<p>People here make it seem that HYPSM is everything. It seems a lot different from what I hear in the real world...my employer boss says that he see's a Stanford and Dartmouth employee the same in level of prestigious background (not sure if I made sense, but you know what I mean). People go equally wow when they mention they're going to Princeton or Duke or Brown...Harvard may be different actually...but that's because Harvard's different. </p>
<p>In fact, I only hear the term "HYPSM" on CC. Why is the phrase so glorified? Is there really a difference between them and the rest of the Ivies+Duke+Caltech+Chicago?</p>
<p>I first heard the hypsm acronym on college confidential and have never once heard it outside of college confidential, I’ve heard HYP a couple of times since but only in the context of college admissions for high school students. Many senior posters on this forum desperately claim that HYPSM are truly elite and then 25 or so other colleges/universities are all the same and a firm tier below. I have yet to find evidence for this and found ample evidence to the contrary. I think there is a continuous spectrum of prestige, just like there is a continuous spectrum in people’s abilities and achievements. Opinions on the prestige spectrum will vary based on age and location, and could also vary with race and socio-economic background.</p>
<p>On college confidential opinions on prestige seem to significantly vary based on where someone goes to college (especially for their own alma)</p>
<p>In terms of name recognition, yes the gap is significant.
Take for example, Caltech. You could actually argue that it is the best school in America, and I would believe it, but that doesn’t change the fact that some people have never heard of it. </p>
<p>In pop culture, HYP are the most closely related schools. Rory Gilmore went to Yale, her boyfriend went to Princeton, I’m sure someone else in the cast went to Harvard. That chick on Gossip Girls called HYP the “holy trinity,” although she thought of Pton as a trade school. In This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald describes the feeder prep schools to HYP as he was discussing Amory’s decision to enroll at Princeton. In a Cinderella Story, Hilary Duff gets into Princeton and in the very end, there is a sign for a moving service (right?) that says "we reserve the right to discriminate against Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>Harvard and MIT also share that special bond. People DO relate these two schools to each other. In “21” the main character went to MIT, and is looking to go to Harvard Med School. There are more examples I just can’t think of right now. At school, when I told my friend I turned down MIT, he was like, “dude, but that’s like Harvard.”</p>
<p>oh, and Brown and Duke are definitely not as “wow-able” as Princeton. I had an article written about my going to Princeton, although some of my classmates went to Brown/Duke/equivalents. They weren’t picked by the article writer!</p>
<p>As iCalc so clearly demonstrates, the ones who attend HYPSM are a lot more impressed with themselves than those who had to settle for other places ranked in the USNWR Top 25.</p>
<p>They also will chafe the most when they start work and find that they’re reporting to someone who graduated from BYU. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>There are differences the way that there are differences between the gold medalist, silver medalist, and bronze medalist in the Olympics. Either way, they’re at the top. The only people who make note of “differences” between HYP and “junior Ivies”, or parse these differences, are unsophisticated high school seniors. No one in the real world parses these differences.</p>
<p>^ I’d be careful saying no one. I completely agree that the large majority of people in the real world do not note such differences but claiming that no one in the real world does is just wrong. </p>
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Actually, I think iCalc’s point was that HYPS and possibly M are more recognized as the academic elite in pop culture and thus more recognized by the average person as elite. That point was pretty clearly made and I’m not sure how you reached your conclusion from just that post.
Right, this is completely relevant and important.</p>
<p>I have a feeling jersey13 you have not been in the real world lol. Most people are not going to know the difference between princeton and cornell.</p>
<p>^ I have a feeling that it was just a typo. Seeing as I was largely agreeing with Pizzagirl, it should have been fairly easy for any one in the “real world” to deduce that I meant the large majority of people would not note such differences.</p>
<p>No, that doesn’t make me feel good. In fact it makes me pull my hair out. Have you been to Caltech? Have you been to Yale? Have you visited Penn? And Caltech closest to “HYPSM” in what conceivable way?
How can you tell??</p>
<p>When people argue that state schools are as good as Harvard, then I’m very skeptical. Very skeptical. In fact, I straight up don’t believe it.
