<p>one of the rubrics that I look at is retention and graduation rate (how many freshman stay at the school and how many students graduate in 6 years). In those areas, Brandeis is clearly better. 94.5% of Brandeis students return for sophomore year, which is quite high and Brandeis has an 88.3% graduation rate. By contrast, Stony Brook has an 88% retention rate (which is also high), but only a 58.8% graduation rate. So either lots of Stony Brook students are leaving after sophomore year or, more probably, many are taking many years to graduate.</p>
<p>Obviously, there are other measures by which Brandeis is superior, for example, SATs at Brandeis range from 1280-1460 and at Stony Brook are 1080-1280. None of these factors mean that Brandeis is a signficantly better school, only that by some of the markers people use, Brandeis comes out ahead. However, Pseudonym has a good point. Stony Brook is truly diverse in a way that neither Brandeis, nor frankly many top schools, can approach.</p>