<p>So I've seen colleges referred to as "top tier," "tier 1," "tier 2," and so on. But, I'm not exactly sure as to what the tiers are. Are they strictly defined? I know in the CC world, Tier 1 would probably be HYPSM, Tier 2 would be the rest of the Ivy League and CalTech, and then Tier 3 would be the rest of the Top 20 Universities (as ranked by USNWR), but what are the tiers in the "real world"? Does Tier 1 just mean the top 25% of colleges/universities in the country and so on?</p>
<p>I appreciate the help! I've always been confused about this.</p>
<p>For undergraduate education probably all of the T20 schools could be considered “top tier”. Clearly Harvard is harder to get into than, say, Northwestern, but the true difference in education is marginal if anything.</p>
<p>There’s no true definition. Here’s a definition one CC poster offered:</p>
<p>"First Tier - Top 50 national, top 25 LAC
Second Tier - 51-200 national, 26-80 LAC
Third Tier - All other four year accredited institutions
Fourth Tier - 2-year and unaccredited colleges "</p>
<p>CC, as you mentioned, tends to associate just HYPSM and Ivies with first tier, with many top 50 schools being second tier. This really isn’t the general consensus, but you know how CC loves to distort reality.</p>
<p>always wondered about this - is an english class at Columbia so much harder, than say at Fordham?</p>
<p>Probably not. It’s not as much about difficulty as it is about overall quality of education. I mean, you can run into a hard English class at your local community college.</p>