Please rank the following in Academics and Prestige

College Search & Selection
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<p>prodigalson… How is mellon’s academics better than that of Emory’s… You said that CMU’s best programs are among the elite in the country… I heard about its Computer Science program… which of its other programs are among the elite… Yes, its engineering is good but I don’t think CMU having one or two very prestigious programs makes it better in academics than a place like Emory (where some programs are top 10 even though I admit they are “non prestigious” programs… but many “prestigious” fields of study is top 20 at Emory… so overall, I would be more inclined to say they are fairly equal rather than assert that CMU is academically superior due to a very few select elite programs…) </p>

<p>tk, yes those rankings are old and I suspect things might have changed… I’d also be curious to know what methodology was used to produce those rankings… no one has mentioned that yet… All in all, I would say all are good but that Emory and CMU and probably Vandy surpass the other in the overall scheme of things…</p>

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<p>David Brooks kept name-dropping Emory alongside the other elite colleges in his sociological study “Bobo’s in Paradise.”</p>

<p>It probably has great lay prestige among old money types and even young professionals even if it lacks prestige in academia.</p>

<p>USC and Vandy have a great deal of lay prestige as well, as does Brandeis. Tufts too, in fact.</p>

<p>Incidentally, I’d say CMU is the least known among laymen.</p>

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<p>The NRC rankings are done by peer assessment (survey). Similar to the Peer Assessment component of the US News ranking, but focused on specific departments. </p>

<p>Here’s another ranking, conducted by a Chinese university, with more up-to-date results:
[Academic</a> Ranking of World Universities - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Universities]Academic”>Academic Ranking of World Universities - Wikipedia)
2009 Highlights
Vanderbilt, 41st
USC, 46th
CMU, 59th
Emory, 100th
Tufts,Brandeis >100th
(This ranking emphasizes faculty research performance)</p>

<p>In yet another (more narrowly focused) research performance ranking, Emory does better (43rd in 2009, riding an upward trend, and apparently the only one of these schools to make the list):
[HEEACT</a> Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEEACT_–_Performance_Ranking_of_Scientific_Papers_for_World_Universities]HEEACT”>Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities - Wikipedia)</p>

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<p>tk, great post!</p>

<p>It just goes to show how different these “rankings” can be depending on the methodology used. There’s just too many different variables to say convincingly that one of these schools is better than the other. Vanderbilt ahead of CMU in terms of faculty research seems a bit off but then again, who knows how they did it. </p>

<p>If I were trying to mislead ppl intentionally, I would cite the second ranking and keep asserting Emory’s superiority over the other universities. But, it does not work like that IMO. Idk, I have this feeling that twisting the methodology enough and selecting certain parts can even place some relatively unknown university in the top tier. People should take these rankings with a grain of salt.</p>

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<p>Compared to top national universities: NO.</p>

<p>Compared to top LACs: YES.</p>

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<p>Maybe it’s different for all y’all, but up here in the NE Brandeis is as respected as all of these schools. If I were picking from this bunch of schools the differences in prestige would be negligible enough where I’d solely focus on fit. For instance, USC and Brandeis most likely wouldn’t be on the same list.</p>

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<p>^ A voice of reason.</p>

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<p>Well, I said that quite a few posts ago… the universities on this list are all very good and please don’t let some ( who are only concerned with Ivies) tell you they are not. Good luck!</p>

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<p>At least where I come from, Emory, Vanderbilt, tufts and cmu are the hardest to get into and also the most respected of the bunch, followed by USC then probably Brandeis. Brandeis was disproportionately hard to get into compared to it’s prestige for kids I went to school with.</p>

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<p>Prestige is regional.</p>

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<p>It’s a smart decision to apply to Brandeis!</p>

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<p>^ Actually, at least for preferences among the most selective schools, regional differences don’t seem to matter as much as one might expect.</p>

<p>Consider *A Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities<a href=“Avery%20et.%20al.”>/i</a>, especially Table 8. The list of 30 most-preferred schools is quite stable from region to region. Harvard, CalTech, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton show up at the top across the regions. Farther down in the list, many schools are in exactly the same position or nearly so in every region. Exceptions: BYU is the 6th most preferred for the mountain West (AZ,CO,ID,MT,NM,UT,WY) but does not even make the list in the other 8 regions; Cooper Union is 14th for NY,NJ,PA, but only makes one other list. Fordham, oddly, is 24th in AL,KY,TN but does not make any other list (not even for its own region, NY NJ PA).</p>

<p>Intended field of study seems to have a much stronger influence on preference than region. For Humanities students, Columbia and Brown displace MIT and CalTech in the top 6. Georgetown, St. John’s College, Kalamazoo, and Middlebury all make the top 25 for Humanities, but not for Physical Science/Engineering/Math/CS; Colgate, Chicago and UVa are the opposite.</p>

<p>Now, for less selective schools, or for public institutions in general, the patterns might be quite different.</p>

<p>[SSRN-A</a> Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities by Christopher Avery, Mark Glickman, Caroline Hoxby, Andrew Metrick](<a href=“http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=601105]SSRN-A”>http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=601105)</p>

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<p>Just downloaded that and looking forward to reading it.</p>

<p>I’ve never gotten a great answer to why what other people choose / prefer is relevant to how I make my own decisions, though. It seems like substituting other people’s judgment and tastes for my own, and when it comes to my decisions, my own judgment and tastes are far more important than everyone else’s.</p>

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<p>The Revealed Preference Ranking shows that the most truly national schools (H, Y, P, S & M) override regional tastes. This is a purely descriptive claim. </p>

<p>The study does NOT make any prescriptive (or normative) claims about what your own personal tastes SHOULD be. For instance, it does not tell you that you should substitute other people’s tastes for your own; in fact, it does not tell you anything about what you should do.</p>

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<p>I would say…</p>

<p>Emory = Vanderbilt > USC = Carnegie Mellon = Tufts = Brandeis</p>

<p>2 groups of comparable schools, in my opinion.</p>