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

St Bonaventure University

2016 University Academic Rankings
St. Bonaventure University is a private, Franciscan Catholic university, located in Allegany, Cattaraugus County, New York, United States, within the Diocese of Buffalo. It has roughly 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students. The university was established by the Franciscan Brothers in 1858. Its current president is Sister Margaret Carney, OSF, STD, the 20th president and the first religious sister to hold the position full-time. In athletics, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies play NCAA Division I sports in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Students and alumni often refer to the university as Bona's, derived from the school's original name, St. Bonaventure's College. The college became a university in 1950 and lent its name to the surrounding community which sprung up around it.

History

The college was founded by Utica financier Nicholas Devereux, one of the first to gain land grants in newly surveyed Cattaraugus County from the Holland Land Company. Devereux founded the town of Allegany on the grant, hoping to build a new city. He believed the city would need religious instruction, so Devereux approached John Timon, the bishop of Buffalo, for assistance. The two invited the Franciscan order to Western New York, and a small group under Father Pamfilo da Magliano, OFM, arrived in 1856. This was the first group of Franciscan brothers to settle in the United States. The school graduated its first class in 1858. St. Bonaventure's College was granted university status by New York State in 1950. The largest residence hall on campus, Devereux Hall, is named for the founder.

Once one of the nation's most prominent Catholic colleges, St. Bonaventure ran into financial difficulties in the early 1990s, and nearly declared bankruptcy in 1994. In February 1994, the arrival of the school's nineteenth president Dr. Robert J. Wickenheiser marked a beginning of changes at the university. Under the new President, the school's enrollment numbers increased significantly, and further investments were made throughout the campus. After a few years, St. Bonaventure came out of debt and saw large increases in its enrollment and endowment. Since the late 1990s, the school has been put on a more solid financial footing and has seen record growth and campus improvements in the past five years. Under the university's twentieth president Sr. Margaret Carney, OSF the campus has undergone millions of dollars in renovations and seen tremendous growth in the areas of the School of Business and its Medical Program co-ops with many big name universities, notably the George Washington University and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. The school continues to be a vital part of the Western Southern Tier Region of Western New York.

Thomas Merton, the religious writer, taught English at St. Bonaventure for a year just at the start of World War II. It was at this school that Merton finally gave into his vocation and decided to join the Trappists. He entered the monastery in Kentucky in 1941. A heart-shaped clearing on a mountain in view of campus is linked to Merton in campus myth. Some students call it "Merton's Heart" and claim that Merton visited the place often and that the trees fell when he died. In reality, the hillside had been cleared for oil drilling in the 1920s and trees have since regrown, leaving the bald patch.

Location

The campus sits on 500 acres (2.0 km2) in the town of Allegany, just over the line from the city of Olean (total pop.: 15,000), at Exit 24 of Interstate 86. The university has its own U.S. Post Office and is listed as a separate census-designated place by the Census Bureau. The postal address for the university is Saint Bonaventure, NY 14778.

Many campus buildings are designed in red brick with Italianate roofs, to reflect the architecture of St. Francis' native Italy. The campus proper has several residence halls, townhouses/apartments and ... [more on wikipedia]

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

St Bonaventure University Details

St Bonaventure University Details
detail value
stateNew York
conferenceAtlantic 10 Conference
publicPrivate
scores1565/1043/23
levelAverage
rank[-1
overall ROI rank[-1
sizesmall
undergrads1774
grads376
price43607
drop36
stem9
research0
scores validTrue
Common Questions...

What are the academic rankings for St Bonaventure University?

1. number -1 for Academics.

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

What universities are similar to St Bonaventure University?


National Academic Rankings

(summary of all ranking placements)

St Bonaventure University National Academic Rankings

St Bonaventure University National Academic Rankings
category rank scores difficulty smartest brainpower faculty research salary ROI overall ROI
Atlantic 10 Conference141413151510101515
State of New York676763837523219187


Peer Universities / Similar Universities

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

St Bonaventure University Peer Universities, Similar Universities to St Bonaventure University

St Bonaventure University Peer Universities, Similar Universities to St Bonaventure University
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI


Academic Peer Universities / Similar Academics

(mathematically similar academics)

St Bonaventure University Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to St Bonaventure University

St Bonaventure University Academic Peer Universities, Similar Academic Universities to St Bonaventure University
match image university state conference public level rank overall ROI