<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/2885267-post115.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/2885267-post115.html</a></p>
<p>^ Very respectable. My favorite ranking thus far (I like it better than mine!)</p>
<p>I like that ranking a lot</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Me too, why don’t you go ahead and bash me for it as well? Oh, and I almost forgot, I find the median SAT score a horrible indicator of a college’s strength, and that people who go around criticizing schools based on the said median SAT score are morons, yeah, I’m such an ignorant son of a b*tch aren’t I?</p>
<p>the problem with ALL these lists is that we know intuitively that the lowest ranked NESCAC college could probably go head-to-head with #25 on the list.</p>
<p>slik nik: I was referring to “admissions bargains”, not cost of attendance.
Phead: Chicago is, arguably, the only outlier of the group by objective, verifiable standards.
Yes, Northwestern is among the top 8 universities in the nation in my opinion based on the objective, verifiable data that I used.
Probably the single most reliable indication of an academically superior university is the 25% SAT score of matriculated students, followed by average or medium SAT score of matriculated students, then endowment & National Merit Scholars in attendance as these factors have a substantial impact on academic standards across the entire studentbody at a particular school.</p>
<p>Besides the verifiable, objective criterea used in my evaluation of the top universities, I know students at most all of these schools as my son’s prep school matriculates several students into each Ivy every year & has done so for many decades.</p>
<p>Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Stanford
Columbia
University of Pennslyvania
University of Chicago
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Duke
Cornell
University of Southern California
Northwestern
Brown
Tufts
Dartmouth
New York University
John Hopkins
Carnegie Mellon
Boston College
Rice
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Wake Forest
University of Rochester
University of Norte Dame</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Stanford
Columbia
University of Pennslyvania
University of Chicago
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cornell
University of Southern California
Duke
Brown
Northwestern
Tufts
Dartmouth
New York University
Carnegie Mellon
John Hopkins
Boston College
University of Notre Dame
Boston University
Georgetown
George Washington University
Wake Forest
University of Rochester</p>
<p>(Wanted to update my list, former list was help to being completed by USNEWS than the list presented above)</p>
<p>I love how continuously Harvard is nearly always number one.</p>
<p>I am sorry its a great school but there are better, yes by all means it depends on the type of person you are, and I know I am about to be ganged up about that but oh well. Do i think I coould get in there? HELL NO! But thats not why I dont think its a great school.I would most definately like to see an acceptance to harvard but it would not be some where that I wwould fancy very much.</p>
<p><coolbrezze> No Emory and Rice University? Come on, man…</coolbrezze></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Which do not belong?</p>
<p>Duke and UPenn>Northwestern</p>
<p>Please don’t insult HYPSM by associating your second tier private school with the truly elite American schools Gifford.</p>
<p>
Rice can be competitive with the top 25 but nto Emory, Emory maybe when speaking of top 50.</coolbrezze></p>
<p>I think if you just look at total undergraduate experience (undergraduate education, undergraduate research, quality of food, social life/options, tuition savings, volunteer opportunities, presence of the big city, sense of campus community, etc.), I would rank Rice in the top 5-10 schools in this country for offering the best OVERALL undergraduate (which includes social, academic, and living components) university experience in this country. Other schools I would consider to be on Rice’s level in terms of best undergraduate experience would be Stanford, Duke, WashU, Brown, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Tufts, Princeton, Dartmouth, and maybe Northwestern (and I visited about half of these schools during my college search). For LACs, I would include Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Middlebury, Williams, Amherst, etc. Instead of focusing on prestige that are often derived from grad school reputations, I think it is more important to look at the overall undergraduate experience because you are doing more than taking classes at a university.</p>
<p>But as always, these rankings reflect name-brand awareness, which is why Rice is always low on the list (even though I consider it one of the most unique universities in the nation, like the other ones I mentioned above)… it is time that people take a more holistic view at schools. Rice devotes almost all their resources to undergrads, hence why their grad school programs are not that stellar and why we are not well known outside of Texas. Many of the posters (of course, not all of you) here know squat about Rice and Tufts and assume since they never heard of them, they should be ranked lower than more well-known universities. Ignorance is quite evident in all these rankings… this is why these threads about “what are the top 25 private universities” need to end. Until maybe Coolbreeze’s post, most of the posts were simple regurgitations of USNWR rankings. There is no point to re-ranking what has already been ranked for 20 years! Instead, rank schools on a holistic undergraduate experience and personal fit, not on prestige. As I stated earlier, all the top 25 univeristies are essentially on the same level and are PEER SCHOOLS. No need to call any non-HYPSM school second-tier when it is still one of the best schools in the country.</p>
<p><<rice can=“” be=“” competitive=“” with=“” the=“” top=“” 25=“” but=“” nto=“” emory,=“” emory=“” maybe=“” when=“” speaking=“” of=“” 50.=“”>></rice></p>
<p>Emory’s in top 20 of US News. Ranked the same with Rice.</p>
<p>
I did not use USNEWS for my previous ranking, though USNEWS ranking could at least give you some ideal of what ones own typical ranking would look similar to ( so yes, I would expect the list to look somewhat similar). In terms of a previous mention of Harvard, well I actually think Princeton and Harvard are peers, yale shortly behind.
Yeah I know its in USNEWS top 20, but Emory isn’t a top 20 school, nor 25, it’s competitive when speaking of top 40-50.</p>
<p>^Yeah, man, I bet USNEWS was like, “Yo, bro, Emory’s not top 20 college but we’ll put it in there anyway LOL to confuse people!”</p>
<p>“Harvard, well I actually think Princeton and Harvard are peers, yale shortly behind”</p>
<p>hmm these schools are probably some of the best schools in the world, so I think the differences among them are mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmminimal~</p>