re: Ranking the SEC Academically - US News 2014

I'll just post this here and step away.



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Because AAU status isn't really all that big of a deal.

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They allow you to compare at a glance the relative quality of institutions based on such widely accepted indicators of excellence as freshman retention and graduation rates

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MSU and OM will always be last on lists like this basically over a court mandate. Feel free to research the Ayers Case and get back to us. It forces MSU/OM to keep admission standards identical to the HBCU in the state(it does not force either of us to simplify our curriculum). So, we let in a boatload of students that are unqualified to be there. Then, naturally, they flunk out very early in their collegiate career. Double whammy -- last in every ranking that uses these factors

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This.

The upper level courses at OM and State are on par with just about every other SEC school but lower level classes can be a joke because we have to accept every retard who gets a 16 on the ACT.

Getting all the rejects that didn't get into Georgia or Texas or wherever hurts us too. They don't give a frick about their grades, the school, or the football team....just cocaine. I hate them.

US News Top PUBLIC Universities:

1. Berkeley
2. UCLA
3. UVA
4. Michigan
5. UNC
6. William & Mary
7. GT
8. Penn State
9. UC Davis
9. UC San Diego
11. UC Santa Barbara
11. Illinois
11. Wisconsin
14. UC Irvine
14. Florida
16. Ohio State
16. Texas
16. Washington
19. UConn
20. UGA
21. Clemson
21. Maryland
21. Pittsburgh
24. Purdue
25. Rutgers
25. Texas A&M

36. Alabama
40. Auburn
44. Missouri
47. Tennessee
55. South Carolina
58. Kentucky
63. Arkansas
68. LSU
73. Mississippi State
79. Ole Miss

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LSU has never really been that high on that list.

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Fixed

LSU is always ranked way lower on US News. If you look at other ranking sites, LSU tends to be way higher

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Maybe it will be bigger if Alabama joins one day?

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I'm not concerned. It's about research grants and such, so if a school focuses on other areas (like a stellar Business or Law program), they're not as likely to get it. Not a lot of research grants are given in those fields.

Other members include:
#101 Iowa State
#119 University of Arizona
#109 University of Buffalo
#86 University of Colorado - Boulder
#73 University of Iowa
#101 University of Kansas
#109 University of Oregon


That's 6 schools tied with or lower, academically, than Alabama, and 5 lower than Auburn. All AAU member institutions.

Sure, it's something to be semi-proud of, but honestly, it isn't that big of a deal. No one has an AAU stamp on their diploma. No hiring manager is going to give a crap.

New LSU graduates also earned 15% more than their competitors, averaging $44,100, while nationally, the average
beginning income was $38,311.2 Less debt and higher starting salaries mean LSU graduates get to begin their
careers in a very enviable financial position, no matter where they started out. LSU’s mid-career (age 42-45)
average earnings rank 34th out of 167 public research universities surveyed. !

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Nebraska got kicked out because they have let their academics and focus on research slip over the last few decades and were not showing that they were going to change that trajectory. The AAU started a "trim the tree" policy a few years ago as prior to that they had really not ever kicked out members and some of the old guard were voted out or left on their own before getting voted out.

To discount the credibility of the AAU though is just silly. It is easily THE most respected academic credential for a school and is the definition of "Tier 1" Status by many. You can certainly argue about a small number of members in terms of their quality and you could definitely argue about some great schools that are not members. You can also call it an elitist good old boys club and that would be true. It's still the Gold Standard though and if anything their standards for admission and retention have only gone up.

I'd love for Bama, UGA, and Auburn to gain membership in the next decade or two. Some of the other SEC schools should also work toward membership. It would be great for those schools and the SEC. AAU membership is worth big money to a school and it increases the value of every degree held from the school.

Honestly, all this discussion of AAU status is pointless. It's a reward for a certain focus, not an overall validation or indictment of a school. I've attended two different AAU schools. I attended one non-AAU. Trust me, when you're takin' th' classes and absorbin' th' nawludge, the differences are pretty much negligible. There's a false equivalency going on here. Yes, a lot of prestigious universities are AAU. It doesn't necessarily follow that AAU is causative in said prestige, nor does it necessarily indicate that prestige and AAU membership are correlative. For the most part, two defining aspects characterize AAU membership -- a certain directed focus on intensive research (and not all forms of research by any means) and diverting money specifically toward that end. There's a reason why a significant portion of the AAU membership tilts toward the technological, and it's not because technological schools are inherently better.

There's nothing wrong with being proud of AAU membership for your school. But it's a pride that needs to be tempered with a realization that it's just one "honor" offered for one relatively narrow set of criteria that have little to do with a university's inherent excellence overall.

On the first page.

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