Top 10 public "ranking"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

lol maybe because it's not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

It's a powerhouse in the middle of corn fields! A train station and a small airport can get you to larger cities within a couple hours. And, a bonus for students, they can enter bars at 19, oh wait, that wasn't for parents to know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

lol maybe because it's not.

You better check the rankings - in the aggregate, across the board, the average rank of UIUC in ranked undergraduate programs blows away UVA, UNC, Texas and really everyone other than Berkeley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

lol maybe because it's not.

You better check the rankings - in the aggregate, across the board, the average rank of UIUC in ranked undergraduate programs blows away UVA, UNC, Texas and really everyone other than Berkeley.

'have your kid apply to UIUC, so it frees up a spot for mine to get into UVA, UNC, Texas and Berkeley' thinking?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:And now back to the OP question
Why are 5 UCs in the public top 10 rankings?
What about the other 5 in the top 10; how did they get there and why?

The argument for Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD is pretty strong. I’d expand to Top 15 and have the following as my personal rankings:

Tier 1: Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan
Tier 2: UVA, UNC, Texas
Tier 3: Georgia Tech, Florida, Washington
Tier 4: UCSD, UIUC
Tier 5: Georgia, Purdue, Wisconsin, Florida St.

Let me fix this for you

Tier 1: Berkely, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Virginia, UNC
Tier 2 : UCLA Florida UIUC Texas
Tier 3: Purdue Wisconsin Washington UCSD

I think this is a really good ranking. My only revision would be to move Georgia Tech to Tier 2. The educational quality is definitely Tier 1, but it is mostly known for STEM/business. It lacks the well-rounded appeal of Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, and UNC. These schools have outstanding humanities majors that appeal to kids that want to go to law school, public policy, etc. GT does not appeal to most of these humanities focused kids.

With this same logic then - Virginia and UNC definitely should not be Tier 1 then because for their lack of outstanding or quality Engineering/Tech/Stem which one could argue is far more sought after by students in today's world than humanities. Let's just say these are all good schools in their own right.

With the same logic, perhaps only Berkeley, Michigan, and Texas are strong enough across STEM/Business/Social Sciences/Humanities to be Tier 1. But wait, students only attend one part of a university at a time and perhaps Virginia, UNC, Georgia Tech, Purdue, etc. is better in that part than Berkeley/Michigan/Texas and has more of what they value. What does this tiering even mean to those students? Pretty much nothing.

You’re hilarious. The UCLA hate is pathological up in here, that’s for sure.

UCLA is literally ranked higher in the U.S. and globally than Texas in almost every single area you mentioned, and yet you found a way to suggest otherwise.

STEM, whether bio / chem, engineering, applied math, engineering

Business (for UCLA, it’s just Business Economics - but also internship opportunities for the students who want to get after it at UCLA’s Top 15 business and law schools)

Social Sciences

Humanities

Tell us where you have found evidence that Texas is better than UCLA, such that you “accidentally” forgot to include what has been the Top Public for 80% of the past decade. Looking forward to it!

DP. Many people give the most weight to Engineering, Computer Science, and Business. A quick check of USNWR undergraduate rankings shows UT is ranked higher than UCLA in Engineering (6th vs 14th), Computer Science (9th vs 14th), and Business (6th vs NR / No business school).

Oh, OK - so based on the 2026 USNWR undergraduate rankings for those three areas, MIT is the unanimous best undergraduate university in the country and Tier 1 of public universities, in order, is Berkely, UIUC, Michigan.

I guess I can live with that.

