It’s easy to shit on Arizona State University. The school, with its “accept everyone” mentality and party school reputation, is constantly the butt of jokes, punchlines and putdowns. With its silly “No. 1 in Innovation” war cry, ASU is easy to brush aside as just a mediocre school with an absurdly high acceptance rate. Last year, U.S. News and World Report pegged ASU as the 117th-best university in the country — nothing to write home about.
Yet maybe that reputation is a bit outdated. Last week, TIME Magazine ranked the top 500 universities in the world, and ASU finished a more-than-respectable 91st. In fact, ASU finished ahead of some very well-regarded private schools, including Northwestern (No. 98) and Georgetown (No. 117). The University of Arizona also ranked fairly high, coming in 103rd.
To be included in TIME Magazine’s rankings, schools had to be at least three years old, offer bachelor’s degrees and enroll more than 2,000 students. ASU clears that last bar by, well, a lot…