<p>Which of these is the most prestigious school?</p>
<p>Rice
Bowdoin
Davidson
UCLA
Carleton
Emory</p>
<p>Never heard of Davidson. Hard to compare a big public to small LAC’s…Out of the list, I’d say UCLA and Rice though. The other schools, while very good in terms of academics, are not widely known, IMO.</p>
<p>I would say Rice and UCLA, like the previous poster.</p>
<p>They’re all exceptional schools. Don’t let something as trivial and superficial as prestige get in the way of choosing where you think you’ll receive the best education, both academically and socially.</p>
<p>Prestige also depends on what field you’re talking about. On the whole, I’d probably put UCLA and Rice in the top 2 (depending on what you’re looking for), with Emory in third.</p>
<p>what major???</p>
<p>I think
UCLA
Rice
Emory
in that order</p>
<p>^ UCLA is viewed as a state school and not prestigous by many, particularly on the East coast.</p>
<p>This is a little ridiculous because prestige isn’t without subjectivity - you can have academic prestige (how top schools regard each other), layman’s prestige (contingent upon big sports like Duke and UNC basketball powerhouses), and then simply regional prestige (that is, Rice is much more prestigious to a Texan than UCLA and UCLA is much more prestigious to a Californian than a Texan).</p>
<p>Then there is the overall prestige and the departmental prestige (Georgia Tech more prestigious than UCLA for engineering, while UCLA is more well-rounded, for example).</p>
<p>^Well said. Just don’t base your college of choice on prestige because it doesn’t matter for undergrad education. Go where you feel is best fit for you and not according to where is more or less prestigious.</p>
<p>They’re all pretty comparable in reputation, so I wouldn’t decide based on that. But, from an insular northeastern perspective (what people in NY& New England would think) I’d say:</p>
<p>Bowdoin
UCLA
Emory
Davidson (only because of bball)</p>
<p>And no one’s ever heard of Rice or Carleton</p>
<p>But they’re all very different so it’s hard to compare</p>
<p>Bowdoin is not comparable to Rice. It is always intersting to see the perspectives of people and those that understand what they are talking about and those that don’t.</p>
<p>Davidson is basicaly po-dunk but a decent liberal, lac in a nothing town in Nc- have you been there and do you know what you are talking about?; Emory is not even in the league of Davidson; UCLA is a public university ranked well below Davidson and Rice. TFIS just has not credibility. Know what your talking about or gain no respect in your opinion. Of the schools listed, if you wanted an LAC feel with one of the best science environments in the country, none of those are close to Rice-- have you been there?</p>
<p>Um…is this what you’re basing your college decision on or are you just trying to stir up a debate? </p>
<p>If it’s the former, that’s kinda disturbing - you listed 6 quite different school (UCLA v. Rice - 30,000 student public v. 3000 student private) - and prestige is one of the last things you should consider in college choice. If it’s the latter - I’m not that interested in joining in.</p>
<p>I only asked the question because it’s evident that you guys don’t know me or my personality and thus wouldn’t have an educated opinion on what school would be the best fit for me. It’s not at all what im “basing” my decision on, just a factor that might influence me–something relatively objective that I thought I could get a good feel for on here. I’m aware these are all different schools and aren’t necessarily comparable, but I thought I’d give it a shot because I don’t really know what I want after visiting all the schools, liking them all very much, and recognizing that I could be happy at all of them. I’m having trouble deciding where to go, and reputation, though a vague concern, does influence resources, success in the job market, and the overall quality of student body (what kind of people it attracts). I wasn’t trying to start a debate, just testing the waters in terms of the general opinions towards these schools. Some of you should stop getting so worked up about other people’s college decisions</p>
<p>It seems like you may be happier going to another school other than Rice. Move on and good luck with your other nice choices. Try UCLA.</p>
<p>I definitely chose Rice for best fit. Most of the people I spoke to had never heard of Rice so I did wonder about the prestige factor. Once I visited however, I realized that prestige didn’t matter and Rice was the perfect place for me. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine myself happier going anywhere else.</p>
<p>I must admit the prestige thing is bothersome… pretty much no one knows about it here in New Hampshire. </p>
<p>One of my other choices is Northwestern and I’d much rather have Stephen Colbert as an alumnus than some Bush relatives.</p>
<p>Bush relatives at Rice? I don’t think so. You’re more likely to find them in Connecticut.</p>
<p>thankfully</p>
<p>George P. Bush was here, but whatevs.</p>