Study in USA | Universities

Top 100 Universities in USA – Rankings Explained

I do suggest you take time to read a couple of interesting comments on the Top 100 Universities in USA blog post. There are various websites that provide lists of the top universities and colleges (both public and private) in the USA.

US News usually publishes the US Universities Rankings and Top Universities in the USA every year. Students usually follow these university rankings when selecting schools they plan to attend.

Top 100 Universities in USA

A Top 100 Universities in USA list started like this when the said article was first published:

  1. Harvard University
  2. University of Virginia
  3. University of Michigan
  4. Cornell University
  5. University of Washington
  6. Stanford University

There are a couple of comments made to that article, such as:

this is the stupidest ranking i’ve ever seen.

Misleading Article.

Most students when following various U.S. university and college rankings usually have no clues on how the rankings were calculated and what are factors considered to calculate the rankings.

Let’s think about what students typically look for in selecting universities when they are searching for the Top 100 Universities in the USA.

  • Most international students have no clue on how to select universities.
  • Students don’t check if the factors that are important to them are included in the ranking
  • International students typically look at:
    1. Low tuition fees
    2. Low cost of living
    3. 100% chances to get financial aid
    4. Ease of getting jobs after graduation.
    5. University reputation
    6. The best university for their profile

US News Rankings Indicators

The indicators used by US News to rank universities include:

  1. Peer Assessment = 25%
  2. Student Retention = 20%
  3. Faculty Resources = 20%
  4. Student Selectivity = 15%
  5. Financial Resources = 10%
  6. Graduation Rate Performance = 5%
  7. Alumni Giving Rate = 5%

Now compare above 7 indicators used by US News to the above 6 factors commonly considered by a typical international student when selecting a university based on another dimension (GRE exam, TOEFL exam score, etc.).

There is absolutely no match. Does that mean the US News ranking is not good, if not good at all? The firm has its own ranking methodology, but that doesn’t apply to you.

Almost everyone uses Google to find information on the web. Readers who wrote the above 2 comments should have located this article by searching via Google.

However, they do not know how the Google search process works and how to search the results that are displayed.

If you search for a term, you can see there are thousands of webpages that contain the words you have searched for, but why do you see certain pages in the first page of the search result?

You depend 100% on Google to find information, but if we list the top 100 universities in USA based on Google results, is it reasonable for you to just call it as the “stupidest ranking”?

We definitely like to know what do you think about this ranking methodology and how the top 100 universities in the U.S. were listed.

Similar Posts

30 Comments

  1. can anyone tell me which is the best university to do my MBA in us……if we don’t consider the rankings……….i am from india …i am going to study in us by getting LOAN, so if i want a immediate job after my studies and also SCHOLARSHIPS which university should i choose and in which area of us(east…)like that so that the living expense will be very much little………

    1. Admissions in MBA program need a lot of hard work. You need to take up tests like GMAT and TOEFL/IELTS for that first. You work on your application essays then. Scholarships are available based on merit. But are definitely tough. Jobs again are based on how you network while in US. Choice of Universities should be based on your overall profile in terms of academics, GMAT score and work experience.

      Share your profile in forums section for suggestions on Universities you can apply to.

  2. Very nice article..highly informative
    however I have a doubt..
    There are certain universities which are not ranked even in the top 100..but some of these have very good reputation..and are also quite cheap compared to many other universities..it matches all the criteria I am looking for..
    For example San Jose state univ ..they are many such univs which are not ranked but seem to be good decent univs
    Is it a safe opting for such universities?

  3. Hi, I totally agree with you for the above article on university ranking.
    Can anyone suggest what are the best universities for pursuing Masters in Biomedical in US and also provide funding opportunity??

  4. i agree that every university ranking doesn't apply to everybody, but some univ rankings, like QS, do show the rankings according to 'employer reputation', 'academic reputation', 'international students' etc….

    these rankings should not be followed blindly, its their point of view…one should always refer to multiple sources.

  5. Dis your liost of 100 universities in us…..follow the keep in mind the 6 needs of an international student???
    I am a student in vlsi.Presently doing my Mtech from NIT rourkela.
    I am doing my final yr project on OPamp fabrication.
    Can u suggest the list of colleges i should be looking forward to if i wanna work on vlsi and also aspire to get full funding??i am gonna sit for gre ths october.

