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Captain’s Blog

The place to be for a PhD

I’m won’t be applying for a PhD any time soon, but if I were, my shortlonglist would probably look a bit like this.

Blackjack and hookers meme
I’m gonna make my own university ranking, with blackjack and hookers!

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

Link
RankCountryOrganisationPoints
1–2usCarnegie Mellon University8
1–2usMicrosoft8
3usNorth Carolina State University7
4–7nlDelft University of Technology4
4–7ilThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem4
4–7deUniversity of Stuttgart4
4–7chUniversity of Zurich4
8–18ilBen-Gurion University of the Negev3
8–18seChalmers University of Technology3
8–18nlEindhoven University of Technology3
8–18usGoogle3
8–18usIBM Corporation3
8–18auMonash University3
8–18caQueen’s University3
8–18fiTampere University3
8–18chUniversità della Svizzera italiana3
8–18fiUniversity of Oulu3
8–18gbgb-engUniversity of Oxford3
19–54caConcordia University2
19–54usCornell University2
19–54auCurtin University2
19–54jpKyushu University2
19–54seLund University2
19–54usNorthern Arizona University2
19–54nlOpen University of the Netherlands2
19–54cnPeking University2
19–54usPivotal2
19–54caPolytechnique Montréal2
19–54sgSingapore Management University2
19–54usUC Berkeley2
19–54usUC Davis2
19–54gbgb-engUniversity College London2
19–54nlUniversity of Amsterdam2
19–54nzUniversity of Auckland2
19–54chUniversity of Bern2
19–54caUniversity of British Columbia2
19–54caUniversity of Calgary2
19–54usUniversity of Chicago2
19–54seUniversity of Gothenburg2
19–54nlUniversity of Groningen2
19–54fiUniversity of Helsinki2
19–54fiUniversity of Jyväskylä2
19–54luUniversity of Luxembourg2
19–54usUniversity of Maryland2
19–54noUniversity of Oslo2
19–54deUniversity of Passau2
19–54itUniversity of Salerno2
19–54gbgb-engUniversity of Sheffield2
19–54usUniversity of Southern California2
19–54caUniversity of Victoria2
19–54usUniversity of Washington2
19–54nlVrije Universiteit Amsterdam2
19–54caYork University2
19–54chZurich University of Applied Sciences2
55–250dkAalborg University1
55–250fiAalto University1
55–250dkAarhus University1
55–250usAllegheny College1
55–250usAugusta University1
55–250nlAvans University of Applied Sciences1
55–250cnBaidu, Inc.1
55–250ilBar-Ilan University1
55–250eses-ctBarcelona Supercomputing Center1
55–250deBauhaus-Universität Weimar1
55–250cnBeijing Institute of Technology1
55–250trBilkent University1
55–250seBlekinge Institute of Technology1
55–250usBoeing Research & Technology Europe1
55–250gbBritish Geological Survey1
55–250usBroadPath1
55–250usCalifornia Institute of Technology1
55–250usCalifornia Polytechnic State University1
55–250seCarmenta Geospatial Technologies1
55–250usClarkson University1
55–250usClemson University1
55–250krClova AI Research1
55–250itCNR-ISTI1
55–250frCNRS1
55–250seCodeScene1
55–250usColumbia Basin College1
55–250usColumbia University1
55–250noConceptos Consulting1
55–250trCumhuriyet University1
55–250unDon’t Forget the Bubbles1
55–250usDrexel University1
55–250gbgb-engDurham University1
55–250deEberhard Karls Universität Tübingen1
55–250nlExact International Development1
55–250usFacebook1
55–250brFederal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte1
55–250brFederal University of Amazonas1
55–250brFederal University of Bahia1
55–250brFederal University of Minas Gerais1
55–250brFederal University of Pará1
55–250brFederal University of Rio Grande do Norte1
55–250brFederal University of Sergipe1
55–250atFHV Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences1
55–250deFraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering1
55–250itFree University of Bozen-Bolzano1
55–250usGeorge Fox University1
55–250usGeorge Mason University1
55–250usGeorgia Institute of Technologyy1
55–250deHarz University of Applied Sciences1
55–250gbgb-engImperial College London1
55–250frInria1
55–250idInstitut Teknologi Bandung1
55–250usIowa State University1
55–250irIran Telecommunication Research Center1
55–250frIRISA1
55–250itItalian National Research Council1
55–250usJane Street Capital1
55–250nlJeronimus Academy of Data Science1
55–250usJet Propulsion Laboratory1
55–250czJetBrains Research1
55–250nlJheronimus Academy of Data Science1
55–250usJohns Hopkins University1
55–250krKAIST1
55–250usKansas State University1
55–250usKennesaw State University1
55–250usKent State University1
55–250gbgb-engKing’s College London1
