US News Top 25: I-AA/FCS Schools

[DFW HOYA]

Nine of the top 25 national schools were from this subdivision. Here are the 25 highest ranked across the subdivision. Note this does not include regional and liberal arts schools.

1. Princeton (Ivy)
2. Harvard (Ivy)
3. Columbia (Ivy)
4. Yale (Ivy)
8. Pennsylvania (Ivy)
13. Dartmouth (Ivy)
14. Brown (Ivy)
18. Cornell (Ivy)
23. Georgetown (Patriot)
------
39. UC-Davis (Big Sky)
39. William & Mary (CAA)
49. Lehigh (Patriot)
53. Villanova (CAA)
66. Fordham (Patriot)
80. Howard (MEAC)
88. Elon (CAA)
88. Stony Brook (CAA)
88. San Diego (Pioneer)
97. Delaware (CAA)
124. Drake (Pioneer)
133. Dayton (Pioneer)
143. Duquesne (Northeast)
143. Samford (Southern)
143. New Hampshire (CAA)
160. Mercer (Southern)


https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

[Anthony215]

Nice to see the CAA well represented with 6 teams in the top 25 with William & Mary, Nova, Delaware, New Hampshire Stony Brook and Elon all included.

[Catatonic]

Nice to see FCS so well represented. I’m sure you would agree there are some FCS schools that offer high quality academics that fall into the liberal arts and regional categories as well.

USNWR uses the Carnegie system to categorize universities. Placement in the national university category is based on the number of doctoral degrees conferred.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Villanova has gained a crazy amount of ground on Lehigh the last 10-15 years. The "Flutie Effect" is real.....

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Nice to see the CAA well represented with 6 teams in the top 25 with William & Mary, Nova, Delaware, New Hampshire Stony Brook and Elon all included.

Has Delaware "fallen" to 97? There was a time not too long ago when UD was very tough/competitive to get into out of state. Similar to Purdue, Minnesota and Colorado...

Temple is #103 while Pitt remains significantly head at #58. I've yet to meet anyone in Pennsylvania who thinks one school is any better than the other. Temple is the major urban research university that serves the eastern part of the state while Pitt is the major urban research university that serves the western part of the state. Their missions within the Pennsylvania state school (IUP, Clarion, West Chester etc)/state affiliated (Temple and Pitt) college system are to be peers. Penn State is the "flagship" "land grant" institution.

[Sader87]

Villanova has gained a crazy amount of ground on Lehigh the last 10-15 years. The "Flutie Effect" is real.....

Villanova has really gained ground ovah the last 30 years or so....it was basically a safety school for kids applying to GTown, HC, BC etc in the 80s....it has now at least gained par or even surpassed Holy Cross today.

The PL National Liberal Arts schools were all Top 40 or so....Colgate the highest at 20, Bucknell (34), HC (36) and Lafayette (40) after that in that order.

[DFW HOYA]

Villanova has really gained ground ovah the last 30 years or so....it was basically a safety school for kids applying to GTown, HC, BC etc in the 80s....it has now at least gained par or even surpassed Holy Cross today.

How did this happen, at least at it relates to HC? Athletics plays zero role in the rankings methodology, which are as follows:

Graduation Rates (22% of total)
Social Mobility/Pell Grants (5% of total)
Graduation Rate Performance (8% of total)
Academic Reputation (20% of total)
Faculty Resources (20% of total)
Student Selectivity (7%)
Financial Resources Per Student (10% of total)
Graduate Indebtedness (5% of total)
Alumni Giving Rate (3% of total)

[Sader87]

How did this happen, at least at it relates to HC? Athletics plays zero role in the rankings methodology, which are as follows:

Graduation Rates (22% of total)
Social Mobility/Pell Grants (5% of total)
Graduation Rate Performance (8% of total)
Academic Reputation (20% of total)
Faculty Resources (20% of total)
Student Selectivity (7%)
Financial Resources Per Student (10% of total)
Graduate Indebtedness (5% of total)
Alumni Giving Rate (3% of total)

Really not 100% sure....Wisstah doesn't help, compared to Boston, DC or Philly anyway. Hasn't been a great Century for Catholicism in general which hasn't helped mattahs either. Being a strictly liberal arts school in 2020 is probably seen as a knock too. Not being in the Big East (I know, I know) also hurt HC's reputation nationally...again compared to Villanova, BC or GTown anyway.

HC is still a very good school but isn't thought of by some as one of the premier Catholic colleges in the country with Georgetown and/or Notre Dame as it once was say in 1970 or 1980 or so.

[DFW HOYA]

Really not 100% sure....Wisstah doesn't help, compared to Boston, DC or Philly anyway. Hasn't been a great Century for Catholicism in general which hasn't helped mattahs either. Being a strictly liberal arts school in 2020 is probably seen as a knock too. Not being in the Big East (I know, I know) also hurt HC's reputation nationally...again compared to Villanova, BC or GTown anyway. HC is still a very good school but isn't thought of by some as one of the premier Catholic colleges in the country with Georgetown and/or Notre Dame as it once was say in 1970 or 1980 or so.

The head-scratcher to me is #36 in liberal arts schools-not competing with Villanova, BC or Georgetown, but behind Bates, Colorado College, Haverford, Berea, Washington & Lee...even Mount Holyoke. In some respects, HC should be where ND is on the national list--a solid top 15-20 school behind the LAC version of the Ivies, the NESCAC.

Rev. Boroughs will be 70 next year and Rev. McShane (Fordham) will be 72. Big decisions ahead for both schools.

[Sader87]

The head-scratcher to me is #36 in liberal arts schools-not competing with Villanova, BC or Georgetown, but behind Bates, Colorado College, Haverford, Berea, Washington & Lee...even Mount Holyoke. In some respects, HC should be where ND is on the national list--a solid top 15-20 school behind the LAC version of the Ivies, the NESCAC.

Rev. Boroughs will be 70 next year and Rev. McShane (Fordham) will be 72. Big decisions ahead for both schools.

Ehhh....it basically is there today, i.e. one of the top liberal arts schools in the country....Holy Cross was #27 in this same poll last year....I don't disagree that, its reputation anyway, has slipped in the last 30 or so years but I think it's more of a societal thing than an internal issue with Holy Cross itself.

[Baron Sardonicus]

Nine of the top 25 national schools were from this subdivision. Here are the 25 highest ranked across the subdivision. Note this does not include regional and liberal arts schools.

1. Princeton (Ivy)
2. Harvard (Ivy)
3. Columbia (Ivy)
4. Yale (Ivy)
8. Pennsylvania (Ivy)
13. Dartmouth (Ivy)
14. Brown (Ivy)
18. Cornell (Ivy)
23. Georgetown (Patriot)
------
39. UC-Davis (Big Sky)
39. William & Mary (CAA)
49. Lehigh (Patriot)
53. Villanova (CAA)
66. Fordham (Patriot)
80. Howard (MEAC)
88. Elon (CAA)
88. Stony Brook (CAA)
88. San Diego (Pioneer)
97. Delaware (CAA)
124. Drake (Pioneer)
133. Dayton (Pioneer)
143. Duquesne (Northeast)
143. Samford (Southern)
143. New Hampshire (CAA)
160. Mercer (Southern)


https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

Posting this is like chumming koi in a bathtub.

[SU DOG]

Thanks for posting this list HOYA. I used the info to post on our Samford Board - proud of my school for making it.

[TheValleyRaider]

We're behind Hamilton? Seriously?

I mean, these obviously don't matter too much, but really? Hamilton at #9?