2026 USNWR rankings for Undergraduate Engineering
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Georgia Institute of Technology (tie)
3. UC Berkely (tie)
5. Cal Tech
5. UIUC

2026 USNW rankings for Computer Science
1. MIT
2. Carnegie Mellon
2. Stanford
2. UC Berkely
5. Georgia Institute of Technology(tie)
5. Princeton
7. Cornell (tie)
7. UIUC

UIUC is probably underrated, but the way you listed this doesn't give proper credit to others like Michigan, GT, and Texas:

Computer Science
1 MIT
2 CMU / Stanford / Berkeley
5 GT / Princeton
7 Cornell / Illinois
9 Caltech / Texas / Washington
12 Michigan

Engineering
1 MIT
2 Stanford
3 GT / Berkeley
5 Caltech / Illinois / Michigan
8 CMU / Purdue
10 Cornell
11 Princeton / Texas

Business
1 MIT / Penn
3 Berkeley
4 Michigan
5 NYU
6 CMU / Texas

12 Illinois

19 GT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

lol maybe because it's not.

You better check the rankings - in the aggregate, across the board, the average rank of UIUC in ranked undergraduate programs blows away UVA, UNC, Texas and really everyone other than Berkeley.

'have your kid apply to UIUC, so it frees up a spot for mine to get into UVA, UNC, Texas and Berkeley' thinking?

No. My kids are already either graduated from undergrad or currently matriculating through that process. Two HYPSM, one public. Just reporting what I was surprised to find in looking at the rankings of undergraduate programs.

UIUC seems vastly overlooked, if rankings matter to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And now back to the OP question
Why are 5 UCs in the public top 10 rankings?
What about the other 5 in the top 10; how did they get there and why?

The argument for Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD is pretty strong. I’d expand to Top 15 and have the following as my personal rankings:

Tier 1: Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan
Tier 2: UVA, UNC, Texas
Tier 3: Georgia Tech, Florida, Washington
Tier 4: UCSD, UIUC
Tier 5: Georgia, Purdue, Wisconsin, Florida St.

Let me fix this for you

Tier 1: Berkely, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Virginia, UNC
Tier 2 : UCLA Florida UIUC Texas
Tier 3: Purdue Wisconsin Washington UCSD

I think this is a really good ranking. My only revision would be to move Georgia Tech to Tier 2. The educational quality is definitely Tier 1, but it is mostly known for STEM/business. It lacks the well-rounded appeal of Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, and UNC. These schools have outstanding humanities majors that appeal to kids that want to go to law school, public policy, etc. GT does not appeal to most of these humanities focused kids.

With this same logic then - Virginia and UNC definitely should not be Tier 1 then because for their lack of outstanding or quality Engineering/Tech/Stem which one could argue is far more sought after by students in today's world than humanities. Let's just say these are all good schools in their own right.

With the same logic, perhaps only Berkeley, Michigan, and Texas are strong enough across STEM/Business/Social Sciences/Humanities to be Tier 1. But wait, students only attend one part of a university at a time and perhaps Virginia, UNC, Georgia Tech, Purdue, etc. is better in that part than Berkeley/Michigan/Texas and has more of what they value. What does this tiering even mean to those students? Pretty much nothing.

You’re hilarious. The UCLA hate is pathological up in here, that’s for sure.

UCLA is literally ranked higher in the U.S. and globally than Texas in almost every single area you mentioned, and yet you found a way to suggest otherwise.

STEM, whether bio / chem, engineering, applied math, engineering

Business (for UCLA, it’s just Business Economics - but also internship opportunities for the students who want to get after it at UCLA’s Top 15 business and law schools)

Social Sciences

Humanities

Tell us where you have found evidence that Texas is better than UCLA, such that you “accidentally” forgot to include what has been the Top Public for 80% of the past decade. Looking forward to it!

DP. Many people give the most weight to Engineering, Computer Science, and Business. A quick check of USNWR undergraduate rankings shows UT is ranked higher than UCLA in Engineering (6th vs 14th), Computer Science (9th vs 14th), and Business (6th vs NR / No business school).

Oh, OK - so based on the 2026 USNWR undergraduate rankings for those three areas, MIT is the unanimous best undergraduate university in the country and Tier 1 of public universities, in order, is Berkely, UIUC, Michigan.

