How the rankings work

Who decides

The official Top 100 is ranked by Cheer Daily's editors. Every college on the list has a written editorial reason and saved evidence. The order is an editorial judgment, not a formula.

Editions

We publish several editions each season, such as Preseason, after UCA, after NCA and a Final edition. Before a competition, changes reflect verified program information only, never predicted finishes.

Movement

"Up" and "Down" compare a college with the previous published edition in the same year. "New to Top 100" means it wasn't on that list. A dash means there's no earlier edition to compare with. Each year starts fresh.

Honest information

Missing information is shown as pending, not counted against a program. We don't fill places to reach 100; an edition shows its real count.

Corrections

If we fix a published edition, we publish a revised version with a public correction note. Earlier editions are kept as published. Spot something wrong? Use "Suggest a correction" on any program page.

Fan Rankings

Fan Rankings reflect community support. They are separate from Cheer Daily's official Top 100, and fan votes never change official ranks.

• You need a signed-in account with a confirmed email address to support a program.
• You can support as many colleges as you like, once each per year, and withdraw or restore your support while voting is open.
• Programs are ordered by their number of valid supporters. Equal totals share a rank (1, 2, 2, 4). Programs with no support show "Not yet ranked".
• Support starts fresh each year. Following a program is separate and carries over.
• We remove votes that break the rules. If that changes a closed result, we post a public correction note.

Scores

We may show component scores on program pages once a scoring method has been approved by our editors and the scores have been checked. Results from different organizers and divisions are not treated as interchangeable, and missing information is never counted as zero.