<p>lol Venkat-- it's 0.6 on a 5 point scale... if it were out of 100 this would be a 12 point difference- keep in mind these schools represent the top echelon of american education too and even so it would then score from 100-88. </p>
<p>As for Cornell, historically Cornell has been much much much more prolific in its research and education than either Brown or Dartmouth. At the graduate level there's no competition- Cornell wins hands down (maybe because Dartmouth has no graduate programs and Brown only has a medical scool). Cornell only recently became the "safety ivy" which I don't think it deserves to be called. Chances are more people know Cornell than either Dartmouth or Brown too. </p>
<p>To play devil's advocate with your statement, about administrators just filling out the thing and putting a number--- keep in mind these are filled out by the people who DO matter when they are evaluating graduate school applications or whatnot. </p>
<p>Realistically? Wharton grads are up there with H if you go into Finance- or rather it should be said that Harvard grads are equal to Wharton grads when it comes to finance. And frankly, after HYP at this point in time- it hardly matters whether Columbia or Penn is more prestigious because you have enough ppl who will argue arduously for each.</p>