I guess I can live with that.

2026 USNWR rankings for Undergraduate Engineering
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Georgia Institute of Technology (tie)
3. UC Berkely (tie)
5. Cal Tech
5. UIUC

2026 USNW rankings for Computer Science
1. MIT
2. Carnegie Mellon
2. Stanford
2. UC Berkely
5. Georgia Institute of Technology(tie)
5. Princeton
7. Cornell (tie)
7. UIUC

UIUC is probably underrated, but the way you listed this doesn't give proper credit to others like Michigan, GT, and Texas:

Computer Science
1 MIT
2 CMU / Stanford / Berkeley
5 GT / Princeton
7 Cornell / Illinois
9 Caltech / Texas / Washington
12 Michigan

Engineering
1 MIT
2 Stanford
3 GT / Berkeley
5 Caltech / Illinois / Michigan
8 CMU / Purdue
10 Cornell
11 Princeton / Texas

Business
1 MIT / Penn
3 Berkeley
4 Michigan
5 NYU
6 CMU / Texas

12 Illinois

19 GT

STEM isn’t just engineering and CS, check biology, chemistry, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And now back to the OP question
Why are 5 UCs in the public top 10 rankings?
What about the other 5 in the top 10; how did they get there and why?

The argument for Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD is pretty strong. I’d expand to Top 15 and have the following as my personal rankings:

Tier 1: Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan
Tier 2: UVA, UNC, Texas
Tier 3: Georgia Tech, Florida, Washington
Tier 4: UCSD, UIUC
Tier 5: Georgia, Purdue, Wisconsin, Florida St.

Let me fix this for you

Tier 1: Berkely, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Virginia, UNC
Tier 2 : UCLA Florida UIUC Texas
Tier 3: Purdue Wisconsin Washington UCSD

I think this is a really good ranking. My only revision would be to move Georgia Tech to Tier 2. The educational quality is definitely Tier 1, but it is mostly known for STEM/business. It lacks the well-rounded appeal of Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, and UNC. These schools have outstanding humanities majors that appeal to kids that want to go to law school, public policy, etc. GT does not appeal to most of these humanities focused kids.

With this same logic then - Virginia and UNC definitely should not be Tier 1 then because for their lack of outstanding or quality Engineering/Tech/Stem which one could argue is far more sought after by students in today's world than humanities. Let's just say these are all good schools in their own right.

With the same logic, perhaps only Berkeley, Michigan, and Texas are strong enough across STEM/Business/Social Sciences/Humanities to be Tier 1. But wait, students only attend one part of a university at a time and perhaps Virginia, UNC, Georgia Tech, Purdue, etc. is better in that part than Berkeley/Michigan/Texas and has more of what they value. What does this tiering even mean to those students? Pretty much nothing.

You’re hilarious. The UCLA hate is pathological up in here, that’s for sure.

UCLA is literally ranked higher in the U.S. and globally than Texas in almost every single area you mentioned, and yet you found a way to suggest otherwise.

STEM, whether bio / chem, engineering, applied math, engineering

Business (for UCLA, it’s just Business Economics - but also internship opportunities for the students who want to get after it at UCLA’s Top 15 business and law schools)

Social Sciences

Humanities

Tell us where you have found evidence that Texas is better than UCLA, such that you “accidentally” forgot to include what has been the Top Public for 80% of the past decade. Looking forward to it!

DP. Many people give the most weight to Engineering, Computer Science, and Business. A quick check of USNWR undergraduate rankings shows UT is ranked higher than UCLA in Engineering (6th vs 14th), Computer Science (9th vs 14th), and Business (6th vs NR / No business school).

Oh, OK - so based on the 2026 USNWR undergraduate rankings for those three areas, MIT is the unanimous best undergraduate university in the country and Tier 1 of public universities, in order, is Berkely, UIUC, Michigan.

I guess I can live with that.

