<p>Anyone who leaves out Upenn and Carnegie Mellon are also insane. Upenn has good Liberal Arts and best business and Carnegie Mellon has probably the next best business along with Stern and such AND backs up Upenn with computer science, drama, musical theatre, and engineering type stuff. Leaving both out of PA is ABSURD.</p>
<p>lilybbloom and futurewhartonman:</p>
<p>I don't think I meet the definition of insanity, but it's been a long time since I did a stint in clinical psychology, so perhaps the two of you could enlighten me on the new definition?</p>
<p>My list was made with an eye towards the reputation for the actual academic experience, not for the overall reputation of the school or its undergrads.</p>
<p>Pennsylvania:</p>
<p>When I rub elbows with faculty from Penn, it is quite common to hear the usual complaints about classloads and having to teach undergrads. I can't imagine that this translates into a wonderful undergrad experience. On the other hand, I suspect that facult from Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford are very focused on undergrads. For the most part, teaching undergrads are those schools' raisons d'etre. I picked Lehigh because it is a fairly good research institution with a strong cultural bias towards undergraduate instruction.</p>
<p>Illinois</p>
<p>Shimer is one of those unusual schools with a different outlook on education I find very refreshing. My own children have considered it. Chicago's undergrad experience is absolutely famous for being what it is. You either love it or you hate it, but if you love it, it's an extraordinary experience matched in very few places.</p>
<p>Did you attend Penn? Wharton almost never gets complaints and the only problem with Penn is probably the jealousy between non-Wharton kids and Wharton kids. </p>
<p>Reputation for academic experience was how your list was based and you left out Upenn? No offense but you shouldn't judge on such factors unless you've actually been to such schools.</p>
<p>"I heard complaints" is not good enough. Have you visited Carnegie either or are you also going off rumors for that school too? I happen to find its students very intellectual and extremely friendly from my several visits. It also boasts a 5:1 faculty student ratio for its business school which I am interested in. </p>
<p>I appreciate your new approach but please don't be so arbitrary.</p>
<p>futurewhartonman:</p>
<p>I have guest lectured at Penn, yes. But I really don't think that's the point. Your criteria for "having an opinion" would, in essence, shut down this board. No one can possibly have in-depth knowledge of every school in the country. For all any of us know, the very best education occurs at some barely known LAC buried in the backwoods somewhere. We really have only two things to go on: available data (often lacking) and anecdotal evidence.</p>
<p>I freely admit (and admitted) that my evidence is anecdotal. I simply suggested a different way of looking at things, since the other "top 3" lists ran so predictably along US News ranking lines.</p>
<p>But let me just end this right here. I admit that Penn is the greatest school in the history of the world. How could it not be with you attending (or planning to attend).</p>
<p>You can't compare publics and privates its just not right! ie:
for North Carolina</p>
<p>privates:
Wake
Duke
Davidson</p>
<p>publics:
Chapel Hill
NC State
UNC-Wilmington</p>
<p>Comparing LACs vs Nationals is not right. Comparing Privates vs. Publics is okay in my book as long as one is aware of the different circumstances. LACs are unable to be compared as they draw a different student body with different interests and with different focuses. This becomes extremely apparent when one looks at students that study stuff like engineering/business.</p>
