Tier ranking

College Search & Selection
1

<p>If colleges were ranked in groups instead of individually; what do you think:</p>

<p>Tier 1</p>

<p>Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and MIT</p>

<p>Tier 2</p>

<p>Cal Tech, Columbia, U Penn, U Chicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Rice, Northwestern, WUSTL</p>

<p>Tier 3</p>

<p>Emory, Vandy, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, U Michigan, UVA, Georgetown, NYU, Tufts, UNC</p>

<p>Tier 4</p>

<p>Wake Forest, Lehigh, Brandeis, BC, G-Tech, William & Mary, UIUC, UW Madison, UCSD, U Washington, U Rochester</p>

<p>Tier 5</p>

<p>UT Austin, UC Davis, UCSB, UC Irvine, Case Western, U Florida, Penn State, RPI, Tulane, GWU, U Maryland, Pepperdine, BU, U Miami, Syracuse U</p>

2

<p>It’s more like everyting up to and including your “Tier 3” is Tier 1 and all the others you listed belong in Tier 2. The Tiers typically stop at 4 lol.</p>

3

<p>add Clemson to Tier 5 :p</p>

4

<p>Tier 1 : Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT</p>

<p>Tier 2: Cal Tech, UC Berkeley, Columbia, U Penn, U Chicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Dartmouth, Rice, Northwestern, Michigan</p>

<p>Tier 3: Brown, WUSTL, Emory, Vandy, Notre Dame, CMU </p>

<p>Tier 4: USC, UCLA, UVA, Georgetown, NYU, Tufts, UNC, G-Tech</p>

<p>Tier 5: Wake Forest, Lehigh, Brandeis, Tulane, William & Mary, UIUC, UW Madison, UCSD, U Washington, U Rochester, Case Western</p>

<p>Tier 6: UT Austin, UC Davis, UCSB, UC Irvine, U Florida, Penn State, RPI, GWU, U Maryland, Pepperdine, BU, U Miami, Syracuse U, UofWashington, SMU</p>

5

<p>Vigore & others,
What are you ranking? I think the discussion will be helped if you define what you are evaluating. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Are you ranking based on prestige among academics? If so, then look at the USNWR Peer Assessment rankings. They are as good a proxy as one can find although they almost certainly reflect a lot of graduate school prominence. Expect the top research universities with the most liberal faculty to dominate. </p></li>
<li><p>Are you ranking based on the undergraduate academic environment? If so, then adjust your rankings to look at the data that actually matters, eg, quality of peers, size of classes, quality of instruction, size of resources and commitment to spend them supporting undergrads. Expect the smaller to medium-sized universities to dominate.</p></li>
<li><p>Are you looking at a particular collegiate experience, eg, those that offer the best combination of great academics, great social life and great athletic life? If so, then expect many of the publics to make the list as many offer this and many of the most prestigious privates lag significantly. </p></li>
<li><p>Are you looking at which colleges offer the “best value?” This can be measured many ways, but there is a lot of quantitative data to compare, eg, COA less the average financial aid package or the % of students graduating with debt and how much debt do they have. Expect state flagships (mostly for IS students) and top privates with large endowments to dominate. </p></li>
<li><p>Is there some other methodology that is a better basis for comparison/ranking?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>My personal view is that, for UNDERGRADUATE college selection, rankings for # 2 and # 3 would be best for most students unless they were pursuing a career in academia. I’d be happy to supply a full Tier listing of these if you thought it would be helpful, but please first clarify what your objective is with this thread.</p>

6

<p>^ a combination of all the things you’ve said, plus access to research, level of research works and research output at the undergrad level. I also included the salaries of graduates.</p>

7

<p>Schools are already ranked into tiers. It HAS been done.</p>

8

<p>Here are my tiers (just for top 100). My criteria are median SAT scores and per capita endowment: </p>

<p>Tier 1 - Top 6</p>

<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
</ol>

<p>Tier 2 - Top 20</p>

<ol>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>WUSTL</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Emory</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Notre Dame</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Hopkins</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
</ol>

