Harvard of the Midwest

[jrb55]

Funny... U.S. News has UW's acceptance rate at 51.1% and Marquette's at 57.5%.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-wisconsin-3895

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/marquette-university-3863

As a side note, I thinks it's pretty dumb to compare general undergraduate rankings. Pretty meaningless in my opinion. I think you can get a quality education wherever you choose to go. It's all about what you put into it.

[4everwarriors]

Acceptance rate is not a perfect measure of selectivity.  There comes a point when a school's brand becomes so strong that people know not to even bother applying because they will be rejected.  IMO, a school like Harvard has definitely reached that status (and likely did so a long time ago).  This brand/reputation actually works to increase the school's acceptance rate.

As for the Harvard of the Midwest, I think the University of Chicago takes the cake and it's not even close.  I would put Michigan at second and Northwestern at third.  This coming from absolutely nothing but my own subjective thoughts.

As for Wisconsin, it is a great school but it is hardly Harvard (though who is really?)



I know your kiddin' with Michigan, hey? Actually, an outstandin' public university, but can't touch NU or WashU.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

Im not a die-hard Wolverine so I'll let others talk about who really is the top dog in the Midwest. All I'm saying is that the ego of UW fans on their school far exceeds that of Michigan fans. Personally I would expect the other way around based on academics as well as athletics. That's all.

[Tugg Speedman]

University of Chicago's got to be up there too.

There actually is an answer to the question ... it is the University of Chicago.  They are tied for fourth on the US news ranking (with Stanford) trailing only Princeton, Harvard and Yale.

When John D Rockefeller founded the school in 1890, it was precisely to make it into a Harvard of the Midwest.  (BTW, Rockefeller called U of C "the best investment he ever made")

Why do you think U of C nickname is Maroons?  Harvard is the Crimson.

Why you think it says Vertias on the U of C flag?  Because is says the same on Harvard's flag.

So U of C was modeled after Harvard and it's tremendous academic reputation says it is a clear success at being the Harvard of the Mdwest.

[Tugg Speedman]

Top 12 Midwest Schools in order (US News - National Universities)

1 University of Chicago (4)
2 Northwestern (13)
3 Washington University of St. Louis (14)
4 Notre Dame (16)
5 Michigan (29)
6 Case Western Reserve (38)
7 Illinois (42)
8 Wisconsin (47)
9 Ohio State (54)
10 Purdue (62)
11 Minnesota (71)
12 Marquette (76)

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

Top 5 Midwest Schools in order (US News)

University of Chicago
Northwestern
Washington University of St. Louis
Notre Dame
Michigan

agree with that order for undergrad, but considering all research and grad schools I bet you see ND drop out of the top 5... Maybe WUSL as well

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

agree with that order for undergrad, but considering all research and grad schools I bet you see ND drop out of the top 5... Maybe WUSL as well

I would put illinois above michigan and notre dame.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

I would put illinois above michigan and notre dame.

Id love to see a single supporting ranking of that. Is there even a single program of Illinois' that's ahead of Michigan?

[Tugg Speedman]

agree with that order for undergrad, but considering all research and grad schools I bet you see ND drop out of the top 5... Maybe WUSL as well

Research is about the size of your endowment, both are well over $1 billion.   They Will Hold Up Well Under This restriction.

and given the importance of endowment,  MU does really well in the rankings given its small endowment.

President Walker will fix this when he shovels billions to MU

[Coleman]

Top 12 Midwest Schools in order (US News - National Universities)

1 University of Chicago (4)
2 Northwestern (13)
3 Washington University of St. Louis (14)
4 Notre Dame (16)
5 Michigan (29)
6 Case Western Reserve (38)
7 Illinois (42)
8 Wisconsin (47)
9 Ohio State (54)
10 Purdue (62)
11 Minnesota (71)
12 Marquette (76)

This list surprised me. Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota strike me as incredibly overrated here, at least in my subjective conception of prestige. I feel like MU could leapfrog a couple of these pretty easily. 42 seems way too high for Illinois.

[Coleman]

I would put illinois above michigan and notre dame.

Good one.

[Eldon]

agree with that order for undergrad, but considering all research and grad schools I bet you see ND drop out of the top 5... Maybe WUSL as well

+1 and you would see Michigan beat Nwestern and smoke WUSTL

[Ellenson Guerrero]

This list surprised me. Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota strike me as incredibly overrated here, at least in my subjective conception of prestige. I feel like MU could leapfrog a couple of these pretty easily. 42 seems way too high for Illinois.

The amount of $ in public universities covers up a lot of warts in these types of rankings.

