Academics & Athletics: The 400 Best Schools in the World

[Condem]

Let's take a look at the Big Conferences (not including the Ivy League, obviously), shall we? Congratulations to the Big Ten, truly America's Premier Athletic but more importantly ACADEMIC Conference for putting 11 out of your 12 members on this distinguished list. An aggregate score of 100. Just awesome!! Fabulous job to the PAC 12 for having 10 of your institutions included. Most excellent. Aggregate score of 151. The ACC comes in with 9 schools with an average ranking of 166. Very, very good. The Big 12. A whopping 4 schools are represented. Score? 223. Ummm. I don't know. The Big East. At least you have 5. But 281?!? I don't know what to say. Finally, the SEC. I'm almost surprised you have 5. But that's the bright spot. Average score of 290. Gosh, fellas. Knowledge is good. Really. Well, then. Who talks the talk and who walks the walk?
http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/top-400-universities-in-the-world

[Condem]

1. And one more thing. Hello? Notre Dame?

A ranking of 223. Below every single Big Ten school with the exception of Nebraska. Hey, guys. If we need ya', we'll be sure to give you a hollar. Okay?

[El Supremo]

2. Where did Iowa come in? It must be high because...

it takes a lot of smarts to hold up a card at a football stadium.

See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQkJmATTyVk

[joeybee12]

3. You do realize that most US schools have an N/A on academic reputation, don't you...

so academics isn't factored in...in fact, most schools have at least 2-3 categories N/A.

[Condem]

4. Yeah, joey, I'm sure they just threw darts at a map.

Most of the N/A's are in the International faculty and students.

[joeybee12]

6. Expalin the academic part...nt

[Condem]

8. 25 out of the 85 US schools are N/A in Academic Reputation.

Most of these at the tail end of the list. See. That's why ND comes in at #223.

[madinmaryland]

15. I think there are five or six schools that consider her "ex-Palin"

:P

Or are you just dreaming about her.

:hide:

[lazarus]

5. interesting how

people talk about academics when they don't win championships.

It's football and money. Academics is a distraction the college presidents and NCAA use as an excuse to do what they want. Did the Mountain West and CUSA merge for better academics?

Bobby Bowden actually said in an interview that they applied to the SEC for 30 years, then decided they didn't fit the academics there and switched over to the ACC. Bull. They knew they could dominate the ACC and not the SEC in football, pure and simple. Academics was just an excuse. As always.

I don't know why we're talking academics in the Sports forum anyway. Take it to Education.

:hi:

[Condem]

7. What are you really trying to say here, joey?

That this list is not accurate? That the University of Southern Denmark doesn't deserve their #311 ranking? I'm not going to stand for that shit.

[lazarus]

9. I'm not Joey, i'm laz

the list may be accurate, but this is sports, not Education. It just doesn't belong here, where we discuss sports.

[Condem]

10. Disagree wholeheartedly, laz.

So if a player is dismissed for academic issues, that goes into Education?

[lazarus]

13. that affects the team, so it would go in Sports

but who has the highest graduation rate? Relatively meaningless. Who has the highest grades? Last time I checked, GPA wasn't included in the BCS formula.

For instance, at an elite school like Bama, quite a few of the players are leaving after three years to go pro. That can't help the graduation rate, but is it because the players are academically deficient, or because they want to make tens of millions of dollars?

Don't forget, Bill Gates is a college drop out. If my grand daughter, who is going to be an awesome beach volleyball player, has the opportunity to make big money on the circuit after three years of college, I'll say go for it. The point of college is to get a good job and make good money. If you can do that without a degree, you've saved time and money.

[Condem]

14. You can damn well guarantee that Academics is an important part of the Expansion issue.

At least in the Big Ten. Hey. If the SEC picks up Missouri at #371 it will improve your average. Oops. On second thought. Maybe not. Texas A&M is #158, though. That helps.

[lazarus]

25. I disagree

they love to talk about academics, because it maintains the fiction of the "student-athlete", which was coined by the NCAA to get out of paying for disability when an athlete was injured. "They're not employees, they're student-athletes." That was the scam, and it's still going on today.

