference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/16..._rankings/

Weighting changing from the previous year:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-co...e-rankings

Most significant ones by %.

Some schools can exclude SAT/ACT.
Old formula had class size up to 8%, now it is 0%.
New criteria, most significant is "College grads earning more than a high school grad" = 5%

FBS schools in top 50
3. Stanford
7. Duke
9. NW
15. UC- Berkeley
15. UCLA
17. Rice
18. Vanderbilt
20. Notre Dame
21. Michigan
22. UNC
24. Virginia
28. Florida
28. USC
32. Texas
33. GEORGIA TECH
35. ILLINOIS
35. WISCONSIN
39. Boston College
40. RUTGERS
40. Washington
43. Ohio St
43. PURDUE
46. MARYLAND
47. Texas A&M
47. GEORGIA
47. Virginia Tech
47. Wake Forest.

Thanks for sending out an update; always good for a chuckle on Monday morning. A few gems I noticed:

#33 NYU - yikes, all the Graduate programs are stellar but Undergrad? Not really other than Stern.
#40 Rutgers - wow, no top student in NJ goes there. Not sure what this rating could be based on at all and they appear 3 times!
#43 Boston U - way too high, some sort of private school markup
#47 Rochester - way too low, these grads get much better jobs than those from schools just above them
#53 FSU and Northeastern - definitely have no idea how either is this high
#67 Syracuse - glorified SUNY (not Binghamton or SB) at private school prices
#67 Villanova - very good school but mainly just Accounting
#73 Tulane - wow, egregiously low, see #47
#76 Stevens IT - uh, what?
#82 UIUC - c'mon now. IL and NJ getting inflated rankings
#86 Clemson - I know they are convincing a lot of NJ and LI kids to go there but seems awfully high

UMass is now tied with 3 ACC teams at #67, clearly that's where we're meant to be

(09-18-2023 08:23 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  Thanks for sending out an update; always good for a chuckle on Monday morning. A few gems I noticed:

#33 NYU - yikes, all the Graduate programs are stellar but Undergrad? Not really other than Stern.
#40 Rutgers - wow, no top student in NJ goes there. Not sure what this rating could be based on at all and they appear 3 times!
#43 Boston U - way too high, some sort of private school markup
#47 Rochester - way too low, these grads get much better jobs than those from schools just above them
#53 FSU and Northeastern - definitely have no idea how either is this high
#67 Syracuse - glorified SUNY (not Binghamton or SB) at private school prices
#67 Villanova - very good school but mainly just Accounting
#73 Tulane - wow, egregiously low, see #47
#76 Stevens IT - uh, what?
#82 UIUC - c'mon now. IL and NJ getting inflated rankings
#86 Clemson - I know they are convincing a lot of NJ and LI kids to go there but seems awfully high

I'm in grad school at Stern and am in agreement with you re: the quality of NYU as an undergraduate institution. I've generally found the quality of the undergrads that I've interacted with to be a step below what I saw at Rice.

That said, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts is world-class, so would add that in addition to Stern.

Overall impression: a lot of the top public flagships got a major boost in the rankings while many of the “rich kid” private schools (for lack of a better term) that aren’t Ivy/Ivy-peer academic schools got hit in the rankings (e.g. Tufts, Wake Forest, Tulane, GWU, Miami). The removal of class size and alumni engagement metrics hurt a lot of private schools while increased emphasis on enrollment, mobility and graduation rates for groups like Pell Grant recipients and first generation college students helped a lot of public schools.

It’s also interesting to see the exceptions to those trends. Public schools with “rich kid school” characteristics - think Colorado - didn’t get the boost that a lot of other public schools received.

The new ranking criteria seems to help some public universities, while privates take the hit. For example, amongst the future ACC schools:

Cal-Berkley, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech & UNC move up in rankings
Wake Forest, Southern Methodist & Miami move down in rankings

There are lots of universities in the future B1G that got ranking boosts…Rutgers, Washington, UCLA, Penn State, Michigan State, etc. While the SEC had more schools that fell in rankings…Vanderbilt, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi State, etc. Possibly the new US News outcomes criteria (rather than inputs) aligns better with STEM & research focused universities. Based on the future P4 membership, the change in criteria improved the educational perception of the B1G while slightly downgrading the SEC:

Conference…2023 Average Ranking…2024 Average Ranking
ACC…..51…..52 (@ 18 members including Stanford, UCB, ND & SMU)
B1G…..58…..53 (@ 18 members including UCLA, USC, Washington & Oregon)
SEC..109….113 (@16 members including Texas & Oklahoma)
B12…137….137 (@ 16 members including Arizona, ASU, Colorado & Utah)

(09-18-2023 08:23 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  Thanks for sending out an update; always good for a chuckle on Monday morning. A few gems I noticed:

