<li><p>Princeton (#1). Reason: Any school that loses 80% of the cross-applicant battle with Harvard should not be ranked above it. </p></li>
<li><p>Uchicago (#9). Reason: Good ugrad Econ at #2 and good liberal arts but lacks other dominance in other fields. It is basically a Liberal Arts college. Also, its grad programs often overrank the ugrad programs. </p></li>
<li><p>Vanderbilt (#18) Reason: Hot girls and good law school but nothing else really makes the ugrad stand out. Should not be ranked in the top 20 compared to the other schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Emory (#18) Reason: Good med school but that’s about it. Jappy and not very good in many fields. Its job networking suffers in the northeast compared to schools it is ranked next to. good for premed but not much else.</p></li>
<li><p>Notre Dame (#20) Reason: Shouldn’t be ranked above the likes of the next 5 schools. Should be around UCLA and UNC.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I'm surprised you didn't put WUSTL, although I would have disagreed if you'd have put it. That's just usually one people attack as "overrated." </p>
<p>I agree with all of the schools you've listed except Chicago. #2 Econ by whose standards? Last time I checked it was tied #1 with MIT. Chicago deserves its spot in the top 10, and I think there are a lot of people that are happy about it moving up.</p>
<p>I definitely don't agree with many of your choices. Princeton and Chicago in particular. Princeton is definitely one of the top 5 universities in the nation, so whether it is ranked #1 or #5 doesn't really matter. And Econ isn't the only top ranked department at Chicago. Chicago has top ranked departments in Anthropology, English, History, Mathematics, Physics and Sociology. Chicago also has amazing Foreign Languages departments.</p>
<p>80% of HS kids think hip-hop is music and pay $90 for already ripped-out jeans. I don't put much faith in that statistic.</p>
<p>"Chicago has top ranked departments in Anthropology, English, History, Mathematics, Physics and Sociology. Chicago also has amazing Foreign Languages departments."</p>
<p>Thank you for bringing those up. Sternman, I think you and many others have greatly underestimated the University of Chicago. A higher acceptance rate doesn't mean an academically weaker school, which is what I think most people see in the middle of all the 20% acceptance rates and think that UChi is misplaced.</p>
<p>BTW, do you think NYU is overranked, underranked, or just right this year?</p>
<p>And how many of those 80% of those kids have gotten into both Princeton and Harvard? Are you one of them? I'd take these kids decisions over yours and since you like generalizing so much I bet they are all better/smarter than you too.</p>
<p>Stanford is overrated. UC Berkeley is underrated. </p>
<p>UC Berkeley deserves to be in the top 5!</p>
<p>"UC Berkeley deserves to be in the top 5!"</p>
<p>Lol we're talking about undergrad. <em>Maybe</em> if we were talkin a/b grad school.</p>
<p>Sternman, you are confusing popularity with quality.</p>
<p>Wheres NYU? The most overrated of them all.</p>
<hr>
<p>
[quote]
Shouldn't be ranked above the likes of the next 5 schools.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What are you basing this on?</p>
<p>Someone please explain how WUSTL is better than Northwestern, Brown, and JHU. Rankings are bogus.</p>
<p>
[quote]
*posted by: brand_182 *</p>
<p>
[quote]
"UC Berkeley deserves to be in the top 5!"
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Lol we're talking about undergrad. <em>Maybe</em> if we were talkin a/b grad school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>For grad school, UB Berkeley deserves to in the top 3. This is perhaps a toss up among the "big 3" in grad school education: Harvard, UC Berkeley and MIT. Stanford is very close behind. </p>
<p>For undergrad school: UC Berkeley deserves to be in the top 10. (OK, i'll compromise) but it's current ranking at #21 is just insane! USNWR ranking where it placed UC Berkeley at # 21 is malicious! The nerve with US News! But then again, that's their opinion. </p>
<p>UC Berkeley is way a better ACADEMIC institution than :</p>
<p>Duke University(NC)
Dartmouth College(NH)
Cornell University(NY)
Washington University in St. Louis
Northwestern University(IL)
Brown University(RI)
Rice University(TX)
Vanderbilt University(TN)
Emory University(GA)
University of Notre Dame(IN)
Carnegie Mellon University(PA)</p>
<p>Sansai, it's hard far an extremely large public university to fare well in undergrad rankings. It's just the reality.</p>
<p>
[quote]
UC Berkeley is way a better ACADEMIC institution than :</p>
<p>Duke University(NC)
Dartmouth College(NH)
Cornell University(NY)
Washington University in St. Louis
Northwestern University(IL)
Brown University(RI)
Rice University(TX)
Vanderbilt University(TN)
Emory University(GA)
University of Notre Dame(IN)
Carnegie Mellon University(PA)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Only at the graduate level.</p>
<p>Personally, ANY public school at the undergraduate level doesn't deserve to be ranked in top 10-15, just because there's the instate bias which I think is just unfair.</p>
<p>Granted, UCB, UCLA, UVA, UMichigan are all fantastic schools...</p>
<p>"Only at the graduate level."</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>just because there's the instate bias which I think is just unfair.</p>
<p>The in-state residents already paid for much of the tuition through taxes. There's nothing unfair about it.</p>
<p>Only unfair in the sense that other out of state applicants are given a much harder time in terms of admissions. I'm not talking about the money.</p>
<p>Ray192,
Theres no question they should recieve in-state tuition. But should the admissions bar be substantially lowered?</p>
<p>
[quote]
*Odwalla *</p>
<p>Sansai, it's hard far an extremely large public university to fare well in undergrad rankings. It's just the reality.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's your personal opinion and I will respect that. Sadly, that's not how I see it. Either undergrad or grad education, UC Berkeley is a hard school to beat. And if schools like Emory, Washington, Duke, Brown, Rice etc, would compete against UC Berkeley, I would not hesitate to pick UC Berkeley at any given day.</p>