Did Anyone Check Out the Schools' Academic Reputations? - Some Surprises

[Steelerfan2k1]

Admittedly, this is an insignificant feature of the game, and only geeks like myself probably pay attention to it, but, I went through some of the schools and was surprised by some of the academic reputation rankings (now, granted, I am an academic, and the designers are clearly just making a game - so I am biased).

But - a few of them surprised me - for being too low:

1. Ohio State is 3 stars (out of 6). OSU is a solid university with many strong schools. I was surprised to see it only get three stars, especially with Oklahoma and Auburn getting 4 stars. OSU is definitely on par, academically, with OU and Auburn.

2. Virginia only gets 4 stars (out of 6). This was shocking to me. UVA is one of the best universities in the country, arguably even in the world (the best is VTech is 4 stars - ask a UVA grad if they are comparable academically - it would be a humorous reaction, as UVA tends to see itself as the elite institution in VA). And, Michigan got 6 stars, and you usually talk about Michigan and UVA being in the same tier academically. The other 4 star shocker for me was the University of Texas. UT has a huge endowment, amazing facilities, and is a leader in many fields.

3. Duke and Notre Dame only got 5 stars, while Northwestern, Stanford, and only a couple others got 6. I can maybe see Notre Dame, although it is very prestigious, but Duke - no way - it should be 6.

4. The service academies are under-rated. Army and Navy are 5 star, and the Air Force Academy is 4 star. I can maybe see the 5 star argument for the academies, since they are not huge research institutions, but 4 stars for the Air Force Academy? It's freaking impossible to get in there.

5. Washington seems low at 4 stars, especially with UCLA ranked at 5 stars. U-Dub is a huge academic powerhouse, and is definitely on par with UCLA.

6. My undergrad alma mater, Purdue, is 5 stars, which is overrated in my opinion. This means that it is on par with UNC and Duke, and two tiers above OSU. No - I'm not seeing that. Maybe 4 stars. My other alma mater (and current employer), Pitt, is 4 stars, which is about right.

And - I apologize if no one cares about this - but - I couldn't help but find it interesting, since academic reputation is talked about a lot.

[Hootiefish]

I graduated from VT and I'll be the first to tell you that UVA is far superior academically.

[Kentucky3D]

EA Sports should get The Princeton Review as a sponser in the next game and get the Academic ratings better.

[yopis]

Yeah i talked to a few grads from vir a while back it's one of the top schools and most beautiful campuses in the U.S

[yucatan]

Ohio State's academic prestige as it relates to this game should be 2 stars at the most. If you think any Buckeye football recruits are going to Columbus for the academics, you're kidding yourself.

[Kentucky3D]

Quote: Originally Posted by yopis

Yeah i talked to a few grads from vir a while back it's one of the top schools and most beautiful campuses in the U.S

Ya but the students there are so nerdy. I went to high school in VA, and 90% of the students who went to UVA from my school didn't play any sports in high school. Also the girls there (and VA Tech) look absolutely terrible.

BTW VA Tech is considered a much better engineering school than UVA. A lot of companies on the Atlantic Coast won't hire UVA engineers because they have a stereotype of being snobs and difficult to work with.

[Bill_Abner]

Quote: Originally Posted by yucatan

Ohio State's academic prestige as it relates to this game should be 2 stars at the most. If you think any Buckeye football recruits are going to Columbus for the academics, you're kidding yourself.

You can say that about every bigtime football school then, right? Singling out OSU for that is a tad unfair. Bigtime recruits, most of them, go to bigtime schools because they are bigtime schools. And in fact, both Craig Krenzel and Ben Hartsock went to OSU because it's the number one medical school in the country. So there.

[yucatan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill_Abner

You can say that about every bigtime football school then, right? Singling out OSU for that is a tad unfair. Bigtime recruits, most of them, go to bigtime schools because they are bigtime schools. And in fact, both Craig Krenzel and Ben Hartsock went to OSU because it's the number one medical school in the country. So there.

Andy Katzenmoyer.