<p>Penn has very strong grad schools, though I will concede that its programs aren't as strong as Harvard or Princeton's (as a whole). Penn is very strong at professional schools and biomedical/life sciences. However, I don't see how Columbia clearly beats out Penn.</p>
<p>Smart.cookie and barristerdad,
IMO, academia has shown itself to be an capricious, inflexible arbiter of American colleges except when a college falls out of lockstep with the academic orthodoxy and then the hammer falls. I choose NOT to let the folks in academia decide the reputation of a college. A college’s reputation is about far more than what those in academia think. I care much more about the views of employers and the educated world outside of academia who actually interact with the graduates of these colleges on a regular basis. </p>
<p>With specific regard to Duke, I think that barristerdad makes a good objection to the disgusting actions of the Duke faculty in the wake of the lacrosse fiasco. I also have little doubt that faculty at the great majority of America’s top colleges would have reacted in similarly shameful fashion. Some probably read “Charlotte Simmons” and assumed that Duke really is a haven for such crazy campus happenings as went on in the book. </p>
<p>As for Duke’s less than energetic use of endowment and other dollars to retain top admitted students, resulting in their loss to other colleges, I agree that this is a wrong-headed approach. Duke will no doubt lose cross-admit battles to other schools and its general academic prestige lags that of HYPSM and perhaps a few others, but I also think that Duke’s appeal, like Stanford’s, is unique among top colleges in its ability to provide the best overall undergraduate experience of highest level academics, exceptional social life, and outstanding and nationally relevant athletic life.</p>
<p>The original post implies that we're talking about international reputation. Duke and Penn's international reputations severely lags those of Cornell/Cal Tech/Columbia/Chicago/Cal.</p>
<p>Also, the OP asks us to decide the 6th letter, not the 6th school. The 6th letter is a C.</p>
<p>hawkette is on point about the overall undergraduate experience of Dukies AND the open arms most employers extend in comparing them to graduates of other schools. It is important that college students LIKE their undergraduate experience. That seems to be the case in Durham.</p>
<p>Still, I would not have Duke in the top five because I sincerely believe that HYPS are alone at the top.</p>
<p>C for Caltech.</p>
<p>I vote for CHYMPS.</p>
<p>The C can stand for Caltech, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, or any combination of them. ;)</p>
<p>it traditionally stands for caltech, lol:P</p>
<p>Well since this is now a 'my college is awesome too' discussion...why not Santa Cruz? I'm sure someone will pool an article citing it as the best in one field (I'm guessing...german folklore)</p>
<p>This thread mainly confirms the research I did through other websites and articles.........</p>
<p>HYPSMC: C is for Columbia. :)</p>
<p>CalTech is almost as much of a specialty school as Juilliard and with about the same number of students- 800 or so. Just the odd duck among the top 6, but the "C" does indeed stand for CalTech.</p>
<p>You guys are actually serious, aren't you?</p>
<p>Sure, Caltech is specialized. But its students are, across the board, of a higher caliber than any other school. Its core is the hardest of any school in the US. Even the students' verbal SATs are just as high as HYP, and higher than Columbia's. Its research output, normalized for size, far outstrips that of the other schools people are considering. </p>
<p>The dismal med school success rate has to do with how hard Caltech is. It is extremely difficult to pull off a "good" - especially for med school - GPA, even in the "easy" majors. If Caltech reduced core and made the classes easier, many more could get into med school easily. But that would negate the point of going to Caltech, which is supposed to be an academic boot camp.</p>
<p>^yay!!!!!!! lol</p>
<p>Caltech is for the MIT rejects. it's such a specialty school that i don't think you can even compare it to HYPS.</p>
<p>"Caltech is for the MIT rejects."</p>
<p>LOL. Caltech a safety for MIT rejects? Caltech's numbers are pretty darn high, and someone who didn't get into MIT wouldn't have much chance at Caltech either. </p>
<p>After HYPS, and possibly M, no school comes close to those five in academic prestige, academic offerings, wealth of resources, and international and domestic reputation. Also, although Caltech has student body that is as good as HYP student body, Caltech as an institution has much narrower focus and thus less academic power compared to HYPS. Even if Caltech is entirely a tech school, Stanford is better than Caltech in engineering alone, not to mention S also has top law, mba, medicine, undergrad, and various ph.d. programs.</p>
<p>an d my "yay" post is for the one above MITpwnsnoobs'</p>
<p>(altho i can't help but agree HAHAHA)</p>
<p>and i don't get how MIT isn't included more often in HYPSM</p>
<p>"Sure, Caltech is specialized. But its students are, across the board, of a higher caliber than any other school."</p>
<p>Generalizing much?</p>
<p>College</a> Search - California Institute of Technology - Caltech - SAT®, AP®, CLEP® </p>
<p>Caltech students tend to have very strong SAT Subject Test scores too, although that is a little more difficult to verify by sources with convenient Web links.</p>
<p>I like Northwestern only so that the top 6 colleges could be spelled NYMPHS</p>
<p>^ Nice
Why not Princeton Yale MIT Penn Stanford
or
PYMPS!!!</p>
<p>Because there are universities that should be there other than Penn...</p>
<p>^ Wow. It was a joke. Way to kill the fun.</p>