<p>Tier 3 - Top 50</p>

<ol>
<li>Tufts</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>USC</li>
<li>Illinois</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Michigan</li>
<li>Brandeis</li>
<li>RPI</li>
<li>Georgia Tech</li>
<li>Boston College</li>
<li>LeHigh</li>
<li>Rochester</li>
<li>Virginia</li>
<li>WPI</li>
<li>NYU</li>
<li>Wisconsin</li>
<li>Case Western</li>
<li>Wake Forest</li>
<li>William & Mary</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Tulane</li>
<li>UNC</li>
<li>Miami</li>
<li>UC San Diego</li>
<li>Maryland</li>
<li>Yeshiva</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>George Washington</li>
<li>U. Texas</li>
<li>Illinois Tech</li>
</ol>

<p>Tier 4 - Top 100</p>

<ol>
<li>Stevens</li>
<li>Wisconsin</li>
<li>Tulsa</li>
<li>Minnesota</li>
<li>Boston University</li>
<li>Colorado Mines</li>
<li>Florida</li>
<li>SUNY</li>
<li>Yeshiva</li>
<li>Pepperdine</li>
<li>Tulane</li>
<li>Ohio State</li>
<li>Syracuse</li>
<li>Northeastern</li>
<li>Iowa State</li>
<li>Clemson</li>
<li>SMU</li>
<li>St. Louis</li>
<li>Delaware</li>
<li>American</li>
<li>UNL</li>
<li>Texas A&M</li>
<li>Drexel</li>
<li>Pacific</li>
<li>University of Iowa</li>
<li>Virginia Tech</li>
<li>UC Irvine</li>
<li>Pittsburgh</li>
<li>Washington</li>
<li>Penn State</li>
<li>Rutgers</li>
<li>Connecticut</li>
<li>Georgia</li>
<li>Fordham</li>
<li>UC Santa Barbara</li>
<li>UC Davis</li>
<li>Miami Ohio</li>
<li>Purdue</li>
<li>Baylor</li>
<li>Marquette</li>
<li>NC State</li>
<li>Suny Stony Brook</li>
<li>Oklahoma</li>
<li>Clark</li>
<li>Michigan State</li>
<li>Colorado</li>
<li>Denver</li>
<li>Howard</li>
<li>Indiana</li>
<li>Florida State</li>
</ol>

9

<p>Everyone so far has totally missed LACs. What you have ranked are Universities, not colleges.</p>

10

<p>RML,
Ok, here is a tier breakdown of the methods that I suggested in # 5:</p>

<ol>
<li>By Peer Assessment score (most important for those seeking a career in academia)</li>
</ol>

<p>Tier 1 (4.8-4.9): Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford
Tier 2 (4.5-4.7): UC Berkeley, Caltech, U Chicago, U Penn, Columbia, Cornell, Johns Hopkins
Tier 3: (4.1-4.4): Duke, U Michigan, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Brown, U Virginia, UCLA, Wash U, Carnegie Mellon, U North Carolina, U Wisconsin
Tier 4 (3.6-4.0): Rice, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, U Illinois, U Texas, Emory, Notre Dame, USC, U Washington, NYU, UCSD, UC Davis, W&M, Penn State, Tufts, U Florida
Tier 5: (3.0-3.5): Wake Forest, Brandeis, Boston College, Rensselaer, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, U Rochester, Case Western, Tulane, Lehigh
Tier 6 (<3.0): Yeshiva</p>

<ol>
<li>By undergraduate academic environment (probably the best single ranking for comparison of the UNDERGRADUATE academic experience, ie, great peers, small classes, excellent classroom teaching, deep financial resources)</li>
</ol>

<p>Methodology draws heavily from USNWR rankings. Drop Alumni Giving and substitute “Great Commitment to Classroom Teaching” rankings for Peer Assessment rankings. All schools not ranked in Top 25 ranked as # 26. </p>

<p>Tier 1: Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Duke, Dartmouth
Tier 2: Brown, Caltech, U Penn, Northwestern, U Chicago, Wash U, Rice, Columbia, MIT, Notre Dame
Tier 3: Emory, Vanderbilt, Cornell, Johns Hopkins
Tier 4: Tufts, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, U Virginia, Wake Forest, USC, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Brandeis, NYU, U Rochester, W&M, Boston College, Lehigh, U North Carolina
Tier 5: Case Western, Yeshiva, Rensselaer, U Michigan, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, UCSD, Tulane
Tier 6: U Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, U Illinois, UC Davis, U Florida, U Washington, U Texas, Penn State</p>

<p>I created the tiers arbitrarily based on how I saw gaps occurring in the ranking. Below are the calculated scores in case anyone wants to know how I arrived at these tiers. </p>

