Georgetown has won a large delegation award at all three conferences it has attended
Which college Model UN teams are the best on the circuit? We devised a rankings system that answers this question in order to recognize the top teams on the college circuit for their accomplishments.
Please read the revised methodology article first before jumping into the rankings. We clarify in the article our purpose for doing rankings, our philosophy that drives what we value in the rankings, which schools and conferences are included in the World Division (this ranking applies to only this circuit), and improvements in our methodology.
With that said, here are the top 1-5 teams on the college circuit! These teams have continually competed for the best delegation awards, and some of them have won — multiple times.
Fall 2011 College Model UN Rankings: World Division Top 1-5
1. Georgetown University
Georgetown is the #1 team in the nation after winning three large delegation awards at all three conferences that it attended. This includes winning Best Large Delegation at UPMUNC which was the most competitive conference of the Fall according to our methodology. Georgetown rounded out its results with a pair of Outstanding Large Delegation awards at SCSY and CMMUNY. The top three teams have a significantly higher score than the teams ranked below them and they all own head-to-head wins over each other during the Fall, so the 2011-2012 #1 ranking may come down to how Georgetown, U.Chicago, and U.Penn (and possibly Yale if they compete as a large delegation) perform in the Spring. Although Georgetown has a scheduling disadvantage since it hosts its high school conference, NAIMUN, during the same weekend as HNMUN (the highest-weighted conference in our methodology), the team always travels well and will be able to cement their profile starting with McMUN in January. Georgetown is led by Head Delegate Jag Singh.
2. University of Chicago
U.Chicago started its season strong with two Best Large Delegation awards in a row — one at CMUNNY and one at NCSC. There was even a comment that one of the U.Chicago delegates was so good in a crisis committee that she even got people to give up their voting rights to her. U.Chicago then added an Outstanding Large Delegation award at UPMUNC to show that they are consistently one of the best teams on the circuit. The head-to-head result with Georgetown at UPMUNC contributes to U.Chicago placing at #2 at the moment, but U.Chicago will have a few chances to reclaim the top rank when it competes at HNMUN and UCBMUN before ending its year by hosting ChoMUN. U.Chicago is led by Head Delegates Rohan Sandhu and Mrinalini Ramesh.
3. University of Pennsylvania
Don’t be fooled by this ranking. U.Penn was the #1 team according to our methodology before UPMUNC and it landed at #3 behind the two UPMUNC large delegation award winners because they couldn’t compete at their own conference. These road warriors attended a conference every weekend in October and excelled every time. The team placed tied for 5th at CMUNNY before turning it up with a Best Large Delegation at SCSY, a Best Large Delegation at BarMUN, and an Outstanding Large Delegation at NCSC. U.Penn will get to even out the scoring opportunities and go for top rank status when it competes at HNMUN. In addition, the team will attend UCBMUNC, VICS, NYUMUNC, and ChoMUN to give it a circuit-high schedule of nine conferences. U.Penn is led by Head Delegate Roashan Ayene.
4. Yale University
Traditionally, Yale only attends the largest and most competitive conferences, but the team received some criticism of its lofty ranking last year for not participating at the smaller, crisis conferences. Yale responded well to the criticism and upgraded its schedule to include NCSC where it won Best Small Delegation. The team then played to its strengths and added another Best Small Delegation at UPMUNC. Yale can obviously claim to be the best small team on the college circuit at the moment, but is it the best team overall? That will partially depend on if the team decides to go full force as a large delegation at HNMUN this year — it did last year and won big. Yale is led by Head Delegate Victoria Buhler.
5. Harvard University
Harvard is the highest-ranked team that has not won a delegation award yet. Although they haven’t won one, the team has stayed in contention — Harvard finished 3rd at CMUNNY, 4th at SCSY, tied for 6th at NCSC, and 5th at UPMUNC. That consistency puts Harvard in the top five for the Fall. Harvard takes a two-month break from competing to host three conferences — HNMUN Latin America, its HMUN high school conference, and finally HNMUN — before traveling across the country to UCBMUN and ChoMUN. The hosting schedule is what makes Harvard one of the most prestigious Model UN programs in the world, but it also gives other teams the chance to break into the top five while Harvard is on break. Harvard is led by Head Delegates Chris Lehman and Rodolfo Diaz. We also want to note that Rodolfo is one of the best delegates on the college circuit at the moment as he is undefeated with four straight gavels this Fall including one at the ultra-competitive UPMUNC Ad Hoc committee.
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