But the colleges I’ve listed are the cream of the crop of the 2000 or so universities in America aren’t they? How can you say HYPSM–5 colleges out of 2,000 completely tank out the “lower Ivies”+Caltech+Duke+UChicago?</p>
<p>@iCalculus: I like your post. I’m saving it.</p>
<p>icalc has merely picked movies and tv shows involving hyp, while ignoring movies and pop culture involving non-hypsm schools. Just a couple of examples: Spiderman went to Columbia and Superbad was all over Dartmouth. HYPS probably have more name recognition, but name recognition =/= prestige, we’ve been over this many times. And either way, I still contend that even if HYPS are more prestigious, the spectrum is continuous, student quality, job opportunities and alumni success doesn’t suddenly drop off and then remain consistent for the next 25-30 colleges/univs.</p>
<p>Yes; there is a difference between HYPSM and the rest of the top 25 or so schools in terms of branding. The top scholars have confirmed that (through US News’ PA). The top employers have confirmed that as well. The closest to any of these schools in prestige is Wharton. But Wharton is just a college of UPenn, and UPenn obviously lacks the brand power of HYPSM is general. Caltech is a great school just like HYPSM are. But it does not have the brand name recognition as HYPSM do. Berkeley is just as superior when it comes to academics (maybe even better to some.) But its undergraduate fails in comparison to HYPSM’s undergraduate schools. </p>
<p>What there is insignificant (or minute) difference is between schools that falls just right below HYPSM and the school that’s ranked 25 or so. In other words, there is no significant difference between UPenn and CMU or Georgetown.</p>
<p>People ignored this for the most part but part of it is true, where you went to school doesn’t change your opportunities that much. You will have valuable opportunities afforded to you from nearly any top school (including BYU, haha). Graduates from Brown and UPenn will, in all likelihood, achieve the same amount of success as someone who attended HYP. And honestly, the amount of employers who would hire a HYP grad over a “lower Ivy” grad just for having attend a HYP school is really small.</p>
<p>For one thing, it depends on what you want to study. I studied classical archaeology and environmental science, and none of the HYPSM schools would’ve been one whit better in those areas (indeed, probably worse). For someone interested in, say, political science aiming to go into politics, it makes quite a lot of sense to choose Harvard or Yale instead. Those schools have long been networking centers for such things, and you’ll find that institutions like the Supreme Court are largely made up of H/Y/S/etc. graduates.</p>
<p>For another, it depends on what you plan to do afterwards. For students aiming for med, law, or especially grad school, the top schools are all pretty much viewed the same. The only time I’ve ever heard professors gush over a student was an applicant from Oxford, and that was more of a “Oh, you’re British, how awesome” reaction. For students aiming for business positions or other picky employers, however, Harvard may well give a bit of a boost over other schools.</p>
<p>It also depends on where you want to live. Northstarmom has pointed out in the past that, for where she lives, going to the local flagship public would’ve served her much better for employment than Harvard (though she lists the benefits of Harvard, such as the education and peers, as well worth the trade-off). I’m quite comfortable with staying in the South as long as I can, and Duke serves me perfectly well for that, though no doubt its prestige drops elsewhere. If you want everyone everywhere to know your school, then yes, a HYPSM school might well be better. This is especially true for international students, as people overseas have not always heard of Brown or Dartmouth.</p>
<p>HYPSM get applauded because they are collectively the most selective (with the possible exception of MIT) colleges in the country, some of the oldest (HYP), and certainly the strongest universities (except UCB)…so yes, in that sense, there is a “difference” between them and other schools. </p>
<p>Would you notice a difference in the day to day lives of a Harvard and Penn student? No, not at all.</p>
<p>This seems to be a CC phenomenon. In the real world, the only school that gets the "oohhs’ and “aaahhhs” is Harvard. While the others are all excellent schools, along with a bunch of others, no one makes a distinction whether someone graduated from Stanford or Duke. Anyone worth having a conversation with, or let alone, making a hiring decision, will have heard of both and should know that both are among the best academic schools in the country. Period. In other words, just because the Dookie is not part of “HYPSM”, is totally irrelevant and meaningless.</p>
<p>It more or less has to do with admit rates. While most people don’t feel the changes, Stanford’s admit rate dropped from 11% to 7.2% in 4 years, make it impossible to get in.</p>
<p>while Peer Review puts HPSMY at the top, the difference between Harvard and Columbia / Caltech/ UChicago is half as much as a difference between Columbia/Caltech/Uchicago and Emory/Vanderbilt/Notredame/Georgetown - going on the basis of Peer review.</p>
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<p>Last I checked, Mckinsey, Google and the front office divisions of goldman sachs recruit at a whole slew of top colleges.</p>
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<p>USNews doesn’t think so, both Columbia and Upenn are rated more selective than Stanford . Even if Stanford is a more prestigious undergrad university to go to, there’s isn’t some huge jump in the quality of students.</p>