How Would You Rank The Colleges?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>This is a very subjective way of ranking colleges. However, so is U.S News.
My way is probably worse than U.S News' though. I just think this is fun and I would like to know your personal opinions.</p>

<p>I am ranking this based on selectivity and 'perceived prestige'. Keep in mind that I don't have any quantitative way of determining 'perceived prestige' at the moment, I haven't distributed any surveys or anything- this is based on what I hear about the colleges from my peers. </p>

<p>My way of determining selectivity is purely academic selectivity. If a school rejects 1600/4.0's for the 1300/3.6 with an interesting background.. that would decrease its academic selectivity. Public universities have low rankings here because of their policies with in-state students. I'm from Michigan and while UMich is an excellent school (and it's very likely I will be going there next year), it has very lax standards for in-state applicants.</p>

<p>I am only ranking the Top 50 National Universities according to USNWR.
I decided not to rank LACs to keep things simple..</p>

<p>1 Caltech
2 Harvard
2 Yale
4 Princeton
5 MIT
6 Columbia
6 WUSTL
8 Stanford
9 Dartmouth
9 Duke
11 Northwestern
12 Brown
12 University of Chicago
12 University of Pennsylvania
15 Rice
16 Tufts
17 Notre Dame
18 Cornell
18 Georgetown
18 Johns Hopkins
21 Carnegie Mellon
21 Vanderbilt
23 Emory
24 Brandeis
25 USC
26 William & Mary
27 UC-Berkeley
28 Boston College
28 NYU
28 RPI
31 Georgia Tech
32 University of Rochester
32 Wake Forest
34 Lehigh
35 UVA
36 Case Western
36 UCLA
36 UNC-Chapel Hill
39 Michigan- Ann Arbor
40 Illinois- Urbana Champaign
41 Wisconsin-Madison
42 Florida
43 UCSD
44 UT-Austin
45 Syracuse
46 U Washington
47 Penn State
48 UCSB
49 UC Irvine
50 UC Davis</p>

<p>Feel free to critique these rankings and/or make your own. :)</p>

<p>My next post will rank them solely on academic selectivity and solely on perceived prestige.</p>

2

<ol>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>U of C</li>
<li>Columbia </li>
<li>U Penn</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
</ol>

3

<p>ACADEMIC SELECTIVITY
Caltech
Harvard, Yale
Princeton
MIT
WUSTL
Columbia
Northwestern
Stanford, Duke, Tufts
Dartmouth, Penn, Brown, Chicago
Rice
Notre Dame, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Emory
Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon
Brandeis
USC
William & Mary, RPI
Georgia Tech, NYU, Wake Forest, Boston College, Lehigh
Rochester
UC-Berkeley, Michigan
UNC-Chapel Hill
UVA, Case Western
UIUC, Wisconsin
UCLA
Florida
UCSD
UT-Austin, Syracuse
U Washington, Penn State
UC-Irvine, UCSB
UC-Davis</p>

<p>PERCEIVED PRESTIGE
Harvard, Yale
Caltech, Princeton
MIT
Stanford, Dartmouth
Columbia, Duke
WUSTL, Penn, Brown, Chicago, Rice
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Cornell, Johns Hopkins
Tufts, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon
Vanderbilt
Emory, UC-Berkeley
Brandeis, USC
William & Mary
NYU, UCLA, Boston College
UVA, Georgia Tech, RPI, Rochester
Wake Forest, Case Western
UNC-Chapel Hill
Lehigh
UIUC, Michigan
UT-Austin
Florida, UCSD
Wisconsin
Syracuse
U Washington
UCSB
Penn State, UC-Irvine
UC-Davis</p>

4

<p>Can the mods just delete this thread or consolidate the many "what are themost prestigious colleges" topics? There are more than enough of these.</p>

5

<p>I think this ranking is fairly accurate.
However, WUSTL over Stanford and Duke?
I guess I can understand why it has a ridiculously high academic selectivity on your list.</p>

6

<p>Wait, where are you getting this selectivity info from? Don't tell me it's USNews! Stanford as selective as Tufts? Emory as Cornell? Frankly your rankings sort of suck. :( Not saying I would do much better though...</p>

