2020-21 Top Programs Overall
1 Patrick Henry College
2 California State University-Fullerton
3 St. Thomas University
4 California State University-Long Beach
5 University of Louisiana-Lafayette
6 Liberty University
7 University of Chicago
8 Colorado Christian University
9 University of Southern California
10 University of Central Florida
11 College of Wooster
12 United States Air Force Academy
13 Benley University
14 University of North Texas
15 Regent University
16 Baylor University
17 University of California Santa Barbara
18 University of Pennsylvania
19 Fitchburg State University
20 Michigan State University
21 Morehouse College
22 Eastern Michigan University
23 Duke University
24 Saginaw Valley State University
25 Loyola University Chicago
Methodology (in brief)
The Top Program Scores recognize schools based on their performance in both the AMCA National Tournament Oral Advocacy competition and the AMCA National Tournament Written Brief competition. The scores are weighted at 67 percent for the oral advocacy competition and 33 percent for the written brief competition.
For example, let's say Olympus State University earned a program score of 0.0183 in the oral advocacy competition and a program score of 0.0166 in the written brief competition. Olympus State University's overall score would be 1.77 (67*0.183+33*0.0166). This calculation is completed for each program that has teams in the national tournament and in the written brief competition and then programs are ranked from the highest score to the lowest score.
2020-21 Top Programs - Oral Advocacy
1 Patrick Henry College
2 Liberty University
3 Colorado Christian University
4 University of Chicago
5 University of Southern California
6 University of Louisiana-Lafayette
7 California State University-Long Beach
8 California State University-Fullerton
9 College of Wooster
10 Morehouse College
11 Benley University
12 University of California Santa Barbara
13 College of the Holy Cross
14 Michigan State University
15 St. Thomas University
16 University of North Texas
17 United States Air Force Academy
18 University of Central Florida
19 Regent University
20 Saginaw Valley State University
21 Duke University
22 Yale University
23 College of William and Mary
24 Lamar University
25 Georgetown University
Methodology (in brief)
Programs are ranked by the number of ballots earned at the AMCA National Tournament in January 2020. To assess both the program's overall performance and the program's performance relative to the field as a whole, we combine the program's percent of total ballots times the program's percent of possible ballots.
For example, let's say Olympus State University qualified 3 teams to the 80 team national tournament. Team 1 earned 6 ballots in the preliminary rounds, 2 ballots in the round of 32, and 0.67 ballots in the round of 16. This results in 8.67 ballots for Team 1. Team 2 earned 5 ballots in the preliminary rounds and 0.67 ballots in the round of 32. This results in 5.67 ballots for Team 2. Team 3 earned 2 ballots in the preliminary rounds. This results in 2 ballots for Team 3. The total number of ballots that Olympus State earned is 16.34 out of 48 possible ballots (0.34 of their possible points). Possible ballots is 16 per team per school entered in the tournament (6 for preliminary rounds, 2 for round of 32, 2 for round of 16, 2 for quarters, 2 for semis, 2 for finals). In the event of a same school match-up, 2 ballots are deducted from the possible ballot total. As noted above, there are 80 teams in the national tournament- this results in 302 possible ballots available (80+80+80+32+16+8+4+2). Olympus State University earned 16.34 out of 302 possible ballots (0.054 of the tournament's possible ballots). We then multiply those two figures together to arrive at OSU's overall score (0.0183). This calculation is completed for each program that has teams in the national tournament and then programs are ranked from the highest score to the lowest score.
2020-21 Top Programs - Brief Writing
1 Patrick Henry College
2 St. Thomas
3 Fullerton
4 UCF
5 USAFA
6 Long Beach
7 Bentley
8 Wooster
9 UNT
10 Baylor
11 Regent
12 Louisiana
13 Penn
14 Fitchburg State
15 Eastern Michigan
16 San Francisco
17 Loyola
18 Berea
19 UCSB
20 Texas-Austin
21 Duke
22 USC
23 U Chicago
24 Clemson
25 Saginaw
Methodology (in brief)
Programs are ranked by the scores earned in the 2019-2020 brief writing competition. To assess both the program's overall performance and the program's performance relative to the field as a whole, we combine the program's percent of total brief points times the program's percent of possible brief points. Disqualified briefs are not included in the determination of the program's possible points nor in the total possible brief points. For 2019-2020, there were 86 briefs scored.
For example, let's say Olympus State University submitted 3 briefs to the national brief writing competition and there were 100 total submissions. The average score for OSU's brief 1 was 88, the average score for OSU's brief 2 was 73, and the average score for OSU's brief 3 was 62. OSU earned 223 points out of 300 possible points. This lets us calculate the program's percent of total brief points (0.743). Then we calculate OSU's percent of possible brief points for the competition. As noted above, there were 100 briefs submitted so there were 10,000 possible brief points and OSU earned 223 points (0.0223). We then multiply those two figures together to arrive at OSU's overall score (0.0166). This calculation is completed for each program that participates in the brief writing competition and then programs are ranked from the highest score to the lowest score.