top 15 most prestigious universities

College Search & Selection
261

<p>I guess its time to dust off the old "hamburger analogy" once again:</p>

<p>
[quote]
The Difference Between "Prestige" vs. "Familiarity":</p>

<p>I always like bringing this back to my "hamburger" analogy to illuminate this point:</p>

<p>99.9% of the American public will readily recognize (read: familiarity) Micky D's Big Mac or Quarter Pounder (over a billion served!) vs., say, the "21" burger at the 21 Club (New York)... but does that Ronald McDonald more prestigious? Hardly.</p>

<p>Many people know (shop) at Wal-Mart vs. Bergdorf Goodman, but that hardly qualifies Wal-Mart to be categorized as "prestigious".</p>

<p>Simply put, not anyone can afford to shop at Bergdorf or eat at the 21 Club, and conversely, nearly everyone "can" shop at Wal-Mart or eat at McDonald's.</p>

<p>Similarly, not anyone can enroll into Harvard, but nearly anyone can enroll into a Community College - that's what makes Harvard prestigious - and, more importantly, why it remains so (i.e. being founded nearly 150 years before America was even a country certainly has its "head start" advantages in building up your prestige level). For instance, if Harvard all of the sudden decided to increase its class size to 500,000 per year (say, by offering bonafide Harvard degrees online) i.e. admitting nearly anyone who applied - its "prestige" would drop like a stone overnight - people from Joe Blow Community College would just transfer to Harvard and pick up a degree. </p>

<p>This is what happens to certain "luxury" or "prestige" goods all the time - dilution of a brand which gets over-sold, over-licensed or discounted at mainstream department / warehouse stores (read: the Coach brand and even Armani to a certain extent).</p>

<p>Now to be certain, some brands have both "familiarity" AND "prestige" (e.g. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT) and some have "prestige" and less "familiarity" (e.g. Dartmouth, Brown, Caltech, Amherst) - but don't confuse the two terms - less familiarity doesn't = less prestige. Just because your neighbor hasn't heard of Ch</p>

262

<p>
[quote]
i think you're confusing prestige with well-known. amherst is a pretigious school but it is not as well known as boston university, a less prestigious one.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No, I draw a fine distinction between "recognition" and "reputation." As someone explained to me, UCLA would have "recognition" whereas Berkeley would have "reputation." But you need recognition before you can have reputation (in the general public). Chicago does not have as much recognition in the public as schools like Notre Dame or Berkeley or Stanford.</p>

<p>
[quote]
academic circles, as you mentioned, think they are pretigious and that's what counts.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Exactly, but when asked about "prestige," I automatically think "in the general public." Otherwise, it'd be "academic prestige" or "prestige in academic circles."</p>

<p>Edit: it seems the_prestige's post above explains this (and probably more effectively than I did).</p>

263

<p>
[quote]
In certain markets, eg Chicago, ND would be one of the five most prestigious colleges in the country.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Amen on that. My mother, who lived and worked in Chicago for twenty years, tells me that her preception of ND is that it has a reputation on par with HYPS.</p>

264

<p>The Difference Between "Prestige" vs. "Familiarity":</p>

<p>I always like bringing this back to my "hamburger" analogy to help simplify and illuminate this point:</p>

<p>99.9% of the American public will readily recognize (read: familiarity) Micky D's Big Mac or Quarter Pounder (over a billion served!) vs., say, the "21" burger at the 21 Club (New York)... but does that Ronald McDonald more prestigious? Hardly.</p>

<p>Many people know (shop) at Wal-Mart vs. Bergdorf Goodman, but that hardly qualifies Wal-Mart to be categorized as "prestigious".</p>

<p>Simply put, not anyone can afford to shop at Bergdorf or eat at the 21 Club, and conversely, nearly everyone "can" shop at Wal-Mart or eat at McDonald's.</p>

<p>Similarly, not anyone can enroll into Harvard, but nearly anyone can enroll into a Community College - that's what makes Harvard prestigious - and, more importantly, why it remains so (i.e. being founded nearly 150 years before America was even a country certainly has its "head start" advantages in helping you build up your prestige level -- these guys were rowing the Charles River a full century and a half before their boats were crashing into the Boston Tea Party...) For instance, if Harvard all of the sudden decided to increase its class size to 500,000 per year (say, by offering bonafide Harvard degrees online) i.e. admitting nearly anyone who applied - its "prestige" would drop like a stone overnight - people from Joe Blow Community College would just transfer to Harvard and pick up a degree. Note: that in this scenario while Harvard's "prestige" level has changed dramatically, its "familiarity" level doesn't really change at all (if anything, its "familiarity" level would increase marginally -- and I do mean "marginally" because, let's face it, there aren't many people who have never heard of Harvard).</p>

<p>This is what happens to certain "luxury" or "prestige" goods all the time - dilution of a brand which gets over-sold, over-licensed or discounted at mainstream department / warehouse stores (read: the Coach brand and even Armani to a certain extent).</p>

<p>Now to be certain, some names / brands have both "familiarity" AND "prestige" (e.g. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT) and some have "prestige" and less "familiarity" (e.g. Dartmouth, Brown, Caltech, Amherst) - but (and here is the point), don't confuse the two terms: less familiarity doesn't = less prestige. Just because your Bud-Light-loving neighbor hasn't heard of Ch</p>

265

<p>Does anybody look past the first-glance stats and delve into the motivatitng factors that probably accompany a lot of any school's graduates?</p>

