<p>This is my opinion on the prestige an average person associates with colleges. Feel free to criticize.</p>
<p>Tier 1: Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford
Tier 2: Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth
Tier 3: Penn, Duke, Berkeley, Georgetown, Notre Dame
Tier 4: Northwestern, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt
Tier 5: Cal Tech, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, NYU
Tier 6: Boston College, UNC, Georgia Tech, Michigan, UCLA
Tier 7: UVA, Wake Forest, William and Mary, USC</p>
<p>those are some harsh tiers!</p>
<p>that's decent. 7 tiers is a lot though. it's hard to see that many distinctions. i'd make 4-5 tiers.</p>
<p>Personally, I would put Michigan up on 4 with NW, Rice, Emory, and Vandy, but maybe that's just me....</p>
<p>or how about:</p>
<p>all of the big 10 and football-recognized schools in Tier 1</p>
<p>and the rest of the schools in Tier 2</p>
<p>what are the tiers as they officially stand now? As in, the generally accepted categories?</p>
<p>"Tier 1: Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford
Tier 2: Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth
Tier 3: Penn, Duke, Berkeley, Georgetown, Notre Dame
Tier 4: Northwestern, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt
Tier 5: Cal Tech, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, NYU
Tier 6: Boston College, UNC, Georgia Tech, Michigan, UCLA
Tier 7: UVA, Wake Forest, William and Mary, USC"</p>
<p>OUCH. Whoa.</p>
<p>Changes I'd Make:</p>
<p>1) Boston College is NOT CONSIDERED more prestigious than UVA. Really, what?!</p>
<p>2) NYU on par with Caltech? Hah hah hah. No way.</p>
<p>3) Notre Dame is good, but no way is it in the same realm as Duke, Penn or Berkeley. </p>
<p>4) USC has much higher name recognition than Wake Forest, all around the world.</p>
<p>Tier 1: Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford
Tier 2: Brown, Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Cal Tech
Tier 3: Cornell, Berkeley, Chicago, Notre Dame, Washington
Tier 4: Northwestern, Rice, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Emory, Vanderbilt,
Tier 5: UCLA, USC, Michigan, Wake Forest, CMU</p>
<p>Based upon rank, prestige within the States</p>
<p>what are the tiers as they officially stand now? As in, the generally accepted categories?.</p>
<p>i categorized the schools based on the academic quality that is perceived by average people. these are the colleges, in order, that would most likely impress them. name recognition of course is a factor in that no LAC would ever make the list, but name recognition as a result of sports doesn't necessarily mean that a person regards the school as prestigious.</p>
<p>NYU = overrated crap. Trust me. That school is a waste of money. And most people don't know it!</p>
<p>lol @ you NewYorker</p>
<p>i guess I'll find out for myself fall 06' :)</p>
<p>peals -- i'm not at all talkin about actual quality. i'm not saying that nyu is as good as caltech or that notre dame is as good as penn</p>
<p>sympathy -- very few people have even heard of cmu and if you tell someone you went to washington university they'd assume you meant university of washington</p>
<p>what are the tiers as they officially stand now? As in, the generally accepted categories?</p>
<p>Tier 1: Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford
Tier 2: Brown, Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Cal Tech
Tier 3: Cornell, Berkeley, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins
Tier 4: Northwestern, Rice, Chicago, Washington, Emory, Vanderbilt,
Tier 5: UCLA, USC, Michigan, Wake Forest, CMU, Notre Dame, NYU</p>
<p>Notre Dame is a piece of crapola, NYU has a reaaaally well known name, nobody knows about Washington or Chicago even though they're fantastic schools and Georgetown is REALLY well known</p>
<p>Tier 1: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT
Tier 2: Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Cornell
Tier 3: Notre Dame, Georgetown, USC, Berkeley, John Hopkins
Tier 4: Vanderbilt, BC, Chicago, CMU, UCLA
Tier 5: Michigan, UNC, NYU, Northwestern, Texas</p>
<p>I made these rankings based on the people in my area. UPenn isn't there because most mistake it for Penn St. where I live. If I were categorizing in general, it would be far different.</p>
<p>What would you consider UT-Austin?</p>
<p>Or is it just out of the pool you are considering... </p>
<p>Im from overseas so i have little clue other than how tough competition is to get in. UVa = University of Virginia? I thought that was on par with Berkeley...</p>
<p>"what are the tiers as they officially stand now? As in, the generally accepted categories?"</p>
<p>that's what i'm trying to show -- what i think the categories are. no accurate ranking exists because its not something that can be quantitatively measured. it's subjective</p>
<p>sljaeger -- "Notre Dame is a piece of crapola"</p>
<p>are you kidding? most people regard it as almost equal to the ivys.</p>
<p>Well, it isn't equal to the Ivies, but it is an amazing school, and one I would love to get into.</p>
<p>Anyone who says it is not a good school is full of it.</p>