Colleges responsible for the greatest advances in science
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Anonymous
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Interesting ranking I found, discussions are welcome: https://qz.com/498534/these-25-schools-are-responsible-for-the-greatest-advances-in-science/
The US News college rankings emphasize subjective reputation, student retention, selectivity, graduation rate, faculty and financial resources and alumni giving. Recently, other rankings have proliferated, including some based on objective long-term metrics such as individual earning potential. Yet, we know of no evaluations of colleges based on lasting contributions to society. Of course, such contributions are difficult to judge. In the analysis below, we focus primarily on STEM (science, technology, engineering and medicine/mathematics) contributions, which are arguably the least subjective to evaluate, and increasingly more valued in today’s workforce. We examined six groups of exceptional achievers divided into two tiers, looking only at winners who attended college in the US. Our goal is to create a ranking among US colleges, but of course, one could broaden the analysis if desired. The first level included all winners of the Nobel Prize (physics, chemistry, medicine, economics, literature, and peace), Fields Medal (mathematics), and the Turing Award (computer science). The second level included individuals elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE), or Institute of Medicine (IOM). The National Academies are representative of the top few thousand individuals in all of STEM. We then traced each of these individuals back to their undergraduate days, creating two lists to examine whether the same or different schools rose to the top. We wanted to compare results across these two lists to see if findings in the first tier of achievement replicated in the second tier of achievement and to increase the sample size to avoid the problem of statistical flukes. Simply counting up the number of awards likely favors larger schools and alumni populations. We corrected for this by computing a per capita rate of production, dividing the number of winners from a given university by an estimate of the relative size of the alumni population. Specifically, we used the total number of graduates over the period 1966-2013 (an alternative method of estimating base population over 100 to 150 years led to very similar lists). This allowed us to objectively compare newer and smaller schools with older and larger schools. Schools with most undergraduate alumni winning the most Nobel, Fields or Turing prizes between 1966 and 2013, per capita (total number in parenthesis) - 1. Caltech (11 winners) 2. Harvard (34) 3. UChicago (15) 4. Swarthmore (5) 5. Columbia (20) 6. MIT (14) 7. Yale (13) 8. Amherst (4) 9. CUNY (13) 10. CMU (7) 11. Case Western (4) 12. Princeton (5) 13. Berkeley (19) 14. Stanford (5) 15. Navy (3) 16. Dartmouth (3) 17. Cornell (9) 18. Michigan (7) 19. UCLA (7) 20. Penn (3) Schools with most undergraduate alumni elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE), or Institute of Medicine (IOM), per capita (total number in parenthesis) - 1. Caltech (78) 2. MIT (255) 3. Harvard (326) 4. Swarthmore (49) 5. Princeton (109) 6. Amherst (35) 7. Yale (112) 8. UChicago (56) 9. Stanford (117) 10. Haverford (15) 11. Oberlin (38) 12. Reed (16) 13. Columbia (78) 14. Cooper Union (10) 15. Rice (31) 16. JHU (42) 17. Dartmouth (43) 18. CUNY (74) 19. Rensselaer Polytechnicic Institute (41) 20. Cornell (128) |
Anonymous
| This is vey helpful list for kids who want to win the Nobel Prize (physics, chemistry, medicine, economics, literature, and peace), Fields Medal (mathematics), and/or the Turing Award (computer science). |
Anonymous
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Is cal tech public or private?
Impressed by CUNY's standing. This system serves students of moderate means. |
Anonymous
I went to CUNY. At the time (late 80s), it cost $625 per semester, to take a full course load (18 credits, but I have taken as many as 24 for the same price, with the Dean's blessings), which we couldn't afford to pay; so thankful for Pell Grant and other options that allowed us to cobble together that money. I was one of the lucky ones, because I at least had a home and family to go back to at the end of the day, and didn't have to worry about going hungry. Some of the kids I worked with would go to functions and talks within the school, because that often meant free food. At least free coffee/tea, which might be all the food they had for the day. Moderate means was probably at the very top end of wealth for the kids who went to CUNY. |
Anonymous
It is one college - City College of New York. Excellent science programs and professors. |
Anonymous
It’s mostly City, but Hunter College has a few as well. |
Anonymous
| Based on the time frame of the study, those CUNY degrees are likely mostly from the 1930s and 1940s. |
Anonymous
Definitely true for Nobel winners. |
Anonymous
It used to be the Harvard of public schools back in its heyday, so makes sense |
Anonymous
OP here, apologies for the mistake. I meant to say they used the total number of graduates over the period 1966-2013, not they number of awards between 1966-2013 |
Anonymous
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Go CUNY!!! We should be investing more in schools like CUNY and less in the Ivies -- schools like CUNY are the engines that help people move up the income ladder vs just helping the rich and well-connected.
-Ivy grad raised UMC by two CUNY grads who grew up lower income |
Anonymous
And yet you went to an Ivy. |
Anonymous
Yup I am not saying CUNY is a better school for those who have lots of options. I am saying that because it is a great school for kids who don't have a lot of options, and I wish it got more support from tax payers and wealthy donors. I donate to CUNY and not my Ivy (which I loved). |
Anonymous
This might be the stupidest reply I have read on DCUM this week. Please think. the idea is that CUNY lifted this PP from lower income to UMC life style. The pp had many more advantages. Schools like CUNY could help many more people than the Ivies which are small and truly challenging to qualify for if you are actually lower income (see many other threads about so called first gen or impoverished Ivy kids who are really anything but) |
Anonymous
It is still unclear what years the awards were awarded. The last CUNY Nobel winner graduated in 1963. |