<p>A look at this list suggests the schools hoping for political leaders might want to check their methods, an eyeball only survey suggests that Stanford is the most represented undergrad school, but the dominate schools are the state universities:</p>
<p>Also there is a difference between political celebrities and political clout or leadership. The WSJ recently asserted that particularly Harvard's influence has declined dramatically in the past 30 years, while Chicago, Stanford, and others and their respective students, have been much more politically and socially influential. Perhaps some definition of political and social leadership is in order, and I will bet there are many at HYP that are entirely engrossed in academics.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what the "best student" criteria are either. Chicago for one does one of the best jobs of evaluating beyond the "numbers" of any school. It seems to , however, look for students who are primarily drawn to the love of learning (not saying other schools don't have those students) and the joy of playing with ideas foremost over other considerations. If that is what is meant by "best student," then perhaps that characterization of the admissions goal is accurate, whether or not any of the colleges succeed in their goal is another matter.</p>