<p>How do you guys rank the ivies and other top schools in terms of how difficult it is to get in (start with the hardest): Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Brown, Columbia, U Penn, Dartmouth, MIT, Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, UCLA (out of state), Amherst, UVA.</p>
<p>I think a combination of SAT scores and admissions percent would work pretty well, factoring in out-of-state somehow.</p>
<p>I think the Cali schools are especially tough for out-of-staters.</p>
<p>gut feeling:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
Amherst
Dartmouth
Brown
U Penn
Columbia
Duke
Cornell
Northwestern
UCLA (out-of-state)
UVA</p>
<p>It depends somewhat on the field to which you are applying.</p>
<p>Group 1)
Harvard
Yale
Princeton</p>
<p>Group 2)
Stanford
MIT</p>
<p>Group 3)
Amherst
Dartmouth
Brown
U Penn
Columbia
Duke</p>
<p>Group 4)
Cornell
Northwestern
Chicago
JHU</p>
<p>None of this is a science, for example in "Group 3" Amherst prefers higher scores vs. Penn's preference for Class rank.</p>
<p>Slipper's post seems correct, but I might put Brown with Cornell. Also, Caltech should be in group 3.</p>
<p>oh god, you put JHU up there, further smashing my hopes of going there</p>
<p>Why is UChicago so low? The school is outstanding academically.</p>
<p>Selectivity is only one of the many criteria that determines overall quality of a college or university. Other factors, such as faculty and department quality, research activity and opportunities, graduate school and professional placement, overall campus atmosphere etc... all play a huge role in the overall quality of a university.</p>
<p>Based on acceptance rates, Duke continues to fall behind a few choice schools in terms of selectivity. Against five of those schools in particular, Duke faces substantial recruiting obstacles. According to matriculation data, Duke is successful in wooing to campus only about 15 percent of those admitted students who are also accepted to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, or Stanford. Against the next group--Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Penn--Duke does better, enrolling about 50 percent. In recruiting battles against the third five--Georgetown, Chicago, Washington University, Northwestern, and Cornell--Duke is successful about 80 percent of the time.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if it is easier for in-state students to get into Duke? I went to cfnc.org (College Foundation of North Carolina), and it said that Duke has a preferential treatment policy for in state students. I was just wondering if anyone had heard of this.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Slipper's post seems correct, but I might put Brown with Cornell. Also, Caltech should be in group 3.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>FYI, It's harder to get into Brown than Cornell, and it's harder to get into Caltech than Stanford.</p>
<p>FYI, Stanford is better than Caltech is all respects (including sports). The University of Chicago has an acceptance rate around 46%, meaning it is not very hard to get into, or its just not highly esteemed by high schoolers.</p>
<p>Caltech belongs in group I when it comes to selectivity, as does MIT. Stanford is also selective enough to be in group I. Stanford's huge athletic department pulls down its averages, but trust me, if one isn't a future professional athlete, getting into Stanford is no easier than getting into Princeton or MIT. </p>
<p>You guys also seem to have forgotten Rice, Georgetown and Notre Dame, as well as Cal, UCLA, UVA and UNC for out of staters.</p>
<p>Group 4)
Cornell
Northwestern
Chicago
JHU</p>
<p>well, i got into all of these schools and none in group 3, 2, or 1, thus, this model at least for me works</p>
<p>MIT is HYPS level.</p>
<p>My list goes: MIT, Harvard/Yale/Princeton, Stanford, Caltech, then the rest.</p>
<p>Yeah I agree Stanford, Caltech, and MIT should be in group 1. Rice in group 4 (now 3).</p>
<p>I have also noticed within groups schools have slightly different preferences, leading to different types of candidates getting in one place and not the other.</p>
<p>Group 1) Harvard
Group 2) Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford (in no specific order)
Group 3) Cal Tech, U Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Berkeley, Duke, Cornell, Brown,
Group 4) Hopkins, Chicago, Northwestern, UMich, UCLA, Wash U</p>
<p>LACs exluded</p>
<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton</p>
<p>MIT
CalTech
Stanford</p>
<p>Penn
Brown
Dartmouth
Columbia
Duke</p>
<p>Wash U.
Cornell
Northwestern
JHU
Chicago</p>
<p>Tier 1
1. MIT
2. Harvard
3. Yale
4. Princeton
5. Stanford</p>
<p>Tier 2
6. Columbia
7. UPenn
8. Dartmouth
9. Duke
10. Brown</p>
<p>Tier 3
11. UCLA (out of state)
12. Cornell
13. Northwestern
14. UVA
15. Amherst</p>
<p>In terms of selectivity (not quality, prestige, etc.):
Yale 10%
Harvard 11%
Princeton 13%
Stanford 13%
Columbia 13%
MIT 16%
Brown 17%
Dartmouth 19%
Williams 19%
CalTech 21%
Amherst 21%
Penn 21%
Georgetown 22%</p>
<p>
[quote]
Does anyone know if it is easier for in-state students to get into Duke? I went to cfnc.org (College Foundation of North Carolina), and it said that Duke has a preferential treatment policy for in state students. I was just wondering if anyone had heard of this.
[/quote]
I know that many private NC schools give scholarship preference to NC residents. Elon gives a few thousand dollars to NC residents who attend.</p>
<p>Also, don't you have to include the Service Academies which have very low acceptance rates. I think acceptance rates are skewed. For example, California is so vast and you would have to travel quite a distance outside of California to find schools, therefore those schools get massive applicants and it skews the ratings. They are great schools granted, but using statistics is looking at a subjective question in an objective way. It's just like when people try to rank schools. You can't compare a huge school like UCLA with a small LAC like Davidson.</p>