[Tugg Speedman]

+1 and you would see Michigan beat Nwestern and smoke WUSTL

Northwestern has an 8 billion dollar endowment (top 10 in the world and larger than Michigan) it has campuses in foreign countries, it is a leading research institution.

It will not move from this position should you apply this criteria.

[JuniorCardigan]

University of Chicago already has a catchy moniker

"University of Chicago - Where Fun Goes to Die"

I think that's official, but I didn't look it up.

My pops works for the U of C, I guess the students put it on t shirts as kind of an unofficial slogan. Another good one they put on t-shirts - "University of Chicago: Where the only thing that goes down on you is your GPA!"

[Coleman]

it has campuses in foreign countries,

Lots of schools have campuses in foreign countries. That doesn't really mean much. Most of them are just a building or two with a few faculty members, and are designed for semesters abroad.

Loyola Chicago has a Rome campus.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

My pops works for the U of C, I guess the students put it on t shirts as kind of an unofficial slogan. Another good one they put on t-shirts - "University of Chicago: Where the only thing that goes down on you is your GPA!"

my favorite is, "if I wanted a 4.0 I'd have gone to Harvard"

[Tugg Speedman]

Lots of schools have campuses in foreign countries. That doesn't really mean much. Most of them are just a building or two with a few faculty members, and are designed for semesters abroad.

Loyola Chicago has a Rome campus.

Northwestern has an entire campus in Qatar, complete with four year degrees from that campus.  They have other campuses as well that are more than study abroad semesters.

Warren Buffet and his sister last month gave Northwestern $100 million to expand their international campuses.

[Dawson Rental]

University of Chicago clearly. Most Nobel Laureates of any university in the world.... difficult to get into.... #1 business school in the world.... those are just the factoids I've got off the top of my head. I'm not sure where their law/medicine/etc ranks but I'm sure those are also up there.

Notre Dame is the Douchey Friend of colleges

#1 business school in the world?  Didn't I hear something about Northwestern's business school passing them up several years ago?  And there's always Stanford and Harvard (the Harvard of the East)

[Tugg Speedman]

#1 business school in the world?  Didn't I hear something about Northwestern's business school passing them up several years ago?  And there's always Stanford and Harvard (the Harvard of the East)

The top graduate business schools (aka MBA) in the world (all these schools have taken turns at #1).

Here is the latest rankings
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/mba-rankings?int=9dc208

Stanford
Harvard
Penn (Wharton)
U of Chicago
MIT
Northwestern (Kellogg)

--------------------------
And now, to make everyone puke.  What is the best unergraduate business program?

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/reports/business-schools/best-undergraduate-business-schools-2014

