A much bigger SBIMUN helped West Coast teams like UCLA (above) place into the Fall rankings
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 16-25 teams on the college circuit! Most of these teams have not won a delegation award so far, but they have all demonstrated the ability to consistently win multiple awards at the most competitive conferences on the circuit.
Fall 2011 College Model UN Rankings: World Division Top 16-25
16. Cornell University
Head Delegate Ankur Bajaj had his sights on helping Cornell break into the Top 25 this year and the team has been successful as it checks in at #16. Cornell is the highest-ranked newcomer to the Top 25 and it gives the Ivy League a fifth school in the rankings. The team entered on the strength of having a few of their top delegates win awards at each of UPMUNC, NCSC, and SCSY. The team will continue training its other members so that it can diversify beyond the few award-winners that it currently has.
17. Tulane University
Tulane is in its sixth year rebuilding its MUN team after Hurricane Katrina and the team seems to have a solid foundation of success now. Their big victory was at UPMUNC last year, and they followed-up by winning a few awards at this year’s conference. However, their boost in the rankings came from winning Best Delegation at DISCon ahead of Southern rivals such as Emory, North Carolina, and Virginia. It was Tulane’s first time at DISCon and the team plans to expand its conference schedule as it continues to grow.
18. University of California, Berkeley
UC Berkeley finished fourth at SBIMUN behind Claremont McKenna, UCLA, and Victor Valley College. However, that race for the 2nd place Outstanding Large Delegation awards was very close and UC Berkeley places in our rankings above the latter two of its California peers because it was able to add an award at UPMUNC to its score. Berkeley, which will host UCBMUN, is led by head delegates Shannon Thomas and Hayley Malcolm.
19. Colgate University
Colgate is another team similar to Cornell — it sought to break into the Top 25 and accomplished that by using a similar strategy of having a few solid delegates take home the awards. Colgate’s achievements include the Outstanding Small Delegation award at SCSY plus awards at UPMUNC. The team is led by President David Kuntzman. It will be doing all its travel outside the United States next: NAMUN in Toronto, HNMUN Latin America in Buenos Aires, and Harvard WorldMUN which is held in Vancouver, Canada this year.
20. Victor Valley College
International Division teams as well as community colleges will be proud to see one of their fellow schools having successfully matched up against the glamorous four-year universities at SBIMUN. Although Claremont McKenna and UCLA took the delegation awards, VVC actually ranked slightly higher than UCLA using our weighted scores methodology. VVC will be attending mostly International Division conferences including NMUN next semester. The team is advised by Dino Bozonelos and led by President Kelli Pribble.
21. University of California, Los Angeles
Like most of the California schools that are ranked, UCLA is another beneficiary of the increased size and competitiveness of SBIMUN and took advantage by winning Outstanding Large Delegation. The team also competed at NCSC. UCLA is one of several teams that made our initial top 25 last year but dropped out in the final rankings. Head Delegate Bhavna Mukundan will try to have the team maintain its place when the team travels to McMUN, UCBMUN, and ChoMUN. The team will end the season by hosting LAMUN.
22. Boston College
Boston College breaks into the Top 25 with a 3rd place finish at BarMUN (behind U.Penn and unranked Brown) and a top-10 finish at SCSY. With a new constitution and a desire to improve and expand, Head Delegate Chris Asmar leads a team that is aiming for the big leagues and will be one of few schools to compete at both McMUN and HNMUN in the winter.
23. McGill University
McGill is back in the Top 25 after fielding multiple award-winning teams at NCSC and SCSY. Head Delegate Keagan Tafler is leading a relatively young team that will aim to sustain its performance over the year after facing a similar situation as UCLA last year when it fell out of the final rankings. But first, the team will gets to play host with McMUN.
24. Stanford University
Stanford was very displeased with being ranked 12th in the Pac-12 in our preseason rankings and breaks into our rankings for the first time. It is another team using a similar strategy to Cornell and Colgate with a few top delegates winning awards at UPMUNC and NCSC to keep the team on the scoreboard. Unfortunately, Stanford could not benefit from SBIMUN and go head-to-head with its California rivals since it was hosting its SMUNC high school conference that weekend, but there are many more conferences ahead.
25. Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt’s performances this year includes a top-10 finish at SCSY and an award at UPMUNC to boost its profile. That enabled it to retain a spot on the Top 25 ahead of other schools that won a few awards this season or won a small delegation award at a small conference. Vanderbilt is led by Head Delegate Fit Varat.
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Next Five: Brown University, Michigan State University, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, State University of New York – Geneseo, and California State University – Northridge
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We also wanted to recognize several teams that won delegation awards but did not place in our Top 25: Brown University, Queen’s University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, and Middlebury College
