[FarmBoy]

US News is not the best source, but it's one source that attempts to be somewhat transparent in its methodology. That source has BYU ahead of all Pac-12 schools except Washington and the four California schools.

Caveat, I'm no expert here, but I think the issue was not about the quality of undergrad students, which I think USNWR is a proxy for. BYU undergrad is competitive to get into and all else equal, I would take a BYU grad applying for a job over one from almost every other Pac12 school. I think the issue was around the research quality of the schools. BYU is mostly an undergrad school with MBA and Law Schools. They are not known for their research contributions. When this was discussed 4-5 years ago, I remember people discussing the fact that athletic revenue is dwarfed relative to money raised for academic research.As odd as it sounds, apparently the athletic alignment actually drives academic collaboration as well. And it was thought that BYU doesn't add a lot there, unless you're interested in research that supports the idea that the Native Americans are descendants of ancient Israelites or that Christ spent some time in North America.

[FarmBoy]

US News is not the best source, but it's one source that attempts to be somewhat transparent in its methodology. That source has BYU ahead of all Pac-12 schools except Washington and the four California schools.

Caveat, I'm no expert here, but I think the issue was not about the quality of undergrad students, which I think USNWR is a proxy for. BYU undergrad is competitive to get into and all else equal, I would take a BYU grad applying for a job over one from almost every other Pac12 school. I think the issue was around the research quality of the schools. BYU is mostly an undergrad school with MBA and Law Schools. They are not known for their research contributions. When this was discussed 4-5 years ago, I remember people discussing the fact that athletic revenue is dwarfed relative to money raised for academic research.As odd as it sounds, apparently the athletic alignment actually drives academic collaboration as well. And it was thought that BYU doesn't add a lot there, unless you're interested in research that supports the idea that the Native Americans are descendants of ancient Israelites or that Christ spent some time in North America.