<p>How would we rank todays top universities from the viewpoint of a future historian. Assume we are ranking them from a viewpoint 500 years in the future. To make things simple just consider their accomplishments and historical staying power based on things that took place up to 2009, don't imagine future accomplishments. The purpose is to view universities for their long standing reputation and greatness and what lasting things, ideas, and people that they have contributed to the world. By doing this we are leaving out many of the popular college ranking data that will be forgotten many years from now such as selectivity, endowment, or popularity in the media. Instead we will think of which ones reputation will survive the dustbin of history ( weather they are physically around or not).</p>
<p>1) Harvard: Unprecedented production of famous historical figures in government.</p>
<p>2) UChicago: Known for its core of "Great Books Knowledge", A system of economics widely applied in the 20th century (the chicago school), and the first nuclear reaction.</p>
<p>3) Cornell: Widely credited for being the first modern university and model copied by other schools such as Stanford and Berkeley, Pioneer of the green revolution, first to teach electrical engineering.</p>
<p>4) Caltech: Imortalized by the amount of stuff still in outer space with it's name on it.</p>
<p>Yes, a previous poster has the idea that some will be known in history for their great deeds and others for misadventures and infamous alums. Many of these will have a much dimmer view taken of them in history than we do now.</p>
<p>roll call of infamy</p>
<p>Yale: Bush and Cheny - classic evil and tragic figures of the 21st century</p>
<p>Dartmouth: Paulson and Gheitner , failed teasury secretaries partialy responsible for the end of the dollar and the longest depression in history.</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. will probably still be around in 500 years, assuming nothing goes horribly wrong. So they'll probably still be ranked 1, 2, and 3.</p>
<p>With the rise of the Pacific nations and the decline of Europe/America, only the West coast colleges will have a significant presence 500 years from now. </p>
<p>1.) Stanford for its technological innovation in robotics, nanotech, etc. </p>
<p>Considering that the Wright Brothers first flew their plane at Kitty Hawk only 66 years before Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, we have no clue what the world will look like 500 years from now. Even if the pace of technological innovation slows dramatically over the next 500 years (which will itself evidence abject failure of these universities), the world will still be very different 500 years hence.</p>
<p>Mars University- Known for its extremely hard to get into acceptance rate. Pioneered diversity amongst planets, with only half of its class consisting of Humans. </p>
<p>In 2500 Football will RULE of American culture.... So Rutgers will go down as the "Mecca" of colleges for having the first football game every played. The pilgrimages will begin very soon.</p>