<p>Overall UNDERGRAD experience.</p>
<ol>
<li>Princeton, Harvard, Yale</li>
<li>Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, Penn </li>
<li>Cornell (Cornell is great for grad school but way too large and bureaucratic to be competitive with the above at the undergrad level).</li>
</ol>
<p>"Best" to "worst" undergrad:</p>
<p>Princeton, Yale, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Harvard, Cornell/Columbia</p>
<p>(Don't know enough about the last two in relation to each other.)</p>
<p>My Preference: </p>
<p>Harvard
UPenn (Huntsman/Wharton)
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Dartmouth
Cornell
Brown</p>
<p>Stop ranking. It's dumb beyond measure.</p>
<p>MallomarCookie, why do you think Columbia is last or second to last?</p>
<p>Size, sense of community, and emphasis on undergraduate education were the main factors in my ranking.</p>
<p>By the way, I agree that general rankings are dumb beyond measure. But this is just my personal ranking. It isn't meant to mean anything to anyone else.</p>
<p>I think most people agree in terms of prestige that its HYP- then Columbia (or Wharton).</p>
<p>Oh, these were prestige rankings? I wasn't aware of that.</p>
<p>Haha mallomarcookie, one thing i'd agree with you tho is that I've heard not-so-positive things about the red-tape bureaucracy @ Columbia. They run it like a corporation.</p>
<p>I agree. Columbia is run like the DMV. Dartmouth and Princeton's administrations feel down-right family like in comparison.</p>
<p>here's my opinion, as humanities student</p>
<p>yale (by far the best - hands down)
harvard (simply because of the name)
princeton (undergrad emphasis aside, i've heard it's not a nice place)
columbia (2nd only to Harvard/Princeton/Yale and the core is amazing)
dartmouth (undergrad emphasis and true academic focus can't be beat)
brown (kinda lightweight/hippie, but for the right person it's supposedly great, but providence blows)
penn (wharton/huntsman aside, the location SUCKS and it's big)
cornell (how is cornell even an ivy....?)</p>
<p>exterior to the ivy league, and in no particular order within sub-category, rankings should go like this: (again, with a humanities bias)</p>
<ul>
<li><p>yale, harvard, princeton</p></li>
<li><p>columbia, stanford (though i know countless RETARDED kids who've gotten into stanford)</p></li>
<li><p>dartmouth, brown</p></li>
<li><p>penn, georgetown, cornell, duke, uchicago</p></li>
<li><p>northwestern, washU, tufts, uc-berkeley</p></li>
</ul>
<p>and the list goes on in mediocraty...</p>
<p>hmm we seem to be forgetting that brown has ranked highest for happiest students. and as far as i can tell that's totally true.
i think that seems to suggest something about the quality of social/academic life at brown....</p>
<p>
[quote]
Harvard's reputation lately has allowed it to draw more talented students so it's a self-augmenting process. But yea, harvard won't make you any smarter than a comparable school. And most ppl don't realize that harvard's monopoly as one of the top schools has only been for the past 20 or so years.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's actually not true. I was under the impression that, dating back even to colonial times, Harvard has always been more prestigious than Yale or other comparable schools. In fact, I've seen excerpts from European (mostly English) authors from the Victorian age (mid-19th century) where Harvard was already referred to as the "top college in North America".</p>
<p>
[quote]
I know several people at Harvard (you get a lot in there from my MA public school) and then I've spoken to a few at Yale, and my general impression is that at Harvard, professors simply aren't there for the undergraduates.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you are looking for the best balance between emphasis on undergrad education and strong graduate research , I'd probably advise you to go to Princeton. Yale might more interesting though for individuals who are interested in getting into politics/public service or establishing an influential social network.</p>
<p>"mediocraty" is not the word i would use to describe the other top institutions in the US (even if i had the same sentiments, i would probably say "mediocrity," since, you know, it's actually a word). while i applied to several ivies and really want to go to dartmouth, i got into the honors program at UNC-CH and like to think that i will have amazing undergraduate experiences and opportunities no matter what happens on march 29th.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>yale, harvard, princeton</p></li>
<li><p>columbia, stanford (though i know countless RETARDED kids who've gotten into stanford)</p></li>
<li><p>dartmouth, brown</p></li>
<li><p>penn, georgetown, cornell, duke, uchicago</p></li>
<li><p>northwestern, washU, tufts, uc-berkeley</p></li>
</ul>
<p>and the list goes on in mediocraty...</p>
<p>That is the dumbest list ever. What about the LACs?</p>
<p>The Cornell bashing is downright ridiculous</p>
<p>Yeah the Cornell bashing really is dumb...</p>
<p>Cornell was the last of these schools to switch to the common app, so it's acceptance rate has gone down to 22% (the expected rate for this year. Last year it was 24.7%). Ok, I realize this is the largest acceptance rate in the Ivy's but not really out of range with others (aside from HYP). In fact, it's about the same. Also, it has established really competitive programs, such as its business program which last year had a 16% acceptance rate, and thats in the COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES. Just because the name of the college has agriculture doesn't mean anything. It was established a long time ago and Cornell has random majors and programs(like the business majors) in random schools. CALS does not lower it's prestige if you really know Cornell.</p>
<p>Anyways, here's my ranking:</p>
<p>1) Harvard
2) Princeton
3) Yale
4) Penn (Because of Wharton)
5) Columbia
6) Cornell/Dartmouth
7) Brown</p>
<p>might as well ask which one you consider more prestigious.</p>
<ol>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
</ol>