<p>yeah i got the same response from my peers about brown, cornell, and dartmouth. However many people know duke because of the basketball program there rather than thier amazing academic strength.</p>
<p>Yeah stanmaster22. Some people recognize Duke for reasons beside academics. However, for the most part, when you are from the South, you are looked at in awe when you mention Duke. It is sometimes embarrassing how much attention you get. </p>
<p>I remember a sub-par student saying "Oh yeah I think I'll go to Duke for college." I laughed uncontrollably for the rest of the school day. Ok time to stop my self-indulgence...</p>
<p>Hey man, go to Duke because its Duke, not something else</p>
<p>obviously DMC and Majayi would rank diff. than IvyGrad since they chose Duke over Brown Dartmouth Cornell etc.</p>
<p>And IvyGrad would rank those above Duke because...well, he's IvyGrad lol</p>
<p>wow... i chose my handle without really thinking about it, but i wince everytime someone takes a shot at me because of it... oh well, i guess i had it coming...</p>
<p>oh, I wasn't taking a shot at you, and IvyGrads still a better name than a fusion of the two schools you went to lol</p>
<p>yeah I was thinking about a fusion...somehow the Quakering Tiger or Blue and Red Tiger didn't quite make the cut. LOL.</p>
<p>Like I said so many times before, it is not possible to narrow the list of top 10 schools to just 10 schools...or even 12 or 14 schools. We can all agree on the "five". But after that, it gets very confusing. </p>
<p>Why should Cal and Michigan be left out when they are so strong academically and reputationally? No other university in the country is top 5 in Business, Engineering, the Social Sciences, the Humanities, the languages and the Sciences (well, Michigan is top 10 in the Sciences, but it is still strong).</p>
<p>Why should CalTech be left out when they have such talented students? The average student at CalTech is arguably more intelligent than the average student at any university in the nation. </p>
<p>Why should Cornell, Northwestern and Penn be left out when it is so well rounded? Those three schools are almost as strong academically as Cal and Michigan, and they have the benefits of a highly gifted student body.</p>
<p>Why should Brown, Dartmouth, Duke and Rice be left out when they are so well at mixing the LAC feel with the research spirit? Here are schools that are considered reasearch universities and yet, they manage to remain small, cozy and closeknit. Their research potential is clearly hurt, but there is more to undergraduate eduation than research.</p>
<p>Why should Chicago, Columbia and Johns Hopkins be left out when they are so intellectually inclined? Can anybody think of student bodies that are more interested in learning and challenging themselves? Are any student bodies so committed to intellectual growth as those three rogue universities?</p>
<p>At the end of the day, it depends on how one defines top 10. I am sure some can even find good cause to include other universities in that list, but to deny any of those schools above a spot in the top is to sell it short. Each has its own strengths...its own weakness (or flaws as some would say). They are all unique and beautiful (save MIT...MIT is quite ugly! hehe). Depending on our individual definition of "academic excllence", we cannot summarily dismiss some schools and include others. It simply isn't fair to those institutions and to those who happen to believe they are worthy of praise. One things is certain, it is not possible to judge the quality of a university with the use of statistics. Stats can be looked at, but they do not tell the story.</p>
<p>See Ivy_grad, even you must admit that you would have been better of going to Michigan and Penn or Princeton and Michigan. Blue Wolverine makes for a great fusion...or better yeat, Wolverine Tiger! LOL Obviously you cannot have a Quakering Wolverine, but evrything else works great!</p>
<p>Well said.</p>
<p>The Quakering Wolverine!! LOL</p>