So what is the general consensus for prestige?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So which schools are considered prestigious (and therefore "acceptable") in the eyes of overly cutthroat competitive collegeconfidential posters? </p>

<p>(Note: I am using the terms "prestigious" and "acceptable" interchangably based on the nature of the posts here.) </p>

<p>My observations seem to be that only schools ranked in the *Top 30 national universities * of the US News Report are considered acceptable to you guys. Am I right? </p>

<p>Top 30 National University + NYU = prestigious. Right?</p>

<p>And ALL schools (with exceptions like NYU) ranked below Top 30 are unacceptable? </p>

<p>So even if a school is ranked in the 30s or 40s, it's unacceptable and garbage to you guys, right? </p>

<p>So essentially, NYU is the ONLY school ranked below top 30 that is deserving of respect, right?</p>

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<p>I smell 5 pages of useless bickering.</p>

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<p>^conservative estimate</p>

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<p>I really want a thread about the most prestigious Community Colleges. Or the most prestigious D2 schools (why focus on the Ivy League? give D2 some love). How bout something like that to get CC rolling?</p>

5

<p>Well, I'm more curious about people's reactions to NYU and why people consider it as the only non-Top 30 ranked school that is considered on par with prestigious institutions.</p>

<p>Seems CC posters really love NYU.</p>

<p>I've been to NYU and took classes there for one year (didn't graduate because technically, I was attending another university ranked slightly below NYU). Truthfully, NYU has more of a mystique than anything else. Once the mystique wore off ... I didn't find NYU to be THAT great of a school.</p>

<p>NYU has no school spirit whatsoever. It's supposed to be like a traditional campus, but it has a very commuter spirit. There's little school pride -- most students I know spend their leisurely time going to a Broadway show or hanging out at SoHo. NYU has no sports teams or anything else to really unite the campus. </p>

<p>NYU doesn't really have much of a campus to speak of. Jeez, the local community college near my hometown has a bigger campus than NYU! </p>

<p>The city is great though. If you love the city, then I can see NYU's appeal.</p>

<p>Academics. NYU is solid, but not really particularly better than your typical state school. However, if you go to Stern or Tisch, the academics there are infinitely better than CAS or NYU's other schools.</p>

<p>Job prospects. Honestly, NYU grads are very bimodal. Either they are doing very well with Wall Street jobs ... or they are scraping by on low-paying jobs trying to pay off their student loans.</p>

<p>So overall, I guess NYU is good, but only if you love the city and want to major in business or the performing arts. It's not for those who want the traditional school spirit (which frankly, the state universities and even schools like Notre Dame and Duke are much better at providing).</p>

6

<p>I'd say this:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Princeton University (NJ) </p></li>
<li><p>Harvard University (MA) </p></li>
<li><p>Yale University(CT) </p></li>
<li><p>Stanford University(CA) </p></li>
<li><p>University of Pennsylvania </p></li>
<li><p>California Institute of Technology </p></li>
<li><p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology </p></li>
<li><p>Duke University(NC) </p></li>
<li><p>Columbia University(NY) </p></li>
<li><p>University of Chicago </p></li>
<li><p>Dartmouth College(NH) </p></li>
<li><p>Washington University in St. Louis </p></li>
<li><p>Cornell University(NY) </p></li>
<li><p>Brown University(RI) </p></li>
<li><p>Northwestern University(IL) </p></li>
<li><p>Johns Hopkins University(MD) </p></li>
<li><p>Rice University(TX) </p></li>
<li><p>Emory University(GA) </p></li>
<li><p>Vanderbilt University(TN) </p></li>
<li><p>University of Notre Dame(IN) </p></li>
<li><p>University of California—Berkeley </p></li>
<li><p>Carnegie Mellon University(PA) </p></li>
<li><p>University of Virginia </p></li>
<li><p>Georgetown University(DC) </p></li>
<li><p>University of California—Los Angeles </p></li>
<li><p>University of Michigan—Ann Arbor </p></li>
<li><p>University of Southern California </p></li>
<li><p>University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill </p></li>
<li><p>Tufts University(MA) </p></li>
<li><p>Brandeis University(MA) </p></li>
<li><p>New York University </p></li>
<li><p>Boston College </p></li>
</ol>

