<p>can there even be a winner in this competition? i dont know how anyone could assess these colleges and rank them.</p>
<p>I'm going to have to say Stanford.</p>
<p>I think it's the most well rounded academic of the bunch because of its engineering prowess + top ranked grad programs across the board. </p>
<p>Harvard's professional schools are the tiniest bit better except Harvard Med which blows everyone out of the water.</p>
<p>Besides my obvious West Coast and pro-Stanford bias, I would have to say Stanford for the reasons Bourne mentioned. Plus, there is less elitism, nicer weather, and Div. I-A athletics.</p>
<p>Any rankings would be purely subjective, IMO. With that said, to me:</p>
<ol>
<li>Yale</li>
</ol>
<h2>2. Stanford</h2>
<h2>-</h2>
<p>-
3. Harvard
4. Princeton</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>No. They're the same. Go with fit. The end.</p>
<p>^ evilasian has it right.</p>
<p>What!? EAD, did you just say that 4 schools are institutionally equal!? You don't think that you can separate these schools into at least two tiers? Come on, that's not like you.</p>
<p>Surely one of these schools has smaller classes than the others. Or maybe one more top firm recruits at one of these schools than at the others. I'm sure you can find a way to tier them.</p>
<p>^exactly. every person can rank the schools on their own measures, but those are relative to the person. maybe to you, schools that start with the letter P are better, so you think Princeton is better than the others, wheras I think schools in Cali are better, so I go with Stanford. </p>
<p>go with fit. because you can't say one is better than the other, because they're good on their own merits.</p>
<p>I agree with all those that say go with fit. You'd be much happier if you fit into Harvard but not Stanford and Harvard was number 2 and Stanford was 1.</p>
<p>If you can use a certain methodology to determine that Duke is a better school than UCB, why can't we use similar means to separate these four?</p>
<p>No matter how slight the separations may be?</p>
<p>Can you stop mentioning Duke, you are clearly trying to stir up drama.</p>
<p>Star 1.0 - Stanford, Harvard
Star 1.3 - Princeton (high teaching excellence, undergrad focus, lacks med, law, business school)
Star 1.6 - Yale (I'm not sure what Yale is good for other than selectivity, alumni networking, producing a lot of senators and political figures, and humanities specialties)</p>
<p>I wasn't addressing you. </p>
<p>To stop mentioning Duke, I'd have to start mentioning it on a regular basis.</p>
<p>^I always thought Yale was the place to go for business because of it's curriculum....</p>
<p>I rate Stanford as superior, due to its more discerning admissions office.</p>
<p>"can there even be a winner in this competition? i dont know how anyone could assess these colleges and rank them."</p>
<p>Nope. Why do you ask? Were you admitted to all four or something? If not, then what's even the point?
My <em>personal</em> ranking would be Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, but that's purely subjective and just my personal tastes.</p>
<p>All completely equal. On that note I would not go to Princeton since I didn't like the vibe there. Yet, they are all completely spectacular and just as good.</p>
<p>Stanford by far...it's an academic and athletic powerhouse with many of the best programs in the nation. plus beautiful california sunshine everyday.</p>
<p>Naw, princeton's really friendly, and it's got the nicest campus (save maybe Stanford) along with the best Undergraduate atmosphere...</p>
<p>no way, Stanford easily has the most amazing campus of them all. it's absolutely gorgeous.</p>