Oct 23, 2013 03:01 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is ranked first in the list of best colleges in the country for math whizzes. The list has been drawn by Business Insider, a news and information website,  based on critical reading and maths scores.

For the study, the magazine teamed up with Find the Best data website. They considered the average SAT scores of the schools and then also factored in the difference between average math and critical reading scores of the students. With regard to ties, preference was given to schools with the higher math score.

For Illinois, the average SAT math and critical reading scores were 790 and 680 respectively, a difference of 110 points.

Illinois is followed by Michigan State University, Lebanon Valley College (Pa.), Illinois Institute of Technology, and Louisiana Tech.

Louisiana Tech is the only university in the state of Louisiana to feature in the list and it is the highest ranked institution in the southern United States. The University's average SAT math score is 650 and the average critical reading score is 570.

"One of Louisiana Tech's greatest strengths is the quality and diversity of its STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs and student development initiatives," Louisiana Tech President Les Guice said in an official statement. "For our institution to be ranked No. 5 in the nation and among this group of leading research universities speaks to the reputation that Louisiana Tech has built for itself over the years. This recognition will continue to fuel our pursuit of academic and research excellence."

Georgia Institute of Technology precedes Louisiana, the only other southern university to be named in the list. Coming after Georgia in the subsequent positions are University of Wisconsin, Polytechnic Institute of New York University, CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College and Lehigh University.

Top 10 Colleges for Math Whizzes

1 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2 Michigan State University

3 Lebanon Valley College (Pa.)

4 Illinois Institute of Technology

5 Louisiana Tech

6 Georgia Institute of Technology

7 University of Wisconsin

8 Polytechnic Institute of New York University

9 CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College

10 Lehigh University

Not all academicians welcomed and appreciated the ranking. Professor Deane Yang, who teaches mathematics at NYU-Poly,  was disappointed despite the school's good ranking on the list

 "It is a clear sign that the overuse of SATs to judge students has gone well beyond what I could have ever imagine," told NYU News. "Here at NYU-Poly, we are more proud of how our students, whether they have high SATs or not, are extremely dedicated and hardworking students."

Yang also said that most of the students at the school belonged to underprivileged families and did not necessarily graduate from high schools.

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