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Captain’s Blog

The place to be for a PhD

I don’t actually have any plans to apply for a PhD right now, but if I were it would probably be at one of these places.

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
1usCarnegie Mellon University9
2–3usMicrosoft8
2–3usNorth Carolina State University8
4–5nlDelft University of Technology5
4–5chUniversity of Zurich5
6–7ilThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem4
6–7deUniversity of Stuttgart4
8–21ilBen-Gurion University of the Negev3
8–21seChalmers University of Technology3
8–21nlEindhoven University of Technology3
8–21usGoogle3
8–21usIBM Corporation3
8–21auMonash University3
8–21caQueen’s University3
8–21usStanford University3
8–21fiTampere University3
8–21chUniversità della Svizzera italiana3
8–21chUniversity of Bern3
8–21fiUniversity of Helsinki3
8–21fiUniversity of Oulu3
8–21gbgb-engUniversity of Oxford3
22–57caConcordia University2
22–57usCornell University2
22–57auCurtin University2
22–57jpKyushu University2
22–57seLund University2
22–57usNorthern Arizona University2
22–57nlOpen University of the Netherlands2
22–57cnPeking University2
22–57usPivotal2
22–57caPolytechnique Montréal2
22–57sgSingapore Management University2
22–57usStevens Institute of Technology2
22–57usUC Berkeley2
22–57usUC Davis2
22–57gbgb-engUniversity College London2
22–57nlUniversity of Amsterdam2
22–57nzUniversity of Auckland2
22–57caUniversity of British Columbia2
22–57caUniversity of Calgary2
22–57usUniversity of Chicago2
22–57seUniversity of Gothenburg2
22–57nlUniversity of Groningen2
22–57usUniversity of Illinois at Chicago2
22–57fiUniversity of Jyväskylä2
22–57luUniversity of Luxembourg2
22–57usUniversity of Maryland2
22–57noUniversity of Oslo2
22–57deUniversity of Passau2
22–57itUniversity of Salerno2
22–57gbgb-engUniversity of Sheffield2
22–57usUniversity of Southern California2
22–57caUniversity of Victoria2
22–57usUniversity of Washington2
22–57nlVrije Universiteit Amsterdam2
22–57caYork University2
22–57chZurich University of Applied Sciences2
58–256dkAalborg University1
58–256fiAalto University1
58–256dkAarhus University1
58–256usAllegheny College1
58–256usArizona State University1
58–256usAugusta University1
58–256nlAvans University of Applied Sciences1
58–256cnBaidu, Inc.1
58–256ilBar-Ilan University1
58–256eses-ctBarcelona Supercomputing Center1
58–256deBauhaus-Universität Weimar1
58–256cnBeijing Institute of Technology1
58–256trBilkent University1
58–256seBlekinge Institute of Technology1
58–256usBoeing Research & Technology Europe1
58–256gbBritish Geological Survey1
58–256usBroadPath1
58–256usCalifornia Institute of Technology1
58–256usCalifornia Polytechnic State University1
58–256seCarmenta Geospatial Technologies1
58–256deCISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security1
58–256usClarkson University1
58–256usClemson University1
58–256krClova AI Research1
58–256itCNR-ISTI1
58–256frCNRS1
58–256seCodeScene1
58–256usColumbia Basin College1
58–256usColumbia University1
58–256noConceptos Consulting1
58–256trCumhuriyet University1
58–256unDon’t Forget the Bubbles1
58–256usDrexel University1
58–256gbgb-engDurham University1
58–256deEberhard Karls Universität Tübingen1
58–256nlExact International Development1
58–256usFacebook1
58–256brFederal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte1
58–256brFederal University of Amazonas1
58–256brFederal University of Bahia1
58–256brFederal University of Minas Gerais1
58–256brFederal University of Pará1
58–256brFederal University of Rio Grande do Norte1
58–256brFederal University of Sergipe1
58–256atFHV Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences1
58–256deFraunhofer1
58–256usFraunhofer1
58–256itFree University of Bozen-Bolzano1
58–256usGeorge Fox University1
58–256usGeorge Mason University1
58–256usGeorgia Institute of Technologyy1
58–256deHarz University of Applied Sciences1
58–256gbgb-engImperial College London1
58–256frInria1
58–256idInstitut Teknologi Bandung1
58–256gbgb-engIntruder Systems1
58–256usIowa State University1
58–256irIran Telecommunication Research Center1
58–256frIRISA1
58–256itItalian National Research Council1
58–256usJane Street Capital1
58–256nlJeronimus Academy of Data Science1
58–256usJet Propulsion Laboratory1
58–256czJetBrains Research1
58–256nlJheronimus Academy of Data Science1
58–256usJohns Hopkins University1
58–256krKAIST1
58–256usKansas State University1
58–256usKennesaw State University1
58–256usKent State University1
