re: Ranking the SEC schools academically?

I know from what I've seen Bama, UF, UGA, Auburn, Missouri, A&M and of course Vandy are all in the top 100 nationally. Remember the ACC just added Louisville who is 160th! They have Duke, Wake Forest, ND, Boston College and UVA among others so they felt like they could take a little academic hit.

quote:

---

aggressor
Ranking the SEC schools academically?


Mizzou gets the "upper echelon" cred because of the AAU status. Fair or unfair, the AAU is considered the gold standard of "Tier 1" status. There are a few elite private schools that are Tier 1 and Non AAU (Notre Dame, Wake Forest, etc.) but that is because they put no emphasis on research.

I also completely agree that most of this stuff is meaningless to the average grad. It comes in to play if you are applying for grad school or for jobs out of state or with prominent companies. In the end though you can get a great education at any school and the mission of a lot of these schools is about serving their state and not academic rankings.

The reason schools care about this stuff though is money. A higher rated school gets more research dollars. AAU membership means more research dollars. Research dollars equals jobs.

---

They must have missed this....

•LSU currently ranks among the top 30 public universities in total research awards. The University’s total federal funding; from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Homeland Security; has increased more than $90 million over the last five years.

•LSU is designated as having very high research programs and activity (RU/VH) by the prestigious Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the highest ranking awarded to doctorate-granting institutions.

*LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Institute is one of the leading research facilities in the world for disease research.

These threads are all the same:

Vandy is a farshot #1 but they don't have any fans here to gloat about it.

TAMU, UF, UGA, and Mizzou and all bitch at each other to try and sort it out

AU and Bama get butthurt not being in the above group and pull all kind of stats out their asses.

The rest of the schools brag about the one elite program their school has and that it doesn't matter where you go, just the program.

Normally I'd agree with you but Ole Miss actually does have an incredibly strong accounting program. It's probably the single best program on their campus and arguably the best in the SEC. Georgia's and Alabama's as well as a couple other SEC programs are highly ranked as well.

Bama's Public Relations program is probably its single highest rated program on campus. It has taken turns with NYU in recent years as the #1 and #2 ranked program in the country. The law program is also very highly rated trailing only Vandy in the SEC (and sometimes tied with UGA)

quote:

---

UA freshman is 25.6 not 22

---

Is that the White Standard or all race standard?

My general thoughts on SEC Academics. Of course some places have strengths in certain fields and weaknesses in others, but in general:

Tier 1:
Vandy: The only really elite national University. Probably the second best reputation in the South (after Duke).

Tier 2:
Florida, Texas A&M, Georgia: Very good state schools. Everyone but elites think well of these places. This is the level that the others should strive for.


Tier 3
Alabama, Auburn, Missouri, maybe Tenn: These are good state schools. Nationally they are not going to "wow" anyone, but they are solid. Some programs are extremely well regarded (example Auburn engineering), but others less so.


Tier 4:
Kentucky, South Carolina, LSU, Arkansas: Decent state schools. Don't carry much weight nationally, but are fine regionally (Unless you are in a particularly good program).

Tier 5:
Ole Miss and Miss State: Not too far off from Tier 4, but they could use some improvement

quote:

---

That's simply not true. Each year Bama has not only increased enrollment but also increased the average ACT scores and GPA of the incoming freshman class. And the average ACT score for an entering UA freshman is 25.6 not 22: LINK

---

I have heard that UA does not count special enrollment students toward those numbers. There are quit a few of those students allowed in order to increase enrollment.

I'm a little confused about this as well. I can't imagine why the guy I talked to would have said what he did if it weren't true. Unless, like I said earlier, it was just a misunderstanding.

quote:

---

I have heard that UA does not count special enrollment students toward those numbers. There are quit a few of those students allowed in order to increase enrollment.

---

I always love that qualifier "I have heard". Forgets facts or hard data, I guess that's all that's needed to make something the gospel truth.

I assume the "special enrollment students" and their ACT scores are factored in. They're factored in with all students that made 29s, 30s, and 31s on their ACT therefore bringing the average down to 25.2. This is pretty typical at all schools. Alabama and Auburn, for example, have a very similar mean ACT average for the vast majority of students. The difference comes from Auburn decided to cap the low end at 23 whereas Bama capping the low end at 21. The ones making 21s on their ACT may have had really good GPAs and overall resumes but suck at taking standardized tests like the ACT/SAT. Neither approach is incorrect btw. It's just the difference between Bama's 25.6 ACT average and Auburn's 27 ACT average.