Elite College Ranking

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I apoligize if this has already been done, but I just wanted to see how everybody generally percieved the prestige levels of the elite colleges. All college rankings seem to get criticized, so I wanted to see how everybody would make the list if it was their choice. Anyway, please rank the following colleges in terms of how much general prestige you feel they have: </p>

<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, UPenn, Dartmouth, MIT, CalTech, Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, Northwestern, Chicago, WUSTL and JHU.</p>

2

<p>Just prestige?</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
MIT
Stanford
UPenn
Columbia
Caltech
Brown
Duke
Cornell
Dartmouth
Chicago
Berkeley (sorry about that)
Northwestern
WUSTL
JHU</p>

3

<p>Well... really it can be whatever criteria you feel is most important. The reason I said "prestige" was because I realize strength of programs vary between departments, so it would be hard to say "rank the schools by how good they are".</p>

4

<p>Prestige, brand name force, respected? I am confused. atomicfusion seems to think berkeley ranks so low it doesn't even deserve to be on the list =p</p>

5

<p>Do you mean prestige for the general public, or for knowledgeable people? It was hard to rank it because I kept thinking "well, normal people think this... but people on CC think that..." </p>

<p>For example: the general public would rank berkeley over caltech for prestige, whereas above-average peopel would rank caltech over berkeley.</p>

6

<p>Prestige/ respect for knowledgeable people.</p>

<p>In other words, if you are talking to people who actually matter (ie employers), what would be most impressive?</p>

7

<p>Well from a NJ perspective and basically how highly they would be thought of in my school, town, etc I put them as:</p>

<p>Harvard/Princeton
Yale
Stanford
MIT
Caltech
Brown/Columbia
Duke
Cornell
Dartmouth
Berkeley
Johns Hopkins
U Penn
U Chicago
NWU
WUSTL</p>

8

<p><em>scoff</em> and why isn't berkeley on that list? It's certainly more prestigious than some on that list.</p>

<p>edit: that's better :)</p>

9

<p>Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Stanford
MIT
Caltech
UPenn
Cornell
Brown
Duke
Columbia
Dartmouth
Chicago
Berkeley
Northwestern
WUSTL
JHU</p>

10

<p>West Coast perspective:
Harvard
Stanford
Yale/Princeton
MIT
Caltech
Berkeley
UPenn
Columbia
Brown
Duke
Dartmouth
Cornell
Northwestern
JHU
Chicago
WUSTL</p>

11

<p>I agree with most that based on prestige JHU and WUSTL will probably be at the bottom of the list. Not many really know a/b WUSTL yet and JHU is basically only REALLY known for medical.</p>

12

<p>Two tiers of elite schools, ranked by prestige only:</p>

<p>TIER ONE:
1. Harvard
2. Yale/Princeton/Stanford
5. MIT/Caltech</p>

<p>TIER TWO:
7. Columbia/Duke
9. Dartmouth/Brown
11. Penn/Cornell/Chicago
14. Northwestern
15. Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>Berkeley is hurt by two things: 1) it's a public school and 2) it's undergraduate programs are generally weaker than its world-class graduate programs. I have no idea what WashU is doing in this thread.</p>

13

<p>Harvard/Yale/Princeton
Stanford/MIT
Columbia/ Brown/Duke
Pennsylvania
Northwestern/Cornell/Chicago/Dartmouth
JHU
Berkeley
Caltech
WashU</p>

14

<p>Based solely on the "wow" factor around here in Texas when you say "I went to this school" this is how I'd rank them...It's crazy how many of the top schools are not well known to the average person, so schools like Duke and NU have the advantage.</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Princeton
MIT
Brown
Duke
Northwestern
University of Pennsylvania
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Berkeley
Caltech
Chicago
JHU
WUSTL</p>

15

<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
CalTech
Columbia
Dartmouth
Chicago
Duke
Brown
Northwestern
UPenn
Berkeley
Cornell
JHU
WUSTL</p>

<p>(from CT)</p>

16

<p>in terms of name brand only to the average joe from ct:</p>

<p>harvard
yale
princeton
mit
stanford
columbia
dartmouth
cornell
brown
upenn
johns hopkins
duke
wash u
northwestern
uc berkeley
chicago
cal tech</p>

17

<p>prestige in brazil:
Harvard
Stanford
Princeton/Yale
MIT/Berkeley
UPenn
Chicago
JHU
Columbia
Cornell</p>

18

<p>Boston perspective:</p>

<p>Harvard
MIT
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Dartmouth
Columbia
Brown
Duke
Cornell
UPenn
JHU
Chicago
Berkeley
CalTech
Northwestern
WUSTL</p>

19

<p>Harvard
Stanford
Princeton
Yale
MIT
Penn
Columbia
CalTech
Duke
Brown
Dartmouth
Cornell
Chicago
Berkeley
JHU
Northwestern
WUSTL</p>

20

<p>Harvard
Stanford/Princeton/Yale
Caltech/MIT</p>

<p><em>jump</em>
Duke/Columbia/UPenn/Dartmouth
Brown
Chicago
<em>jump</em>
Berkeley
Northwestern
JHU
<em>slight jump</em>
WUSTL</p>