2026 USNWR rankings for Undergraduate Engineering
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Georgia Institute of Technology (tie)
3. UC Berkely (tie)
5. Cal Tech
5. UIUC

2026 USNW rankings for Computer Science
1. MIT
2. Carnegie Mellon
2. Stanford
2. UC Berkely
5. Georgia Institute of Technology(tie)
5. Princeton
7. Cornell (tie)
7. UIUC

UIUC is probably underrated, but the way you listed this doesn't give proper credit to others like Michigan, GT, and Texas:

Computer Science
1 MIT
2 CMU / Stanford / Berkeley
5 GT / Princeton
7 Cornell / Illinois
9 Caltech / Texas / Washington
12 Michigan

Engineering
1 MIT
2 Stanford
3 GT / Berkeley
5 Caltech / Illinois / Michigan
8 CMU / Purdue
10 Cornell
11 Princeton / Texas

Business
1 MIT / Penn
3 Berkeley
4 Michigan
5 NYU
6 CMU / Texas

12 Illinois

19 GT

STEM isn’t just engineering and CS, check biology, chemistry, etc.

I am very aware of that. On DCUM and elsewhere, it unfortunately gets reduced to Engineering and CS, excluding math, physical sciences, biological and life sciences, etc. In addition to that, I believe USNWR ranks those only at the graduate level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

lol maybe because it's not.

You better check the rankings - in the aggregate, across the board, the average rank of UIUC in ranked undergraduate programs blows away UVA, UNC, Texas and really everyone other than Berkeley.

False. The opposite is true. USNWR ranks all of those school higher than UICH. Berkeley is no. 1; UVA is noi 4 (and was just recently made No. 2 Best Value University); UNC is also no. 4; Texas - Austin is No. 7.

UIUC is no. 12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

lol maybe because it's not.

You better check the rankings - in the aggregate, across the board, the average rank of UIUC in ranked undergraduate programs blows away UVA, UNC, Texas and really everyone other than Berkeley.

False. The opposite is true. USNWR ranks all of those school higher than UICH. Berkeley is no. 1; UVA is noi 4 (and was just recently made No. 2 Best Value University); UNC is also no. 4; Texas - Austin is No. 7.

UIUC is no. 12.

Link??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

Georgia Tech would like to have a word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unaware that UIUC ranked consistently higher than all other publics aside from Berkeley in so many areas, not just the two referenced above.

lol maybe because it's not.

You better check the rankings - in the aggregate, across the board, the average rank of UIUC in ranked undergraduate programs blows away UVA, UNC, Texas and really everyone other than Berkeley.

False. The opposite is true. USNWR ranks all of those school higher than UICH. Berkeley is no. 1; UVA is noi 4 (and was just recently made No. 2 Best Value University); UNC is also no. 4; Texas - Austin is No. 7.

UIUC is no. 12.

USNWR's undergraduate ranking is not an aggregate of program rankings.

However, I think PP should provide proof of their assertion that UIUC ranks ahead of all public schools other than Berkeley across all undergraduate programs.

[Anonymous]

Schools should not be reduced to department rankings. That is a bad proxy for the overall experience and value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools should not be reduced to department rankings. That is a bad proxy for the overall experience and value.

Department rankings shouldn’t be discarded either though. They are indicators of academic quality in different parts of the university and high rankings are often associated with more resources and better student outcomes for students within that department.

Especially for individuals looking into different schools to attend (rather than just wanting a broad ranking), going down to the department level makes a lot of sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools should not be reduced to department rankings. That is a bad proxy for the overall experience and value.

Department rankings shouldn’t be discarded either though. They are indicators of academic quality in different parts of the university and high rankings are often associated with more resources and better student outcomes for students within that department.

Especially for individuals looking into different schools to attend (rather than just wanting a broad ranking), going down to the department level makes a lot of sense.

But about half of students change their intended major before graduating. It makes most sense to look more carefully if you have to do direct admit to a program.