Prestige and Reputation: Dartmouth or the Ivy League?

<p>To shift the focus a little...</p>

<p>What about Dartmouth vs. Amherst and Swarthmore. I understand that it is an IVY, but they are two of the top three LACs, and Dartmouth is not at the very top of national universities.</p>

<p>Not a major issue (I'm considering Grinnell also, and its rep. is far smaller), but one worth considering.</p>

<p>SO, how do you rank Dartmouth not only vs. Swarthmore and Amherst, but the whole range of colleges and universities?</p>

<p>(BTW, because Dartmouth only has a few graduate schools, do programs like Political Science for whom there are no graduate programs (at least, I don't think so), function more like a fairly large Liberal Arts college?)</p>