The short answer is that we do not know yet. But while we’re crunching all sorts of numbers, we thought we would share some of the data that may–or may not–be considered in our upcoming review. We are, remember, college junkies at heart. The data we collect will not in the end have much or anything to do with the guidebook unless it passes statistical muster (correlation, multiple regression analysis, significance). In the meantime, we will share some of that data.

If you would like to tell us what you think about the relevance of each “metric,” please post a reply or contact editor@publicuniversityhonors.com.

A scaled analysis of the “Fifty” shows that the universities listed below have the highest percentages of students who proceed from a BA to a Ph.D.

1. Michigan, 2. Virginia, 3. UC San Diego, 4. Wisconsin, 5. Georgia Tech,

6. North Carolina, 7. UCLA, 8. UC Santa Barbara, 9. Florida, 10. Binghamton,

11. UT Austin, 12. UC Davis, 13., Penn State, 14. Pitt, 15. Maryland,

16. Delaware, 17., Iowa State, 18. Rutgers, 19. Virginia Tech, 20. Iowa.