<p>hey, i'll be applying to skls in 2 years (2009), but i'm considering colleges already. from what i've read, it seems that the top top top skls r the following (in no order): harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, mit, columbia, dartmouth, amherst, williams, swarthmore, duke, caltech, brown, cornell, upenn.
how would u rank them in terms of the competitiveness of the student body and selectivity? or at least, where in this mix doesn't dartmouth place?</p>
<p>my intuition is dartmouth is somewhere around amherst, williams, columbia, brown.</p>
<p>I think that in stead of focusing on names, you should focus on fit and what it is that you are looking for from your college experience. </p>
<p>Based on the list that you have provided, you have schools in Urban, suburburan and rural settings, you have schools where the focus is on teaching undergrads vs, schools where you will have quite a few courses taught by TAs/ fellows.</p>
<p>You have schools with core curriculums, open curriculums and distibution requires.</p>
<p>the environments at Columbia and dartmouth are like night and day.</p>
<p>You have harvard, where you will get your share of classes taught by TAs/fellows vs. princeton which is totally focused on undergrad education,</p>
<p>Get it out of your head that there is some fit-all hierarchy that you can use to classify all these schools. Sure, the so-called HYMPS schools may reject more 2300s and may have slightly more power to shape their class, but that doesn't mean that the students they accept are the best apples in the pile. </p>
<p>Unfortunately the words "selectivity" and "fairness" are becoming opposed to each other. It seems that a lot of schools (UPenn, Williams, probably even MIT and Harvard) have made a lot of surprising decisions by rejecting excellent applicants and accepting mediocre ones. If I can say one thing about Dartmouth's admission process it is that they don't play games and reject scores of more qualified applicants to boost their yield and lower their admit rate. </p>
<p>Really the only factors you can use to compare schools are measures like SAT scores (gulp) and outcomes. If you view college as an investment you should select the school that is most likely to increase your prospects for whatever you want to do after college. This is almost impossible to measure as each school has a different starting point in terms of its selectivity and the aptitude of the students.</p>
<p>Here's some suggested reading from Yahoo Finance that you ought to think about:</p>
<p>While I agree with the spirit of the above post, I disagree (as a Dartmouth alum) that Dartmouth is as selective as HYP. If you are a 2350SAT, Valedictorian, president of your class Dartmouth is very likely to accept you while HYP is still hardly certain.</p>
<p>I got into Dartmouth, UPenn and Brown with mediocre test scores, but with exceedingly strong credentials in other areas. I chose Dartmouth for several reasons.</p>
<ol>
<li>Their focus on undergraduate education completely blew me away. Also, the students are surprisingly laid back and less high strung than some other Ivy League counterparts.</li>
<li>There's no sense of hierarchy between the departments. When I visited UPenn immediately before visiting Dartmouth back in April, I got the sense that the Wharton students were the best and everyone else was substandard. It's unfortunate, but true. UPenn is known primarily for Wharton and the rest of their programs are nowhere near as prestigious or renowned. Dartmouth has a very broad and general curriculum.</li>
<li>THE D PLAN. In case you don't know what that is, the academic year is split into four terms (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer). You choose which term you take off as your break. For example, I plan on applying to jobs and internships during the Winter. Most college students apply during the summer, so I won't have much competition. With the D Plan, you can explore different career options and build your resume.</li>
</ol>
<p>From what I've heard (and this may be just be stereotypical) Brown and Cornell are seen as the least prestigious amongst the ivy league. Cornell students have a reputation for being really insecure about their school's standing and will often get really defensive if someone says that "Cornell sucks" or "Cornell has the highest admit rate." Brown is just sorta out there (the lack of a rigid curriculum and bohemian students gives it a bit of a reputation.)</p>
<p>As far as undergraduate education is concerned, Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale tend to stand out more than other ivies.</p>
<p>disagree with Alston about the rep of Brown. With its 8-year med program, it's extremely popular. It's culture maybe somewhat different, but its plenty prestigious.</p>
<p>Brown is the most desired ivy after HYP. It produces more fullbright and road scholars than Dartmouth and any other ivy out of that matter excluding HYP of course. Brown is more represented at the top grad schools than Dartmouth. its med/law school placement is among the top five. Brown has more name recognition among the common man way more than Dartmouth and Cornell for that matter thanks to the O.C and the shows like Family Guy in which Brian went to Brown as well as The Simpsons.</p>
<p>Fullbright and Rhode Scholars? Really? They are the most prestigous awards given out to undergrads. This study used data from one year. On top of that it used a small sample size of top schools. Its obviously flawed.</p>
<p>No Columbia is not the most desired ivy after HYP. It is Brown. Look at its revealed preference in U.S News or the Princeton Review for that matter.</p>
<p>"Cornell students have a reputation for being really insecure about their school's standing and will often get really defensive if someone says that 'Cornell sucks'..."</p>
<p>you make no sense!. for, just as cornell students will become defensive is someone says "cornell sucks," so do students from harvard, yale, columbia, brown, upenn, and dartmouth! its called sticking up for your school. i mean, where have you been on this site to make such an assertion about cornell students, when all the other schools' students (above) do the same thing.</p>
<p>MrsPrez, perhaps this is beacause Cornell is just so much different from the rest of the Ivies... Cornell is much more defensive. (I hate using anecdotes, by... whatever)</p>