The place to be for a PhD
Prestige plays a major role in academia. It’s why researchers dream of publishing their work in prestigious journals, like Nature and Science. It’s why you can find Harvard University sweaters all over the world, even though Harvard doesn’t actually have that many students. And it’s why people get all giddy about an opportunity to work or study at Oxford, even though there are plenty of other institutions that may have more to offer.
A decent chunk of a university’s prestige comes from rankings, of which there are many. .
While prestige can afford you certain privileges, it does not play that much of a role in your day-to-day life as a graduate student. Rankings tend to be based on research output and recognition thereof, but you’re likely more concerned about things like quality of education, facilities, student life, affordability, the likelihood that your supervisor will be a Machiavellian psychopath, or the university’s primary topics of research.
Most rankings are therefore kind of useless for students.
I’m going to exacerbate this problem by introducing my own ranking, the Toilet Paper Rankings, which is solely based on the number of summarised papers in which an organisation, which is usually – but not always – a university, is mentioned as an affiliation. The list is updated daily, although it usually only changes once a week, when I publish a new paper summary.
Toilet Paper Rankings
| Rank | Country | Organisation | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 |  | Carnegie Mellon University | 8 |
| 1–2 | | Microsoft | 8 |
| 3 | | North Carolina State University | 7 |
| 4–7 |  | Delft University of Technology | 4 |
| 4–7 |  | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem | 4 |
| 4–7 |  | University of Stuttgart | 4 |
| 4–7 |  | University of Zurich | 4 |
| 8–18 | | Ben-Gurion University of the Negev | 3 |
| 8–18 |  | Chalmers University of Technology | 3 |
| 8–18 | | Eindhoven University of Technology | 3 |
| 8–18 | | 3 | |
| 8–18 | | IBM Corporation | 3 |
| 8–18 |  | Monash University | 3 |
| 8–18 |  | Queen’s University | 3 |
| 8–18 |  | Tampere University | 3 |
| 8–18 | | Università della Svizzera italiana | 3 |
| 8–18 | | University of Oulu | 3 |
| 8–18 |   | University of Oxford | 3 |
| 19–53 | | Concordia University | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Cornell University | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Curtin University | 2 |
| 19–53 |  | Kyushu University | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Lund University | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Northern Arizona University | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Open University of the Netherlands | 2 |
| 19–53 |  | Peking University | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Pivotal | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Polytechnique Montréal | 2 |
| 19–53 |  | Singapore Management University | 2 |
| 19–53 | | UC Berkeley | 2 |
| 19–53 | | UC Davis | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University College London | 2 |
| 19–53 |  | University of Auckland | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Bern | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of British Columbia | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Calgary | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Chicago | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Gothenburg | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Groningen | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Helsinki | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Jyväskylä | 2 |
| 19–53 |  | University of Luxembourg | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Maryland | 2 |
| 19–53 |  | University of Oslo | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Passau | 2 |
| 19–53 |  | University of Salerno | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Sheffield | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Southern California | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Victoria | 2 |
| 19–53 | | University of Washington | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | 2 |
| 19–53 | | York University | 2 |
| 19–53 | | Zurich University of Applied Sciences | 2 |
| 54–250 |  | Aalborg University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Aalto University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Aarhus University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Allegheny College | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Augusta University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Avans University of Applied Sciences | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Baidu, Inc. | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Bar-Ilan University | 1 |
| 54–250 |   | Barcelona Supercomputing Center | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Bauhaus-Universität Weimar | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Beijing Institute of Technology | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Bilkent University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Blekinge Institute of Technology | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Boeing Research & Technology Europe | 1 |
| 54–250 | | British Geological Survey | 1 |
| 54–250 | | BroadPath | 1 |
| 54–250 | | California Institute of Technology | 1 |
| 54–250 | | California Polytechnic State University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Carmenta Geospatial Technologies | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Clarkson University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Clemson University | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Clova AI Research | 1 |
| 54–250 | | CNR-ISTI | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | CNRS | 1 |
| 54–250 | | CodeScene | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Columbia Basin College | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Columbia University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Conceptos Consulting | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Cumhuriyet University | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Don’t Forget the Bubbles | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Drexel University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Durham University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Exact International Development | 1 |
| 54–250 | | 1 | |
| 54–250 |  | Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Federal University of Amazonas | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Federal University of Bahia | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Federal University of Minas Gerais | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Federal University of Pará | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Federal University of Sergipe | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | FHV Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Free University of Bozen-Bolzano | 1 |
| 54–250 | | George Fox University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | George Mason University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Georgia Institute of Technologyy | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Harz University of Applied Sciences | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Imperial College London | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Inria | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Institut Teknologi Bandung | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Iowa State University | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Iran Telecommunication Research Center | 1 |
| 54–250 | | IRISA | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Italian National Research Council | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Jane Street Capital | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Jeronimus Academy of Data Science | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Jet Propulsion Laboratory | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | JetBrains Research | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Jheronimus Academy of Data Science | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Johns Hopkins University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | KAIST | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Kansas State University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Kennesaw State University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Kent State University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | King’s College London | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Korea Press Foundation | 1 |
