There has been a lot of talk about the standardl Design Intelligence Rankings vs Dr. Garry's. I found this on Design Intelligence's website that seems to be a little more comprehensive than either of the two... seems like the most legitimate of the three... as it has created several tiers of school caliber through a wide array of attributes. For some reason a direct link does not work, and you can access the site by simply googling "Architecture Cramer Report" - but for the sake of clarity here is the breakdown.

Let's hear people's thoughts!

THE CRAMER REPORT: AMERICA'S WORLD-CLASS SCHOOLS OF ARCHITECTURE

We at DesignIntelligence are frequently pulled into discussions and get questions from university faculty, firm leaders, students, and administrators about the quality of those programs that might be just below the top 20 ranked architecture programs. As a trial analysis to celebrate the 10th annual DesignIntelligence schools rankings, we have assembled a list of architecture programs that have distinguished themselves over the years by virtue of several important criteria.

This report uses multidimensional rankings that are based on five criteria: current rankings by professional practices; historic 10-year rankings by professional practices; rankings by academic department deans and chairs; overall campus environment and student evaluations; and program accreditation. (See methodology notes on the next page for more detail.) The maximum possible score is 485, and the top scores ranged from 435 to 477 to be included on this list.

We recognize that some of the schools that didn’t make the world-class distinction are, in fact, the preferred recruiting locations of some professional practices. Such schools tend to be smaller, newer, or more remote geographically, and therefore receive less attention by our survey respondents.

We offer this list of world-class U.S. architecture programs to stimulate conversation about the pursuit of excellence in higher education and to celebrate and recognize programs we believe to be world-class. We welcome ideas about improving this analysis. For example, should Architect Registration Exam pass rates be a criterion? Alumni evaluations? DesignIntelligenceis committed to continuous improvement our rankings. Please e-mail feedback to jcramer@di.net

The total score achieved by each school is noted after its name.

WITH HIGHEST DISTINCTION
[Schools in this category received scores of 468 to 477.]

Auburn University (471)
Calif. Polytechnic State U., San Luis Obispo (474)
Carnegie Mellon University (468)
Columbia University (477)
Cornell University (474)
Harvard University (477)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (474)
Princeton University (468)
University of Cincinnati (469)
University of Michigan (471)
University of Texas at Austin (474)
University of Virginia (471)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U. (477)
Washington University in St. Louis (468)
Yale University (477)

WITH HIGH DISTINCTION
[Schools in this category received scores of 455 to 467.]

Arizona State University (456)
Boston Architectural College (455)
Clemson University (455)
Cooper Union (459)
Georgia Institute of Technology (456)
Iowa State University (455)
Kansas State University (464)
Pratt University (458)
Rhode Island School of Design (466)
Rice University (466)
Syracuse University (467)
Texas A&M University (461)
University of California, Berkeley (464)
University of Minnesota (456)
University of Oregon (459)
University of Pennsylvania (463)

WITH NOTABLE DISTINCTION
[Schools in this category received scores of 441 to 453.]

Illinois Institute of Technology (448)
Mississippi State University (441)
North Carolina State University (453)
Ohio State University (441)
Oklahoma State University (441)
Pennsylvania State University (453)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (444)
Southern Calif. Institute of Architecture (441)
University of Arizona (451)
University of Arkansas (441)
University of California, Los Angeles (446)
University of Florida (441)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (445)
University of Kansas (453)
University of New Mexico (443)
University of Notre Dame (453)
University of Southern California (453)
University of Washington (450)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (443)

WITH DISTINCTION
[Schools in this category received scores of 435 to 440.]

Ball State University (435)
California College of the Arts (438)
California State Polytechnic U., Pomona (438)
Florida A&M University (435)
Howard University (435)
Montana State University (435)
New Jersey Institute of Technology (435)
North Dakota State University (436)
Parsons The New School for Design (438)
Savannah College of Art and Design (440)
Texas Tech University (440)
Tulane University (435)
University of Hawaii (436)
University of Houston (435)
University of Maryland (435)
University of Miami (435)
University of Nebraska (440)
University of Oklahoma (435)
University of Tennessee-Knoxville (435)
University of Texas at Arlington (435)
Washington State University (438)