The College Model UN Circuit is returning to in-person.
The North American College Model UN Circuit is starting to return back to normal. In-person conferences are becoming the default again. Most of the major Fall conferences were able to take place in-person for the first time since the pandemic started, albeit with lower attendance across the board than they are historically used to. The Top 25 list looks mostly similar to the recent years; almost all of the traditional top college Model UN travel teams who were on hiatus last year were able to compete in some way and are ranked again.
That said, the Fall semester did present many challenges for both conferences and teams. COVID policies were still uncertain and shifting as schools and conference venues returned to in-person. It led to certain conferences having to pivot to virtual or experience last minute drops in attendance, and while other teams had policies that made it difficult to travel or had to cancel travel plans. The omicron variant had a major impact in altering winter conference attendance or creating uncertainty for teams too.
The rankings had never been truly equitable due to differences in budget, geography, and many other factors, and COVID only contributed to uneven challenges faced by different teams. Many factors are outside of a team’s control, particularly while COVID is still a thing. Nevertheless, the college Model UN circuit as a whole continues to admirably bring back in-person Model UN conferences, and these rankings are meant to celebrate the conferences that were able to take place and the teams that were able to participate in them this Fall.
Methodology
The World Division refers to the circuit of collegiate Model UN teams that are primarily run by college Head Delegates and primarily attend conferences hosted by college Model UN organizations, with the vast majority of those conferences featuring crisis committees. This ranking is only for the World Division.
The World Division Rankings uses a Cumulative Weighted Score Methodology. The Weighted Score Methodology is the same since Fall 2018 with modifications in conference weightings to reflect attendance and competitiveness this year. Conferences included in the calculations are listed below and grouped with their approximate peer conferences in terms of ranking. Awards data were provided by the conferences, and we could only use conferences that chose to provide data. We did our best to reach out to all conferences.
Please note: conferences faced uneven attendance challenges that may have affected their ranking since attendance is one component of the weighting formula. It is best to take into account that the conference ranking this year is due to unique circumstances, and not necessarily a reflection of that conference’s intended quality this year or its rank in future years. The Fall conference weighted tiers are as follows:
| McMUN, NCSC |
| UPMUNC |
| BarMUN |
| UNCMUNC |
| TrojanMUN |
| CIAC, SBIMUN, CMUNNY |
| NoleMUN |
Fall Rankings Editorial Note — Awards Data is through McMUN: Our priority is to include as many Fall 2021 conference awards data as possible even if it delays the publishing timeline after several teams expressed a preference for that last spring. By the time some Fall conferences submitted their awards late, we had also received McMUN awards data, so we made an editorial decision to include McMUN in this edition of the Fall rankings. However, HNMUN awards data has not been included yet, and will be part of the Final College MUN Rankings that come out at the end of the spring semester.
Editor’s Correction: this article was originally published with the inclusion of old data for a conference due to a miscommunication. That old data has since been removed, and the article has been updated accordingly.
Credits:
Best Delegate Media Team member Jamey Battle tirelessly sourced all the awards data from the conferences. Best Delegate Co-Founder Kevin Felix Chan completed all the data calculations. Thank you to all the conferences for submitting their awards data, and to the various teams reaching out with interest in seeing this article published.
Top 25 Teams
1. American University
American has risen to become the #1 team in North America. They are also notably the #1 ranked team in Washington DC, a city that features three of the top five ranked teams. American received the most individual awards on the circuit so far after attending a circuit-high seven Fall conferences. Highlights included: Best Large at NCSC (over UChicago where they competed head-to-head as large delegations), second place weighted score at McMUN, Best Small at CIAC, Outstanding Large at CMUNNY, and a Best Small at NoleMUN.
2. University of Chicago
UChicago won the most gavels and the second most individual wards on the circuit through McMUN, and is again one of the best teams in the nation. The team was nearly undefeated when competing as a large delegation. Highlights included a Best Large at UPMUNC, Outstanding Large at NCSC, Best Large at BarMUN, and Best Small at TrojanMUN. They plan to host ChoMUN in the spring.
3. Georgetown University
Georgetown is having a strong year so far, and has a chance to rank even higher in the spring once HNMUN data is included. In the meantime, Georgetown defended their dominance in Canada with a Best Large at McMUN, received an Outstanding Large at UPMUNC, and overall won the third most individual awards on the circuit. They hosted an increasingly competitive NCSC in the Fall, and are the highest ranked team to have hosted a conference this Fall.
4. Claremont McKenna College
CMC is back to traveling nationally, and won delegation awards at three of the five conferences the team attended. This included sweeping the West Coast with a pair of Best Large Delegation awards at TrojanMUN and SBIMUN, and receiving an Outstanding Small at NCSC. They also tied for the second most gavels on the circuit. They are the highest ranked team out of five teams from California in the Fall rankings.
5. The George Washington University
GW got to rebuild their travel schedule and attended the second most conferences on the circuit. Their collection of many individual awards across six conferences, along with a Best Small Delegation at UNCMUNC, contributed to their team being back in the Top 10 rankings this Fall.
