Duke displays some hardware from its win at Princeton PicSIM
What are the best college Model UN teams in the world? The Best Delegate team decided to answer this question with our Top 25 Standings. We had to separate the college circuit into two divisions and devised methodologies for both divisions. We recommend reading the two links before jumping into the standings.
The standings are based on results as of March 21, 2011 which allowed us to capture results from WorldMUN. The standings reflect only team performances at conferences and not the overall quality of the program (i.e. it does not measure if a program hosts conferences or have any other special activities).
Here is the list of the top 16-25 college Model UN teams. While most of these college teams may not have won a delegation award or only won Small Delegation awards at less competitive conferences, they are consistent award winners throughout the season — including when they step up to compete against the best at the most competitive conferences in the circuit. Check out which colleges made our Top 25!
The Best College Model UN Teams – World Division: North America Top 16-25 Standings (as of 3/21/11)
16. George Washington University
The GW team consistently wins awards at conferences it attends. Its resume is highlighted by a Best Small Delegation award at Columbia CMUNNY, and the team had 4 out of 6 delegates place at WorldMUN, placed 4th in overall awards won at U.Penn UPMUNC, and won several awards at Georgetown NCSC and Berkeley UCBMUN. Their star delegate and Head Delegate is Sheng Zhou who we have interviewed while liveblogging at McGill McMUN and Georgetown NCSC.
17. McGill University
McGill was able to go head-to-head with tough competition and win Outstanding Small Delegation at Columbia CMUNNY. Although the team was shut out from awards at Harvard HNMUN, we placed it in the top 25 with the strength of its delegation award and from winning several awards at Georgetown NCSC. Their star delegate is Nida Nizam who is also Secretary-General of McMUN.
18. Duke University
Duke earned a solid victory when it won Best Delegation at Princeton PicSIM. That conference is not considered to be among the most competitive conferences in our methodology, but Duke did have to upset the University of Pennsylvania and the United States Military Academy at West Point — two teams that placed higher in our standings — in order to win it.
19. Vanderbilt University
Breaking into the Top 25 became very close at this point and we had to use head-to-head results at Harvard HNMUN to distinguish teams with similar results at other conferences. Vanderbilt was mentioned in the beginning of the year as a potential top-10 team if muncircuit.com expanded its Pre-Season Power Ranking. The team won two awards at HNMUN — better than any college outside the Top 25 Standings that attended the conference — and solidified its place in our Top 25 Standings by winning several awards at U.Penn UPMUNC. The team will get to bolster its resume this weekend at Virginia VICS.
20. University of California, Los Angeles
UCLA climbed into the Top 25 by winning the Golden Bear Award for Best California Delegation at Berkeley UCBMUN and for winning several awards including multiple Outstandings at McGill McMUN. It’s the team’s first time winning the Golden Bear since 2006 — Pomona, Claremont McKenna, and Stanford had rotated capturing the award in between — and it helped the team jump ahead of their California rivals this year.
21. Pomona College
Pomona College had similar results to Vanderbilt at HNMUN with two awards apiece. That was good enough to put them into the Top 25 Standings and right below UCLA since they do not hold the Golden Bear Award.
22. University of North Carolina, Charlotte
UNC Charlotte is usually classified in the National Division — they participate at NMUN and at regional, organization-hosted conferences including SRMUN in Atlanta and in a Model Arab League conference. However, they crossed over to the World Division Top 25 Standings as one of the top six award winners out of American colleges attending WorldMUN.
23. Claremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna has been asserting its position as one of the best teams from the West Coast. The team lost head-to-head against UCLA for the Golden Bear Award at Berkeley UCBMUN this year but rebounded nicely as one of the top six award winners out of North American colleges attending WorldMUN.
24. University of Delaware
Delaware won one award at Harvard HNMUN which gives them a similar profile as many teams outside of our Top 25 Standings (although we don’t think one award winner at any conference is an accurate indicator of an entire delegation). But when we looked at the next most competitive conference that Delaware attended, their results were impressive — they came away 5th overall in terms of total awards won at U.Penn UPMUNC.
25. New York University
The NYU team is relatively new to the college circuit but is starting to make itself known. The team won several awards at McGill McMUN including two Best Delegate awards — the most out of any team that did not win a delegation award at that conference and more than any college outside the Top 25 that attended that conference. It also won at least one award at Harvard HNMUN and at U.Penn UPMUNC to reinforce its position in our Top 25 Standings.
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What do you think about the colleges that made our Top 25? Make sure to check back on March 29th for the top 11-15!
