here is the academic comparator i spoke of earlier. i've had this together for a day or so but have been waiting for a quiet moment when i can collect what's left of my thinking in order to add some observations.
these ratings come from the us news & world people. i know there are other lists that may be at least as viable, but i don't know where they are on line. at any rate, these numbers reflect perception to a decent degree and have some validity if only for that reason. certainly we expect northwestern to be highly rated, and it is here, and some schools that we think are pretty light show up that way in these numbers.
in addition to the big ten and the pac-10, i'm showing the ratings for the big 12 and sec for comparison. some interesting things show up.
also, you probably know that notre dame got a rank of 20 from these people.
for stat purposes, i had no idea how to account for 'tier 3' schools, so i arbitrarily assigned 150 to any tier 3 school to derive conference avg and std dev scores. i figured putting them 20 points behind lsu would be sufficient penance.
one interesting thing, as you guys have mentioned, the big ten has an excellent average rating and a low standard deviation. really, a comparatively tight group. compare that with the pac-10 which has a very good average but a large standard deviation. the scores here suggest that the pac-10 has a schism. there is a huge drop from the top 5 to the other 5.
the lowest rated big ten school would be a very solid member of any of the other conferences here. the highest rated big 12 school *ahem* *ahem* with a decent lead over the next in line and a large lead over the conference average would be a comfortable middling school in the big ten. wouldn't burnish your resume, really, but certainly wouldn't be a perceptual liability (and i don't see that your academic standing needs any burnishing). strong enough academically and from a research standpoint to add some value, particularly when you take into account regional specialization such as latin-american studies and maybe something like oceanography. i know a lot of you guys border an inland sea, but we bring a long border with the gulf of mexico. and anything you might want to know about deserts or piney woods or high plains if you don't have them, we can probably speak from experience. throw in melted automotive interior plastics or sidewalk culinary arts, for that matter. : )
i have a hard time believing that missouri is the equal academically of oklahoma, but, regardless, if these numbers have any validity, mizzou is not that comfortable a fit academically in the big ten.
note that the big 12 and sec have very similar numbers, really, even with texas still on board. texas in the sec would co-lead there if vandy went away. doesn't vanderbilt stand out in that group? like a smart, ugly girl the gang keeps around just for the fun of it. vandy really brings that avg up but also perks up the std dev.
i think these numbers bear out my claim that the big ten is a better fit from the texas perspective academically -- as well as from a proximity standpoint -- than the pac-10. texas in the pac-10 would be on a middle island with washington with nobody else that similar -- here again, if the numbers mean all that much. also, texas bringing a coastal experience or latin-american perspective to the pac-10 would probably induce a yawn of epic scale.
anyway, here are the numbers. sorry for the spacing. if anybody can repost these numbers in an easier to read format, please do.
Big Ten
avg...........50.2
std dev.......19.5
Northwestern....12
Michigan........27
Wisconsin.......39
Illinois........39
Penn State......47
Ohio State......53
Minnesota.......61
Purdue..........61
Michigan St.....71
Iowa............71
Indiana.........71
Pac-10
avg...........71.1
std dev.......52.6
Stanford.........4
California......21
UCLA............24
USC.............26
Washington......42
Arizona........102
Washington St..106
Oregon.........115
Arizona State..121
Oregon State...Tier 3
Big 12
avg...........99.9
std dev.......34.3
Texas...........47
Texas A&M.......61
Colorado........77
Baylor..........80
Iowa State......88
Nebraska........96
Kansas..........96
Oklahoma.......102
Missouri.......102
Oklahoma St....Tier 3
Texas Tech.....Tier 3
Kansas State...Tier 3
SEC
avg..........100.5
std dev.......41.7
Vanderbilt......17
Florida.........47
Georgia.........58
Auburn..........88
Alabama.........96
Tennessee......106
South Carolina.110
Kentucky.......128
Arkansas.......128
LSU............128
Mississippi....Tier 3
Mississippi St.Tier 3
edit: here are the us n&w ratings for other programs being mentioned:
Notre Dame......20
Pittsburgh......56
Syracuse........58
Rutgers.........66
West Virginia...Tier 3
