19 Top Universities (Excluding Ivies)?

Applying to College
1

As we all know from the Colleges forum top page (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6)%5B/url%5D”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6)</a>, there is a grouping called “Top Universities” (excluding the Ivies, which have their own page).

Now, where exactly did College Confidential pull that number from? Excluding the eight Ivies, there are twenty-two other universities widely considered in the top thirty unis in the nation. 19 of those twenty-two are listed. So…

What’s wrong with Wake Forest (27), Tufts (28) or USC (30)? UNC-Chapel Hill, at #29, is listed as a “Top University.” How did Wake Forest or Tufts not get the “Top Uni” title when they precede, even by a little, UNC?

19 is such an odd number. Why not round it out and list twenty under the “Top Uni” title? Or why not just include the other three that compose the rest of the top thirty unis in the country?

Is there something “wrong” with Wake Forest, USC or Tufts, when all three are within the top thirty but are not considered “top”?

I know that there are many people who disparage or view skeptically the US News and World Report rankings, but I thought College Confidential somewhat adheres to that ranking. So why are three top thirty unis. left out?

2

<p>The cc top universities are the top 25 in the USNEWS rankings excluding the ivys</p>

3

<p>I think the OP just showed that there are 27 universities listed (rather than 25), and that UNC Chapel Hill was ranked lower than two universities not listed.</p>

4

<p>Maybe the rest of the top 25 schools with the more popular of the 26-30 schools...?</p>

5

<p>hmm.. why does it matter?</p>

6

<p>i think they used USNEWS rankings from a few years ago</p>

7

<p>because UNC-CH has made the top 25 in some of the previous years. since the rankings always fluctuate, there's a chance that they'd be top 25 in another random year. </p>

<p>USC has never made top 25, wake forest i believe has once, and tufts has maybe a few times in the mid-1990s. this is just from recall though.</p>

8

<p>UNC has a longer-established great reputation than either Tufts or Wake Forest.</p>

9

<p>i think you should try looking at the ranks provided here</p>

<p><a href="http://thecenter.ufl.edu/research_data.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://thecenter.ufl.edu/research_data.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>its a more accurate research</p>

10

<p>To add to the firestorm, here are two links to groups who also rank schools by prestige/selectivity...enjoy....</p>

<p><a href="http://brodyadmissions.com/college/resources/college_rankings.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://brodyadmissions.com/college/resources/college_rankings.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.consusgroup.com/news/rankings/colleges/selectivity.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.consusgroup.com/news/rankings/colleges/selectivity.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

11

<p>Just about every ranking has generally the same results:
HYPSM usually leading the pack, sometimes with CIT, and certain UC's
Then Penn, Columbia, Duke, Cornell, JHU, other UC's and sometimes UChicago/Northwestern, Brown, and Dartmouth</p>

<p>These same schools almost always make up the top 10-15 colleges in any survey, and the additional 4 or 5 colleges in the "top colleges" might just be from how many kids apply or how popular a choice they are to apply to for kids on this site.</p>

12

<p>"The cc top universities are the top 25 in the USNEWS rankings excluding the ivys"</p>

<p>Right, stanmaster, I pretty much completely addressed that already in my OP.</p>

<p>So you say you're going to Stanford?</p>

13

<p>that was rude. i just didnt read your whole post. am i not allowed to make a mistake?</p>

14

<p>NO.. if you want to post here, READ THE WHOLE POST...
We dont need idiots just posting RANDOMLY...</p>

<p>ex. The topic is about Admissions to Harvard and you start talking about Blue Cheese..</p>

<p>lol...</p>

15

<p>You put it perfectly.</p>

<p>I'm sorry you thought it was rude, stanmaster, but don't you know it's in bad form to comment upon things you don't even completely comprehend, or in fact even took the time to comprehend?</p>

16

<p>I don't know--just because a number is divisible by 5 doesn't mean it's any less arbitrary than a number that isn't. 19 makes as much sense to me as 20 does, which is not very much. Numbering such things seems impossible.</p>

<p>Also, you guys, I don't think it's necessary to jump on someone for making a mistake. I have skimmed things improperly before. It's not a big deal. I can't really figure out any reason why you would slam him (her?) so hard for such a little thing.</p>

17

<p>Thomas, these rankings you show are very flawed. You honestly think that </p>

<p>University of California, Berkeley
0.806</p>

<p>10
University of California, Los Angeles
0.785</p>

<p>17
University of California, San Diego
0.727</p>

<p>20
U.S. Naval Academy
0.694</p>

<p>21
University of California, Santa Barbara
0.690</p>

<p>22
Pomona College
0.695</p>

<p>24
University of California, Santa Cruz
0.683</p>

<p>25*
University of California, Davis
0.681</p>

<p>25*
Harvey Mudd College
0.681</p>

<p>You honestly think that these schools are selective, minus Pomona.</p>

18

<p>lol...I didn't write the articles. I didn't even say I believed them. I just thought we could all have fun looking at how different groups rank the schools :)</p>

19

<p>unc-chapel hill, in all seriousness, is more prestigious than Wake, USC, and Tufts. Remember it is a Top 5 Public (behind Berkeley, Mich, Virginia and UCLA) and only 18% of it's incoming class is out of state. </p>

<p>Also, UNC is the First Public University in the country... (<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/n/northc1aru1.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/n/northc1aru1.asp&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p>

20

<p>who cares....being an older university doesn't make it more prestigious! and if we're talking about UNC being "prestigious" because it's the oldest public, how is comparing that to tufts and wake relevant when tufts and wake are private. whatever. who really cares about ranking anyways. they're all good school, but you can't honestly say that UNC is better than wake or tufts or USC because there's too many aspect to consider. also, rankings are full of crap. they're always biased. those who decide on them will of course favor the schools they came from!</p>