#1 for the fiifth year in a row ... Notre Dame Mendoza school of business

1    1    Notre Dame (Mendoza)    IN    Private    1    4    13    2    100.000
2    2    Univ. of Virginia (McIntire)    VA    Public    2    23    8    5    91.780
3    3    Cornell (Dyson)    NY    Private    3    26    2    12    91.454
4    6    Boston College (Carroll)    MA    Private    10    7    10    9    88.769
5    4    Washington Univ. (Olin)    MO    Private    4    41    1    12    87.654
6    9    Univ. of Texas at Austin (McCombs)    TX    Public    9    2    17    34    86.566
7    5    Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton)    PA    Private    12    30    12    2    84.562
8    13    Indiana Univ. (Kelley)    IN    Public    15    1    44    12    83.913
9    7    Emory (Goizueta)    GA    Private    5    43    9    5    80.991
10    10    Univ. of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)    NC    Public    6    33    11    12    80.039
11    18    Wake Forest    NC    Private    20    27    15    1    78.599
12    8    Univ. of Michigan (Ross)    MI    Public    24    20    6    12    78.315
13    12    Brigham Young (Marriott)    UT    Private    17    3    21    41    77.513
14    14    New York Univ. (Stern)    NY    Private    43    22    7    12    74.899
15    11    Univ. of California, Berkeley (Haas)    CA    Public    51    29    3    12    74.719
16    17    Univ. of Richmond (Robins)    VA    Private    7    94    40    2    74.444
17    24    Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)    PA    Private    72    46    4    5    74.097
18    16    Georgetown Univ. (McDonough)    DC    Private    31    38    5    34    72.943
19    25    Northeastern (D'Amore-McKim)    MA    Private    41    13    87    12    72.708
20    20    Bentley    MA    Private    34    10    64    12    72.414
21    30    Southern Methodist Univ. (Cox)    TX    Private    11    63    23    9    71.951
22    27    William and Mary (Mason)    VA    Public    19    75    19    9    71.166
23    22    Miami Univ. (Farmer)    OH    Public    14    35    27    24    70.571
24    15    Villanova    PA    Private    13    55    28    12    70.392
25    23    Boston Univ.    MA    Private    26    16    24    39    69.302
26    36    Babson    MA    Private    35    17    36    24    68.650
27    28    Texas Christian Univ. (Neeley)    TX    Private    8    86    33    34    68.419
28    31    Univ. of Southern California (Marshall)    CA    Private    50    8    22    51    68.070
29    33    Texas A & M (Mays)    TX    Public    22    5    45    102    66.398
30    26    Penn State (Smeal)    PA    Public    21    6    54    102    66.219
31    35    Lehigh    PA    Private    32    81    43    12    65.169
32    34    Ohio State (Fisher)    OH    Public    33    15    78    41    65.098
33    32    Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison    WI    Public    38    32    18    39    64.418
34    21    Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign    IL    Public    61    9    29    61    64.270
35    NR    Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Lally)    NY    Private    54    80    67    5    63.803
36    45    Univ. of Massachusetts-Amherst (Isenberg)    MA    Public    48    11    100    61    63.570
37    41    Georgia Tech    GA    Public    23    36    25    41    63.278
38    40    Fordham (Gabelli)    NY    Private    40    85    90    24    62.025
39    NR    Univ. of Maryland (Smith)    MD    Public    62    37    34    34    61.653
40    29    James Madison Univ.    VA    Public    18    65    75    51    61.584
41    46    Univ. of San Diego    CA    Private    25    124    111    24    61.110
42    43    Michigan State Univ. (Eli Broad)    MI    Public    47    14    41    83    60.989
43    38    Santa Clara    CA    Private    45    103    31    24    60.878
44    37    Univ. of Florida (Warrington)    FL    Public    86    12    72    41    60.020
45    42    Elon    NC    Private    27    40    89    41    59.955
46    39    Univ. of Minnesota (Carlson)    MN    Public    30    52    35    51    58.736
47    53    Loyola Univ. Maryland    MD    Private    56    91    63    24    57.872
48    44    Univ. of Georgia (Terry)    GA    Public    16    19    50    115    57.157
49    63    Bryant    RI    Private    74    18    85    51    57.085
50    69    Case Western Reserve (Weatherhead)    OH    Private    87
tate    School Type    Student Survey Rank    Employer Survey Rank    MBA Feeder School Rank    Academic Quality Rank    Ranking Index Score
51    47    Butler    IN    Private    66    123    30    24    56.487
52    48    Univ. of Washington (Foster)    WA    Public    89    21    48    41    56.142
53    70    Univ. of Miami    FL    Private    39    111    52    41    55.892
54    57    Binghamton Univ.    NY    Public    97    39    39    41    55.692
55    72    Syracuse Univ. (Whitman)    NY    Private    75    34    58    61    54.157
56    75    Univ. of Texas at Dallas (Jindal)    TX    Public    29    60    82    71    53.999
57    58    Purdue (Krannert)    IN    Public    65    31    65    71    53.949
58    83    Fairfield (Dolan)    CT    Private    44    110    76    61    53.615
59    71    George Washington Univ.    DC    Private    109    100    26    24    53.444
60    NR    Chapman    CA    Private    57    61    79    41    53.159
61    67    Seattle Univ.    WA    Private    49    83    116    51    53.144
62    56    American (Kogod)    DC    Private    46    126    66    61    53.110
63    59    The College of New Jersey    NJ    Public    69    114    47    51    52.584
64    60    DePaul    IL    Private    52    70    119    71    52.228
65    54    Univ. of Connecticut    CT    Public    82    44    126    51    51.572
66    61    Quinnipiac    CT    Private    71    47    118    61    51.110
67    68    Univ. of Denver (Daniels)    CO    Private    90    88    120    12    50.957
68    66    Baylor    TX    Private    58    89    49    71    50.783
69    52    Virginia Tech (Pamplin)    VA    Public    59    28    61    102    50.693
70    64    California Polytechnic    CA    Public    63    67    62    83    50.529
71    50    Univ. of Arizona (Eller)    AZ    Public    64    42    53    83    50.448
72    62    Ohio Northern Univ.    OH    Private    88    95    51    34    50.371
73    89    Colorado State Univ.    CO    Public    68    50    73    71    50.183
74    49    Tulane    LA    Private    103    119    20    51    49.864
75    109    Providence College    RI    Private    111    25    88    71    49.298
76    73    Univ. of Alabama (Culverhouse)    AL    Public    53    74    125    102    49.164
77    79    John Carroll (Boler)    OH    Private    113    76    56    24    48.918
78    85    Seton Hall (Stillman)    NJ    Private    110    117    32    41    48.705
79    86    Ohio Univ.    OH    Public    67    78    127    71    48.156
80    74    Marquette    WI    Private    98    96    70    51    47.825
81    55    Univ. of Tulsa (Collins)    OK    Private    78    105    86    71    47.689
82    65    Loyola Marymount Univ.    CA    Private    76    101    77    51    47.617
83    NR    Texas Tech Univ. (Rawls)    TX    Public    28    71    16    126    46.603
84    82    Univ. of Pittsburgh    PA    Public    101    58    80    61    46.395
85    NR    Florida State    FL    Public    36    48    115    120    45.708
86    95    North Carolina State Univ. (Poole)    NC    Public    37    49    114    115    45.366
87    NR    Sacred Heart Univ.    CT    Private    112    131    38    71    45.211
88    78    Univ. of Missouri (Trulaske)    MO    Public    55    77    94    102    45.207
89    92    St. Joseph's Univ.    NY    Private    91    112    108    61    45.152
90    90    Bowling Green State Univ.    OH    Public    99    93    69    71    44.749
91    93    Rochester Institute of Technology    NY    Private    93    59    105    61    44.241
92    77    Arizona State (W.P. Carey)    AZ    Public    80    54    96    102    43.942
93    97    Belmont    TN    Private    79    108    122    51    43.781
94    100    Univ. of Iowa (Tippie)    IA    Public    100    57    71    71    43.568
95    99    Illinois State Univ.    IL    Public    70    45    130    111    43.520
96    76    Univ. of Delaware (Lerner)    DE    Public    95    62    81    83    43.344
97    101    Univ. of Colorado at Boulder (Leeds)    CO    Public    114    69    68    83    42.930
98    91    St. Louis Univ.    MO    Private    92    104    74    71    42.769
99    103    Univ. of Houston (Bauer)    TX    Public    104    92    123    93    42.426
100    84    Univ. of Cincinnati (Lindner)    OH    Public    60    87    109    115    42.292

