<p>Yea you can't compare Olin to the rest like that</p>
<p>You cant decrease its rankings just because theyre only engineering.</p>
<p>thats like penalizing claremont mckenna or cal tech.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna? CMC doesn't offer engineering.</p>
<p>You mean Harvey Mudd?</p>
<p>In any case, Olin hasn't even graduated a single class of students yet. No history behind the school.</p>
<p>no, i mean Claremont McKenna because almost everyone there does social studies.</p>
<p>Regardless, CMC and Caltech have proven records. Olin doesn't as of yet.</p>
<p>Olin is simply amazing there is no way around that. If you asked prospective engineering students where they would like to go if admission was not an issue Olin, Caltech, and MIT would most likely be equally represented. In fact I had a friend who turned down Caltech, MIT, and Cooper Union for Olin so to say it is not at least the third best college in Boston is just wrong. Not to say that Boston's LAC are bad its just that there are equal or better LAC else where in the country while Olin is behind maybe one or two engineering colleges in the country. Also Olin just graduated its first class(66 students) on May 21st.</p>
<p>hysteria: You didn't state any reasons or statistics as to why Olin is better than schools like Tufts and Brandeis.</p>
<p>Olin is quickly changing the way engineers are taught(do then learn, as opposed to the other way around). However, the school may lose its edge if larger schools start adopting similar curriculums. This may very well happen. It is also unclear whether Olin can continue to offer full scholarships to every future class and continue to grow. In order to do so, the school will need to boost its fundraising efforts. MIT and Caltech have multibillion dollar endowments and thousands of alumni to draw from. Olin's alumni numbers total about 60 or so graduates. Olin is a great school though!!!</p>
<p>Caltech Does not have a multibillion dollar endowment, it's less than $1.4 Billion</p>
<p>just a small clarification...</p>
<p>Harvard/Olin
MIT/Wellesley/Tufts
Brandeis/ Boston College / Babson / BU
Northeastern /Bentley/ emerson</p>
<p>williams is NOT boston...</p>
<p>Not only is Williams about as far away from Boston as you can be and still be in MA (Amherst is much closer), but it certainly is more highly regarded than Tufts or Brandeis. </p>
<p>Also, I don't know how the topic of MBAs started, but MIT is certainly in the same vain with Harvard and Stanford, while Yale is not even close (more in the 15-20 range).</p>
<p>Williams is certainly not more highly regarded than Tufts. I live in New England, and everyone I've spoken with on the subject agrees with me on that point. Also, as several other posters have mentioned, it is very difficult to compare LAC's with full-fledged research universities; they have different agendas and focuses. To compare Tufts, MIT, and Harvard (the 3 top Boston Universities) with LAC's like Amherst, Williams, etc. makes little sense. This, of course, does not mean that the LACs mentioned are of any lesser caliber than the universities listed, nor does it mean that Tufts, MIT, & Harvard are not as good as Amherst or Williams. It's apples and oranges.</p>
<p>whoa, worldband. tufts over williams? can i have some of whatever youre smoking?</p>
<p>dardcav: There's no way that Olin is above MIT.</p>
<p>First, to say that Williams and Tufts cannot be compared is ridiculous and USNWR propaganda. I think it's more appropriate to have Williams and Tufts on the same ranking list than Tufts and MIT, bit that's another story. As long one can apply using similar methods (transcripts, SATs, essay) and can obtain a BA in the same subjects(Economics, History, Chemistry, English, Philosophy) at both, they should be able to be compared.</p>
<p>Your blanket statement that everyone you know believes Tufts is more highly regarded than Williams certainly doesn't include anyone that knows anything about Williams. From SATs, % in top 10%, acceptance rate, enrollment rate, Brody rankings, WSJ survey, Laissez Faire study, any other objective measure, Williams is considered better. Don't get me wrong, Tufts is certainly a good school, but I think Williams is top 12, while Tufts is more around top 40 and I don't have any bias because I didn't go to either. </p>
<p>Olin is a very interesting experiment and very smart people are going there, but think it's too soon to be ranking it to other established schools.</p>
<p>Very well put, gellino.</p>
<p>Wow! Maxiumus knows his Beantown pecking order . Anyone have any BC application horror stories? Looking for a sympathetic ear....... Harvard, BU, and Brandeis have done no wrong. BC is the omen of my college app. ordeal. I'ld love to hear from y'all if you've got some dish on Boston College.......</p>
<p>You cannot rank the Boston area universities in any absolute terms. All have strengths and weaknesses. The major universities in Boston are Harvard, MIT, BC, BU, and Northeastern. </p>
<p>The GENERAL pecking order is: Harvard considers itself the the center of the universe. MIT folks would beg to differ, particularly for engineering and some of the physical and social sciences, and undergrad business (Harvard doesn't have an undergrad biz program). No other Boston school is close to Harvard and MIT for most programs of study. BC kids think they are superior to BU and NEU. BU students think they own Northeastern and and are just as good as or better than BC. Northeastern continues to improve itself and it's attendees consider themselves as peers to BU. And none of the other schools really matter. And ultimately, ranking these schools doesn't matter either, because they are all excellent schools.</p>
<p>Note: The above is solely my characterization of the typical student attitude towards these schools and means absolutely nothing!! </p>
<p>Personally I'd rank 'em overall at:
Harvard and MIT>>BC and BU>Northeastern</p>
<p>But that's just my OPINION, so take that for what its worth.</p>
<p>And sad as it is to say, very few (with the obvious exception of Tufts students/alums) in Boston even consider Tufts amongst Harvard, MIT, BC, BU, and NEU. Doesn't mean a thing in the grand scheme of things. I'd consider Tufts as tops in the Boston area, if not the country, for a program like IR but fifth overall in Boston alone, for something like engineering or CS. So like the other schools, it varies. Most Bostonians (rightly or wrongly) think very, very little of Tufts because it doesn't have the size, budget, sports teams or a research focus like the others that tend to get those schools onto the local news/conciousness. Not that that matters or anything...Just sayin</p>
<p>Northeastern may be ranked in the US News Top 100 in August!</p>