Comments about ‘BYU 71st overall, U. 124th in annual Best Colleges rankings’

The utes were selected by the PAC because of their academic reputation. Rigggghhhhtttt!

Kind of puts to bed the notion that the U was invited to the Pac 8-10-12-14-16, because of their Academic superiority to BYU.

BYU Top Tier.....Utah, not.

Another myth bites the dust.

Sorry, Bluto, Chrissy Bee, but the U is a superior academic institution to the Y, US News rankings notwithstanding. If you think the US News rankings are the end all, be all of college rankings, you ought to think again.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. US News is focused more on the reputation for teaching, not research. BYU may be superior at teaching, but the U is superior at research. And research is the more important factor in academic reputation, and in the attitudes of fellow PAC 12 institutions.

Religious attitudes may have hurt BYU's chances to be invited to the PAC 12, but Utah also deserved a spot as a superior academic institution.

And that is Riggggghhhhht!

Utah is ranked 79th in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and has consistently ranked at about that level since those rankings were introduced about a decade ago. BYU, on the other hand, ranks just above 400th on that list. According to the ARWU website, it relies on the following objective criteria to determine its rankings:

"ARWU uses six objective indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, number of highly cited researchers selected by Thomson Scientific, number of articles published in journals of Nature and Science, number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index - Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and per capita performance with respect to the size of an institution."

Thus, by completely objective criteria, the U is a much higher rated research institution than is BYU.

Attended both BYU and Utah undergrad. The Sciences at both schools were top notch (Pre-Medicine Student). The average ability and intelligence of the students? Not even close...BYU students were unbelievably talented and the curve was extremely competitive.

Sorry Regis, but the main purpose of a university is teaching, not research. Students go to learn and become proficient in their respective areas of interest and expertise so they can forth and earn a living. I have been to both universities and found the BYU professors superior, in general. I can't speak for all disciplines, obviously, just the English, Education, Foreign Language, and Genera Ed. areas.

That said, I think we are fortunate to have both of these great institutions in our state.

I feel sorry for the ones that have to use some "statistical research" from a disinterested third party to prove how superior their school is. Rankings like this, especially from a politically slanted source like U.S. News and World Report mean little. Based on my own experience, looking at the kids in my ward leaving for college, most of the really sharp, talented ones are going to the U. The ones going to BYU are going because it's expected of them because it's the "Church School". Some are sharp, some can barely tie their shoes. But, does it really matter? Let's not carry our sports bias into the world of academia. Both schools have good programs and provide excellent opportunities for a good education.

Remember, these are _undergraduate_ rankings, primarily.

The PAC-12 took the Utes for their graduate research. BYU chooses to be an undergraduate teaching university. I enjoyed that when I was there, but I opted for a small state school with a hyphen in its title for grad school.

Monsieur -- the primary reason of an UNDERGRADUATE university is teaching. It's laughable to say that research is not a core reason for a university.

I attended both schools, graduated from the U, but found the overall academic talent level of both students and professors at BYU to be superior. In the areas of research that BYU has chosen to pursue, BYU is top notch, but undergraduate education, rather than research, is the primary focus of education at BYU.

Still, BYU is one of the top universities in producing graduates that go on to earn post-graduate degrees.

I wanted to see BYU's Marriott school of business ranking. Isn't it usually in the top 50?

All the banter, but both schools are great institutions. There will always be a bias. One of US News' criteria is the amount of donations that flow into the school (not sure if this is for all their rankings, but it is for the business schools). This ensures Harvard and Yale stay on top as the rich send their kids to these schools because of the name.

Overall, Utah research is undeniably much better than that at BYU. BYU's business school has undeniably had better success in placing it's students into the job market.

Be glad that your alma mater is getting recognized and do what you can to support them.

I have provided field instruction to graduate students from Columbia University and New York University(NYU) and also worked with graduates from both BYU and the University of Utah. I can tell you with great confidence the graduates coming out of Columbia (an ivy league school) are not as well educated in their fields as those coming out of these two Utah schools. The Students coming out of NYU are well educated but no more so then these two Utah schools, you have nothing to hang your heads about.

Why did the article omit Southern Utah University? SUU is ranked #71 among Regional Universities in the Western US, which is 5 places higher than Weber State and substantially higher than UVU, which did not even garner a ranking.

Our state legislature can learn a lot from these rankings. A majority of the highest ranked institutions have small enrollments, which translates into exceptional learning environments for the students. There seems to be a bias in our state legislature that larger enrollment equals greater quality and subsequently greater resource allocation. This mentality promotes large, mediocre institutions rather than focusing resources on strengthening the quality of the institutions within the system. Specifically, UVU is one giant resource drain on the state's other institutions of higher education.

SUU is truly a hidden gem in Utah. It is nice to see US News recognize SUU as the best of its peer institutions within the state.

Southern Utah is a Utah university as well. SUU is ranked 71st among Western regional universities. You should have included that in the story when mentioning Westminster College and Weber State University.

Anyone can find some numbers to support their thoughts and beliefs about their school or any other subject. Only an idiot would try to use the numbers to dis-respect another school. Both schools can be proud of what they do and what they stand for.

Sorry regis, but BYU is a superior undergraduate institution. That is what the US News & World report judged. With its medical school and emphasis on research, the U rates well in that area, however not in the top 25. So, go there for an MD degree (if you can't get into a better school) or a PhD, but get your undergrad at BYU. It's a better education and a better value.

UtahMan4evr
Outside of Utah kids go to BYU because of superior education and some go to Utah because their parents did or they couldn't get into BYU.

Some very classy comments on this article especially the first two. As stated before, this is only one ranking. This ranking also takes into account the selectivity of the school with Utah being easy to get into while BYU being much harder to get into. That doesn't determine the quality of the school as evidenced in the ARWU rankings with Utah being 79th in the world and BYU being in the 400 range. I have heard a lot of good things about undergrad at BYU but when it comes to research Utah is where it's at. Both very good schools though so you can't go wrong at either one of them.

As I decide what school to send my kids to college I am looking at the quality of education that THEY will get from my very substantial investment. I do not care if a school does great research. I ONLY care about the quality of their academic instruction. So many people like to make a big deal about the u being a highly rated "research institution". Big whoop! And why should I care about that? I will take BYU's academic instruction any day over the u's research standing.

"The ones going to BYU are going because it's expected of them because it's the "Church School". Some are sharp, some can barely tie their shoes."

Dumbest thing I've ever read. BYU is much more selective than Utah and I challenge you to find one person who was rejected by Utah but accepted by BYU.

@UtahMan4evr @12:36pm:

You have a chance to provide some actual data, rather than just say "from my experience". Go to your ward members and perform a study: 1. Get GPAs and ACT scores from the students from your ward that went to BYU and compare them with those that went to Utah. 2. Perform statistical analyses to see if the differences are significant. 3. Also report the total number of students for which you were able to get data and the number for which you were unable to get data (to look for an ascertainment bias). Once you have this data, please post it. It will be much more of interest to me than "your experience". I also think you may be surprised at the result, but maybe not.