<p>LACs:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Williams College (MA) </p></li>
<li><p>Amherst College (MA) </p></li>
<li><p>Swarthmore College(PA) </p></li>
<li><p>Wellesley College(MA) </p></li>
<li><p>Carleton College(MN) </p></li>
<li><p>Middlebury College(VT) </p></li>
<li><p>Pomona College(CA) </p></li>
<li><p>Bowdoin College(ME) </p></li>
<li><p>Davidson College(NC) </p></li>
<li><p>Haverford College(PA) </p></li>
<li><p>Wesleyan University(CT) </p></li>
<li><p>Vassar College(NY) </p></li>
<li><p>United States Naval Academy(MD) </p></li>
<li><p>United States Military Academy(NY) </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I'd say Boston College is extremely prestigious in the North. The academics aren't as good as most of the others, but the name itself is a household name and everyone up here things it as good as the Ivys. Some top LACs I took out because, sadly, they are just so unknown that even many employers at high paying jobs will have no idea what they are.</p>

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<p>Why is Boston College considered so much better than Boston University? </p>

<p>Talking about undergrad (in terms of graduate school, I think it's the opposite). I mean, is there REALLY a big difference between BC and BU when it comes to prestige? And why?</p>

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<p>In the eyes of overly cutthroat competitive collegeconfidential posters?</p>

<p>HYSPM defines prestige for those who post regularly on these boards.</p>

<p>Personally, Top 15 National Universities in US News is considered highly prestigious for me. I have no experience with evaluating LAC schools but I consider each on prestigious in its own right.</p>

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<p>I'd say BU is better academically, but if you come to the North, pretty much no one will agree. </p>

<p>BC wasn't always known as such a great school. From people I've talked to, once their sports got to be good, tons of people started to apply because it had a great combination of location and sports. The more people that applied, the more selective it became, and when people starting seeing "smart" people going there, people began to believe it was a great school, so more "smart" people began to apply.</p>

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<p>BC is Duke's little brother. Living in the North right across the river from BU and BC, I've have always known BC to be the Jesuit white preppy sports crazed school versus BU which I thought was known to be academically good and well recognized worldwide and had a sizeable international pool of wealthy rich international kids. I've always known BU to be a good school but BC was better. Maybe it was location, emphasis on beauty of Chestnut hill campus versus just BU campus which is like omg ew. lol</p>

<p>BC is Duke's little brother in a sense. Everything I think of Duke I think of BC in terms of selectivity, preppiness, sports craziness, etc...</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I'd say BU is better academically, but if you come to the North, pretty much no one will agree. </p>

<p>BC wasn't always known as such a great school. From people I've talked to, once their sports got to be good, tons of people started to apply because it had a great combination of location and sports. The more people that applied, the more selective it became, and when people starting seeing "smart" people going there, people began to believe it was a great school, so more "smart" people began to apply.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yeah, it's a well known phenomenon (the "Flutie" effect). </p>

<p>From what people tell me, Boston College is much stronger undergrad, but Boston University is better for graduate school.</p>

<p>If this were an SAT analogy, it'd be something like this:</p>

<p>Boston College : Boston University
Rice University : University of Texas
Stanford : University of California - Berkeley</p>

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<p>
[quote]
BC is Duke's little brother. Living in the North right across the river from BU and BC, I've have always known BC to be the Jesuit white preppy sports crazed school versus BU which I thought was known to be academically good and well recognized worldwide and had a sizeable international pool of wealthy rich international kids. I've always known BU to be a good school but BC was better. Maybe it was location, emphasis on beauty of Chestnut hill campus versus just BU campus which is like omg ew. lol</p>

<p>BC is Duke's little brother in a sense. Everything I think of Duke I think of BC in terms of selectivity, preppiness, sports craziness, etc...

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I've always heard of BC being a safety school for Notre Dame and Georgetown rejects.</p>

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<p>This is the usual application package of kids I know who wanted to go to BC:</p>

<p>BC
BU
Northeastern</p>

<p>As you can see, I think Boston itself has a big appeal. However, alot of top students at my school did use BC as a match just in case they didn't get into top schools (mostly kids applying Ivy). Here's four kids from my school who now go there:</p>

