<p>I saw a similar thread on the SEC, so I figured I would start one on this. I'll include the new members as well. To get this out of the way, I got into and am likely to attend Miami. I was rejected OOS from UNC. Those are the only two I applied to.
1. Duke
2. UVA
3. UNC
4. BC
5. Wake Forest
6. Georgia Tech
7. Miami
8. Syracuse
9. Maryland
10. Virginia Tech
11. Pitt
12. Clemson
13. NC State
14. FSU</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>1 Duke
2 Wake Forest
3 Ga Tech
4 UVa
5 UNC
6 Clemson
7 Va Tech
8 FSU
9 NC State
10 BC
11 Miami
12 Syracuse
13 Pitt
14 Maryland</p>
<ol>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Virginia</li>
<li>Wake Forest</li>
<li>UNC</li>
<li>BC</li>
<li>UMiami</li>
<li>GaTech</li>
</ol>
<p>The others you can place anywhere. When choosing between schools like Pitt, Syracuse, Maryland, and the like, I think it comes more down to what campus settings/likes and dislikes students have than academics.</p>
<ol>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Virginia</li>
<li>Wake Forest</li>
<li>Miami</li>
<li>Boston College</li>
<li>UNC</li>
<li>Maryland</li>
<li>Pittsburgh</li>
<li>NC State</li>
<li>Georgia Tech</li>
<li>Clemson</li>
<li>Syracuse</li>
<li>Virginia Tech</li>
<li>Florida State</li>
</ol>
<p>like someone else said, most of the schools after Duke/Wake/UVA/UNC/BC/Miami can pretty much be arranged anyway they want. I always put GT low because they are not a well rounded school major wise (very strong engineering/science/technical school, not for liberal arts though)</p>
<ol>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>BC</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>UNC</li>
<li>Irrelevant</li>
</ol>
<p>BCWATTY how in hell do you have maryland last??? also i think unc bc duke and uva are all tied for 1st the rest are whatever. the problem with ranking the acc is cuz vtech and gtech and nc state are basically 100% engineering schools so kinda hard to compare it to schools like pitt and cuse</p>
<p>Duke
UNC Chapel Hill
UVA / Wake / Boston College
Miami
(Pitt)
Maryland
(Syracuse)
Virginia Tech
Clemson
NC State
FSU</p>
<p>Notes: </p>
<p>(1) Georgia Tech is a specialized university. For engineering, it would go at the top of the list. For anything else, lower down. That same problem applies to the other universities to a lesser extent…for example, many of the liberal arts programs at NC State are mediocre, but it has very strong programs in textiles, zoology, engineering, etc. There are therefore perfectly good reasons for choosing, say, Virginia Tech over Wake Forest and vice versa. </p>
<p>(2) Except for business and law, most of the programs at UNC are much stronger than those at UVA; this is readily seen in UNC’s better performance in things like the THE, AWRU, and NRC rankings. There is no way UVA should be ranked higher for academics.</p>
<p>Let’s now rank them by basketball team:</p>
<ol>
<li>UNC</li>
<li>FSU</li>
<li>Cuse (No Fab Melo!)</li>
<li>NC State (just upset Gtown)</li>
<li>Duke (lost to a 15 seed, pathetic)</li>
<li>UVA
7+. The rest</li>
</ol>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>@Jetsfan289…Duke is outright number 1 in ACC bar-none. UVA, UNC, Wake, and BC are all on similar levels, but it’s pretty bold to say that any other school in the ACC is tied with Duke. You will hear of kids choosing schools like UVA over UNC or schools like Wake over BC, but you rarely hear of anyone picking those schools over Duke. Duke is ivy material, the others aren’t there just yet.</p>
<p>i dont agree kfc. i dont disagree with your argument, but i think unc has been tied with if not better than duke for a long time now, and uva and bc are great schools. uva got the #2 undergrad business school which says a lot. I mean they are all better then each other in plenty, but as a whole, there all tied in my mind. but if you think dukes 1 then thats fine i dont disagree.</p>
<p>KFC, you obviously didn’t go to high school in VA or NC, because TONS of kids choose UVa and UNC over Duke for in-state tuition. No one seriously contests that either of those schools are better than Duke, but it’s not so much better that it entices kids to pay $120,000+ extra.</p>
<p>Another pointless thread on “rankings.” Sigh…</p>
<p>@Soyeah…the whole point of this thread was ACADEMIC RANKINGS. This isn’t about the financial situations of students, nor is it about the specific programs of each school like Jetsfan pointed out. With that being said, Duke is clearly the best academically whether students can afford it or not. I know UNC accepts many in-state students with mediocre stats each year (I have two cousins who attend UNC/are NC residents who can attest to this). I am not sure about Virginia’s in-state policy, but I know that UNC is fairly simple to get into for in-staters. Needless to say, I have trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that all financial circumstances aside, students would choose UNC over Duke. Nothing against schools like UNC, UVA, BC, or even Wake, but they are not on the same level as Duke. I don’t understand how anyone (except Duke haters) can argue this…</p>
<p>To add to that, take a look at acceptance rates, average SAT scores, average high school GPA, etc. Duke is clearly stronger than any other ACC school, thus reflecting it’s higher academic standards.</p>
<p>Let me second: "Another pointless thread on “rankings.”</p>
<p>US News already is there, take it or leave it as you will.</p>
<p>To compare these schools on some global basis is generally a mistake for any individual applicant.</p>
<p>General humanity/social science offerings at Duke, BC, and UVa/UNC will be great.</p>
<p>But if you want a practical program in communications? Syracuse would probably be the go-to school for you. Journalism? UNC and Maryland have great programs. Biomed engineering? Hard for anyone to beat Duke.</p>
<p>But most engineering disciplines at NC State blow “better ranked” schools in NC (Duke included) out of the water. UNC has pretty thin offerings, deferring to NC State in all but biomed (joint program). Similarly, if you’re Virginia in state, VT has a lot more depth than UVa in most engineering disciplines.</p>
<p>Budding Education major? - programs at Pitt and Maryland may be stronger than at “better ranked” UNC and UVa. At Duke, Education will only be available as a minor. </p>
<p>Looking to major in business? You may want to bypass Duke for top programs at UVa or UNC or very solid programs at “lowly” Wake, BC or Maryland.</p>
<p>The real world is a little more complicated than a “Best” ACC list might suggest.</p>
Please do not revive old threads