There are many definitions of success in Model UN, and awards are only one extrinsic way of measuring success. Nevertheless, awards serve to recognize both individual students and college teams as a whole for their accomplishments in leadership, research, public speaking, resolution-building, negotiation, and diplomacy.
Every year, the College MUN rankings celebrate the MUN teams that showed immense resilience by not only enduring despite the year’s challenges, but also succeeding at the highest level possible in collegiate Model UN.
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.
The Fall conference weighted tiers are as follows:
McMUN
NCSC
BarMUN, UNCMUNC
UPMUNC, TrojanMUN
SBIMUN, CIAC, CMUNNY
SUNMUN, AIRMUNC
Awards Data is through McMUN. Due to the rebalancing of conference schedules, it made more sense to roughly divide the season’s worth of weighted points after McMUN than before it. This also enabled our team time to gather all the awards data.
Credits:
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
- American University
American is once again the #1 ranked team on the circuit and it wasn’t even close. The team put on a performance worthy of a top-ranked powerhouse and received the most individual awards, the most gavels, and the most delegation awards. They won Outstanding Large at McMUN (first place in weighted score; lost by ratio), Best Large at NCSC, Best Large at BarMUN, Best Small at UNCMUNC, and Best Large at CMUNNY.
- Georgetown University
Georgetown received the 2nd most individual awards on the circuit so far. Their best performance was once again at McMUN, where they placed second in weighted score. They also received Outstanding Large at BarMUN and Best Large at UPMUNC. Georgetown hosted NCSC in the Fall.
- University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley’s strategy to attend a circuit-high seven conferences across the country in the Fall helped it yield the four most individual awards. This also included an Outstanding Large at TrojanMUN, an Outstanding Small at UNCMUNC, and an Outstanding Small at CIAC. They host UCBMUN in the Spring.
- University of Chicago
UChicago tied with Georgetown for the second most individual awards in the Fall, and had the second most gavels. The team’s delegation awards included Outstanding Large at NCSC, Outstanding Large at UPMUNC, and Best Small at TrojanMUN. They host ChoMUN in the Spring.
- Claremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna is focusing on being the best small team on the circuit this year, and has four Best Small Delegation awards to prove it. Those came from NCSC, BarMUN, UPMUNC, and SBIMUN. The team also placed second at TrojanMUN.
- University of California, Los Angeles
UCLA wins delegation awards close to home and does well on the road. They won Best Large at TrojanMUN and Outstanding Small at SBIMUN. They won awards at the three most competitive conferences (McMUN, NCSC, and BarMUN), and did best with a 4th place finish at NCSC. They host LAMUN in the Spring.
- Florida International University
FIU has a pair of Outstanding Small Delegation awards from McMUN and TrojanMUN. The team consistently competed for delegation awards across many other conferences, including NCSC, BarMUN, and UPMUNC.
- Boston University
Boston University’s biggest win was definitely winning Best Large Delegation at McMUN, the highest weighted conference in the Fall rankings. The team also won Best Small at CMUNNY, and competed well at three other conferences. They hosted BarMUN in the Fall.
- Concordia University
Concordia is the top team from Canada after placing 3rd overall at McMUN and showing that it could contend for a delegation award against the best teams on the circuit. They also won Outstanding Large at CIAC. They host CONMUN in the Spring.
- Florida State University
Florida State did best at the southeastern conferences this Fall and won a pair of Best Large Delegation awards at UNCMUNC and at AIRMUNC. They also did well at NCSC.
- The George Washington University
George Washington’s strategy was also to attend a circuit-high seven conferences in the Fall, and their ranking is due to the team winning individual awards at many conferences.
- University of Florida
Florida is on the rise after re-entering the Top 25 last year. They had a strong Fall that included Best Small at McMUN, Outstanding Small at NCSC, and Outstanding Large at UNCMUNC. They also hosted their inaugural SUNMUN conference.
- United States Military Academy at West Point
West Point is active on the circuit again and quickly regaining its place as one of the best teams in the nation. The team won awards across five conferences in the Fall and barely missed out on a small delegation award at NCSC.
- Harvard University
Harvard consistently contended for delegation awards with strong performances at NCSC, UPMUNC, and CMUNNY among other conferences. It hosted HNMUN in the Spring, which will be included in the Final Rankings.
- New York University
NYU is also back in the Top 15 of the rankings. NYU did best closer to home and won Best Large at CIAC and Outstanding Large at CMUNNY. They will host NYUMUNC in the Spring.
- University of Southern California
USC had a bi-coastal win that included the Best Large at SBIMUN and an Outstanding Small at UPMUNC. They hosted TrojanMUN in the Fall.
- Emory University
Emory was at the doorstep of the Top 25 last year, and re-entered this Fall based on a solid performance at NCSC and an Outstanding Large at SUNMUN. They host MUNE in the Spring.
- University of Virginia
Virginia’s ranking is primarily due to having the highest weighted score at UNCMUNC despite missing out on a delegation award there. They will host VICS in the Spring.
- The College of William & Mary
William & Mary did well across McMUN, NCSC, and CMUNNY. They will host &MUN in the Spring.
- University of Miami
Miami stays in the Top 25 after consistently receiving awards at NCSC, BarMUN, UPMUNC.
- Indiana University
Indiana returns to the rankings after receiving awards at McMUN, NCSC, and UPMUNC.
- University of Georgia
Georgia is back in the rankings after winning Best Large Delegation at the inaugural SUNMUN.
- McGill University
McGill’s best performance in the Fall was winning Outstanding Small Delegation at BarMUN. They also hosted a large in-person McMUN again, which received positive feedback and is the highest weighted conference in the Fall rankings.
- Clark University
Clark won Best Small Delegation at CIAC and individual awards at four other conferences.
- Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech breaks into the Top 25 rankings for the first time ever with awards from three conferences.
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Top 50 (alphabetical order):
The next five closest teams were: Cincinnati, Seton Hall, Tennessee, Northwestern, and Princeton.
Case Western Reserve University
Colgate University
Columbia University
Duke University
Fordham University
Johns Hopkins University
Michigan State University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
The Ohio State University
Pomona College
Princeton University
Queen’s University
Seton Hall University
Tufts University
United States Air Force Academy
University of California, Davis
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Cincinnati
University of Michigan
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Pittsburgh
University of Tennessee
Vanderbilt University
Western University
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Top 75 (alphabetical order):
Carleton University
Champlain College
Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf
Colorado College
Elon University
Monmouth University
Mount Holyoke College
North Carolina State University
Northern Virginia Community College
Saint Michael’s College
Stanford University
State University of New York, Geneseo
Tulane University
University of Calgary
University of California, San Diego
University of Central Florida
University of Maryland
University of New Mexico
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
University of Notre Dame
University of Richmond
University of Rochester
Victor Valley College
Virginia Commonwealth University
Yale University
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Congratulations to all the teams! Good luck with the Spring conferences! We’ll aim to get the rankings out sooner as well if we can get all the data in time!
