<p>People throw terms around like first tier, second tier, etc....But what do those terms really mean? How are they defined?</p>
<p>Are they defined by selectivity? By enrolled student standardized test scores (which can be high even for schools with high acceptance rates)? By retention rate? By grad school acceptance rate?</p>
<p>Exactly what makes a school a first tier, second tier, etc...?</p>
<p>Once upon a time US News and World Report had the universities grouped into tiers. It was all pretty silly - eventually they combined 1st and 2nd and then lumped everyone else together. And even if you go by the USNWR system - it’s still not really clear how you compare across their genres - LACs, research universities, masters universities. </p>
<p>I never use the terms by choice - mostly I’ll use highly selective.</p>