We asked the optional question in the North America College Model UN All-Star Team nomination forms, “In your opinion, what was the best conference you attended this year as a DELEGATE?” Over 250 voters responded to the optional question, and the results are listed below.
HNMUN and McMUN received the most votes as the “Best Conference” in North America for 2013-2014
HNMUN and McMUN tied as the best North American Conference for the 2013-2014 school year with 14.8% of all votes each. UPMUNC was a close third and was followed by ChoMUN in fourth place. It is worth noting that the place rank of these four conferences roughly correspond with the number of North American delegates attending each of the conferences — it’s possible that each conference is equally liked on a per delegate basis but are ranked simply by size. CMUNNY came in fifth despite having taken place at the beginning of the year and stood out among the mid-sized conferences. Other mid-sized conferences to make the top ten include UCBMUN, LAMUN, VICS, and SCSY. WPMUNI is the only small conference to make the top ten list.
Overall, the diverse distribution of “best” conference — and perhaps a proportional distribution given the correlation of place rank with conference size — shows that delegates are seeking different types of experiences from college Model UN and that there are many high quality conferences in the North American college Model UN circuit to serve those diverse interests.
Best Conference in North America
1 (tie). Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN): 14.8% of all votes
1 (tie). McGill Model United Nations Assembly (McMUN): 14.8% of all votes
3. University of Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC): 13.6% of all votes
4. Chicago Model United Nations (ChoMUN): 10.5% of all votes
5. Columbia Model United Nations in New York (CMUNNY): 5.8% of all votes
6. University of California, Berkeley Model United Nations (UCBMUN): 4.6% of all votes
7 (tie). Los Angeles Model United Nations (LAMUN): 3.9% of all votes
7 (tie). Virginia International Crisis Simulation (VICS): 3.9% of all votes
9 (tie). Security Council Simulation at Yale (SCSY): 3.1% of all votes
9 (tie). West Point Model United Nations Invitational (WPMUNI): 3.1% of all votes
All other conferences in North America: 21.9% of all votes
The results are interesting but should be taken with a grain of salt for the following reasons:
- The sample size of 250+ votes does not represent the entire circuit much less the entire North American college MUN community. That said, the median conference size hovers around 300 delegates so the sample size does have some validity.
- The sample size was self-selective. They had to have participated in the voting for the North American All-Star Team and decided to answer the optional question. This also meant a bias toward “World Division” university-hosted conferences as most All-Star Team voters came from that circuit.
- The question only allowed participants to input the best conference as opposed to rating each conference individually.
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What was your favorite conference of 2013-2014?
