Penn State National Ranking

[NittanyJim46]

In the last few months, I have read various surveys listing the Best universities using several different criteria. Today I read a listing of the 25 best Public Universities in the country. To my surprise, we were nowhere to be found. The list included almost every Univ of Cal schools(i.e. San Diego , Davis, UCLA etc) . The BIG 14(BIG10) was represented by Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The list also included Georgia(?),Virginia, Bill & Mary and Florida. I am not so naive to expect PSU to be in every top 25 per criteria but it would be nice to see us ranked on some surveys. I realize that since the Sandusky nonsense, we have had plenty of BAD press but what exactly are the university heads doing to foster excellence in all the academic areas? I bleed blue and white just like everyone else but I prefer to see us with HIGH academic ranking. The sports -including football- just is not that important to me. Perhaps we should spent less on athletic bureaucracy and more on enhancing our academic output.

 

[BlueBand]

Look at the names on the list. I saw the same thing, not sure was criteria they used, but it's a BS list, unless it's some niche topic.

No Michigan? But UC Davis is on the list? Right.

Penn State's academics are doing just fine. You'll find them ranked on almost any legitimate list. This one was bupkis, or had some angle I couldn't figure out.

 

[tototootsi]

In the last few months, I have read various surveys listing the Best universities using several different criteria. Today I read a listing of the 25 best Public Universities in the country. To my surprise, we were nowhere to be found. The list included almost every Univ of Cal schools(i.e. San Diego , Davis, UCLA etc) . The BIG 14(BIG10) was represented by Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The list also included Georgia(?),Virginia, Bill & Mary and Florida. I am not so naive to expect PSU to be in every top 25 per criteria but it would be nice to see us ranked on some surveys. I realize that since the Sandusky nonsense, we have had plenty of BAD press but what exactly are the university heads doing to foster excellence in all the academic areas? I bleed blue and white just like everyone else but I prefer to see us with HIGH academic ranking. The sports -including football- just is not that important to me. Perhaps we should spent less on athletic bureaucracy and more on enhancing our academic output.[/

 

[tototootsi]

I think those two losses may have kept us off the list

 

[michnittlion]

Look at the names on the list. I saw the same thing, not sure was criteria they used, but it's a BS list, unless it's some niche topic.

No Michigan? But UC Davis is on the list? Right.

Penn State's academics are doing just fine. You'll find them ranked on almost any legitimate list. This one was bupkis, or had some angle I couldn't figure out.

Penn State academics are fine, you are right --- but I wouldn't necessarily call out UC-Davis. That is a very good public university.

 

[Art]

Don't put much stock in these lists. The folks who compile them have few, if any qualifications, to assess the quality of academics.

 

[jj410]

In the last few months, I have read various surveys listing the Best universities using several different criteria. Today I read a listing of the 25 best Public Universities in the country. To my surprise, we were nowhere to be found. The list included almost every Univ of Cal schools(i.e. San Diego , Davis, UCLA etc) . The BIG 14(BIG10) was represented by Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The list also included Georgia(?),Virginia, Bill & Mary and Florida. I am not so naive to expect PSU to be in every top 25 per criteria but it would be nice to see us ranked on some surveys. I realize that since the Sandusky nonsense, we have had plenty of BAD press but what exactly are the university heads doing to foster excellence in all the academic areas? I bleed blue and white just like everyone else but I prefer to see us with HIGH academic ranking. The sports -including football- just is not that important to me. Perhaps we should spent less on athletic bureaucracy and more on enhancing our academic output.

Such lists are meaningless. "Best" for who?

 

[Raffycorn]

All of these rankings have flaws, but I think the most "nationally accepted" ranking is from the US News & World Report. In their latest rankings, PSU is in the top-50 nationally, in one of their best showings ever in those rankings.

Anecdotally, I would certainly place PSU in the same "public ivy" realm as schools like UVA, Michigan, UT-Austin, UNC, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, etc.