<p>Here’s how I would rank it:</p>
<p>U Chicago/UCLA
CMU/UVa
U Mich</p>
<p>prestige implies academic excellence, which also implies strength in Ph.D. programs, which is all about faculty prestige… so prestige = faculty prestige.</p>
<p>Given than, JML’s list looks right … I only move UVA down because of weakness in many Ph.D. areas –</p>
<p>Chicago
Mich/UCLA (with Michigan having a slight edge)
Virginia/CMU</p>
<p>all those that put UCLA in front of UVA are probably from the west. UVA is right up in Georgetown and CMU’s ass. it’s WAY better than UCLA. there is a reason why UVA is ranked 2nd and UCLA 3rd in the state university rankings</p>
<p>I disagree. Rankings vary greatly so they aren’t good indicators of prestige. In the world ranking, UCLA is in generally in between 13-30 and Virginia is completely out there at around 80. While I admit that UVa is a good undergraduate school, it does not compare to U Mich, UCLA, U Chicago in research output. Further, UVa is only prestigious to those on the east coast whereas UCLA is well-known throughout the US and very well known internationally. Virginia on the other hand is practically unknown to all who live outside of the US.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Most people in the US have not heard of Chicago, probably because of their lack of a sports team (compared to Northwestern). </p>
<p>But Chicago truly is academic. A good example is the number of Nobel laurelates they have … I think that number is 82 or 83 … one of the highest of all US universities (I’m not sure if Columbia has more or not). Their econ department is one of the best … home of the Chicago school of Economics (the thought process) and is where Milton Friedman once taught.</p>
<p>That said, if you go to any of those schools, I doubt that you’ll have trouble finding employment, because most employers look at all those schools you’ve listed very highly.</p>
<p>People, he asked for prestige, which sometimes might not correlate to how high up a college is in the rankings. Chicago might be ranked higher, like colleclassof2013 mentioned, but most common people wouldn’t have a clue what U. Chicago was. On the other hand, I would say UCLA would be more of a name that common people would know. This applies more generally to Asia, where UCLA’s prestige is on par with the ivies.</p>
<p>
Chicago is a fine institution, but it plays a little fast and loose with its Nobel laureate figures. Many of them are only very loosely connected with Chicago. </p>
<p>
Name recognition =/= prestige</p>
<p>
[quote]
The Difference Between “Prestige” vs. “Familiarity”:</p>
<p>I always like bringing this back to my “hamburger” analogy to illuminate this point:</p>
<p>99.9% of the American public will readily recognize (read: familiarity) Micky D’s Big Mac or Quarter Pounder (over a billion served!) vs., say, the “21” burger at the 21 Club (New York)… but does that make Ronald McDonald more prestigious? Hardly.</p>
<p>Many people know (shop) at Wal-Mart vs. Bergdorf Goodman, but that hardly qualifies Wal-Mart to be categorized as “prestigious.”</p>
<p>Simply put, not anyone can afford to shop at Bergdorf or eat at the 21 Club, and conversely, nearly everyone “can” shop at Wal-Mart or eat at McDonald’s.</p>
<p>Similarly, not anyone can enroll into Harvard, but nearly anyone can enroll into a Community College - that’s what makes Harvard prestigious - and, more importantly, why it remains so (i.e. being founded nearly 150 years before America was even a country certainly has its “head start” advantages in building up your prestige level). For instance, if Harvard all of the sudden decided to increase its class size to 500,000 per year (say, by offering bonafide Harvard degrees online) i.e. admitting nearly anyone who applied - its “prestige” would drop like a stone overnight - people from Joe Blow Community College would just transfer to Harvard and pick up a degree.</p>
<p>This is what happens to certain “luxury” or “prestige” goods all the time - dilution of a brand which gets over-sold, over-licensed or discounted at mainstream department / warehouse stores (read: the Coach brand and even Armani to a certain extent).</p>
<p>Now to be certain, some brands have both “familiarity” AND “prestige” (e.g. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT) and some have “prestige” and less “familiarity” (e.g. Dartmouth, Brown, Caltech, Amherst) - but don’t confuse the two terms - less familiarity doesn’t = less prestige. Just because your neighbor hasn’t heard of Ch</p>
<ol>
<li>University of Chicago</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>University of Michigan</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>UVA</li>
</ol>
<p>UChicago
UCLA
UVA
UMich
Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>I thought prestige meant being held in high regard.</p>
<p>UChicago
UCLA
UVA/Carnegie Mellon
UMich.</p>
<p>Chicago
Michigan
UVA/UCLA
CMU</p>
<p>PA scores people</p>
<p>Actually, US News does have a prestige rating - it’s the Peer Assessment ratings which are on a 1 to 5 scale.</p>
<p>Chicago
VA/UCLA/Michigan
Mellon</p>
<p>But they are all top notch.</p>
<p>Chicago/UCLA (more so Chicago)
UVA/UMich/CMU</p>
<p>They’re all amazing schools but I would pick Chicago in terms of prestige. But if you like great weather and California pick UCLA.</p>
<p>University of Chicago, then UMich, then the rest…</p>
<p>I agree with class2009college. </p>
<p>And for the darn USNWR ranking, it is well known fact that public institutions are generally underrated.</p>