University Benchmarks

Ranking the Top 100 Academic Universities

UniversityBenchmarks.com ranks the universities that attract and produce the best academic students.

There are many 'University Rankings' on the internet. Most rankings rely heavily on subjective metrics like 'reputation' and 'selectivity'. UniversityBenchmarks is purely an academic ranking model. The rankings are based on the reported academic and financial metrics of the colleges. There are no subjective factors like 'reputation' that are used. The calculations are performed using normal statistical models. All universities are considered equal and there is no weighting of the ranking categories.

The university 2014-2015 dataset is comprised of over 2400 US Universities & Colleges and comes from multiple sources using the most favorable reported metrics for a university.

The universities are ranked against each other in each filtered set. It is an iterative process whereby lower ranking universities are removed and the set is re-ranked until the final set of 100 is reached.

Selecting 'Rank Top 10 Only' will show the Top 10 for each filter category ranked against each other.

The academic rankings of the universities within the major conferences (ACC, Big12, Big10, Pac12, SEC) are available.

The 2017 rankings will be available in August.

Notes:
  • It is possible for universities to be ranked higher/lower than one another depending on the filter set.
  • Conference averages are based on the top 8 schools in the conference.
  • Public Schools are highlighted
  • Clicking on the university's seal icon will take you to the university's website.

Ranking Fields

Rank - Overall rank based on the average of the ranking fields (Scores, Difficulty, Smartest, Brainpower, Faculty and Research).

Scores - SAT & ACT scores. The university's test scores are corrected for dropout rate when score level is Good, Excellent or Elite. This will slightly boost scores for highly competitive schools.

Difficulty - Academic rigor is estimated based on how difficult it is to get an "A" at the university. An estimated GPA at the university is calculated for the average US Student. University grade inflation, average GPA, and STEM density are factors.

Smartest - University that can field the highest scoring students based on the average US University size. Higher Smartest Rank = "Smartest for the Average University"

Brainpower - The average "smartest" rank using 5 reference populations (CalTech, MIT, Stanford, GaTech and Berkeley). Higher Brainpower Rank = "Higher Density of Smart Students". The university ranked higher can mathematically field 'X' number of smarter students than universities ranked below them.

Faculty - Ranking based on number of % of faculty with awards and academy membership.

Research - Ranking is achieved by iteratively ranking the average of 3 research metrics (r-pop, r-stem, r-other ). The lowest ranked college is then removed and the new set is re-ranked. The result is the schools with potentially the strongest research environments per student bubble up to the top regardless of size or research budget.

  • r-pop - Average research spending for student population
  • r-stem - STEM research spending
  • r-other - Other/Medical/Health research spending

Salary ROI - "Salary Return on Investment" is not used in the overall ranking but is provided for additional information. Using the undergraduate average starting and mid-career salaries, the rank is based on a 20yr salary accumulation (with raises) minus the cost of a 4 year education at the university. Salaries are normalized across the country using the average COLA for the university's geo-economic region (7 regions total). The COLA effect is diminished by the level of the university. Elite, Excellent and Good universities have a greater distribution of graduates across the country and a diminishing COLA effect. The resultant value would be the graduate's spending potential over the 20yr period.

Overall ROI - "Overall Return on Investment" is not used in the overall ranking but is provided for additional information. The average of Overall Rank and Salary ROI. This would be the "Best academic bang for the buck". Colleges that produce the best education, at the best price, with the best return will be ranked higher.

Color Key - ranks are colorized as follows 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 50 100

The 2016 University Academic Rankings

Division II Independents (Average)

2016 University Academic Rankings

NCAA Division II independent schools are four-year institutions that field intercollegiate teams in football, lacrosse, soccer, and other sports which are not formally affiliated with any athletic conference.

All-sport independents | Current members | Men's sponsored sports by school | Women's sponsored sports by school | Football independents | Current members | Lacrosse independents | Current members | Future members | Pending members | Soccer independents | Current members | Wrestling independents | Current members | Future members | Pending members | Other Sports | Field Hockey | Golf | Future members | Rowing | Swimming & Diving | Future members | Tennis | Future members | Sports not in D-II | Future members | Pending members | References

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Division II Independents (Average)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Division II Independents Details

Division II Independents Details
detail value
state-
conferenceDivision II Independents
public-Conf-
scores1543/1029/23
levelAverage
rank[-
overall ROI rank[-1
sizemedium-small
undergrads5208
grads920
price36980
drop50
stem23
research144
scores validTrue
Common Questions...

What are the academic rankings for Division II Independents (Average)?

1. number - for Academics.

2. number -1 for ROI (Return on Investment).

What universities are similar to Division II Independents (Average)?



National Academic Rankings

(summary of all ranking placements)

Division II Independents National Academic Rankings

Division II Independents National Academic Rankings
category rank scores difficulty smartest brainpower faculty research salary ROI overall ROI
Conferences889191758542149998


Peer Universities / Similar Universities

(mathematically similar student body, size, academics, stem, salary... etc)

Division II Independents Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Division II Independents

Division II Independents Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Division II Independents
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI


Academic Peer Universities / Similar Academics

(mathematically similar academics)

Division II Independents Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Division II Independents

Division II Independents Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Division II Independents
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI
97.83
Sun Belt Conference (Low)-Sun Belt Conference-Conf-Average-327
97.43
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (Low)-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference-Conf-Average--1
95.48
New England Football Conference (Low)-New England Football Conference-Conf-Average--1
93.47
Great Northwest Athletic Conference (Average)-Great Northwest Athletic Conference-Conf-Average--1
91.73
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (Average)-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference-Conf-Average-458
91.66
Capital Athletic Conference (Average)-Capital Athletic Conference-Conf-Average-481
91.49
Northeast Conference (Average)-Northeast Conference-Conf-Average--1
90.44
Landmark Conference (Average)-Landmark Conference-Conf-AboveAverage--1