<p>Texas</p>
<p>Harvard/Yale
Princeton/Stanford
Rice
Columbia/Penn/Cornell/Brown
Duke
MIT
Vanderbilt
Dartmouth
CalTech
Chicago
Johns Hopkins University
Northwestern/WashU</p>
<p>Let me see, IMO the great universities of this country are the RESEARCH universities. Most of you are confusing USNWR rankings of undergraduate schools as a proxy for what are the best universities in this country. Schools like Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, and Wisconsin for example, are among the truly great universities in the US. Graduate research and professional schools have to be considered. Many of the schools that have been mentioned are excellent at the undergraduate level, but are relatively weak beyond that.</p>
<p>Hook 'em 'Horns, MirrorImage!!</p>
<p>I agree, rjkofnovi.</p>
<p>From my corner of Norcal, and bending the rules to include a school that’s in the mere Top 25.</p>
<ol>
<li> Stanford </li>
<li> Yale/Princeton/Harvard</li>
<li> Berkeley</li>
</ol>
<p>
On the contrary, all of the posters are spot on in their analyses. The thread asked about prestige, not academic quality. Pound for pound, UT Austin can compete with any university – but it’s simply not as prestigious as, say, Chicago or Hopkins.</p>
<p>Due to their in-state draw, large size, and relative lack of selectivity (Michigan accepts 1 of every 2 applicants), publics will never be nearly as prestigious among the masses as their private counterparts. In my corner of the woods, Berkeley is much more known for its 60s activism than any of its academic programs.</p>
<p>Lay prestige? We are talking about what the masses think right? Not the USNWR obsessed 16-17 year who frequent CC. </p>
<p>Typically, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and maybe MIT and Stanford will have the most national prestige in lay terms. Those are the only 5 universities that have prestige among the masses on a national level. </p>
<p>Beyond those 5, it depends on where one lives. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>In the South, schools like Duke, Emory, Rice, UNC, UT-Austin and UVa will be more prestigious than any elite Northeastern, Western or Midwestern university. </li>
</ul>
<p>*In the Midwest, beyond the five nationally prestigious universities mentioned above, Chicago, Michigan, Northwestern and Notre Dame are king.</p>
<p>*In the West coast, Cal, Caltech, UCLA and USC rule. </p>
<p>I think the link below is a pretty good survey on the subject:</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> Number One University in Eyes of Public](<a href=“Harvard Number One University in Eyes of Public”>Harvard Number One University in Eyes of Public)</p>
<p>^^ As reflected in the Gallup poll, Berkeley and Michigan, arguably, have the best national reputation for public universities.</p>
<p>From Jersey: :)</p>
<p>1 - 5: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT
5 - 10: Caltech, UC Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan, Cornell
10 -15: UVA, UNC, Penn, Northwestern, Duke
15 - 20: Brown, Emory, Rice, UCLA, Notre Dame</p>
<p>These are the schools that people view as the most prestigious for the most part. In Jersey, Michigan, Cornell, UVA, UNC, Emory, Rice, Notre Dame, Duke and Northwestern as seen as very prestigious universities. To the rest of the world these universities are often overlooked.</p>
<p>Entertainer your ranking seems seriously off.</p>
<p>^^Not to me they don’t!</p>
<p>Seems way more like a graduate ranking than Undergrad.</p>
<p>The title of the thread does not specify undergraduate or graduate, so I assume the poster meant overall institutional prestige.</p>
<p>“1 - 5: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT
5 - 10: Caltech, UC Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan, Cornell
10 -15: UVA, UNC, Penn, Northwestern, Duke
15 - 20: Brown, Emory, Rice, UCLA, Notre Dame”</p>
<p>isnt columbia grad on the same level of prestige as the schools listed above?</p>
<p>I too find it extremely difficult to believe that, in New Jersey, Emory & Rice are considered more prestigious than Columbia.</p>
<p>I would think that most posters are discussing undergrad not grad.</p>
<p>Yeah in New Jersey I would think Brown ranks right behind Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.</p>
<p>“I would think that most posters are discussing undergrad not grad.”</p>
<p>well columbia undergrad shud still be on the same level at least…</p>
<p>The U Michigan shills are out again in full force……</p>
<p>Alexander….U Michigan grad (long ago)
Rjkofnovi…U Michigan grad (more recently)
Tenisghs…grad student at U Michigan (current)
Entertainer…undergrad at U Michigan (current)</p>
<p>I can understand why y’all want to promote this whole-university concept as it’s pretty clear that, for undergrad, U Michigan is not on the same level as these others. </p>
<p>But if you read the opening post, the schools referenced constitute the list of those in the USNWR Top 20 for undergrad. Maybe someday will U Michigan will make it again, but the last time that U Michigan ranked in the USNWR Top 20 for undergrad was over two decades ago. </p>
<p>(somebody wake up rjkofnovi to post his always compelling and ever so meaningful stock response of PA scores :rolleyes: )</p>
<p>lol…hawkette, your names never cease to amaze me. </p>
<p>For the record, I never participated in the ranking of national universities in this thread. I merely pointed out that Berkeley and Michigan overall have the best national reputation for public universities. </p>
<p>I never attended Michigan for undergrad (my alma mater is Northwestern), but from my recent campus experiences, there are many bright undergrads here who have access to many amazing academic resources and research opportunities (by the way, I supervise UROP students). The size of the campus may not work for some students, but I would not foolishly label Michigan as second-tier to the smaller privates that USNWR highly favors. Employers and scholars know Michigan is an excellent institution.</p>
<p>I’m from New Hampshire. In order:</p>
<p>Harvard
Yale/Princeton
MIT
Stanford
Columbia
Dartmouth
Cornell/Brown
Johns Hopkins
Chicago
Duke
Northwestern
Penn
Rice
CalTech
WashU/Emory/Vanderbilt/Notre Dame</p>
<p>(How come CalTech gets no respect, anyways?)</p>