Academic Rankings by Conference

[BigL-Horn]

all the talk of aggy going to SEC had me thinking they are doing it only because of football and that they were going to go backward in academics made me take the time to look up the schools in both conferences and compare. As I did that I was shocked to see the average of the SEC was better than that of the Big12

got the rankings from: The Link

Conf average
ACC 50.58333333
Big10 57.16666667
Pac12 79.58333333
SEC 98.66666667
Big12 101.3
BigEast 117.875


Conference Ranking
ACC 50.58333333 average
BC 31
Clemson 65
Duke 9
FSU 104
Georgia Tech 35
Maryland 56
Miami 47
UNC 30
NC State 111
Virginia 25
Virginia Tech 69
Wake Forest 25

Big12 101.3 average
Baylor 79
Iowa St. 94
Kansas 104
Kstate 132
Missouri 94
OU 111
OSU 132
UT 45
A&M 63
TT 159

BigEast 117.875 average
Cincy 156
Uconn 69
Louisville 176
Pitt 64
Rutgers 64
S. Florida 183
Syracuse 55
WVU 176

Big10 57.16666667 average
Illinois 47
Indiana 75
Iowa 72
Michigan 29
Mich State 79
Minn 64
Neb 104
Northwestern 12
OSU 56
Penn St. 47
Purdue 56
Wisconsin 45

Pac12 79.58333333 average
Arizona 120
Arizona St 143
Cal 22
Colorado 86
Oregon 111
Oregon St. 139
Stanford 5
UCLA 25
USC 23
Utah 129
Washington 41
Wash St. 111

SEC 98.66666667 average
Alabama 79
Ark 132
Auburn 85
Florida 53
Georgia 56
Kentucky 129
LSU 124
Miss St. 151
Ole Miss 143
S Carolina 111
Tenn 104
Vanderbilt 17

 

[Hook 'Em Danno]

Those figures don't surprise me. I thought the issue was more about the academic standards for the student-athlete in terms of admission standards and allowing them to play. It was my understanding that the minimum academic standards for student-athletes were lower in the SEC than what they are in the Big 12.

 

[MarylandHorn]

Yep, the SEC's average is better than the Big12, but Vanderbilt is a big-time outlier.

If you throw out the top (UT) and bottom (TT) schools from each conference, Big 12 improves slightly from 101.3 to 101.1 but do the same for the SEC (Vandy and MSU) and they end up worse at 101.6.

But either way you look at it the conferences are similar. It's the academic standards of the athletes that differs.

 

[Rio Frio]

In this case, mean scores are not the best measure of central tendency. You'd probably be better off looking at median scores.

 

[The Eyes of Texas]

In reply to:

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[Longhorny630]

I rank the US News collegiate rankings as ******, or ion the Moody's scale, a AAA rating.

 

[VYFan]

I would never think of Alabama's academics as even with Baylor's or Michigan State's, and ahead of Colorado's. Oh well. Can't say my opinion is all that informed.

Georgia is stronger there than I would have guessed.

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

 

[texas_ex2000]

The SEC academics arguments have always been overstated. When you have a conference with Tech, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State...that argument loses a lot of credibility.

Vanderbilt is essentially Rice's peer. And if you live on the East Coast, you'd know that Florida and Georgia are good schools. TAMU or Missouri, the 2nd best schools in the Big XII would be the 4th best in the SEC. And if Texas were to move to the SEC, let's just say a Vandy, Texas, Florida, Georiga top 4 is better than a Texas, TAMU, Missouri, Baylor top 4. If you added a school like a Georgia Tech or UNC from the ACC, it would be a pretty solid conference.

Now, the bottom tier of SEC schools are bad (as are the Big 12's). And the cheating in the conference is really a non-starter for me. But the academic snobbery that some posters speak with when arguing against the SEC is overdone.

 

[Endust]

the median is better for the Big XII than the SEC, but I don't think anyone would argue that the Big XII is a better academic conference than the SEC. we have Texas Tech for chrissake, an institution that was almost stripped of their accreditation just three years ago.

however, A&M's prospects are much better if they hang with UT for realignment (which will almost certainly have UT going to the Big 10 or Pac 12) than to align themselves with the SEC.