7

<p>My top 30 (I don't tie):</p>

<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Cal Tech</li>
<li>U Penn</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>U Chicago</li>
<li>UC-Berkeley</li>
<li>John's Hopkins</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Emory</li>
<li>WUSTL</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>U Michigan</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
<li>USC</li>
<li>Tufts</li>
<li>UNC-Chapel Hill</li>
<li>NYU</li>
</ol>

8

<p>^ Pretty much agree with King, though these rankings are very plentiful on these boards.</p>

<p>Mine would look like:</p>

<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Cal Tech</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Upenn</li>
<li>U Chicago</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>John's Hopkins</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>WUSTL</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>Emory</li>
<li>U Michigan</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
<li>UNC-Chapel Hill</li>
</ol>

9

<ol>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Cal Tech</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>U Chicago</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>WUSTL</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
</ol>

10

<p>Tier 1
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT</p>

<p>Tier 2
CalTech
Dartmouth
Columbia
Penn
Brown</p>

<p>Tier 3
Cornell
Northwestern
Chicago</p>

<p>Tier 4
Johns Hopkins
WashU
Rice</p>

<p>Tier 5
UVA
Emory
Berkeley
Georgetown
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt</p>

11

<p>Duke should be in tier 2.</p>

12

<p>Agree. Forgot about Duke...</p>

13

<p>Tier 1-5. LOL.</p>

14

<p>OP had 50 tiers...</p>

15

<p>Tier 1
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT</p>

<p>Tier 2
CalTech
Dartmouth
Columbia
Penn
Brown
Duke</p>

<p>Tier 3
Cornell
Northwestern
Chicago
WUSTL</p>

<p>Tier 4
Johns Hopkins
Rice</p>

<p>Tier 5
UVA
Emory
Berkeley
Georgetown
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt</p>

16

<p>I'm updating this because I have decided to change my rankings a little bit.
I'm adding LACs but am only keeping at Top 50.
This is only based on undergrad quality- so I give a lot of smaller schools a boost in the ranking. 23 LACs and 27 national universities.
Many including UVA and Michigan have MUCH stronger grad programs than undergrad.</p>

<p>1-Caltech
2-Harvey Mudd
3-Yale
4-Harvard
5-Princeton
6-MIT
7-Pomona
8-Wash U
9-Swarthmore
10-Columbia
11-Dartmouth
12-Duke
12-Stanford
14-Brown
14-Northwestern
14-Williams
17-Amherst
18-Chicago
19-Penn
20-Rice
20-Tufts
22-Carleton
22-Notre Dame
24-Georgetown
25-Claremont McKenna
25-Middlebury
25-Wesleyan
28-Emory
28-Haverford
30-Cornell
30-Johns Hopkins
30-Wellesely
33-Carnegie Mellon
33-Reed
33-Vanderbilt
36-Washington & Lee
37-Vassar
38-Bowdoin
39-Oberlin
40-Brandeis
40-Hamilton
42-Colby
42-Grinnell
44-Davidson
44-USC
46-Bard
47-UC-Berkeley
47-Macalester
49-Barnard
49-William & Mary</p>

17

<p>Pomona at #7 and Bowdoin at #38? Ridiculous.</p>

18

<p>this is a retarded thread and captain's falcon's ranking is even more retarded..
..please stop posting on these kinds of threads... the only kind of ranking I don't hate are the ones where people separate schools into tiers like was done previously</p>

19

<p>(Note: this isn't based on selectivity or prestige but my perception of the quality of the undergraduate education)</p>

<p>God Tier:
Rice, Yale, Bowdoin, Princeton, Williams, Amherst, Columbia, Chicago</p>

<p>High Tier:
Chicago, Vanderbilt, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Duke, Dartmouth, Swarthmore, most other LACs, Stanford</p>

<p>Mid Tier:
Penn, Northwestern, Brown, Cornell, Emory, Georgetown</p>

<p>Low Tier:
Tulane, Hopkins, Notre Dame, Berkley</p>

20

<p>It seems many people are underrating UC Berkeley. Even in-state it's tougher to get into than a lot of private schools which are being rated above it.</p>