58–256gbgb-engKing’s College London1
58–256krKorea Press Foundation1
58–256seKTH Royal Institute of Technology1
58–256auLady Cilento Children’s Hospital1
58–256xxLeadership Footprint1
58–256deLeibniz Institute for Neurobiology1
58–256gbgb-engLeicester Royal Infirmary1
58–256nlLeiden University1
58–256usLoyola College1
58–256usMassachusetts Institute of Technology1
58–256caMcGill University1
58–256usMeta1
58–256esMeta41
58–256deMETOP GmbH1
58–256usMontclair State University1
58–256auMurdoch University1
58–256usNetflix1
58–256fiNokia Bell Labs1
58–256usNortheastern University1
58–256usNorthwestern University1
58–256noNorwegian University of Science and Technology1
58–256noNTNU1
58–256usOakland University1
58–256seÖrebro University1
58–256usOregon State University1
58–256noØstfold University College1
58–256deOtto von Guericke University Magdeburg1
58–256dePaderborn University1
58–256dePhilipps University Marburg1
58–256ptPolytechnic Institute of Tomar1
58–256caPolytechnique Montreal1
58–256nlRadboud University1
58–256gbRolls-Royce plc1
58–256deSaarland University1
58–256usSauce Labs1
58–256lvSEB Life & Pension Holding AB Riga Branch1
58–256cnShanghai Jiao Tong University1
58–256noSimula Research Laboratory1
58–256noSINTEF1
58–256nlSoftware Improvement Group1
58–256auSwinburne University of Technology1
58–256chSwisscom1
58–256auSydney Children’s Hospital1
58–256deTechnische Universität München1
58–256esTecnalia1
58–256usTexas A&M University1
58–256usThe College of William and Mary1
58–256cncn-hkThe Hong Kong University of Science and Technology1
58–256nlThe Liberators1
58–256gbgb-engThe Open University1
58–256gbgb-engThe Royal London Hospital1
58–256usThe University of New Mexico1
58–256nlTilburg University1
58–256itU-Hopper1
58–256mxUAM Iztapalapa1
58–256saUmm Al-Qura University1
58–256coUniversidad de los Andes1
58–256esUniversidad Rey Juan Carlos1
58–256brUniversidade Federal de Pernambuco1
58–256brUniversidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná1
58–256chUniversità della Svizzera italiana1
58–256esUniversity Carlos III of Madrid1
58–256ieUniversity College Cork1
58–256beUniversity College Ghent1
58–256auUniversity of Adelaide1
58–256usUniversity of Alabama1
58–256caUniversity of Alberta1
58–256chUniversity of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland1
58–256usUniversity of Arizona1
58–256usUniversity of Arkansas1
58–256eses-ctUniversity of Barcelona1
58–256chUniversity of Basel1
58–256itUniversity of Bologna1
58–256brUniversity of Brasília1
58–256usUniversity of California, Los Angeles1
58–256usUniversity of California, Santa Cruz1
58–256gbgb-engUniversity of Cambridge1
58–256esUniversity of Castilla-La Mancha1
58–256esUniversity of Castilla–La Mancha1
58–256gbgb-engUniversity of Central Lancashire1
58–256dkUniversity of Copenhagen1
58–256deUniversity of Duisburg-Essen1
58–256gbgb-engUniversity of East Anglia1
58–256itUniversity of Florence1
58–256deUniversity of Freiburg1
58–256chUniversity of Geneva1
58–256itUniversity of Genoa1
58–256usUniversity of Georgia1
58–256deUniversity of Giessen1
58–256usUniversity of Hawai‘i1
58–256usUniversity of Illinois1
58–256atUniversity of Klagenfurt1
58–256gbgb-engUniversity of Leeds1
58–256gbgb-engUniversity of Leicester1
58–256frUniversity of Lorraine1
58–256deUniversity of Magdeburg1
58–256caUniversity of Manitoba1
58–256usUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst1
58–256auUniversity of Melbourne Medical School1
58–256usUniversity of Miami1
58–256itUniversity of Milano-Bicocca1
58–256itUniversity of Molise1
58–256beUniversity of Mons1
58–256esUniversity of Murcia1
58–256auUniversity of New South Wales1
58–256auUniversity of Newcastle1
58–256usUniversity of Oregon1
58–256deUniversity of Potsdam1
58–256auUniversity of Queensland1
58–256frUniversity of Rennes 11
58–256itUniversity of Sannio1
58–256eses-gaUniversity of Santiago de Compostela1
58–256caUniversity of Saskatchewan1
58–256cnUniversity of Science and Technology of China1
58–256zaUniversity of Stellenbosch Business School1
58–256auUniversity of Technology Sydney1
58–256usUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee1
58–256usVanderbilt University1
58–256usVassar College1
58–256fiVincit1
58–256beVrije Universiteit Brussel1
58–256usWayne State University1
58–256usWesleyan University1
58–256noWesterdals ACT1
58–256auWestern Hospital Footscray1
58–256usWestern Michigan University1
58–256usWestern Washington University1
58–256nzWhitireia Polytechnic1
58–256cnWuhan University1