<p>Like I've always thought highly of the grads of the top LACs (Williams, Amherst, etc) because they obviously could have gone to an Ivy or any other more famous school, but they were confident enough to get a great education at a place they will have to be explaining for the rest of their lives.</p>

<p>Or Cornell...bright enough people, but they bought into the Ivy mythology so completely that they were willing to spend 4 years in the Ithaca Gulag just to get the word "Ivy" attached to their names.</p>

<p>Stanford...people who obviously test well and get good grades, but are so unsure of their ability to survive a couple snowfalls that they turned down Dartmouth and Princeton.</p>

<p>Chicago...people who are confident enough that they don't mind being called nerds and grinds.</p>

<p>Etc.</p>

266

<p>Why on earth should you turn down Stanford for Dartmouth or Princeton (or assume you got into them)?</p>

267

<p>TourGuide446,</p>

<p>Are you assuming that the Stanford lot is less qualified than the Princeton and Dartmouth lot?</p>

<p>And why SHOULD you spend 4 years in a place that's less comfortable if you don't have to? I don't see anything wrong with wanting to enjoy the climate.</p>

268

<p>I think if it's just prestige, then Berkeley and UCLA are right up there, because anywhere in Asia UCLA and Berk is respected. That's if it's just prestige.</p>

269

<p>I found (and this is just my anecdotal experience) that UCLA's reputation is good in Japan and Korea, but Berkeley still has a special cachet that UCLA (and many other even "better" universities") cannot match.</p>

270

<p>Of course I realize quality exists around the country, outside the northeast.</p>

<p>That's what Stanford, Berkeley, UChicago, and Duke are for. Oh, and Caltech.</p>

<p>Not Vanderbilt. It's a fine school, but it's certainly not going to be among the top 15 prestigious schools in the world's academic superpower...</p>

<p>beep...beep...beep...beep...still nothing</p>

271

<p>
[quote]
I found (and this is just my anecdotal experience) that UCLA's reputation is good in Japan and Korea, but Berkeley still has a special cachet that UCLA (and many other even "better" universities") cannot match.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'd agree with that view. In my experience, while both schools have an excellent reputation in Asia, Berkeley is considered a notch above.</p>

<p>Perhaps this is due to a combination of: 1) Cal's inherent grad schools strength (e.g. many top PhD, grad school candidates from Asia who return back home and rave about Cal) and 2) the fact that the sciences (another Cal strength) are highly regarding in Asia (vs. other regions and vs. the humanities)</p>

272

<p>Top 21 US - Less Some Schools; not in order.</p>

<ol>
<li> Princeton University (NJ)</li>
<li> Harvard University (MA)</li>
<li> Yale University(CT)</li>
<li> Stanford University(CA)</li>
<li> University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li> California Institute of Technology</li>
<li> Massachusetts Institute of Technology</li>
<li> Duke University(NC)</li>
<li> Columbia University(NY)</li>
<li> University of Chicago</li>
<li> Cornell University(NY)</li>
<li> Brown University(RI)</li>
<li> Northwestern University(IL)</li>
<li> Johns Hopkins University(MD)</li>
<li><pre><code>University of California—Berkeley
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Dartmouth College(NH)
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Washington University in St. Louis
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Rice University(TX)
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Emory University(GA)
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Vanderbilt University(TN)
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>University of Notre Dame(IN)
</code></pre></li>
</ol>

273

<p>the_prestige,</p>

<p>Granted, it's not like most people in Asia even really care. </p>

<p>Nor do most people on Earth.</p>

<p>I remember a farmer I was acquainted with in Japan saying to me that "in the end, all Berkeley or UCLA or Harvard or Todai mean nothing but icing on the cake. If you are a jerk, you are a jerk no matter which degree you have after your name."</p>

<p>Of course, this doesn't even take into account the fact that 99% of Americans never need to have degree prestige in the middle of Japan.</p>

274

<p>What in the hell difference does it make whether "people in asia" think that Berkeley is more prestigious than Harvard??</p>

275

<p>Well since we are talking about prestige, which is basically how many people think to-what-degree something is good, I'd say it makes a big difference because Asia makes up about half of the world's population.</p>

276

<p>Nobody in Asia (at least those who I know) think Berkeley to be more 'prestegious' than Harvard. For Asians, Harvard is a mystical legendary school (no kidding).</p>

277

<p>Kowloon,</p>

<p>I've lived in Japan. Harvard is impressive, but by no means a "mystical legendary school."</p>

<p>
[quote]
Well since we are talking about prestige, which is basically how many people think to-what-degree something is good, I'd say it makes a big difference because Asia makes up about half of the world's population.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Again... so what? I want to work in the US, for a US organization. Why does it matter what Mr. Tanaka or Mr. Wu thinks about my alma mater?</p>

278

<p>Well the whole point of the thead is what are the most prestigous schools, so I was just addressing the topic? That's what.</p>

279

<p>
[quote]
Nobody in Asia (at least those who I know) think Berkeley to be more 'prestegious' than Harvard. For Asians, Harvard is a mystical legendary school (no kidding).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is not entirely correct. </p>

<p>Many years ago in a far off country deep within the Asian continent, a team of researchers located a person who believed that Berkeley was more prestigious than Harvard. </p>

<p>Upon hearing the incredulous news, the Harvard Crimson quickly dispatched its own independent team to verify the claim upon which it was revealed that the entire finding was an elaborate hoax pulled by off by a number of Cal fanatics from College Confidential -- it was later revealed that Skull and Bones were the primary source of funding for the elaborate hoax.</p>

280

<p>UCLAri
I'm Korean, and few revere Berkeley over Harvard</p>