FIU is one of several teams that won a delegation award this Fall
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 6-10 teams on the college circuit! Most of these teams have won a delegation award already or have come close to it.
Fall 2011 College Model UN Rankings: World Division Top 6-10
6. United States Military Academy at West Point
We noted in our preseason rankings that one of the storylines this year would be if a young West Point squad could hold off a bevy of increasingly solid contenders for the small delegation awards. So far, it’s been a mixed result by West Point’s standards. West Point is still clearly one of the best at the smaller, crisis conferences and won an Outstanding Small Delegation award at NCSC and finished 3rd at SCSY. The team placed tied for 6th at the much larger UPMUNC though which is good but behind Yale and FIU in the small delegation category. Nevertheless, the overall body of work is great and enough to put them right next to the top five. In addition to participating at more conferences next semester, West Point will also host its highly-lauded WPSC conference in the Spring.
7. Florida International University
FIU has made its name winning big at the largest conferences, but this year they decided to diversify their schedule and attended crisis conferences for the first time. FIU managed some awards at SCSY and showed improvement with a 6th place finish at NCSC. The team then played to its strengths and captured the Outstanding Small Delegation award at UPMUNC. This upward trend bodes well and sets FIU up to break into the top five if it can repeat its recent stellar performances at HNMUN this February. FIU, which is the highest ranked public university, is advised by Ray Hernandez and its head delegates are Ana Portal and Aaron Heria.
8. Claremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna checks in at #8 this Fall and is the highest ranked liberal arts college. They are the clear beneficiaries of the increased size and competitiveness of SBIMUN — the team made its own contributions by upgrading to a large delegation — and dominated the conference by taking 6 of 10 gavels to win Best Large Delegation. CMC is undoubtedly the best team on the West Coast at the moment, and they also won an award at UPMUNC to stay in the race with the East Coast teams. CMC is currently the lowest-ranked team that has won a Best Large Delegation award this year, but there will be more conferences ahead like UCBMUN and LAMUN. The team’s President is Ajay Sridhar.
9. Rutgers University
Rutgers is in the process of upgrading its delegation size from small to large and the growing pains have been minimal. The team’s strongest statement this Fall was finishing tied with Yale for 3rd place at NCSC according to our weighted scores methodology — they barely missed out on the delegation award there. That performance plus awards at UPMUNC and CMUNNY puts them in the top 10. They won a delegation award at McMUN last year — will that conference be where they win their first delegation award this year? In addition to McMUN, Rutgers’ spring travel schedule includes FCMUN, NYUMUNC, and ChoMUN. The team is led by Head Delegates Samip Joshi and Shariq Ahmad.
10. George Washington University
GW is fielding an almost all-freshmen team and Head Delegate Josh Brown has gotten these Colonial Cadets off to a top 10 start. The team took Best Small Delegation at CMUNNY and while it didn’t have as strong of a showing in town at NCSC, the team roared back with a 6th place finish at UPMUNC behind Georgetown, Chicago, Yale, FIU, and Harvard. That’s great company to be around for a team of mostly freshmen, and it shows the team’s potential in the upcoming years as it contends for even higher recognition. GW will be attending McMUN and then its next test will be preparing for a conference that most of them are unfamiliar with: HNMUN.
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