Who are the Best College Model UN Teams in America?
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 1-5 teams on the college circuit! These five teams (along with 6th-ranked Harvard) were the elites for this season and consistently racked up awards at all the conferences that they attended — these six teams had a considerable margin in their overall scores compared with the rest of the circuit. Congratulations on a successful year!
Final 2010-11 College Rankings: World Division Top 1-5
1. University of Chicago
U.Chicago poses with the Yale SCSY secretariat after winning the conference's Best Large Delegation award
The University of Chicago is the best college Model UN team in the world in our final rankings. They have been nearly dominant throughout the year while competing at some of the most competitive conferences in the world. They dominated the awards during the fall by winning Best Large Delegation at U. Penn UPMUNC, Georgetown NCSC, and Yale SCSY. They continued to perform well in the spring with an Outstanding Large Delegation at Harvard HNMUN and awards at Berkeley UCBMUN. While Yale’s victory at HNMUN might make them a better team to pick for a one-time head-to-head competition, U. Chicago’s consistency and breadth of quality awards makes them the best team this season.
2. Yale University
Yale won delegation awards at Harvard HNMUN, WorldMUN, and U.Penn UPMUNC
If you had to pick one team to win at a prestigious, traditional Model UN conference, Yale would probably be it. Yale only attended the three largest Model UN conferences in the World Division and walked away with delegation awards at all three. The team won Best Large Delegation at Harvard HNMUN, Best Small Delegation at Harvard WorldMUN, and Outstanding Large Delegation at U. Penn UPMUNC. Yale owns head-to-head victories over each of the top five teams at the most competitive conference where they faced off and they could probably claim to be the best Model UN team in the world. They’re ranked below U. Chicago in our rankings because U. Chicago scored higher across more conferences. We’ll be curious to see if Yale decides to expand its travel team schedule next season.
3. United States Military Academy at West Point
West Point won more delegation awards this year than any other team
West Point continued its dominance as the best small delegation in the world this year. We mentioned West Point’s lower winning percentages this year compared to previous years in the last rankings, but that statistic is pretty irrelevant given all the delegation awards the team swept up by the end of this year. West Point won Best Small Delegation awards at Harvard HNMUN, U. Penn UPMUNC, and Yale SCSY and complimented its resume with an Outstanding Small Delegation award at Georgetown NCSC and the Secretary-General’s Award at McGill McMUN. The team also won awards at Harvard WorldMUN, Berkeley UCBMUN, Princeton PICSim, and Oxford OxiMUN (the latter is not factored into the standings). The strength of their delegation awards won in the circuit-high nine conferences they attended allowed them to leapfrog some of the larger elite teams in our rankings this year. It will be interesting to see if West Point can improve its winning percentages to hold off increasingly formidable challenges from Columbia and Rutgers for best small delegation next year.
4. Georgetown University
Georgetown won at McMUN
Georgetown had a strong first-half of the season when it won a Best Large Delegation at McGill McMUN, captured a Best Large Delegation at Columbia CMUNNY and placed third in terms of overall awards won at U. Penn UPMUNC. The team continued to win in the second-half of the season with a Best Large Delegation at U. Chicago ChoMUN, a Best Small Delegation at Virginia VICS, and an Outstanding Delegation at NYU’s NYUMUNC. Georgetown did not beat fellow large delegation rivals U. Chicago or Yale in their only head-to-head matchup at UPMUNC this year, but the team is nonetheless one of the strongest on the circuit.
5. University of Pennsylvania
U.Penn attends the most conferences and has plenty of awards to show for it
The University of Pennsylvania has a very large team and that enabled them to tie for scheduling a circuit-high nine conferences. U. Penn almost always wins a large delegation award at every conference they attend. In fact, the team won the most delegation awards among any college this year. U. Penn won its Best Large Delegation awards at Berkeley UCBMUN, Virginia VICS, and NYU’s NYUMUNC and captured five Outstanding Large Delegation awards this year at Georgetown NCSC, Yale SCSY, Boston University BarMUN, and Princeton PICSim. Penn doesn’t just consistently dominate at mid-sized and smaller conferences though – the team showed it belongs among the elite when it placed third in terms of overall awards won at Harvard HNMUN behind only Yale and U. Chicago. The team was also in contention for a delegation award at Columbia CMUNNY.
Make sure to check out the top 6-10, top 11-15, and the top 16-25 and check back for the top 10!
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