How do you guys pick that? NYU has an average SAT score much higher than for example vanderbilt, superior location, etc, yet its not on there. Recently it beat out harvard and was rated the number 1 dream school in the country. It’s superior then some of the shcools on your list in every single way, how the heck did you pick them?
They just took the US News top 25 from a couple of years ago and changed it to top 25 universities.
Mmmm…not <em>quite</em>. In the first place, it’s “CC Top,” not “CC Top 25.”
They include 20 in this category but compared to the US News Rankings when this was started but excluding the eight Ivies, which have their own sub-forum, it does include UNC-CH and doesn’t include Tufts or Wake Forest. I dunno about Wake Forest but if I were Board Emperor I would include Tufts. But you always can/will have arguments about where and how to make the cut-off.
NYU boosters might have some room for complaint over NYU being omitted though I wouldn’t dream of rating it anywhere near the #1 school in the country myself, for a variety of reasons.
<a href=“http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/package.jsp?name=fte/dreamcollege/dreamcollege[/url]”>http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/package.jsp?name=fte/dreamcollege/dreamcollege</a>
I definitely agree that the NYU board should be moved to the “top universities” area. Now, I’m an alumnus, so of course I’m biased, but regardless, I believe a very strong argument can be made for NYU’s case.
Also if one is to look at the number of threads and postings on the NYU board, its clearly very popular among CC users, a group that is disproportionately made up of the very top college applicants.
There are also many people who think that Vanderbilt should not be in the Top 25 on this forum. But alas, that’s not going to happen.
Aw, calidan. 
(I’m assuming you’re one of those people). What are the reasons for people thinking that Vanderbilt gets more recognition than it deserves? I only ask because I live somewhat near Vanderbilt, so I don’t really have an impartial perspective on the whole matter. I know it’s certainly not the best school ever, but I’ve gleaned from comments on these forums that a lot of people, particularly from other parts of the country, don’t look that kindly on Vanderbilt. Is it the whole stuck up rich kid/frats image, or is it because it’s generally considered conservative, or is it something of more substance, like Vanderbilt’s educational worth?
Vanderbilt probably paid CC off lol
Vanderbilt is an awesome school. It’s average SAT is a 1380 and it’s ranked in the top 20 by US news and world report. I agree that NYU should be bumped, but the argument against Vandy is flawed.
I know in the old forum, it used to be called, the US News Top 25. They just took schools from that list from a certain and made a forum. The Ivy Leagues schools were taken out and given their own forums area (as so many there were Ivy-eyed). So, when they transferred to the new forums, they just transferred the forums as-is.
So you should probably take your vandy-bashing up with the US News and World Report.
Our list is somewhat arbitrary, but matches the general perception of many college-bound students and has quite a bit of overlap with common ranking schemes. As with any selection process, when you get near the cutoff, there are legitimate arguments as to why one school could be included or another not. (It’s not just academic rankings - look at college football rankings, the BCS selections, or any other selection process that has a cutoff. The selections at the margin are always the toughest.)
We acknowledge that the lists are subjective, so please don’t lobby for inclusion or exclusion of particular schools. 
NYU is a decent school but is clearly not better than Vandy.
I applied to both schools was accepted to both and I choose Vandy in a heartbeat. Vandy has more prestige, a better faculty, larger endowment, more resources, a better quality of life, etc.
NYU is called a “dream school” because it is appealing to all the kids who live in the middle of nowhere. I am a native New Yorker and its obvious NYC is amazing. But NYU has a very wierd student body. I visited one of my friends there and the cafeteria was filled with freaks and wierdos. The guys were all acne-faced losers and looked like them came from a Magic the Gathering tournament or Lord of the Rings marathon.
I believe for most people Vanderbilt is closer to an ideal school. The campus is on a arboretum. Beautiful girls are always sunbathing on the lawn. Alot of them are southern belles and extremely hospitable. The professors are amazing and extremely good at conveying the material.
If you have a work hard party hard attitude and you like to be surrounded by beautiful women at all times, check out Vandy. You won’t be disappointed.
Wow, way to perpetuate notions of an elistist vanderbilt, man. I know for a fact that Vandy has freaks and geeks with the best of them (I myself am one). I’m also pretty sure that if the likes of the Olsen twins choose to go to NYU, there must be something more to it than a “acne-faced losers and looked like them came from a Magic the Gathering tournament or Lord of the Rings marathon.”
I find Vandy is ideal because so many different groups of people get along genuinely nicely and this contributes to a cohesive and wonderful enviroment. So please kindly shut your yap.
So for the record, I’m a Vandy students who thinks NYU is a great school.
number 1 dream school 2 years in a row…1412 out of 1600 average SAT…
Wheres your source for this? This sounds high for NYU.
Roger_Dooley, I understand that your list is subjective, but it does seem very surprising that Tufts is not included. They’ve been with Georgetown, Northwestern, JHU, Emory, etc. in terms of student quality,applicant pool, etc. for a quite a while. I know that the history of the institution has forced it to become a relative newcomer (LAC switch to University) to the realm of elite universities, but one cannot punish Tufts (as USNews does) by holding their smallish endowment against them - especially when some of the best students in the country (and the world) are applying there.
I think I have more money in my pocket right now than Tufts endowment.
Cynicism aside, Tufts has about 1.14 billion dollars in endowment currently. If it were still a LAC, that would be huge; it’s just that it’s smallish in comparison to larger universities.