Maclean’s Rankings
By Danielle Lorenz

I recently reported on the Academic Ranking of Universities, which is a universal ranking of universities. Most of us are more familiar with the system developed by Maclean’s magazine, and I am sure many based their opinions on prospective schools on that magazine (and also had no idea what most of the information in it meant). So here it is boys and girls, how McMaster fared in the seventeenth annual Maclean’s University Rankings. If you want to know how Maclean’s determined their scores, you can check out their explanation, here. I have now read this explanation at least three times, and I for some reason still cannot grasp it. Perhaps it’s because I just don’t care, or perhaps it’s a little too complex for my little brain. Regardless of the answer to that little rhetorical question, you can check out more information about this year’s university ranking scores from this website.

I would like to admit that a more comprehensive conclusion can be gathered from picking up the magazine off of a newsstand. But because I lack the funds to do so, you’re getting whatever I can scrounge up for free on the internet. Also, I hope to save you time. I know no one cares about how Brock scored, and only wants to know about Mac, so why sift through thirty or more pages of un-essential information?

The reputational survey was completed by various university officials, principals and guidance counsellors, as well as company presidents and CEOs from all over the country. For the Best Overall category, McMaster placed fifth, behind U of T, Alberta, McGill, and Waterloo which was first. As for Highest Quality, Mac placed sixth. McMaster was the third Most Innovative, and lastly scored fifth for Leaders of Tomorrow.

Unfortunately, McMaster did not participate in any of the student surveys that were available, so we do not know what our peers think of Mac, other than what Facebook tells us.

Maclean’s offers an online ranking tool, so that you can examine and compare all or one of the schools in up to seven ways. Mac performed pretty well, but I’m going to make you check that out for yourself (and do math! Mwahaha!). Here is the link: http://www.macleans.ca/education/uni...05_170138_2824

Dr. Phil Wood (the Dean of Students) also commented on the Maclean's ranking. His information on the matter is much more in-depth than mine, I'm afraid. If you want, you can check out the entry on his blog: http://macdrphil.wordpress.c om/