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This line of reasoning doesn’t hold water since anyone who follows college athletics avidly would know which of the major sports schools are the best academically. ESPN talks about how prestigious Duke, Northwestern, Vandy, and Stanford are all the time when they play opponents. It’s almost impossible to not catch on to the notion that there is something “special” academically that separates Duke from the University of Alabama.</p>
<p>I would actually argue that these top 4 academic-athletic hybrid schools have greater national visibility than the non-HYP Ivies because their sports teams give Americans around the country another lens from which to learn about the school’s academic strengths.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a single middle class American around the country who doesn’t know that Duke is at the very least a good school. It has too many things going for it that would give it visibility: top 10 law school, top 10 medical school, top 10 business school, top 25 engineering school, top 10 most selective research university, lots of top 20 graduate departments, one of the 5 greatest college basketball programs, and a rapidly improving football team.</p>
<p>I guarantee that if a poll was done today asking Americans what the best universities were in the country, Duke would definitely be in the top 10 and perhaps even high as #6 after HYPSM.</p>
<p>Comparing CMC or Pomona or Williams’ name recognition to Duke is almost ludicrous. To those in the know however, these are all obviously excellent places to get an undergraduate education.</p>