Extra credit- rankings are for fun and arguments. And to sell magazines.
The only current problem I see with my ranking system is that I donât get paid for it.
Semi-serious answer: itâs kind of silly to try to put LACs on the same list with research universities, but I did it anyway. Itâs my perception that for those who are very eager to go to LACs, that Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore get the most love here on CC. I agree that Swatâs placement with the other two is more debatable, but I give it extra points for always coming up when people start talking about the pure love of learning, etc. It has way too much prestigiosity to put it on the âCC Darlingsâ list, but it has something in common with them.
but⊠but⊠what about Pomona?
swoon
You should have gone to WhartonâŠ
Only you and Forbes sail the mighty waters of LACs and Big Us on the same list, @Hunt .
And FWIW, Forbes agrees with CC-kids-as-expressed-by-Huntâs-highly-scientific-methodology that WAS (that should really be a popular acronym on this site, like HYPMS) are âbetter thanâ most or all Ivies: [Forbes Top 50 Colleges/Universities](Forbes Americaâs Top Colleges List 2022)
- something there for @thankyouforhelp too ;)
Pomona is included in the CC Darlings.
@OHMomof2 , that Forbes list is nuttier than mine. âHmmm, should I attend Pomona or the United States Military Academy? Well, Forbes saysâŠâ
Maybe we can start âWASPâ with Pomona instead of âWASââŠit has a certain ring to it. Or âWASHâ with Haverford, or âWASPisHâ with bothâŠ
I like WASP, because Pomona stands in for the S in HYPS.
Dog lovers might prefer PAWS!
@Hunt - I think defensiveness lowers prestigiosity ranking, definitely (didnât see anyone else answer this yet from a couple pages back). I see the most defensiveness regarding Penn and Berkeley, but there also is a chunk of it about CMU.
Oddly, there is a lot of Cornell-bashing on CC. But sometimes bashing means jealousy and hence higher prestigiosity.
What about the ânobodyâs safety anymore so câmon guys, stop saying thatâ schools, like Tufts, WUSTL, BU, UCLA, and even Brandeis?
Again - to anyone just joining in, please remember this thread is a joke. 
So I donât actually think prestigiosity is relevant!
This year that could be Northeastern. And stop confusing us with the college in Evanston!
BU and Brandeis still in that category. No way you could say that about WUSTL , Tufts or UCLA
@mojojohnson - careful, saying that kind of thing just lowers the prestigiosity! 
Tufts is in a category all its own. I mean, it has a syndrome.
http://theneuroticparent.com/2014/01/help-stop-tufts-syndrome.html
I havenât read the middle 27 pages of this thread, so forgive me if this has already been suggested. But MIT/Caltech should definitely be 997.314159265359âŠ
Haha @OHMomof2, thatâs pretty funny. I know that this is a joke thread about prestige, but Iâm not sure how many schools nowadays in the top 30-35 actually reject students who are overqualified. I think schools that are looking to increase their prestige/USNWR rapidly may (Case Western and Northeastern come to mind from what Iâve seen), but schools like WashU, Tufts, CMU, etc. really donât do that anymore. Iâm not sure thereâs anyone whoâs âoverqualifiedâ for those schools anymore.
I never really understood how prestige works to be completely honest. Is prestige the same thing as name recognition? Because although everyone knows Harvard is very prestigious and difficult to get into, a lot more people have probably heard of Auburn than Wesleyan or Harvey Mudd, yet we all know which schools are better. Iâm also a big fan of the Forbes rankings over USNWR because it ranks Tufts higher, even with all of the LACs in it
The problem with âprestigeâ is that itâs really hard to define. âPrestigiosity,â on the other hand, has a very clear definition, and thus is much easier to use.
Although you will get a better education at Williams and Harvey Mudd, my mother has not heard of these schools, so Duke should be higher in prestigiosity.
But your mother is not a high school student posting on College Confidential threads.