<p>this thread's been done before. like very recently. whatever.</p>
<p>AL:
1. Birmingham-Southern
2. Samford
3a. Alabama
3b. Auburn</p>
<p>TN:
1. Vanderbilt
2. Swannee (or however it's spelled)
3. Rhodes</p>
<p>have to agree with others before me for NJ:</p>
<ol>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>TCNJ</li>
<li>Rutgers</li>
</ol>
<p>For Florida:</p>
<ol>
<li>University of Florida</li>
<li>University of Miami</li>
<li>Florida State University</li>
</ol>
<p>NY:</p>
<p>Columbia
Cornell
Colgate</p>
<p>CA:</p>
<p>Stanford
Claremont McKenna
UC Berkeley (yuck)</p>
<p>CA: Stanford, CalTech, Berkeley/UCLA/HarveyMudd, what's a claremont?*</p>
<p>*joke.</p>
<p>CalTech doesn't even have foreign language majors. Even MIT has that. If you don't want to do engineering or science, there's ABSOLUTELY NO POINT of going to CalTech.</p>
<p>Indiana</p>
<p>1) Notre Dame
2) Purdue
3) Indiana</p>
<p>Ohio
1) Case Western
2) Oberlin
3) Kenyon
4) Ohio State
5) College of Wooster
6) Miami of Ohio
7) Dayton
8) Xavier
9) Ohio U
10) Akron
11) Bowling Green
12) Toledo
13) Cincinatti
14) Kent St.</p>
<p>Mass
1) Harvard
2) MIT
3) Williams
4) Amherst
5) Olin
6) Tufts
7) BC
8) BU
9) Northeastern
10) Smith
11) UMass</p>
<p>"I freely admit (and admitted) that my evidence is anecdotal. I simply suggested a different way of looking at things, since the other "top 3" lists ran so predictably along US News ranking lines."</p>
<p>Oh what a true Statement..... if USNWR does it , it must be right?... they wouldnt have an agenda would they?... very informative Tarnot.. anyhow i know i missed prolly 40 million other colleges in mass and ohio.. but oh well.. this is CC anyway</p>
<p>Missourri:</p>
<ol>
<li>Washington University in St. Louis</li>
<li>St. Louis University</li>
<li>University of Missouri at Columbia</li>
</ol>
<p>Minnesota:</p>
<ol>
<li>Carleton College</li>
<li>Macalaster College</li>
<li>University of Minnesota - Twin Cities</li>
</ol>
<p>Arizona:
Arizona
Arizona State
?</p>
<p>California:
Stanford
Caltech
Berkeley</p>
<p>Colorado:
Colorado
Colorado State
?</p>
<p>Connecticut:
Yale
UConn
?</p>
<p>Florida:
Florida
UMiami
Florida State</p>
<p>Georgia:
Georgia Tech
Emory
Georgia</p>
<p>Illinois:
Chicago
Northwestern
UIUC</p>
<p>Indiana:
Notre Dame
Purdue
IUB</p>
<p>Iowa:
Iowa
Iowa State
?</p>
<p>Kansas:
Kansas
Kansas State
?</p>
<p>Louisiana:
Tulane
LSU Baton Rouge
?</p>
<p>Maryland:
Johns Hopkins
Maryland - College Park
?</p>
<p>Massachusetts:
Harvard
MIT
Tufts</p>
<p>Michigan:
Michigan
Michigan State
?</p>
<p>Missouri:
Wash U
Missouri - Columbia
St. Louis</p>
<p>New Hampshire:
Dartmouth
New Hampshire
?</p>
<p>New Jersey:
Princeton
Rutgers - New Brunswick
Rutgers - Newark</p>
<p>New York:
Columbia
Cornell
NYU</p>
<p>North Carolina:
Duke
UNC Chapel Hill
Wake Forest</p>
<p>Ohio:
Ohio State
Case Western Reserve
Miami Oxford</p>
<p>Oklahoma:
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
?</p>
<p>Oregon:
Oregon
Oregon State</p>
<p>Pennsylvania:
UPenn
Carnegie Mellon
Penn State</p>
<p>Rhode Island:
Brown
Rhode Island
?</p>
<p>Tennessee:
Vanderbilt
Tennessee
?</p>
<p>Texas:
Rice
UT Austin
Texas A&M</p>
<p>Utah:
Utah
Brigham Young
?</p>
<p>Virginia:
Virginia
William and Mary
Washington and Lee</p>
<p>Washington:
Washington
Washington State
?</p>
<p>Washington, D.C.:
Georgetown
George Washington
American</p>
<p>Wisconsin:
Wisconsin - Madison
Marquette
Wisconsin - Milwaukee</p>
<p>As far as publics go in TN, UTK is definately number one.</p>
<p>penn st. before swat, haverford, lehigh, etc.? i don't think so.</p>
<p>Wisconsin:
1) Madison
2) UWM or Marquette
3) Any other state school</p>
<p>colorado college should be in there for colorado
wesleyan for conn.
swat should be in there for penn.
emory above georgia tech.</p>
<p>Other than that, im_blue's list looks nice.</p>