As high-school seniors across the country ready themselves for the grueling college application process, we at The Daily Caller have compiled a definitive ranking of America’s very best colleges. Over the next several days, we will lay out what schools made the cut.
Some may reasonably ask, what separates TheDC’s college ranking from other second-rate college rankings? There are, indeed, a number of important differences.
First, we understand that no college that Keith Olbermann went to could possibly be included on a list of America’s best colleges. For that reason, you will not find Old MacDonald Cornell on this list. Ivy League Cornell, of course, remains eligible for inclusion.
Second, this list recognizes that the most important people in the world are politicians. And not just any politicians. American politicians. There is not only no other list that exclusively bases its ranking on the proportion of American federal politicians a college produces, but no other ranking even takes this into account. This glaring omission has now been remedied.
Finally, no other publication that produces a college ranking has an editor-in-chief who steadfastly believes college is a complete waste of time. Tucker Carlson encourages everyone reading this list to not only not attend any school on it, but to not attend any school period.
One quick note on methodology.
At The Daily Caller, we like to think of ourselves as scientists as much as journalists. So as you can imagine the formula for our college ranking is complex.
First, we went through every elected congressman and senator, as well as President Obama and Vice President Biden, and discovered where they got their undergraduate degree. But to be an eligible school for the ranking, a school had to have at least two elected officials in federal elective office who were undergraduate alums. As Albert Einstein may have said – we just can’t be sure – “one is a fluke, two is a trend.”
After compiling the nearly 100 colleges that had at least two alums who were federally elected officials, we divided the number of such officials each college produced by the number of students the school has (unless otherwise noted, we use PrincetonReview.com as our source for undergraduate population).
And voila. The Daily Caller’s First Annual College Ranking.
We begin with 50-41:
50) University of Wisconsin — Madison
Location: Madison, WI
Undergraduate population: 30,343
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (7): Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin); Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin); Rep. Bill Foster (D-Illinois); Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio); Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio); Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Wisconsin); Rep. David Obey (D-Wisconsin)
Other Famous Alums: Halliburton CEO David Lesar; Fox News host Greta Van Susteren; Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig
49) University of Tennessee — Knoxville
Location: Knoxville, TN
Undergraduate population: 21,182
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (5): Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina); Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee); Rep. Heath Shuler (D-North Carolina); Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-Tennessee); Rep. Jon Tanner (D-Tennessee)
Other Famous Alums: NFL Quarterback Peyton Manning; Sports analyst Woody Paige; former Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb
48) Louisiana State University
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Undergraduate population: 21,103
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (5): Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana); Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Alabama); Rep. William Cassidy (R-Louisiana); Rep. Stephen Scalise (R-Louisiana); Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nebraska)
Other Famous Alums: Political consultant James Carville; Ruth’s Chris Steak House founder Ruth Fertel; Vice President Hubert Humphrey
47) University of Notre Dame
Location: Notre Dame, IN
Undergraduate population: 8,372
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (2): Rep. Dan Lungren (R-California); Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana)
Other Famous Alums: Former talk show host Phil Donahue (the Keith Olbermann of the 1980s and 1990s); NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback Joe Montana; Talk show host Regis Philbin
46) Marquette University
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Undergraduate population: 8,081
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (2): Rep. Stephen Austria (R-Ohio); Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisconsin)
Other Famous Alums: Comedian Chris Farley; Free money guru Matthew Lesko
45) California State University, Los Angeles
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Undergraduate population: 15,588
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (4): Rep. Joe Baca (D-California); Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-California); Rep. Lucille Roybal–Allard (D-California); Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California)
Other Famous Alums: George Mason University economics professor and political commentator Walter E. Williams; Tennis player Billie Jean King
44) Fordham University
Location: New York City, NY
Undergraduate population: 7,652
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (2): Rep. William Pascrell, Jr. (D-New Jersey); Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington)
Other Famous Alums: Actor Denzel Washington; Fox News reporter Patti Anne Browne
43) Texas Christian University
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Undergraduate population: 7,640
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (2): Dan Boren (D-Oklahoma); Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas)
Other Famous Alums: The Simpson’s Reverend Lovejoy (fictional); NFL player LaDainian Tomlinson; Price is Right announcer Rod Roddy
42) University of Georgia
Location: Athens, GA
Undergraduate population: 26,142
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (7): Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia); Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia); Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Florida); Rep. John Barrow (D-Georgia); Rep. Paul Broun (R-Georgia); Rep. Tom Graves (R-Georgia); Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Georgia)
Other Famous Alums: WWE wrestler Bill Goldberg; Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed
41) Tulane University
Location: New Orleans, LA
Undergraduate population: 7,210
Congressional Undergraduate Alumni (2): Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Mississippi); Res. Com. Pedro Pierluisi (D-Puerto Rico)
Other Famous Alums: Publisher and commentator Andrew Breitbart; Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright; TV personality Jerry Springer