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

Northwestern has an 8 billion dollar endowment (top 10 in the world and larger than Michigan)

Not true, but whatever

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2014/07/30/22-richest-schools-in-america/

1) Harvard University, $32,334,293,000
2) Yale University, $20,780,000,000
3) University of Texas System, $20,448,313,000
4) Stanford University, $18,688,868,000
5) Princeton University, $18,200,433,000
6) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $11,005,932,000
7) Texas A&M University System and Foundations, $8,732,010,000
8) University of Michigan, $8,382,311,000
9) Columbia University, $8,197,880,000
10) Northwestern University, $7,883,323,000

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

The top graduate business schools (aka MBA) in the world (all these schools have taken turns at #1).

Here is the latest rankings
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/mba-rankings?int=9dc208

Stanford
Harvard
Penn (Wharton)
U of Chicago
MIT
Northwestern (Kellogg)

Grain of salt here is that there are several rankings of business schools with different methodologies. Economist, Financial Times & US News are the three most generally accepted.

Stanford, Harvard and Chicago (Economist) are, I believe, the only three able to claim "#1" in any of the three

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

#1 business school in the world?  Didn't I hear something about Northwestern's business school passing them up several years ago?  And there's always Stanford and Harvard (the Harvard of the East)

Right now Kellogg is hovering around #10 for MBA

[Tugg Speedman]

Right now Kellogg is hovering around #10 for MBA

Kellogg has been #1 in the past.

[Tugg Speedman]

Not true, but whatever

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2014/07/30/22-richest-schools-in-america/

1) Harvard University, $32,334,293,000
2) Yale University, $20,780,000,000
3) University of Texas System, $20,448,313,000
4) Stanford University, $18,688,868,000
5) Princeton University, $18,200,433,000
6) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $11,005,932,000
7) Texas A&M University System and Foundations, $8,732,010,000
8) University of Michigan, $8,382,311,000
9) Columbia University, $8,197,880,000
10) Northwestern University, $7,883,323,000

State schools have most of their endowment in land granted to them by the state government when they were founded.  This is especially the case with University of Texas and Texas A&M, which collectively are the largest land owners in the state of Texas.

This real estate  is a highly illiquid asset.  It cannot be sold, only borrowed against (within limits).  Their values are somewhat made up.  Also Northwestern is 1/5 the enrollment of Michigan so the endowment-per-student ratio is much higher (500%) at Northwestern offering much more opportunity for a Northwestern Student in research than a Michigan student.

Conversely, private schools have much more diverse and liquid endowments that also offer greater flexibility.

(side note, watch how the Texas and Texas A&M endowments tumbles down the list in the next few years with the oil bust now underway.)