| 54–250 | | KTH Royal Institute of Technology | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Leadership Footprint | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Leicester Royal Infirmary | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Leiden University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Loyola College | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 1 |
| 54–250 | | McGill University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Meta | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Meta4 | 1 |
| 54–250 | | METOP GmbH | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Montclair State University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Murdoch University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Netflix | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Nokia Bell Labs | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Northeastern University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Northwestern University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Norwegian University of Science and Technology | 1 |
| 54–250 | | NTNU | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Oakland University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Örebro University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Oregon State University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Østfold University College | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Paderborn University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Philipps University Marburg | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Polytechnic Institute of Tomar | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Polytechnique Montreal | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Radboud University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Rolls-Royce plc | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Saarland University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Sauce Labs | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | SEB Life & Pension Holding AB Riga Branch | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Simula Research Laboratory | 1 |
| 54–250 | | SINTEF | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Software Improvement Group | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Stanford University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Stevens Institute | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Swinburne University of Technology | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Swisscom | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Sydney Children’s Hospital | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Technische Universität München | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Tecnalia | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Texas A&M University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | The College of William and Mary | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | 1 |
| 54–250 | | The Liberators | 1 |
| 54–250 | | The Open University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | The Royal London Hospital | 1 |
| 54–250 | | The University of New Mexico | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Tilburg University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | U-Hopper | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | UAM Iztapalapa | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Umm Al-Qura University | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | Universidad de los Andes | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Universidad Rey Juan Carlos | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Universidade Federal de Pernambuco | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Università della Svizzera italiana | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University Carlos III of Madrid | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | University College Cork | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | University College Ghent | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Adelaide | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Alabama | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Alberta | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Amsterdam | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Arizona | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Arkansas | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Barcelona | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Basel | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Bologna | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Brasília | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of California, Los Angeles | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of California, Santa Cruz | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Cambridge | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Castilla-La Mancha | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Castilla–La Mancha | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Central Lancashire | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Copenhagen | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Duisburg-Essen | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of East Anglia | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Florence | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Freiburg | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Geneva | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Genoa | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Georgia | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Giessen | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Hawai‘i | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Illinois | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Leeds | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Leicester | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Lorraine | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Magdeburg | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Manitoba | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Massachusetts Amherst | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Melbourne Medical School | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Miami | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Milano-Bicocca | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Molise | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Mons | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Murcia | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of New South Wales | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Newcastle | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Oregon | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Potsdam | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Queensland | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Rennes 1 | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Sannio | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | University of Santiago de Compostela | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Saskatchewan | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Science and Technology of China | 1 |
| 54–250 |  | University of Stellenbosch Business School | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Technology Sydney | 1 |
| 54–250 | | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Vanderbilt University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Vassar College | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Vincit | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Vrije Universiteit Brussel | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Wayne State University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Wesleyan University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Westerdals ACT | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Western Hospital Footscray | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Western Michigan University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Western Washington University | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Whitireia Polytechnic | 1 |
| 54–250 | | Wuhan University | 1 |