The Big Ten doesn't want Missouri. It has nothing to do with Mizzou's academics, it's the fact that Mizzou brings nothing to the table for ratings or recruiting, nor is it a traditional powerhouse like Nebraska. The SEC really doesn't want Mizzou either, for the same reasons. We took A&M because that gives us a foothold for recruiting in Texas, giving the SEC all three of the top states for recruits. Academics, as usual, had nothing to do with it. It's all football money.

Money uber alles. Remember that. That's college football.

[Condem]

26. As far as television ratings go for Mizzou, the KC and St. Louis markets are pretty substantial.

Nope. The Big Ten was clearly not interested in Mizzou for some reason. As far as the SEC goes I hear some of the big wigs at the schools are concerned with travel costs. Clearly, a factor. Of course, it comes down to money. Again, the Big Ten Channel initiated this whole expansion issue. Delaney will have to move, eventually. But the schools have to be the right fit. And academics will be a large part of that fit.

[lazarus]

28. I guess the question is, why?

Why does academics matter to what is, in essence, a money-making alliance of schools based primarily on region for sports? If I was looking for the best school to go to for engineering, I would say, "Gee, I need to pick a Big Ten or Pac-12 school," I'd be looking for the specific school that fits my needs.

And was Nebraska that great an addition from an academics POV?

[Condem]

29. That's a question for Mr. Delaney, laz.

Mike Slive said that he could have 10 teams in a minute in the SEC. The same holds true for the Big Ten. Big Jim kept his mouth shut the whole time this last go round. Interesting to see what happens in the next five years. As far as the Nebraska deal, time was most definately of the essence. Nebraska wanted out of the Big 12 and Texas. The Big Ten acted. At the time, Big Red was in the AAU. They fell out after they joined.

[trumad]

11. Canes...230

Not bad.

[Condem]

12. Not bad at all, Tru.

Looking for Florida State. Having a hard time finding them.

[madinmaryland]

16. How the hell did you calculate all that shit, condem??

That must have been some high level fucking math that you took at Iowa!!

:P

[Condem]

17. LOL, mad.

My school isn't on the list. Probably around 472 or so. I'm surprised no one's called me out on the use of aggregate not once but twice. Sheer stupidity, mad.

[hughee99]

18. I'm SHOCKED to learn that superior athletics

and superior academics don't go hand in hand, since you can't swing a dead cat in any professional locker room without hitting a few Rhodes scholars or Mensa members.

[Condem]

19. Dead cat, hughee?

We've got 15 of 'em. Alive that is.

[hughee99]

31. If you're in the business of swinging them, though

the live ones put up too much of a fight.

[1gobluedem]

20. Which Big Ten school didn't make the cut?

I hope you all noticed which one is ranked the highest. :)

[Condem]

21. Nebraska.

They're a bit of a different situation, though. A Land grant University so if you are a native Nebraskan and can afford the tuition, you're in.
http://admissions.unl.edu/requirements/Index.aspx

[caraher]

22. I hadn't heard nearly-open admission defined a land grant university

Lots of Big Ten schools are land grant universities:

Michigan State
Penn State
Illinois
Purdue
Minnesota
Ohio State
Wisconsin

From what I can tell from your link, they're a more selective than you describe http://admissions.unl.edu/requirements/freshman.aspx">for traditional freshman admission. They have a set of core courses including 4 years each of math and English, 3 years each of science and social sciences, and 2 years of foreign language. And you need to clear a somewhat low bar in terms of either class rank or test scores:

In addition to meeting the above core course requirements, traditional freshmen students seeking admission to the University should:

* be ranked in the upper one-half of their high school class, OR
* have received an ACT composite score of 20 or higher*, OR
* have received a SAT total score (Critical Reading and Math only) of 950 or higher*.

[Condem]

23. Absolutely right, caraher.

Some fucking shitty information from my better half. Should have verified it a little better.

[happyiowan]

24. Shitty Info Other Half Checking In...

Wow - you're so right you have to be a C minus student or have an average ACT or below average SAT score. I don't have the correct vocabulary for their admissions program, but it is significantly more lenient for Nebraska residents.

[caraher]

30. For sure, the bar isn't at all high

I'd imagine that the core curriculum list is the main barrier for weak students given how low the test scores are.

[KamaAina]

27. self-delete

Never mind.