http://www.studentsreview.com/big_ten_compare.html
Based SAT/ACT scores on this you could say:
1. Northwestern
2. Penn State
3. Michigan State
4. Wisconsin
5. Michigan
6. Iowa
7. Minnesota
8. Ohio State
9. Indiana
10. Illinois
11. Purdue
Where would nebraska rank in this list?
As an academician (professor)of 25+ years I have some thoughts and a few points to make that some of you might not have thought of (in fact, you would have had little reason to consider such things). But... academic rankings... the likes of which are commonly cited for major universities are usually predicated upon perceptions of excellence in three main categories, in no particular order --- 1) research productivity among the faculty (grants applied for, grants received, research equipment on campus, # of PhD students, postdoctoral appointments, publications, presentations, journal editorships resident, etc.), 2) entrance ACT and/or SAT averages coupled with acceptance rates for incoming students, and 3) opinion of polled professionals who "rank" the prestige of the institution in a subjective manner.
Consider that for any of these schools, between 85% and 90% of all students enrolled will be undergraduates. Now... these rankings essentially have NO BEARING on the quality of an undergraduate students education at that school relative to an undergraduate student elsewhere. Why? Because the research component of the ranking is based overwhelmingly upon graduate student conditions... not undergraduates. The typical % of undergraduates doing research at any institution is less than 5%. Thus, for 95% of the undergraduate students at the school, the research context for that school will be, for them, meaningless (yet the primary basis for ranking is tethered to research).
Also, the "prestige factor" will always favor large schools with many graduates and schools in populous states.
So... NU will rank the lowest in the B10. But this means nothing re: quality of educational experience for the undergraduate enrolled at NU relative to those at the rest of the B10 institutions. NU is a fine school... no method exists for any meaningful comparison relative to the other schools. Too many variables. Too many inter-related constructs to measure and too few metrics to make meaningful measurements.
Bottom line? The rankings are of little to no value re: the educational experience of the vast majority (ca. 90%) of the students enrolled. And....
NU is a fine institution... as are the others in the B10.