#33 NYU - yikes, all the Graduate programs are stellar but Undergrad? Not really other than Stern.
#40 Rutgers - wow, no top student in NJ goes there. Not sure what this rating could be based on at all and they appear 3 times!
#43 Boston U - way too high, some sort of private school markup
#47 Rochester - way too low, these grads get much better jobs than those from schools just above them
#53 FSU and Northeastern - definitely have no idea how either is this high
#67 Syracuse - glorified SUNY (not Binghamton or SB) at private school prices
#67 Villanova - very good school but mainly just Accounting
#73 Tulane - wow, egregiously low, see #47
#76 Stevens IT - uh, what?
#82 UIUC - c'mon now. IL and NJ getting inflated rankings
#86 Clemson - I know they are convincing a lot of NJ and LI kids to go there but seems awfully high

You’re referring to UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) here as opposed to UIUC (the flagship Illinois), which is ranked at #35. UIC has long been very strong for its STEM programs at the graduate school level and its location in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago has gone from being a liability 25 years ago to a big-time asset (as it’s where so many of the local offices of tech firms like Google and top restaurants have located). Plus, flagship UIUC has been getting much more difficult to get into over the past several years, so that has a downstream effect on raising the student profiles at UIC. Finally, there are few universities with such highly ranked grad programs that educate as many first generation college students and Pell Grant recipients, which are new parts of the US News methodology that undoubtedly helped UIC.

USF is #89 ..... I believe that is our highest ranking ever. Clearly inside the top 100.

(09-18-2023 08:20 AM)goofus Wrote:  FBS schools in top 50
3. Stanford
7. Duke
9. NW
15. UC- Berkeley
15. UCLA
17. Rice
18. Vanderbilt
20. Notre Dame
21. Michigan
22. UNC
24. Virginia
28. Florida
28. USC
32. Texas
33. GEORGIA TECH
35. ILLINOIS
35. WISCONSIN
39. Boston College
40. RUTGERS
40. Washington
43. Ohio St
43. PURDUE
46. MARYLAND
47. Texas A&M
47. GEORGIA
47. Virginia Tech
47. Wake Forest.

So if I count correctly, there are 27 FBS schools in the US News Top 50. Using the
2023 lineup by conference
Big Ten - 8
ACC (Including ND) - 8
Pac - 5
SEC - 4
Big 12 - 1
G5 - 1

By 2024 lineup
Big Ten - 11
ACC - 10
SEC - 5
Big 12 - 0
G5 - 1

These rankings have fallen from grace. Most see them as a scam now.



U.S. News changes its college rankings to emphasize diversity and remove alumni giving

The 2024 Best Colleges rankings, set to be released in phases last Friday through this week, will feature more emphasis on a school’s “success in graduating students from different backgrounds,” the company said.

In addition, the methodology will remove metrics on alumni giving, faculty with the highest degrees in their fields, class size and high school standing of the entering class. Those will be included in school profiles but not in the rankings themselves.

The changes come amid longstanding backlash to the U.S. News rankings, the popular and influential listicle closely monitored by schools, alumni, parents and students alike.

Since its founding 40 years ago, U.S. News has repeatedly tweaked its methodology, although the schools atop the rankings – primarily the Ivy League schools and several California universities – have generally remained the same.

According to the 2022-2023 rankings, Princeton is rated No. 1 among national universities, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology second and Harvard, Stanford and Yale tied for third.

Critics say the rankings feed into the obsession with elite status rather than a school’s specific fit for a particular student. The college admissions scam known as “Operation Varsity Blues,” for example, laid bare the lengths that wealthy parents were willing to go to get their children into universities perceived as more prestigious.

Some universities have also manipulated the rankings, intentionally or not. In 2021, the former dean of Temple University’s business school was convicted of conspiracy and fraud for a scheme to use false data to boost the school’s rankings.

In addition, Columbia University acknowledged in 2021 it had relied on “outdated and/or incorrect methodologies” in submitting data to U.S. News, and in 2019, U.S. News said the University of Oklahoma gave “inflated” data on alumni giving rates for two decades.

https://nbcpalmsprings.com/2023/05/23/u-...ni-giving/

(09-18-2023 07:55 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Updated.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/ran...iversities

Reddit post by 2024 P5 football conference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/16..._rankings/

Thanks Schmolik

3. Stanford
7. Duke
9. Northwestern
17. Rice
18. Vanderbilt
20. Notre Dame

Six ELITE and deeeep-pocketed private institutions in FBS.

Five at the P5 level and one futzing around in the American

All six are Ivy League caliber. Those types of schools bring something different and worthwhile to College Football.

Sure wish Rice would've found a way over the years to fully invest in athletics.

In the National University rankings San Diego State jumped from #151 to #105. Even with the changes in criteria, that's a remarkable one-year leap, especially for an R2 university. Makes me wonder what drove the change. Is it possible that being considered for Pac-12 membership prior to the conference disintegrating had an impact?

For context, this is what happened with the next five highest rated MWC schools:

- Colorado State (R1) improved marginally from #153 to #151
- Hawaii (R1) was unchanged at #170
- New Mexico (R1) plunged from #187 to #236
- Wyoming (R2) dropped from #196 to #216
- Nevada (R1) improved from #227 to #195

Sure looks like the fix was in...

