USNews Best Colleges 2006 rankings: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php Top 10: 1 Harvard University (MA) 1 Princeton University (NJ) 3 Yale University (CT) 4 University of Pennsylvania 5 Duke University (NC) 5 Stanford University (CA) 7 California Institute of Technology 7 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 9 Columbia University (NY) 9 Dartmouth College (NH) Others: 17 Rice 30 USC (how?) 32 Lehigh (what!) 40 Boston College 45 Yeshiva (2,800 students) 52 UT 60 Texas A&M 71 SMU 78 Baylor 97 TCU 163 Texas Tech 201 UH 240 UTEP 225 North Texas
While these rankings are always fun, they mean little if anything about individual schools. Lots of the highest ranked schools are far more graduate-focused than many people would believe and you don't get the same level of instruction from actual professors than you might get at other institutions. But, whatever. RICE OWLS b****!
There were only a handful of schools that finished in the top 25 for both football and hoops. Here's the dean's list and their academic rankings: 40 BC 50 Florida 109 Oklahoma Tier 3 Texas Tech Tier 3 Utah Tier 4 Louisville
You're right...its a running joke with some UPenn grads. I.e. - when I say where I graduated from, I'm likely to get a comment about Joe Paterno...unless you are familiar with Matt Maloney, Michael Jordan (he was one of the better ball players on the team a few years), or more recently...Koko Archibong.