Some of the universities in the Big 10 Conference do well in both the US News and Top Choice rankings, but others are completely different. This is primarily because the Top Choice rankings take into account acceptance rate, and a lower acceptance rate leads to a lower ranking. At Top Choice, we want to identify colleges with great students and financial aid where students have a greater chance of being admitted.
Most notably, Northwestern University has the highest rank of all Big 10 schools in the US News system (#9 overall), but the lowest rank of all in the Top Choice system (#14) because of it's extremely low acceptance rate.
On the other hand, Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, and Ohio State all rank well in both US News and Top Choice because of their impressive statistics and higher acceptance rates. Interestingly, Maryland, Penn State, and Michigan State have the same rank in both systems.
Now, which university in the Big 10 has the best athletics? That's a debate that I won't start here...
Big 10 Conference Rankings
University | Top Choice Rank | US News Rank |
Wisconsin | 1 | 3 |
Purdue | 2 | 5 |
Illinois | 3 | 4 |
Ohio State | 4 | 5 |
Indiana | 5 | 11 |
Minnesota | 6 | 10 |
Maryland | 7 | 7 |
Penn State | 8 | 8 |
Michigan | 9 | 2 |
Iowa | 10 | 13 |
Nebraska | 11 | 14 |
Michigan State | 12 | 12 |
Rutgers | 13 | 8 |
Northwestern | 14 | 1 |