  6. Dis your liost of 100 universities in us…..follow the keep in mind the 6 needs of an international student???

    I am a student in vlsi.Presently doing my Mtech from NIT rourkela.

    I am doing my final yr project on OPamp fabrication.

    Can u suggest the list of colleges i should be looking forward to if i wanna work on vlsi and also aspire to get full funding??i am gonna sit for gre ths october.

  7. Hello

    Can anyone tell me the ranking of Indiana University? I'm on the look out for universities for graduate programs in Biotechnology.

  8. sir,

    i got 1200 in gre& 92 in toel…i'm an indian. can plz suggest me the list of colleges which are offering ms in mechanical related stream?

  9. My gre score is 1000

    tofel score 92

    im planing for spring in 2011

    can u suggest me few good colleges in which i can find indian students

  10. This is a really interesting and enlightening article.

    I think most of us Indians would love to know about the Universities with maximum placement opportunities.

    Thank You

  11. i am enlightened by the level of information provided by this blog it has been a great support . I am currently pursuing my PGDM from a IGSM which is both approved by aicte and AIU so can i apply for phd directly in USA… if i wish to do something related to do with economics, finance or production management course wat can i look forward to in USA

  12. Sir,

    I have got admit from
    NCSU for Masters in civil engineering for fall 2010 in transportation engineering.

    Purdue for masters in civil engineering for fall 2010 in Construction engineering

    Well fees at Purdue are bit higher which one will you suggest me to join.

    NCSU has laready told me there is no funding fro next 1 year.

    So please help me decide

    1. hey…what was your UG gpa or percentege…did u have any publications or papers at the time of applying…and what was your gre score…did u get any aid…just wanted to know whether i can apply…:)…

  13. i need to know the university where i can learn holographic technology or specialize in that (it should fall in electronics category, i guess).
    i know of one- university of michigan

    thanks for the useful info. good work, keep up

  14. My gre score is 1240

    im planing for spring in 2011

    can u suggest me few good colleges which has campus recruitment

  15. hey can ya tell me what the typical gre score and academic percentage should be to get into embry riddle aeronautical university?

  16. What you say makes a lot of sense. but you haven't mentioned anything on how to search based on the "international students' factors"?

  17. i am planning to apply for an ms course in us universities. i did a month's internship in a telenetworking company. do u think this will do any good to my profile or my chances?

  18. hi im an engineering student and applying for my gre in next month, can you please help me to find some good colleges dat offers telecom courses in united states…ie MS in telecommunications…..please kindly refer me some good websites to search my programme.

  19. hello,

    i'm looking to apply in a couple of top american engineering universities. but some say colleges like purdue-west lafayette and univ of illinois- urbana champaign are very iit and nit centric. can anyone plz tell me if its worth trying to apply to them, or is it a waste of money for i'm neither an iitian nor an nitian?

    1. Hema,

      If you have a profile which is as good as an IITian or any REC's profile then I see no reason why you shouldn't apply to those schools you just named.

      Not every IITian is a topper (you have an advantage here if you are in your peer group), IITians have a few projects under their belt and a few paper presentations and publications in important conferences (if not publications, they're atleast being considered by the jury of those conferences).

  20. Hi,

    Can anyone let me know about the funds at Illinois Institute of Technology-Chicago for Computer Science Department. Also, the job prospects after graduation of MS in CS.

    Regards,

    Hema

  21. You depend 100% on google to find information, but if we list top 100 universities in USA based on google results, you call it as “stupidest ranking”.

    What kind of an imbecile statement is this?? If we wanted to create top 100 unis using google, then we would have googled it ourselves.. People come to this blog to find some decent info, not read some useless posts like this with moronic explanation..

    1. Your comments are well taken, I'm going to write what I feel is useful, definitely not what you think will be useful. It's my blog and I can write what I feel is right, if you feel that's moronic, I don't; care about that. You can feel and write what you think is right or wrong and good or bad. 🙂
      Infact it's good to have few people like you around this blog, so it will be good entertainment for others.

      1. HSB, you're actually true 😛 This is good wholesome entertainment ! The guy seems to be preparing for the GRE. I noticed he's been using some 'archaic' words which only appear in the GRE 😛 !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *