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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
19–53caConcordia University2
19–53usCornell University2
19–53auCurtin University2
19–53jpKyushu University2
19–53seLund University2
19–53usNorthern Arizona University2
19–53nlOpen University of the Netherlands2
19–53cnPeking University2
19–53usPivotal2
19–53caPolytechnique Montréal2
19–53sgSingapore Management University2
19–53usUC Berkeley2
19–53usUC Davis2
19–53gbgb-engUniversity College London2
19–53nzUniversity of Auckland2
19–53chUniversity of Bern2
19–53caUniversity of British Columbia2
19–53caUniversity of Calgary2
19–53usUniversity of Chicago2
19–53seUniversity of Gothenburg2
19–53nlUniversity of Groningen2
19–53fiUniversity of Helsinki2
19–53fiUniversity of Jyväskylä2
19–53luUniversity of Luxembourg2
19–53usUniversity of Maryland2
19–53noUniversity of Oslo2
19–53deUniversity of Passau2
19–53itUniversity of Salerno2
19–53gbgb-engUniversity of Sheffield2
19–53usUniversity of Southern California2
19–53caUniversity of Victoria2
19–53usUniversity of Washington2
19–53nlVrije Universiteit Amsterdam2
19–53caYork University2
19–53chZurich University of Applied Sciences2
54–250dkAalborg University1
54–250fiAalto University1
54–250dkAarhus University1
54–250usAllegheny College1
54–250usAugusta University1
54–250nlAvans University of Applied Sciences1
54–250cnBaidu, Inc.1
54–250ilBar-Ilan University1
54–250eses-ctBarcelona Supercomputing Center1
54–250deBauhaus-Universität Weimar1
54–250cnBeijing Institute of Technology1
54–250trBilkent University1
54–250seBlekinge Institute of Technology1
54–250usBoeing Research & Technology Europe1
54–250gbBritish Geological Survey1
54–250usBroadPath1
54–250usCalifornia Institute of Technology1
54–250usCalifornia Polytechnic State University1
54–250seCarmenta Geospatial Technologies1
54–250usClarkson University1
54–250usClemson University1
54–250krClova AI Research1
54–250itCNR-ISTI1
54–250frCNRS1
54–250seCodeScene1
54–250usColumbia Basin College1
54–250usColumbia University1
54–250noConceptos Consulting1
54–250trCumhuriyet University1
54–250unDon’t Forget the Bubbles1
54–250usDrexel University1
54–250gbgb-engDurham University1
54–250deEberhard Karls Universität Tübingen1
54–250nlExact International Development1
54–250usFacebook1
54–250brFederal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte1
54–250brFederal University of Amazonas1
54–250brFederal University of Bahia1
54–250brFederal University of Minas Gerais1
54–250brFederal University of Pará1
54–250brFederal University of Rio Grande do Norte1
54–250brFederal University of Sergipe1
54–250atFHV Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences1
54–250deFraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering1
54–250itFree University of Bozen-Bolzano1
54–250usGeorge Fox University1
54–250usGeorge Mason University1
54–250usGeorgia Institute of Technologyy1
54–250deHarz University of Applied Sciences1
54–250gbgb-engImperial College London1
54–250frInria1
54–250idInstitut Teknologi Bandung1
54–250usIowa State University1
54–250irIran Telecommunication Research Center1
54–250frIRISA1
54–250itItalian National Research Council1
54–250usJane Street Capital1
54–250nlJeronimus Academy of Data Science1
54–250usJet Propulsion Laboratory1
54–250czJetBrains Research1
54–250nlJheronimus Academy of Data Science1
54–250usJohns Hopkins University1
54–250krKAIST1
54–250usKansas State University1
54–250usKennesaw State University1
54–250usKent State University1
54–250gbgb-engKing’s College London1
54–250krKorea Press Foundation1
54–250seKTH Royal Institute of Technology1
54–250auLady Cilento Children’s Hospital1
54–250xxLeadership Footprint1
54–250deLeibniz Institute for Neurobiology1
54–250gbgb-engLeicester Royal Infirmary1
54–250nlLeiden University1
54–250usLoyola College1
54–250usMassachusetts Institute of Technology1
54–250caMcGill University1
54–250usMeta1
54–250esMeta41
54–250deMETOP GmbH1
54–250usMontclair State University1
54–250auMurdoch University1
54–250usNetflix1
54–250fiNokia Bell Labs1
54–250usNortheastern University1
54–250usNorthwestern University1
54–250noNorwegian University of Science and Technology1
54–250noNTNU1
54–250usOakland University1
54–250seÖrebro University1
54–250usOregon State University1
54–250noØstfold University College1
54–250deOtto von Guericke University Magdeburg1
54–250dePaderborn University1
54–250dePhilipps University Marburg1
54–250ptPolytechnic Institute of Tomar1
54–250caPolytechnique Montreal1
54–250nlRadboud University1
54–250gbRolls-Royce plc1
54–250deSaarland University1
54–250usSauce Labs1
54–250lvSEB Life & Pension Holding AB Riga Branch1
54–250cnShanghai Jiao Tong University1
54–250noSimula Research Laboratory1
54–250noSINTEF1
54–250nlSoftware Improvement Group1
54–250usStanford University1
54–250usStevens Institute1
54–250auSwinburne University of Technology1
54–250chSwisscom1
54–250auSydney Children’s Hospital1
54–250deTechnische Universität München1
54–250esTecnalia1
54–250usTexas A&M University1
54–250usThe College of William and Mary1
54–250cncn-hkThe Hong Kong University of Science and Technology1
54–250nlThe Liberators1
54–250gbgb-engThe Open University1
54–250gbgb-engThe Royal London Hospital1
54–250usThe University of New Mexico1
54–250nlTilburg University1
54–250itU-Hopper1
54–250mxUAM Iztapalapa1
54–250saUmm Al-Qura University1
54–250coUniversidad de los Andes1
54–250esUniversidad Rey Juan Carlos1
54–250brUniversidade Federal de Pernambuco1
54–250brUniversidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná1
54–250chUniversità della Svizzera italiana1
54–250esUniversity Carlos III of Madrid1
54–250ieUniversity College Cork1
54–250beUniversity College Ghent1
54–250auUniversity of Adelaide1
54–250usUniversity of Alabama1
54–250caUniversity of Alberta1
54–250nlUniversity of Amsterdam1
54–250chUniversity of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland1
54–250usUniversity of Arizona1
54–250usUniversity of Arkansas1
54–250eses-ctUniversity of Barcelona1
54–250chUniversity of Basel1
54–250itUniversity of Bologna1
54–250brUniversity of Brasília1
54–250usUniversity of California, Los Angeles1
54–250usUniversity of California, Santa Cruz1
54–250gbgb-engUniversity of Cambridge1
54–250esUniversity of Castilla-La Mancha1
54–250esUniversity of Castilla–La Mancha1
54–250gbgb-engUniversity of Central Lancashire1
54–250dkUniversity of Copenhagen1
54–250deUniversity of Duisburg-Essen1
54–250gbgb-engUniversity of East Anglia1
54–250itUniversity of Florence1
54–250deUniversity of Freiburg1
54–250chUniversity of Geneva1
54–250itUniversity of Genoa1
54–250usUniversity of Georgia1
54–250deUniversity of Giessen1
54–250usUniversity of Hawai‘i1
54–250usUniversity of Illinois1
54–250gbgb-engUniversity of Leeds1
54–250gbgb-engUniversity of Leicester1
54–250frUniversity of Lorraine1
54–250deUniversity of Magdeburg1
54–250caUniversity of Manitoba1
54–250usUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst1
54–250auUniversity of Melbourne Medical School1
54–250usUniversity of Miami1
54–250itUniversity of Milano-Bicocca1
54–250itUniversity of Molise1
54–250beUniversity of Mons1
54–250esUniversity of Murcia1
54–250auUniversity of New South Wales1
54–250auUniversity of Newcastle1
54–250usUniversity of Oregon1
54–250deUniversity of Potsdam1
54–250auUniversity of Queensland1
54–250frUniversity of Rennes 11
54–250itUniversity of Sannio1
54–250eses-gaUniversity of Santiago de Compostela1
54–250caUniversity of Saskatchewan1
54–250cnUniversity of Science and Technology of China1
54–250zaUniversity of Stellenbosch Business School1
54–250auUniversity of Technology Sydney1
54–250usUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee1
54–250usVanderbilt University1
54–250usVassar College1
54–250fiVincit1
54–250beVrije Universiteit Brussel1
54–250usWayne State University1
54–250usWesleyan University1
54–250noWesterdals ACT1
54–250auWestern Hospital Footscray1
54–250usWestern Michigan University1
54–250usWestern Washington University1
54–250nzWhitireia Polytechnic1
54–250cnWuhan University1