re: Ranking the SEC schools academically?

Arkansas has good schools of business and architecture. Everything else is pretty ho hum. Well, I guess our poultry science program is good. I hear the creative writing program is also pretty good.

Vandy
A&M/Florida
UGA
Mizzou
Alabama
Auburn
Kentucky
Arkansas
South Carolina
Tennessee
LSU
Ole Miss
Miss State

Florida and A&M are interchangeable depending on what you value. Florida has a great Medical school and has the older academic rep. A&M has an insane endowment (over $7 Billion which is more than double Vandy and dwarfs UF at $1.2 B) that is projected to triple in the next 5 years because of oil and rare minerals (A&M and Texas split a fund based on State owned land in West Texas that is loaded with them). A&M also has incredible engineering, high recruitment/pay rates, and huge research dollars that are growing fast as well as a Med School that is gaining momentum and a new Law School.

UGA and UA are both hurt by not having an on campus Med School. If you count those as part of their Universities they are significantly stronger. UGA is also hurt that GTech is the "research" school by design in Georgia but academically UGA is very solid. Bama is also improving steadily. Both have a shot at AAU membership if they can boost their research spend with Mizzou, A&M, and GTech there as addl co-sponsors.

Auburn is structurally similar to A&M with very good engineering and the great Vet school but without the huge endowment and resources.

Mizzou is a solid all around school, if unspectacular. They are an old AAU member but not really a research powerhouse. Academics are a high priority similar to UGA but they aren't elite.

It's a drop after that to the others, each has an area or two of excellence but just aren't that well rounded. None of them are terrible though, even the Mississippi schools are working hard to improve they just don't have the cash and have to overcome a mediocre reputation.