(09-18-2023 08:20 AM)goofus Wrote:  FBS schools in top 50
3. Stanford
7. Duke
9. NW
15. UC- Berkeley
15. UCLA
17. Rice
18. Vanderbilt
20. Notre Dame
21. Michigan
22. UNC
24. Virginia
28. Florida
28. USC
32. Texas
33. GEORGIA TECH
35. ILLINOIS
35. WISCONSIN
39. Boston College
40. RUTGERS
40. Washington
43. Ohio St
43. PURDUE
46. MARYLAND
47. Texas A&M
47. GEORGIA
47. Virginia Tech
47. Wake Forest.

I know you've already done the list for the entire P5 (if not all of FBS)

The year-to-year delta for this year compared to priors is wild.

Poor white BYU got nuked along with every state U from a very predominantly-white state.

(09-18-2023 10:36 AM)goofus Wrote:  

(09-18-2023 08:20 AM)goofus Wrote:  FBS schools in top 50
3. Stanford
7. Duke
9. NW
15. UC- Berkeley
15. UCLA
17. Rice
18. Vanderbilt
20. Notre Dame
21. Michigan
22. UNC
24. Virginia
28. Florida
28. USC
32. Texas
33. GEORGIA TECH
35. ILLINOIS
35. WISCONSIN
39. Boston College
40. RUTGERS
40. Washington
43. Ohio St
43. PURDUE
46. MARYLAND
47. Texas A&M
47. GEORGIA
47. Virginia Tech
47. Wake Forest.

So if I count correctly, there are 27 FBS schools in the US News Top 50. Using the
2023 lineup by conference
Big Ten - 8
ACC (Including ND) - 8
Pac - 5
SEC - 4
Big 12 - 1
G5 - 1

By 2024 lineup
Big Ten - 11
ACC - 10
SEC - 5
Big 12 - 0
G5 - 1

You could have just said AAC instead of the dismissive 'G5'

Truck Stop Conference
Baylor 93
TCU 98
Arizona St 105 (AAU)
Colorado 105 (AAU)
Arizona 115 (AAU)
BYU 115
Utah 115 (AAU)
Iowa St 115
UCF 124
Houston 133
Cincy 142
Kansas 151 (AAU)
Kan St 170
Okla St 185
Texas Tech 216
West Va 216

Potential Adds
Georgia Tech 33 (AAU)
Virginia Tech 47
UConn 58
NC St 60
Syracuse 67
Pitt 67 (AAU)
Louisville 195

(09-18-2023 09:05 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(09-18-2023 08:23 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  Thanks for sending out an update; always good for a chuckle on Monday morning. A few gems I noticed:

#33 NYU - yikes, all the Graduate programs are stellar but Undergrad? Not really other than Stern.
#40 Rutgers - wow, no top student in NJ goes there. Not sure what this rating could be based on at all and they appear 3 times!
#43 Boston U - way too high, some sort of private school markup
#47 Rochester - way too low, these grads get much better jobs than those from schools just above them
#53 FSU and Northeastern - definitely have no idea how either is this high
#67 Syracuse - glorified SUNY (not Binghamton or SB) at private school prices
#67 Villanova - very good school but mainly just Accounting
#73 Tulane - wow, egregiously low, see #47
#76 Stevens IT - uh, what?
#82 UIUC - c'mon now. IL and NJ getting inflated rankings
#86 Clemson - I know they are convincing a lot of NJ and LI kids to go there but seems awfully high

I'm in grad school at Stern and am in agreement with you re: the quality of NYU as an undergraduate institution. I've generally found the quality of the undergrads that I've interacted with to be a step below what I saw at Rice.

That said, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts is world-class, so would add that in addition to Stern.

As a complete outsider, I'm guessing "a step below" Rice is still really, really good.

I've come to the impression (and I could be totally wrong) that NYU is a prime destination for students from well-off families, kids who maybe are kind of artsy or creative-minded and want to enjoy life in New York City for 4-5 years.

Heck, who could blame 'em?

(09-18-2023 11:02 AM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  In the National University rankings San Diego State jumped from #151 to #105. Even with the changes in criteria, that's a remarkable one-year leap, especially for an R2 university. Makes me wonder what drove the change. Is it possible that being considered for Pac-12 membership prior to the conference disintegrating had an impact?

For context, this is what happened with the next five highest rated MWC schools:

- Colorado State (R1) improved marginally from #153 to #151
- Hawaii (R1) was unchanged at #170
- New Mexico (R1) plunged from #187 to #236
- Wyoming (R2) dropped from #196 to #216
- Nevada (R1) improved from #227 to #195

Sure looks like the fix was in...

Every California public school (with it’s a UC or Cal State System school) is going to score really high on first generation college student and Pell Grant recipient metrics and that was the biggest change to this year’s rankings. At the same time, they all were generally really low on the alumni engagement and class size rankings, so that was another simultaneous boost with those metrics eliminated.