<p>Rank , Score , College</p>

<p>1 , 3.95 , Princeton
2 , 5.40 , Yale
3 , 5.80 , Harvard
4 , 7.35 , Stanford
5 , 7.55 , Duke
6 , 7.60 , Dartmouth</p>

<p>7 , 8.85 , Brown
8 , 9.55 , Caltech
9 , 9.70 , U Penn
10 , 10.95 , Northwestern
11 , 11.40 , U Chicago
12 , 11.55 , Wash U
13 , 11.75 , Rice
14 , 12.30 , Columbia
15 , 12.60 , MIT
16 , 13.30 , Notre Dame</p>

<p>17 , 15.60 , Emory
18 , 16.35 , Vanderbilt
19 , 16.60 , Cornell
20 , 17.95 , Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>21 , 21.15 , Tufts
22 , 21.80 , Georgetown
23 , 22.95 , Carnegie Mellon
24 , 23.35 , U Virginia
25 , 23.60 , Wake Forest
26 , 24.75 , USC
27 , 24.80 , UC Berkeley
28 , 25.80 , UCLA
29 , 26.60 , Brandeis
30 , 27.80 , NYU
31 , 28.05 , U Rochester
32 , 29.20 , W&M
33 , 29.65 , Boston Coll
34 , 29.70 , Lehigh
34 , 29.70 , U North Carolina</p>

<p>36 , 31.25 , Case Western
37 , 31.75 , Yeshiva
38 , 32.75 , Rensselaer
39 , 32.85 , U Michigan
40 , 35.35 , UC Irvine
41 , 36.85 , UC Santa Barbara
42 , 38.25 , UCSD
43 , 39.05 , Tulane</p>

<p>44 , 41.60 , U Wisconsin
45 , 41.90 , Georgia Tech
46 , 42.40 , U Illinois
47 , 45.55 , UC Davis
48 , 51.35 , U Florida
49 , 55.80 , U Washington
50 , 56.95 , U Texas
51 , 63.75 , Penn State</p>

<ol>
<li>By best combinations of great academics, great social life and great athletic life. This is obviously very subjective as individual preferences will decide the attractiveness of a college’s social life. Also, great athletic life is a very important consideration for some, but certainly not all, students. In creating these tiers, I tried to give equal weight to each of the three considerations. Admittedly, in some cases, it’s a pretty big guess.<br></li>
</ol>

<p>Tier 1: Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame
Tier 2: Northwestern, Rice, Cornell, UCLA, UC Berkeley, U North Carolina, U Michigan, U Virginia, Wake Forest, USC, Georgetown
Tier 3: U Penn, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Boston College, Georgia Tech, U Illinois, U Wisconsin, Penn State, U Florida, U Texas, U Washington
Tier 4: Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Wash U, Johns Hopkins, Emory, W&M, Lehigh, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, Tulane
Tier 5: Caltech, U Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, Brandeis, NYU, UCSD, U Rochester, UC Irvine, Case Western, Yeshiva</p>

<ol>
<li>By “Best Value” as ranked by Kiplingers. They do their rankings separately for privates and publics. The rankings for publics are an average of their Best Value rankings for IS and OOS students</li>
</ol>

<p>PRIVATES
Tier 1: Caltech, Yale, Princeton, Rice, Duke, Harvard
Tier 2: Dartmouth, MIT, Emory, Stanford, U Penn, Brown, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt
Tier 3: Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College
Tier 4: Cornell, Columbia, Lehigh, U Chicago, USC, U Rochester
Tier 5: Carnegie Mellon, NYU
Tier NA: Wash U, Georgetown, Brandeis, Case Western, Rensselaer, Yeshiva, Tulane</p>

<p>PUBLICS
Tier 1: U North Carolina, U Florida, U Virginia, W&M
Tier 2: UCSD, UC Berkeley, UCLA, U Wisconsin
Tie 3: U Washington, U Texas, U Michigan
Tier 4: UC Irvine, Penn State, UC Santa Barbara, Georgia Tech
Tier 5: U Illinois
Tier 6: UC Davis</p>

11

<p>BY admit rates for the class of 2013</p>

<p>School Admitted Applied Admit rate(%)</p>

<br>

<br>

<p>Columbia moved down one tier due to its EA factor which would make their yield lower compared with Princeton’s.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>Agreed. That’s how I break down the tiers as well.</p>