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

Great Lakes Valley Conference (Average)

2016 University Academic Rankings
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The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level. Member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

The GLVC is considered one of the top small college basketball conferences in the nation and placed a team in the men's NCAA Division II final over 11 straight years from 1994 to 2004.

History

In October 2008, Maryville University and The University of Illinois at Springfield accepted invitations to join the GLVC and began competing in the conference in the fall of 2009. For men's and women's basketball, the league split into three divisions based on geography (East, North, and West) for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, and reverted to two divisions when William Jewell College joined in 2011. Baseball and Tennis operate in a two-division format, while all other sports run a single table.

On January 19, 2010 the GLVC announced the addition of football as a league championship sport, beginning with the 2012 season. Kentucky Wesleyan, Missouri S&T and Saint Joseph's moved from the Great Lakes Football Conference, McKendree University and Quincy University from the Mid-States Football Association of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and Indianapolis ended its affiliate membership in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) to join William Jewell and form the seven-team league.

On October 6, 2010 it was announced that McKendree University accepted an invitation to the GLVC as the 17th member of the GLVC and begin participating in the conference in 2012. The following day, the conference announced that it had approved Central State University and Urbana University for associate membership in football, increasing the number of teams which will compete in the initial season of football to nine.

On October 18, 2011 it was announced that a new league, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC; not to be confused with the former Division I Great Midwest Conference), was forming for 2013. Charter members include Kentucky Wesleyan from the GLVC along with Central State and Urbana (GLVC members in football). Joining them are Ursuline, Notre Dame College, and Cedarville, with the G-MAC hoping to expand to 10 members. The new conferences' sponsored sports were not immediately announced. Kentucky Wesleyan, with its eight national basketball titles, is the biggest loss for the GLVC, but, with only 680 students, the school had trouble competing in the other sports against much larger schools.

On December 8, 2011 Northern Kentucky University officially accepted an invitation from the Division I Atlantic Sun Conference, effective July 1, 2012. It was announced on June 8, 2012 that the GLVC Council of Presidents had voted unanimously to accept Truman State University, located in Kirksville, Missouri into the conference. The "Bulldogs" will begin competition in the GLVC effective Fall, 2013. Truman was a founding member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, and becomes the seventh Missouri school to join the GLVC since 1995.

On August 27, 2012 it was announced that Central State University would leave the GLVC football conference to join the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) as a football-only member, effective July 1, 2013. (Two years later, Central State would become an all-sports SIAC member.)

On November 4, 2015 Drury University announced it would begin sponsorship of wrestling in the 2016-17 season becoming the sixth conference member with a wrestling program. They will join current wrestling-only independents Indianapolis, Maryville, McKendree, Truman State, and Wisconsin-Parkside in GLVC competition, giving the conference an eleventh men' ... [more on wikipedia]

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Great Lakes Valley Conference (Average)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Great Lakes Valley Conference Details
Common Questions...

What are the academic rankings for Great Lakes Valley Conference (Average)?

1. number - for Academics.

2. number 227 for ROI (Return on Investment).

What universities are similar to Great Lakes Valley Conference (Average)?

1. University of Michigan-Flint

2. University of Michigan-Dearborn

3. University of the Pacific

4. Florida Institute of Technology

5. University of Tulsa

6. University of New Orleans

7. University of Detroit Mercy


National Academic Rankings

(summary of all ranking placements)

Great Lakes Valley Conference National Academic Rankings


Peer Universities / Similar Universities

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

Great Lakes Valley Conference Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Great Lakes Valley Conference



Academic Peer Universities / Similar Academics

(mathematically similar academics)

Great Lakes Valley Conference Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Great Lakes Valley Conference