<p>Don't flame me--- I'm not asking because I'm going to base my decision off this, I'm just curious.</p>
<p>1-10, what would you rank each school of these schools in three fields: Prestige, Academics, and Social Life? (Obviously this is all opinion, just tell me yours.)</p>
<p>Georgetown
Washington University in St. Louis
George Washington University
American
NYU
University of Arizona
Tufts
Columbia</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Columbia</p>
<p>big drop</p>
<p>Wash U/Tufts/Gtown</p>
<p>NYU</p>
<p>GW</p>
<p>American
Arizona</p>
<p>In terms of prestige/academics, that list is basically spot on.</p>
<p>Prestige
Columbia
Georgetown
Washington University in St. Louis
Tufts
NYU
George Washington University
American
University of Arizona</p>
<p>Academics
Columbia
Washington University in St. Louis
Georgetown
Tufts
NYU
George Washington University
American
University of Arizona</p>
<p>Social life
Georgetown
University of Arizona
Washington University in St. Louis
Tufts
Columbia
George Washington University
American
NYU</p>
<p>There are much more balanced schools if you are looking for all three.</p>
<p>Prestige is in the eye of the beholder. Ask someone in Arizona this question and they would never even have heard of some of these colleges. But, given the numbers of schools in the urban corridor between DC and Boston, I suspect you are asking from that perspective, right? IMO, these schools are much closer on prestige and especially academics than those from the historical powers would like to admit. The gap has narrowed as more good students are found at places like Tufts. The biggest differences are in social life; U Arizona and Georgetown are way ahead. </p>
<p>My guess:</p>
<p>Prestige
5.0 Columbia
4.9 Wash U, Georgetown
4.8 Tufts
4.6 NYU
4.5 George Washington
4.2 American, U Arizona</p>
<p>Academics
5.0 Columbia, Wash U, Georgetown
4.9 Tufts
4.7 NYU
4.5 GW, American,
4.4 U Arizona</p>
<p>Social Life
5.0 U Arizona
4.8 Georgetown
4.4 Wash U
4.2 Columbia, GW, NYU, American</p>
<p>All of the above are highly subjective. What matters is how they fit for YOU or your kid. If Arizona is the best fit for you, it really doesnt matter what the others are ranked, right? If you are picking a college based solely on how its ranked, you are not using very good criteria for "fit", in my humble opinion. </p>
<p>You can be qualified for all of the above but visit and find out that some of them are not for you on any variety of issues, including academics, culture, dorms, location, weather, sports, student body, social life, etc.</p>
<p>But the world is full of prestige seekers, sadly. Credentialists.</p>
<p>That is a form of narcissism. Sorry, but that is my view.</p>
<p>all of the schools you listed are great schools, but all of them are quite different. I have my OWN preferences from the ones you listed but for different reasons than perhaps you would prefer them.</p>
<p>Pick and apply to the schools in the rank that YOU PUT them in based on YOUR CRITERIA for fit......such that if you are admitted and attend, you will be happy, succeed, and become an ambassador of that school with your work ethic and integrity, but not based upon its so called "prestige."</p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>Unless you enjoy impressing the ignorant, the distinction between academics and prestige is hard to make.</p>
<p>The quality of a school's social life has more to do with the likelihood that you'll find like-minded people with whom to socialize. If you're a serious chess player, you may well rate the social life at Columbia to be vastly superior to that at Arizona.</p>
<p>Agreed with the above poster-</p>
<p>Also, NYU is in freaking New York City...how can the social life NOT be good?</p>
<p>However, NYU probably doesn't have the same campus life feel, but if you want leave the immediate campus, i can't see a better place than NYC.</p>
<p>Georgetown is poor. They will drop considerably in the years to come.</p>
<p>I was asking out of curiosity and wanted people's opinions, so yes, it is subjective. </p>
<p>Georgetown is actually my number one school, it's the best fit for me. Whether or not I can get in, we'll see :-</p>
<p>Maybe this has changed with more recent grads, but to me WUSTL is baely known on the East coast. I never have come across any WUSTL alums in my IB analyst class, MBA class and other Wall St positions I've had. Meanwhile, even before the avg SAT at Tufts shot up 90 points in four years (or whatever it is) I have met many from Tufts in these various positions. Do WUSTL grads stay in the midwest or that disproportionately go into medicine or law?</p>