Not to pick on them because of this thing in the news about a super-virus situation, as things do happen. But I’m just wondering how/why is it that this university has climbed up so rapidly in the prestige department so much in, oh let’s say…, in the past 3 or so years?
I’m NOT suggesting that it’s not a truly wonderful school, 'cause it is, I’m just at a loss as to how it for so very long had been at around the 50 or 60 or even 70 spot (as I recall) in most polls, rankings and surveys but now appears in a lot of top 10 rankings.
I wonder if politics is behind it and/or the many high-achieving Asian students going there these days?
Anyway, it’s no biggie … just something I’ve wondered about a bit in recent months.
It’s just a guess, but UCLA had a Nobel Laureate in 2012 (Lloyd Shapley, economics). This alone surely does not boost the overall quality of the university, but it is a factor which contributes to an improvement in rankings, since the ranking methodologies - especially in the category “prestige” - attach great weight to the status of faculty members and their publications.
I also checked THE, googling the 2005 edition of the table. UCLA was 37 that year (and 26 in 2004), so it does seem to have climbed a few rungs in the ladder since then.
UCLA is the finest University on the planet, bar none. If anything, the rankings are defamatory to UCLA. That said, rankings are complete bullshit with all the dignity of drunken editors sitting around doing fantasy football stuff. Ole Miss students read the same books and can party just as hard. What makes UCLA truly superior is the level of vanity of the undergraduates in Los Angeles, who are a true pleasure to look at and are the best at fucking on the planet. Yay Bruins!
