<p>^ I prefer this ranking: :p</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.arwu.org/rank2008/ARWU2008_A(EN).htm]ARWU2008[/url”>http://www.arwu.org/rank2008/ARWU2008_A(EN).htm]ARWU2008[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Cal Berkeley is world renown throughout the world… It is the pinnacle of the American public education system…Of course it is known in Europe. Ppl know more of Cal Berkeley than Duke… “Oh wait, University of Berkeley? Wow, congratulations!!! That is very impressive. You must be a smart lad. Wait… Duke? oh, good for you. What is Duke?”</p>
<p>Of course, it has a lot to do with being located near San Francisco rather than NC. Geography is key for the US schools that are known in Europe.</p>
<p>A significant contingent of the elite researchers at CERN Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland are probably theoretical physicist from UC Berkeley, Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, etc… I don’t know. From a pure academic standpoint, UC Berkeley is a beast in the academic world…I can see Europeans touting Berkeley in the same league as best of best American universities… but a bar lower than Oxford and Cambridge :-P</p>
<p>Houston is the city that put man on the moon, just in case you forget.</p>
<p>I have a friend working as post doc at the Max Planck Insitut and who has also done research at ETH Zurich (where Einstein studied and worked). She got her PhD from Univ. of South Florida.</p>
<p>@UCBChemEGrad: Let’s compromise. I cut out all schools not appearing in the top 50 on both lists and averaged the overall ranks. Here’s what I end up with:</p>
<p>01.0 HARVARD University
05.5 CALIFORNIA Institute of Technology (Calt…
06.5 YALE University
07.0 MASSACHUSETTS Institute of Technology (M…
08.5 COLUMBIA University
08.5 University of CHICAGO
09.5 STANFORD University
10.0 PRINCETON University
13.0 University of PENNSYLVANIA
13.5 CORNELL University
16.5 JOHNS HOPKINS University
19.5 University of California, BERKELEY
19.5 University of MICHIGAN
21.5 University of CALIFORNIA, Los Angeles (U…
22.5 DUKE University
31.5 NORTHWESTERN University
35.5 NEW YORK University (NYU)</p>
<p>UC Berkeley/Los Alamos’ Nuclear bomb, MIT Radiation Lab’s Radar, and Johns Hopkins APL’s Proximity Fuze are considered the three of the most important technological innovations of World War II. The advent of these three technologies contributed massively to the Allied victory in WW2 in case you forgot… 
I had to stick that in there.</p>
<p>The massive influx of federal spending on military related research and operation as military-industrial complexes during WW2 and the Cold War is pretty much the main reason why UC Berkeley, MIT, and Johns Hopkins are as famous as they are today. Federal government shoveling money down their throats for war related spending purposes… it’s how many of the major universities rose to national and international prominence…</p>
<p>That is how Stanford rose to epic prominence so quickly during the 1950’s and 60’s… It was a major Military-Industrial-Academic Complex of the US federal government :D</p>
<p>Who put the first man on the moon?!? </p>
<p>answer!</p>
<p>That’s what I thought</p>
<p>Anyway, for best economists, Bocconi is only second to Harvard in the World.</p>
<p>"<a href="http://mba.sdabocconi.it/home/main.php?id=260052008">http://mba.sdabocconi.it/home/main.php?id=260052008</a>"
Academic Research
Bocconi becomes part of the narrow circle of elite universities from which the world’s best economists graduate. The research by Tom Coup</p>
<p>^^ Purdue graduated 22 astronauts [Purdue</a> Astronaut Alumni](<a href=“http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/astro/namelog.html]Purdue”>http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/astro/namelog.html) </p>
<p>Does that make them the best school?</p>
<p>Yes, for Engineering they are.</p>
<p>As impressive is Houston where Rice University is located.</p>
<p>SuperPippo, my experience in Western Europe (where I have spent substantial time in itys three main cities) would suggest that Cal is one of the 5 or 6 most respected US universities. Like I said, I am only familiar with Europe’s three main capitals (Paris, Berlin and London), but I have been entrenched in those cities for decades. I am also fairly certain that the Nodric states (Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland) also regard Cal very highly.</p>
<p>
Let me clue you in to a little secret. The vast majority of major cities have offices for major companies in almost any field. Houston is indeed great, but so is Seattle. Or San Francisco. Or LA. Or NYC. Or Toronto. Or Philadelphia. Or… get the picture?</p>
<p>Dream on. Houston is only second to NY for number of HQ of fortune 500.</p>
<p>So, Cal is more prestigious abroad than here (although it is obviously well-regarded here). What are the other “top” schools, or perhaps a tier ranking, as in post 7?</p>
<p>'Bama by the way is more known than most other schools in Europe, thanks to Forrest Gump.</p>
<p>New York is second to only Hong Kong in terms of total number of skyscrapers (7,650 vs. 5,765) and in terms of the best skyline… It doesn’t mean that Hong Kong is any better than NYC. What are you trying to say? Houston is on par with NYC lol?</p>
<p>We are talking about Fortune 500 just in case you missed that little detail.</p>
<p>Remind me where is NASA located again?
Exactly.</p>
<p>Isn’t NASA’s HQ located in Washington D.C.?</p>
<p>Which university is the #1 recipient of NASA research & development funding money? Starts with a J, has an H, and ends with U. JHU! haha.</p>
<p>Houston…the first word heard on the moon.</p>
<p>What is jhu?</p>