<p>“Why is Brandeis ranked below Boston College?” Superstar…thats where it belongs</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Amherst/Wellesley/Williams(no knowledge of lacs,but amherst and wellesley have a rep)
6.Boston College</li>
<li>Tufts</li>
<li>Boston U</li>
<li>Northeastern</li>
<li>Holy cross</li>
</ol>
<p>Bc over tufts? Only in football… I agree about Brandeis though</p>
<p>haha you’re so biased. the reputation it has really destroys the university imho</p>
<p>well, i also applied to and got into BC. Its an awesome school, and I would have considered it seriously if i had gotten into the honors program.</p>
<p>but really, you think tufts syndrome makes tufts a worse university in comparison to BC?</p>
<p>well in some aspects yes. Like what is tufts even known for? And also it being known as the ivy rejects school.</p>
<p>jw, what are u majoring in/made you choose tufts. I couldnt survive there seeing that they have no sports teams</p>
<p>haha, one of the reasons i chose tufts is because of its lack of athletic prowess.</p>
<p>and fyi, tufts has a fantastic IR program and a strong philosophy department, both of which are interests of mine.</p>
<p>and for what its worth, I chose tufts over duke, as did a classmate of mine, and i know kids who have turned down cornell, penn, and dartmouth for tufts. obviously this isn’t what most people would do, but believe it or not some people want to go to tufts.</p>
<p>It’s extremely difficult to rate the “best colleges in Massachusetts” without explaining the criteria you are using. For example, Harvard, the almost-unanimous No. 1 rated school for most respondents, does have a reputation (deserved or not) for significant grade inflation, over reliance on T.A.'s, and general indifference towards undergraduates and undergraduate programs. Of course, if you are only concentrating on general prestige (again, whether deserved or not), Harvard would almost certainly be No. 1 with MIT trailing right behind.</p>
<p>If you are rating the schools based upon the intellectual caliber of the student body, however, measured perhaps by the 2008-2009 Common Data Set SAT 25th-75th percentile scores for CR, M, and maybe W (if applicable), the list might go something like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>MIT (although Olin may soon eclipse, if they haven’t already - data incomplete)
4-6. Amherst, Williams, Tufts (numbers are roughly even; Amherst and Williams 75th% numbers are 10 points higher than Tufts, while Tufts’ 25% numbers are 10 points higher than Amherst and Williams)</li>
<li>Wellesley</li>
<li>Brandeis</li>
<li>Boston College
10-11. Boston University, Mt. Holyoke</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, Northeastern’s numbers are rising rapidly every year, Smith is known for producing graduates who are considerably more intelligent and successful than their general SAT averages may suggest, and Holy Cross’ premed and eco/accounting students are on par with those from any school in New England. And, according to recently published surveys, WPI graduates (with their enigineering degrees) obtain average salaries that are higher than all of those above except for Harvard and MIT (and maybe Olin).</p>
<p>So, your school ratings may depend upon which criteria is most important to you.</p>
<p>^ if your going by SAT then WPI would be ahead of BU and Mt Holyoke and about on par with BC.</p>
<p>This is how my list would go.</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Amherst, Williams, Wellesley</li>
<li>Tufts, Brandeis, </li>
<li>BC, WPI</li>
<li>BU, Northeastern</li>
</ol>
<p>Sorry, superstar12, your assertion is incorrect. WPI’s 2008-2009 25th-75th SAT numbers, overall, are not quite as strong as BU and they are significantly lower than Mt. Holyoke and BC. According to the common data sets and institutional research fact books for the respective schools, the numbers break down as follows:</p>
<p>WPI: CR 550-660, M 630-720, W 550-650
BU: CR 580-670, M 600-690, W 590-680
Mt. Holyoke: CR 620-720, M 590-700, W 625-700
BC: CR 610-700, M 640-730, W 620-730</p>
<p>So, while WPI exceeds BU and Mt. Holyoke by roughly 30 points on both ends (and slightly trails BC by 10 points on both ends) in Math, WPI’s CR and W numbers are each roughly 20-30 points below BU on each end, 60-70 points below Mt. Holyoke on each end, and 55-75 points below BC on each end. Cumulatively, BU, Mt. Holyoke and BC all come in ahead of WPI (which as I stated before, is a superior school based upon the average salary levels of its graduates).</p>
<p>CA answers to MA </p>
<p>Stanford - Harvard
Caltech, Harvey Mudd - MIT (Caltech, Mudd have higher stats)
Pomona - Amherst, Williams (Pomona has higher stats)
CMC - Wellesley (CMC has higher stats)
Scripps - Smith
Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD > Tufts, BC, WPI </p>
<p>Then there are UCSF, Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara. The tandem of excellent schools in CA are unmatched.</p>
<p>Defending Massachusetts’ honor, in response to middsmith:</p>
<p>based upon SAT numbers:</p>
<p>Harvard > Stanford
CalTech and Harvey Mudd may be greater than MIT. But you forgot our newest school,
Olin. It may have higher stats than all three.
Pomona > Amherst
Williams > CMC
Wellesley > Scripps
Tufts > Berkeley
BC > UCLA
I don’t know whether WPI is better than UCSD - have to look this one up.</p>
<p>Your other-listed California state schools are good - unless the proposed budget cuts in California take place, in which case your entire state system may be reduced to rubble.</p>
<p>I’ll stick with Mass! lol</p>
<p>
These are silly. Perhaps BC should be compared to USC. I can’t think of a Tufts equivalent.</p>
<p>Cal > UMass: Amherst :p</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>California > Massachusetts (as measured by average temperature in January).</p>
<p>Harvard, MIT, Williams, Amherst, Wellesley, Tufts, Brandeis, Holy Cross, Smith, Boston College.</p>
<p>take out holy cross, replace with: Commonwealth College - Umass Amherst
way underrated</p>
<p>" i know that compaq10’s list is not his own, but studentreview "</p>
<p>You spelled it wrong. It has “s” between “student” and “review”. But CC doesn’t allow us to mention that web site ? Look! They erased the link at the end of my other post ! Why ?</p>
<p>They are afraid of the competition. Probably their biggest rival web site.</p>
<p>Harvard,
MIT,
Williams,
Amherst,
Wellesley,
Tufts,
Brandeis,
Holy Cross,
Smith,
Boston College. </p>
<p>I second par72 rankings. </p>
<p>and I stick with Mass schools :D</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard/MIT</li>
<li>Williams/Amherst</li>
<li>Wellesley </li>
<li>BC/Tufts</li>
<li>Brandeis</li>
<li>Smith/Holy Cross</li>
</ol>
<p>Olin probably fits in there somewhere, but I don’t know much about it.</p>
<p>1.MIT
2.Harvard
3.Williams
4.Amherst
5.Wellseley
6.Tufts
7.Holy Cross
8.Brandeis
9.Boston College
10.Boston U</p>
<p>I feel like a lot of them are on par with each other. From Williams to Brandeis I’d say you aren’t losing a noticable amount of quality.</p>