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

Northeast Conference (Average)

2016 University Academic Rankings
The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the NCAA. Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports except football, which competes in the Division I Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Participating schools are located in the Northeastern United States.

The conference was named the ECAC Metro Conference when it was established in 1981. The original eleven member schools were Fairleigh Dickinson University, Long Island University, Loyola College in Maryland (left in 1989), Marist College (left in 1997), Robert Morris University, St. Francis College (N.Y.), St. Francis College (Pa.), Siena College (left in 1984), Towson State University (left in 1982), the University of Baltimore (left in 1983) and Wagner College.

The conference's name was changed to its present form on August 1, 1988. Other names considered were Big North, Great North, North Shore, Northern, Northeastern, Eastern and Eastern Private Intercollegiate.

The Northeast Conference has expanded seven times since 1981. The expansions and additions from the original charter members were in 1985 (Monmouth University, which left in 2013), 1989 (Mount St. Mary's University), 1992 (Rider University, which left in 1997), 1997 (Central Connecticut State University), 1998 (Quinnipiac University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County which respectively left in 2013 and 2003), 1999 (Sacred Heart University) and 2008 (Bryant University). The Northeast Conference's ranks was largest at 12 in 2008 with the addition of Bryant University, but dropped to 10 in 2013 with the departure of Monmouth and Quinnipiac for the MAAC.

The Northeast Conference has a total of 10 full members in 22 championship sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's bowling, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, men's and women's indoor track & field, women's lacrosse, men's and women's outdoor track & field, men's and women's soccer, softball, women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, and women's volleyball. Currently the conference is seeking to expand with the possible addition of Delaware State University and New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Men's lacrosse became the league's 23rd sport for the 2011 season. The number of sports dropped to 22 after the 2012-13 school year, when the conference dropped field hockey. The departure of Monmouth and Quinnipiac to become all-sports members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in July 2013 gave the MAAC four full members that sponsored the sport; the other two were NEC single-sport affiliates Rider and Siena. The MAAC then decided to add field hockey as a sponsored sport for the 2013 season, and all of the NEC's remaining field hockey programs eventually joined the MAAC except for Saint Francis (PA), which joined the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Member schools | Full members | Current full members | Former full members | Affiliate members | Current affiliate members | Former affiliate members

^ The VMI men's swimming program joined the NEC for the 2003-2004 school year. The women's swimming team became a varsity program during the 2005-2006 school year.

^ At the time of their membership in the Northeastern Conference, VMI was a member of the Big South. In 2014, they became full members of the Southern Conference. In swimming, the Keydets left the NEC to join the league now known as the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association.

Membership timeline | Sports Sponsored

The Northeast Conference sponsors championship competition in ten men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Seven schools are associate members in three of those sports.

Men's basketball | Men's basketball champions | Northeast Conference ... [more on wikipedia]

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

Northeast Conference Details

Northeast Conference Details
detail value
state-
conferenceNortheast Conference
public-Conf-
scores1616/1077/24
levelAverage
rank[-
overall ROI rank[-1
sizesmall
undergrads3309
grads1280
price47951
drop34
stem13
research2
scores validTrue
Common Questions...

What are the academic rankings for Northeast Conference (Average)?

1. number - for Academics.

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

What universities are similar to Northeast Conference (Average)?


National Academic Rankings

(summary of all ranking placements)

Northeast Conference National Academic Rankings

Northeast Conference National Academic Rankings
category rank scores difficulty smartest brainpower faculty research salary ROI overall ROI
Conferences927370809053799095


Peer Universities / Similar Universities

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

Northeast Conference Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Northeast Conference

Northeast Conference Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Northeast Conference
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI


Academic Peer Universities / Similar Academics

(mathematically similar academics)

Northeast Conference Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Northeast Conference

Northeast Conference Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Northeast Conference
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI
97.97
Great Northwest Athletic Conference (Average)-Great Northwest Athletic Conference-Conf-Average--1
96.09
Empire Eight (Low)-Empire Eight-Conf-Average--1
93.92
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (Low)-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference-Conf-Average--1
91.89
Southern Athletic Association (Low)-Southern Athletic Association-Conf-AboveAverage--1
91.64
New Jersey Athletic Conference (Low)-New Jersey Athletic Conference-Conf-Average-479
91.63
Horizon League (Low)-Horizon League-Conf-Average--1
91.28
Division II Independents (Average)-Division II Independents-Conf-Average--1
90.64
New England Football Conference (Low)-New England Football Conference-Conf-Average--1