How the quality index is calculated
Every ranked list on this site — national, by state, by city, by field — sorts on the same number. Four blocks, fixed weights, a score between 35 and 98.
| Block | Weight | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Academic reputation | 35% | Subject strength, citation impact, standing with regional employers. |
| Research capacity | 25% | Federal and industry funding, doctoral output, hospitals, lab partnerships. |
| Selectivity | 20% | Acceptance rate and the profile of an admitted file. |
| Student outcomes | 20% | Graduation rates, co-op structures, early-career placement. |
Rules
- Ties break on total enrolment, then alphabetically, so the order is stable.
- Two-year colleges sit on the same scale and score low on research by design.
- Specialised institutes — art, music, mines — are compared inside their own pages.
- No figure here is a hard statistic.
Known weaknesses
A composite index under-values teaching in introductory courses, over-values funding that never reaches undergraduates, and cannot see the fit between a student and a department. It exists to build a shortlist. The decision belongs somewhere else.