Miami's late season surge helped propel them into the top 25
Which college Model UN teams are the best in the world?
We saw many benefits to answering this question and devised a methodology to create a set of rankings — we released our first set of rankings based on results up to March 21, 2011. We then took Best Delegate readers’ feedback on the rankings and methodology and made revisions to the methodology accordingly.
Please read the Methodology article first before jumping into the rankings. We clarify in the article our purpose behind the rankings, our philosophy that drives what we value in the rankings, the two Divisions in the college circuit, and several revisions to the methodology.
With that said, here are the top 11-15 teams on the college circuit! Each of these teams have consistently won awards at some of the most competitive conferences in the circuit this year. In fact, they have often contended with some of the bluechip college programs for delegation awards and we don’t be surprised to see them pull off this feat in the near future.
Final 2010-11 College Rankings: World Division Top 11-15
11. Florida International University
The secret’s out by now that Florida International is one of the best teams on the circuit. The team placed fifth in terms of total number of awards won by American colleges at Harvard HNMUN behind Yale, U. Chicago, U. Penn, and Clark. The team also won a few awards at U. Penn UPMUNC. Florida International is the second highest ranked team that did not win a delegation award and should definitely be considered a top 10 team in terms of competitiveness. The team placed where it did in our rankings because it attended (and dominated) at NMUN which meant those results were accounted for in the National Division instead of the World Division.
12. George Washington University
GW is a team that can consistently compete with the elites. The team won Best Small Delegation at Columbia CMUNNY and was in contention for a delegation award at two of the most competitive conferences: Harvard WorldMUN and U. Penn UPMUNC. The team also won awards at Georgetown NCSC and Berkeley UCBMUN. This strong strength of schedule with all large and mid-sized conferences combined with the team’s culture of bringing their younger delegates to these conferences could pay off dividends in the future.
13. Clark University
Clark has made its name well-known with increasingly impressive performances at Harvard HNMUN. The team placed fourth in terms of overall awards won by American colleges at that conference behind only Yale, U. Chicago, and U. Penn. The team certainly has some strong delegates but will need to develop consistency across conferences if it is to maintain a high ranking. The team only won a few awards at the two late-season conferences it attended in U. Chicago ChoMUN and the Five College MUN conference. Clark also had some success at Yale SCSY in the beginning of the year.
14. Emory University
Emory has a few delegates that can compete with the best at the most competitive conferences – Emory finished sixth among American colleges at Harvard HNMUN and also won awards at U. Penn UPMUNC. They rounded off their Southern schedule nicely with a Best Delegation at Duke DISC and awards at Virginia VICS, North Carolina UNCMUNC, and UNC Charlotte’s Carolinas Conference. The Emory team is still growing and it will be interesting to see if they can develop the depth of quality delegates to put them closer in contention for delegation awards at HNMUN and UPMUNC.
15. University of Miami
Despite finishing seventh in terms of total number of awards won at U. Penn UPMUNC and also winning a few awards at McGill McMUN, Miami barely missed the first set of rankings in March. But Miami put in a stellar comeback performance at U. Chicago ChoMUN – the team tied with Harvard for second most number of awards won at that conference – and that helped push Miami back into the top 25. Like in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Miami shares a rivalry with Florida State in Model UN – Florida State got the better of Miami back in March, but Miami’s strong contention at these larger conferences outweighed Florida State’s delegation awards at smaller conferences in our final rankings.
**
What do you think of the final rankings? Make sure to check out the top 16-25 and check back for the top 10!