6. Florida International University
FIU had the fifth most individual awards on the circuit this Fall and consistently contended for delegation awards at the three most competitive conferences: McMUN, NCSC, and UPMUNC. They also won Best Small at CMUNNY and Outstanding Small at NoleMUN. They are the highest ranked team out of four teams from Florida in the Fall rankings.
7. Florida State University
FSU tied for the second most gavels on the circuit so far en route to three delegation awards at four conferences: Best Small at McMUN, Best Small at BarMUN, and Best Large at UNCMUNC. In addition, the team placed 5th at NCSC. FSU hosted its inaugural NoleMUN conference.
8. Boston University
BU is one of the top teams on the circuit this year after winning Outstanding Large at McMUN and Best Small at NCSC plus awards across five conferences. They also hosted BarMUN in the Fall.
9. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley won three delegation awards out of the four conferences it attended across the country: Outstanding Small at UNCMUNC, Outstanding Large at TrojanMUN, and Outstanding Large at SBIMUN. They host UCBMUNC in the spring.
10. University of Virginia
UVA consistently won awards across four conferences and took home an Outstanding Large delegation award at UNCMUNC to build upon their Top 10 ranking from last year. They host VICS in the spring.
11. University of California, Los Angeles
UCLA has a continental travel schedule this year, and received the Outstanding Small at BarMUN and Best Small at SBIMUN. They host LAMUN in the spring.
12. Harvard University
Harvard won awards across NCSC, UPMUNC, and BarMUN, and did best at NCSC where they contended for a delegation award with a fourth place in weighted score. They hosted HNMUN in the spring, and those awards will be counted in the final rankings.
13. University of Southern California
The Outstanding Small at UPMUNC, among other awards, helped put USC on the map on the East Coast. USC hosted TrojanMUN in the Fall.
14. University of Miami
Miami is back on the circuit after a hiatus and won the Outstanding Large at BarMUN and contended for delegation award at NCSC to place in the Top 15.
15. Clark University
A pair of Outstanding Small Delegation awards at McMUN and CMUNNY enabled Clark to maintain a place in the Top 25 rankings this Fall.
16. The College of William & Mary
William & Mary consistently received individual awards across five conferences to maintain their place in the Top 25 rankings. They host &MUN in the spring.
17. Yale University
Yale is the only team ranked in the Top 25 to attend one conference and placed third in terms of weighted score at UPMUNC. The new YUMUNC now takes place in the spring semester.
18. Concordia University
Concordia is the highest ranked team from Canada after winning awards at five conferences including an Outstanding Small at CIAC. They host CONMUN in the spring.
19. Wheaton College
Wheaton College won the Best Large Delegation at CIAC to enter into the Top 25 rankings this Fall after being close in recent years.
20. Duke University
Duke’s MUN team is active again and enters the Top 25 for the first time ever after strong performances at NCSC and neighboring UNCMUNC.
21. The Ohio State University
Ohio State is back in the rankings and is the highest ranked Big Ten team after winning the Best Small Delegation at UPMUNC.
22. University of California, Santa Barbara
UCSB stayed in the Top 25 after breaking in for the first time last year. They won awards at McMUN and TrojanMUN, and hosted SBIMUN in the Fall.
23. University of Florida
Florida is back in the rankings for the first time since 2015-2016 and is the highest ranked SEC team after winning awards across four conferences.
24. Queen’s University
Queen’s enters the rankings after tying for the second most gavels and fifth place in weighted score at fellow Canadian conference McMUN.
25. University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Tennessee enters the Top 25 Rankings for the first time due to a solid performance at UNCMUNC and awards at NCSC.
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Top 50 (alphabetical order):
The next five closest teams were NYU, McGill, Michigan State, Alabama, and Indiana.
| Brown University |
| Champlain College |
| Colorado College |
| Emory University |
| George Mason University |
| Indiana University |
| The Johns Hopkins University |
| McGill University |
| Michigan State University |
| Middlebury College |
| New York University |
| Northeastern University |
| Pomona College |
| Princeton University |
| Seton Hall University |
| Tufts University |
| United States Military Academy at West Point |
| University of Alabama |
| University of California, Davis |
| University of Georgia |
| University of Michigan |
| University of Notre Dame |
| University of San Francisco |
| Vanderbilt University |
| Washington University in St. Louis |
.
Top 75 (alphabetical order):
| Carleton College |
| Case Western Reserve University |
| Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf |
| Dawson College |
| Hofstra University |
| Marianopolis College |
| Monmouth University |
| Mount Holyoke College |
| Northwestern University |
| Old Dominion University |
| Susquehanna University |
| Tulane University |
| Université de Montréal |
| University of California, San Diego |
| University of Central Florida |
| University of Cincinnati |
| University of Connecticut |
| University of Mary Washington |
| University of Maryland, College Park |
| University of Minnesota Twin Cities |
| University of New Mexico |
| University of Pittsburgh |
| University of Texas at Austin |
| University of Toronto Mississauga |
| Virginia Tech |
.
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Congratulations to all the teams! We’re hopeful the college MUN circuit continues to grow back during the rest of this school year, and wish all the teams success in whichever conferences they are able to attend.
