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

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc (Average)

2016 University Academic Rankings
The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) is an athletic conference that competes in the NCAA's Division III. The nine teams in the conference are all located in the states of Michigan and Indiana. The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association was established on March 24, 1888, making it the oldest college athletic conference in the United States. The current members of the MIAA include Adrian College, Albion College, Alma College, Calvin College, Hope College, Kalamazoo College, Olivet College, Saint Mary's College of Notre Dame, Indiana, and Trine University, formerly known as Tri-State University. Olivet and Albion are the only charter members remaining in the conference. Former members include such colleges as Michigan State University, previously Michigan Agricultural College, (1888-1907), Eastern Michigan University, previously Michigan State Normal College, (1892-1926), Hillsdale College (1888-1961), and Defiance College (1997-2000).

The members of the MIAA remained the same from 1961 until 1997 when Defiance College of Ohio and Saint Mary's College of Indiana were invited to join, the first time colleges from outside of Michigan were admitted to the conference. Adrian, Albion, Alma, Calvin, Hope, Kalamazoo, Olivet and Saint Mary's have not been members of any other conference. In 2002, the league accepted Wisconsin Lutheran College as an associate member for the purpose of competing only in football. Wisconsin Lutheran College left the MIAA for another conference in 2007. The newest member of the MIAA was accepted in the 2004-05 season, Tri-State University. Tri-State University changed their name to Trine University in 2008.

History

The conference was established on March 24, 1888. Being the oldest conference in America, the conference has made some drastic changes involving the types of sports that the conference competes in. The number of sports with competition is 18 (9 men and 9 women sports). These sports include cross country, football, golf, basketball, tennis, swimming, baseball, volleyball, softball track and field and soccer. Some past sports that are no longer in competition include bicycle racing, Indian club juggling, wrestling, archery, and field hockey.

The “Father of the MIAA," was James Heckman of Hillsdale. Heckman promoted the idea of a permanent league after several schools had sponsored successful track and field days from 1884 to 1887. The first delegates met in Jackson on March 17, 1888 to organize the MIAA. A week after the meeting delegates from Albion, Hillsdale, Michigan State and Olivet drew up the MIAA's first constitution.

The schools that were to be a part of the MIAA in 1888 had diverse enrollment numbers. The largest enrollment belonged to Eastern with 714. Albion was listed as 451, Hillsdale 450, Michigan State 314, Olivet 277, Adrian 150, Hope 148, Kalamazoo 143 and Alma with 95 students (www.miaa.org accessed 10/15/08). Some of the enrollment figures included many students taking work on a high school level. This meant that athletic teams of those years included both high school and college students. A five or six year career of athletic participation was not unusual at that time (www.miaa.org accessed 10/15/08).

On May 31, June 1-2, 1888 the first MIAA track and field meet was held at East Lansing, not even three months after the original meeting. The events that were held included the 100- yard dash, 200-yard dash, 880- yard run, high jump, long jump, shot put, hammer throw and mile relay. Some other events that would not normally be at a track and field meet today, were lawn tennis, wrestling, Indian club swing, horizontal and parallel bar performing, bicycle racing, sparring, and tug-of-war. The teams that competed in this event were Hillsdale, Albion, Michigan State, and Olivet. Hillsdale was the first MIAA track champion.

The following year in 1889, the second ... [more on wikipedia]

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc (Average)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc Details

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc Details
detail value
state-
conferenceMichigan Intercollegiate Athle...
public-Conf-
scores1648/1099/25
levelAboveAverage
rank[-
overall ROI rank[-1
sizesmall
undergrads2175
grads20
price46648
drop30
stem23
research0
scores validTrue
Common Questions...

What are the academic rankings for Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc (Average)?

1. number - for Academics.

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

What universities are similar to Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc (Average)?


National Academic Rankings

(summary of all ranking placements)

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc National Academic Rankings

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc National Academic Rankings
category rank scores difficulty smartest brainpower faculty research salary ROI overall ROI
Conferences1006457999658828194


Peer Universities / Similar Universities

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

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI


Academic Peer Universities / Similar Academics

(mathematically similar academics)

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI
96.97
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (Average)-Heartland Collegiate Athletic ...-Conf-AboveAverage--1
93.80
Southern Athletic Association (Low)-Southern Athletic Association-Conf-AboveAverage--1
93.72
National (Average)--Conf-Average--1
90.09
Southland Conference (Average)-Southland Conference-Conf-Average--1