<p>"It is the pinnacle of stupidity."</p>
<p>I could not agree more.</p>
<p>Oh, and Sarahsdad, acceptance rates really don't mean much of anything to a certain extent. Though there's certainly a very large difference between a school that accepts 20 percent and a school that accepts 40 percent, the difference of 2 to 5 percent is meaningless. People choose to apply and not to apply to top school for all sorts of reasons. For example, despite its high ranking on USNWR, Carleton accepts ~35 percent of its applicants! Should Carleton be ranked as tier 4 because of that? No. </p>
<p>Okay, done commenting.</p>
<p>"I don't know why I started commenting in this thread."</p>
<p>because your self-conscious about your school's rank, clearly</p>
<p>Haha - yup. Swarthmore, number 3. Damn.</p>
<p>Here is what I have come up with:</p>
<ul>
<li>Best of the Best -</li>
</ul>
<p>California Institute of Technology
Columbia University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University
University of Chicago</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Excellent -
Brown University
Cornell University
Emory University
Johns Hopkins University
Northwestern University
Rice University
University of CaliforniaBerkeley
Univ. of CaliforniaLos Angeles
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis</p></li>
<li><p>Very Good -</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Brandeis University
Carnegie Mellon University
College of William and Mary
Georgetown University
Tufts University
New York University
University of MichiganAnn Arbor
U. of North CarolinaChapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
Univ. of Southern California
Wake Forest University</p>
<p>i adjusted chicago because it is an amazing school. Besides having the best econ program in the world, it has reknowned professors, and is considered to be an even more intellectual academic experience than most Ivys.</p>
<p>Also, the person who said that Harvard is better than Berkeley and CMU no contest, in what way is harvard better?</p>
<p>Because i do know, that with undergrad, Berkeley has one of the best undergrad business programs, and engineering programs in the world, as well as having many departments that are top of their specialization.
Sure harvard has better recognition than Berkeley, but to say it is obviously better without support is ridiculous.
There may be less support by teacher-student interaction at Berkeley than Harvard, but that drives the students to have to work harder on their own part to succeed. I live in california and i always hear from highly educated adults and college counselors that they believe an A at Berkeley is harder than an A at stanford.</p>
<p>Regarding acceptance rates, I agree there are a lot of caveats - my spin is that it's fair to compare acceptance rates at schools similar in prestige/popularity. HYP probably has artificially "low" acceptance rates because many students apply "on a whim", like "my grandma always wanted me to apply there", or "everyone knows it's a great school, I'll give it a shot", even if they're not truly competitive. </p>
<p>On the other hand, great schools with lower prestige/popularity probably have artificially "high" acceptance rates since it's a self-selected population - these students have done their homework and know they're competitive at these schools. Few people apply to these schools "on a whim". Examples include Carleton (29%, not 35%), Wellesley (34%), Harvey Mudd (36%), even UChicago (40%).</p>
<p>Acceptance rate should be looked at as only one of many criteria to help determine the "best" school for you.</p>
<p>Caltech has a 20% acceptance rate =P what does that tell you? </p>
<p>But in regards admissions rates with HYP and to a lesser extent Columbia (8.9% acceptance-lowest of ivies), it IS that HARD to get in.</p>
<p>Nice post by SarahsDad. However, I just want to point out that Mudd's acceptance rate is now 28% :) (the 36% was from two years ago, I think).</p>
<p>caltech has an acceptance rate of 16%, not 20%</p>
<p>Honestly, this is how most college confidential kids think of it:</p>
<ol>
<li>Gold Standard: HYP</li>
<li>Expanded Gold Standard: Stanford, MIT</li>
<li>Lost In Between: Columbia, Caltech</li>
<li>Well, You Were Almost Good Enough For HYP: Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Duke</li>
<li>I Guess There Are A Few Good LAC's: Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore</li>
<li>Everything Else</li>
<li>WashU</li>
</ol>
<p>The problem with all of these rankings is that they use nebulous concepts of what "best" is. Best undergraduate program, best student body? Hard to measure, and endlessly debatable. So here's my list--based on my impression of how good an education other people, nationwide, will THINK you have if you graduated from one of these schools:</p>
<p>Wow, you went to....
Harvard
MIT
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Caltech
Army, Navy, Air Force Academies</p>
<p>You must be really smart if you went to...
Columbia
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell</p>
<p>I've heard that's a really good school....
Duke
Chicago
Cal-Berkeley
UVA
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins
Vanderbilt
State University of whatever state you're standing in</p>
<p>Now, where is that located, exactly?...
Pretty much all the rest.</p>
<p>Please read: "Colleges That Change LIves" for a list of schools that really have an impact on students. Brand name and prestige are one thing; getting a good education is another....</p>
<p>The majority of Fortune 500 CEOs did NOT attend HYP or any other "high prestige" school. Most went to state universities. The college you attend does not correlate with your success in life, nor does it mean you are better-educated.</p>
<p>This is such a silly thread. Suffice it to say most of us know a great school when we hear one. Attempting to split hairs like this is pointless.</p>
<p>Yeah, um....I dont think my school's a '6th tier' school...</p>
<p>"The majority of Fortune 500 CEOs did NOT attend HYP or any other "high prestige" school. Most went to state universities. The college you attend does not correlate with your success in life, nor does it mean you are better-educated."</p>
<p>You must be kidding. In present time, perception is always greater than reality.</p>
<p>A graduate of HYPMSC will automatically get accepted to companies board where as a graduate from a no known college will have to work hard to reach over there even if the performance of the two is same on the job.</p>
<p>So please don't joke, the society is brand conscious and you are saying it doesn't make a difference where did you go for your education.</p>
<p>hahahahhahahah once again PoIH shows her ignorance. It's almost too unbelievable to be real...</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
"The majority of Fortune 500 CEOs did NOT attend HYP or any other "high prestige" school. Most went to state universities. The college you attend does not correlate with your success in life, nor does it mean you are better-educated."</p>
<p>You must be kidding. In present time, perception is always greater than reality.</p>
<p>A graduate of HYPMSC will automatically get accepted to companies board where as a graduate from a no known college will have to work hard to reach over there even if the performance of the two is same on the job.</p>
<p>So please don't joke, the society is brand conscious and you are saying it doesn't make a difference where did you go for your education.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>That is not true. Check this out:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1227055,00.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1227055,00.html</a>
<a href="http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/09/ivy-league-ceos.html%5B/url%5D">http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/09/ivy-league-ceos.html</a></p>
<p>Please read the article:</p>
<p>"When measuring CEO undergraduate education, the University of Texas system has just as much representation as Harvard: a total of 3 CEOs."</p>
<p>It says measuring Undergraduate Education.</p>
<p>Have you checked out where all those undergrad subsequently got their masters degree?</p>
<p>Also have you ever hired people into real companies? Have you come across resume of the Engineers/Managers?</p>
<p>People list names of the only known colleges. If you check these CEO's resume at the time of their induction to those companies it will indicate like this.</p>
<p>Education:</p>
<p><degree> <brand name="" university=""> <year>
Otherwise
<degree> <year></year></degree></year></brand></degree></p>
<p>Kenneth Lewis, CEO of Bank Of America.
"Lewis was born April 9, 1947, in Meridian, Mississippi. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Georgia State University, and is a graduate of the Executive Program at Stanford University."</p>