What do you all think that? I didn't really think much about it but recently a friend showed me the rankings and for the past several years I see McMaster Dropping so much on the Times Rankings. McMaster is 92 in Times and 140 in QS, are we getting worse as a university? University of Toronto is now ranked 20 in Times and 17 in QS, McGill is in 35 Times and 21 in QS O_O

What do yall think?

Rankings for undergrad don't mean anything. It comes into play for grad programs/professional school. Mac is only good for some select science programs and its medical school. Its social sciences/humanities and commerce especially is weak. Therefore it doesn't rank highly.

The thing is, it doesn't really only look at academics but the entire prestige of the school as an whole. Our Social Science/Humanities actually rank pretty high surprisingly, I just sort of also feel that Mac isn't trying hard enough to push to be the best school.

They still haven't fix that stupid lake in front of BSB, and you actually expect them to compete with universities like MIT?

But then again, one of the Boston bombers was hiding on MIT campus, so maybe it's not as good as everyone says it is.

Also here's a food for thought, McMaster is actually growing compared to previous years' rankings, but slowly. And don't forget that 20-30 years ago McMaster was a lot smaller and had 1/2 of the buildings it has now, so it's pretty much booming at this point with all these donations.

^I do agree on that, generally we have much less funding. We have around 500 million funding compared to the 1.6 billion U of T and 1.2 Billion McGill has so we automatically should be around 1/3 and 1/2 as competitive compared to them.

However I think the thing is the attitude of all the faculties and the branding we take as more of a community feel.

I honestly don't think it should matter what rank our school is in compared to others. I think it would be nicer to be recognized as a school full of friendly people with a safe environment. Sure, I'm in first year and I often question where all of my money is going if there are still wifi dead-zones, random lakes and parking fees. But in Hamilton alone, I'd have to say that McMaster should be its pride and joy. We're a pretty awesome bunch.

You shouldn't look too closely into rankings. There is no real consensus as to how schools are ranked. There are multiple rankings with wildly different results . Anyone who is worried that mcmaster is top is "slipping" shouldn't be. To put this in context a top 100 ranking would put mcmaster easily in the top 5% in the world

...They still haven't fix that stupid lake in front of BSB, ...

That lake is a tourist attraction. The Red-pants should sell tickets for canoe rides, when the season arrives.

What are these rankings based on? If it's quality of service to the undergraduate students, then I think we can safely say this place sucks for a number of reasons:

1. The lake that forms on campus. It happens every single year... is there seriously no way to fix the drainage problem, or is it that simply nobody gives a shit?
2. There is always some part of the campus heavily under construction; the smell of ozone and other crap in the air from large construction vehicles is nauseating.
3. UTS is a giant overpaid worthless piece of shit. The completely fucked up IT infrastructure all over campus and for external services being examples of that.
4. The school is letting way too many students in. There isn't enough on-campus housing for first year students and the idea of a "single room" is slowly becoming at thing of the past. Off campus, it's difficult to find a bus that isn't already full during peak hours from Westdale.
5. The CAS department (encompassing Software, Mechatronics and Computer Science) is terrible, mostly being taught by professors who have absolutely zero knowledge of modern technologies, design principles or any real world experience for that matter. Not sure if other departments are the same.

Other than that, I guess it's alright.

They often take research into account. Usually quite heavily.

Rankings usually take into consideration reputation, citations for faculty, the recognition for faculty, quality of education and other indicators, each ranking looks at different things.

Contrary to Onagintios up there, I actually think it is great that they are making new buildings, I sure hope Mac expands on the land it amount of land it has and capitalize on it.

Based on the direction we are heading, I predict by the time I'm out (2017) Mac would have dropped out of the top 100 schools on Times Rankings.