55–250krKorea Press Foundation1
55–250seKTH Royal Institute of Technology1
55–250auLady Cilento Children’s Hospital1
55–250xxLeadership Footprint1
55–250deLeibniz Institute for Neurobiology1
55–250gbgb-engLeicester Royal Infirmary1
55–250nlLeiden University1
55–250usLoyola College1
55–250usMassachusetts Institute of Technology1
55–250caMcGill University1
55–250usMeta1
55–250esMeta41
55–250deMETOP GmbH1
55–250usMontclair State University1
55–250auMurdoch University1
55–250usNetflix1
55–250fiNokia Bell Labs1
55–250usNortheastern University1
55–250usNorthwestern University1
55–250noNorwegian University of Science and Technology1
55–250noNTNU1
55–250usOakland University1
55–250seÖrebro University1
55–250usOregon State University1
55–250noØstfold University College1
55–250deOtto von Guericke University Magdeburg1
55–250dePaderborn University1
55–250dePhilipps University Marburg1
55–250ptPolytechnic Institute of Tomar1
55–250caPolytechnique Montreal1
55–250nlRadboud University1
55–250gbRolls-Royce plc1
55–250deSaarland University1
55–250usSauce Labs1
55–250lvSEB Life & Pension Holding AB Riga Branch1
55–250cnShanghai Jiao Tong University1
55–250noSimula Research Laboratory1
55–250noSINTEF1
55–250nlSoftware Improvement Group1
55–250usStanford University1
55–250usStevens Institute1
55–250auSwinburne University of Technology1
55–250chSwisscom1
55–250auSydney Children’s Hospital1
55–250deTechnische Universität München1
55–250esTecnalia1
55–250usTexas A&M University1
55–250usThe College of William and Mary1
55–250cncn-hkThe Hong Kong University of Science and Technology1
55–250nlThe Liberators1
55–250gbgb-engThe Open University1
55–250gbgb-engThe Royal London Hospital1
55–250usThe University of New Mexico1
55–250nlTilburg University1
55–250itU-Hopper1
55–250mxUAM Iztapalapa1
55–250saUmm Al-Qura University1
55–250coUniversidad de los Andes1
55–250esUniversidad Rey Juan Carlos1
55–250brUniversidade Federal de Pernambuco1
55–250brUniversidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná1
55–250chUniversità della Svizzera italiana1
55–250esUniversity Carlos III of Madrid1
55–250ieUniversity College Cork1
55–250beUniversity College Ghent1
55–250auUniversity of Adelaide1
55–250usUniversity of Alabama1
55–250caUniversity of Alberta1
55–250chUniversity of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland1
55–250usUniversity of Arizona1
55–250usUniversity of Arkansas1
55–250eses-ctUniversity of Barcelona1
55–250chUniversity of Basel1
55–250itUniversity of Bologna1
55–250brUniversity of Brasília1
55–250usUniversity of California, Los Angeles1
55–250usUniversity of California, Santa Cruz1
55–250gbgb-engUniversity of Cambridge1
55–250esUniversity of Castilla-La Mancha1
55–250esUniversity of Castilla–La Mancha1
55–250gbgb-engUniversity of Central Lancashire1
55–250dkUniversity of Copenhagen1
55–250deUniversity of Duisburg-Essen1
55–250gbgb-engUniversity of East Anglia1
55–250itUniversity of Florence1
55–250deUniversity of Freiburg1
55–250chUniversity of Geneva1
55–250itUniversity of Genoa1
55–250usUniversity of Georgia1
55–250deUniversity of Giessen1
55–250usUniversity of Hawai‘i1
55–250usUniversity of Illinois1
55–250gbgb-engUniversity of Leeds1
55–250gbgb-engUniversity of Leicester1
55–250frUniversity of Lorraine1
55–250deUniversity of Magdeburg1
55–250caUniversity of Manitoba1
55–250usUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst1
55–250auUniversity of Melbourne Medical School1
55–250usUniversity of Miami1
55–250itUniversity of Milano-Bicocca1
55–250itUniversity of Molise1
55–250beUniversity of Mons1
55–250esUniversity of Murcia1
55–250auUniversity of New South Wales1
55–250auUniversity of Newcastle1
55–250usUniversity of Oregon1
55–250deUniversity of Potsdam1
55–250auUniversity of Queensland1
55–250frUniversity of Rennes 11
55–250itUniversity of Sannio1
55–250eses-gaUniversity of Santiago de Compostela1
55–250caUniversity of Saskatchewan1
55–250cnUniversity of Science and Technology of China1
55–250zaUniversity of Stellenbosch Business School1
55–250auUniversity of Technology Sydney1
55–250usUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee1
55–250usVanderbilt University1
55–250usVassar College1
55–250fiVincit1
55–250beVrije Universiteit Brussel1
55–250usWayne State University1
55–250usWesleyan University1
55–250noWesterdals ACT1
55–250auWestern Hospital Footscray1
55–250usWestern Michigan University1
55–250usWestern Washington University1
55–250nzWhitireia Polytechnic1
55–250cnWuhan University1