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

Presbyterian College

2016 University Academic Rankings
Presbyterian College, commonly known as PC, is a four-year, private liberal arts college located in Clinton, South Carolina, United States and affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. The college's president is Bob Staton. Presbyterian's undergraduate and graduate programs emphasize small class sizes, a congenial atmosphere between professors and students, and a commitment to service. PC is also home to Cyrus, the largest bronze statue of a Scotsman in the world.

History

Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 by the Rev. William Plumer Jacobs. He had served as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Clinton since 1864, and founded the Thornwell Orphanage. Originally called Clinton College, its first class (including three women) graduated in 1883. In establishing PC, his “tree of knowledge", Jacobs' goal was to educate young people for lives of service to church and society, and thereby be, in his words, “epistles to Christ's honor and glory".

By the time of Jacobs' death in 1917, the college had grown considerably in size and resources, and had six major buildings. Neville Hall, PC's most recognized structure, was constructed in 1907. The tenure of president Davison McDowell Douglas (1911-1926) saw the tripling of the size of the faculty and student body, the construction of four new buildings, and growth in the College's assets from $150,000 to over $1 million. After weathering the storms of the Great Depression and Second World War, Presbyterian has continued expansion on many fronts through the second half of the twentieth century. It became fully co-educational in 1965 (and in so doing dropped its previous motto, “Where Men are Made"). In 1969, it began admitting African-American students.

Academics | Undergraduate

Presbyterian College is a Carnegie One Liberal Arts College and is fully accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The School of the Liberal Arts confers B.A. and B.S. degrees in 30 courses of study and 9 pre-professional programs including Pre-Law, Pre-Med, Pre-Theology, and Pre-Pharmacy. PC also offers a dual-degree program in Engineering (with Clemson University, Auburn University, Georgia Tech, the University of South Carolina, and Vanderbilt University) and minor fields in an additional 13 disciplines such as Africana Studies, Media Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies. The liberal arts program has small average class sizes (13-15 students), and has six Carnegie/CASE South Carolina Professor of the Year Award winners.

PC is one of two South Carolina colleges or universities with a Confucius Institute, which fosters economic connections and cultural interaction between the US and China. Through the Institute, Presbyterian participates in a partnership and exchange program with Guizhou University, located in Guiyang, China. The Confucius Institute sponsors cultural events on PC's campus and offers elementary, intermediate, and advanced courses in Mandarin.

Graduate

The School of Pharmacy confers Doctorate of Pharmacy degrees (PharmD) and is oriented toward serving the healthcare needs of underdeveloped and economically depressed areas of South Carolina and the greater US. A 54,000 square-foot facility, its doors opened in the fall of 2010 with an inaugural class of 80 students. The School of Pharmacy was fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) in July 2014. Despite its youth, it has accrued multiple awards including a Biomedical/Biobehavioral Research Administration Development (BRAD) grant from the National Institute of Health, and a Generation Rx Champion Award from the South Carolina Pharmacy Association (SCPhA) for its efforts at raising awareness of prescription drug abuse.

Studen ... [more on wikipedia]

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Presbyterian College", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Presbyterian College Details

Presbyterian College Details
detail value
stateSouth Carolina
conferenceBig South Conference
publicPrivate
scores1650/1100/25
levelAboveAverage
rank[-1
overall ROI rank[-1
sizesmall
undergrads1146
grads314
price47872
drop32
stem22
research0
scores validTrue
Common Questions...

What are the academic rankings for Presbyterian College?

1. number -1 for Academics.

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

What universities are similar to Presbyterian College?

1. Wofford College

2. Mercer University

3. Gardner-Webb University

4. Furman University

5. Hampton University

6. University of Dayton

7. Baylor University


National Academic Rankings

(summary of all ranking placements)

Presbyterian College National Academic Rankings

Presbyterian College National Academic Rankings
category rank scores difficulty smartest brainpower faculty research salary ROI overall ROI
Div1 Private454142484631314947
State of South Carolina107101812442721


Peer Universities / Similar Universities

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

Presbyterian College Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Presbyterian College

Presbyterian College Peer Universities, Similar Universities to Presbyterian College
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI
84.61
Wofford CollegeSouth CarolinaSouthern ConferencePrivateAboveAverage340211
75.01
Mercer UniversityGeorgiaSouthern ConferencePrivateAboveAverage237242
69.49
Gardner-Webb UniversityNorth CarolinaBig South ConferencePrivateAverage-1-1
69.39
Furman UniversitySouth CarolinaSouthern ConferencePrivateGood232192
68.85
Hampton UniversityVirginiaMid Eastern Athletic ConferencePrivateAverage-1-1
67.56
University of DaytonOhioPioneer Football League / Atla...PrivateAboveAverage278138
67.22
Baylor UniversityTexasBig Twelve ConferencePrivateGood134128
67.17
Syracuse UniversityNew YorkAtlantic Coast ConferencePrivateAboveAverage172216


Academic Peer Universities / Similar Academics

(mathematically similar academics)

Presbyterian College Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Presbyterian College

Presbyterian College Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to Presbyterian College
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI
98.39
Valparaiso UniversityIndianaPioneer Football League / Hori...PrivateAverage407281
95.21
Samford UniversityAlabamaSouthern ConferencePrivateAboveAverage431272
93.90
Monmouth UniversityNew JerseyBig South Conference / Metro A...PrivateAverage478477
92.58
Marist CollegeNew YorkPioneer Football League / Metr...PrivateAverage-1-1
90.83
Wofford CollegeSouth CarolinaSouthern ConferencePrivateAboveAverage340211
90.72
Campbell UniversityNorth CarolinaPioneer Football League / Big ...PrivateAverage-1-1
89.37
Hampton UniversityVirginiaMid Eastern Athletic ConferencePrivateAverage-1-1
86.00
Gardner-Webb UniversityNorth CarolinaBig South ConferencePrivateAverage-1-1