<p>Val:
Harvard (R)
Princeton (R)
Yale (R)
Tufts (R)
BC (A)</p>

<p>Sal:
Yale (W)
Harvard (R)
Princeton (R)
Brown (A)
BC (A)</p>

<p>Dartmouth (R)
Cornell (R)
Notre Dame (W)
BC (A)</p>

<p>Notre Dame (R)
Cornell (R)
BC (A)</p>

<p>I think it is definitely a back-up to Ivy and other prestigious schools for MA kids.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
And ALL schools (with exceptions like NYU) ranked below Top 30 are unacceptable?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>
[quote]
So even if a school is ranked in the 30s or 40s, it's unacceptable and garbage to you guys, right?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yeaaah, schools like Texas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Illinois, Washington, Penn State, and Florida are totally unacceptable and totally garbage...:rolleyes:</p>

<p>Although not necessarily held in the mantle of prestige that some posters exhibit on this board, I'd say these public universities are better than some privates ranked ahead of them for their in-state residents.</p>

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<p>IAmYourFather - actually, I think NYU sucks. Only go there if you don't need financial aid and you want to dance or go to Stern. They have no campus, are overrated due to their business, law, and theatre school, and are like #1 for most student debt in the country.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Well, I'm more curious about people's reactions to NYU and why people consider it as the only non-Top 30 ranked school that is considered on par with prestigious institutions.</p>

<p>Seems CC posters really love NYU.</p>

<p>I've been to NYU and took classes there for one year (didn't graduate because technically, I was attending another university ranked slightly below NYU). Truthfully, NYU has more of a mystique than anything else. Once the mystique wore off ... I didn't find NYU to be THAT great of a school.</p>

<p>NYU has no school spirit whatsoever. It's supposed to be like a traditional campus, but it has a very commuter spirit.

[/quote]

Stop. NYU was modeled on the University of London and was never meant to have a traditional campus. Strike 1

[quote]

There's little school pride -- most students I know spend their leisurely time going to a Broadway show or hanging out at SoHo. NYU has no sports teams or anything else to really unite the campus.</p>

<p>NYU doesn't really have much of a campus to speak of. Jeez, the local community college near my hometown has a bigger campus than NYU!</p>

<p>The city is great though. If you love the city, then I can see NYU's appeal.</p>

<p>Academics. NYU is solid, but not really particularly better than your typical state school. However, if you go to Stern or Tisch, the academics there are infinitely better than CAS or NYU's other schools.</p>

<p>Job prospects. Honestly, NYU grads are very bimodal. Either they are doing very well with Wall Street jobs ... or they are scraping by on low-paying jobs trying to pay off their student loans.

[/quote]
Stop. According to the U.S. Department of Education, only 1.7 percent of the NYU students who graduated in 2002 with federal loan debt failed to pay back those loans within a year of graduation. </p>

<p>FYI, the average debt at NYU is 55k which is a lot, but monthly payments are not that bad with that much debt. You can get a cheaper house or car and make up the difference between that and the 20 k average monthly payment.</p>

<p>On campus recruitment list:
Center</a> for Career Development</p>

<p>Strike 2

[quote]

So overall, I guess NYU is good, but only if you love the city and want to major in business or the performing arts. It's not for those who want the traditional school spirit (which frankly, the state universities and even schools like Notre Dame and Duke are much better at providing).

[/quote]

You are the worst poster on this site because you are clearly a troll who incites wars about what is "prestigious". Strike 3 your outta here.</p>

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<p>this post isn't intended to belittle NYU, but...</p>

<p>I visited NYU Stern building for the first time last year, and i was totally underwhelmed by the facilities and the classrooms in the building. If I didn't know it was NYU stern, I'd think it was some regular suburban high school. My friend claimed that the MBA facilities and lounges are better, but I'm really surprised that so many people would want to spend their college years on a campus-less college, with a very mediocre building for what is supposed to be their best program. I guess location matters...</p>

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<p>for some strange reasons, NYU simply *sounds "better" school to me than other similarly ranked schools--- UIUC, UVA, BC, etc...</p>

<p>i never knew NYU was ranked below 30 until it was time for me to actually apply to colleges and check those USNWR rankings for the first time in my life. </p>

<p>see, i'd never imagined to attend some of those schools ranked below 30, but i still applied to NYU. they gave me some extra scholarships in fin aid package claiming i was like in the top 10% of their applicants or something. so i still like them although i did not go there.</p>

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<p>I felt that way too keefer, I think that was one reason I decided against NYU even though I loved it. I just felt like my parents are paying 50k a year for this? I was very under whelmed by everything but the dorms.</p>

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<p>Optisrule
You definitely have good foresight.</p>