top 15 most prestigious universities

College Search & Selection
981

<p>Oh one last thought. THES may be flawed/inconsistent, but JS rankings are also primarily science/engineering/technology research ratings that are based on sheer quantity/numbers (rather than quality, which can only be obtained by PA). So far, there is probably no adequate way to rank the strength and breadth of universities worldwide, given the different values presented in different parts of the world. </p>

<p>Since this thread is about international prestige/reputation/recognition (whether or not it is deserved or even relevant to our lives), I think that most everyone would agree that:</p>

<h1>1 = Harvard</h1>

<h1>2 = YPSMBCaltech to varying degrees</h1>

<p>I don't think I'm being unreasonable here.</p>

982

<p>you guys are just talking semantics.....</p>

<p>Harvard has the most prestige
then YPSM are all the same</p>

<p>Then you have Penn, COlumbia, Brown, Duke, Dartmouth, Berkeley and some others.....but those top ones are the best</p>

983

<p>Oh, sorry Bescraze, I guess that pesky semantics part of linguistic (the meaning derived from a phrase or word) is unnecessary to communication. I have an idea! Let's just transfer our thoughts to each other in logical symbols... telepathically.</p>

984

<h1>math:</h1>

<p>Chicago #6
Yale #7
Columbia #9
Michigan #9
Cornell #13
uiuc #18</p>

<h1>Physics:</h1>

<p>Cornell #7
chicago #8
UIUC #8
Columbia #11
Yale #11
Michigan #13</p>

<h1>Chemistry</h1>

<p>UIUC #7
Cornell #9
Columbia #11
Chicago #12
Yale #15
Michigan #16</p>

<h1>BIOLOGY</h1>

<p>YALE #7
CORNELL #12
Columbia #15
Michigan #15
Chicago #18
UIUC #29</p>

<h1>Computer science</h1>

<p>UIUC #5
Cornell #6
Michigan #13
Columbia #16
Yale #20
Chicago #50+</p>

<h1>earth science</h1>

<p>columbia #5
Michigan #5
Yale #11
Cornell #15
Chicago #15
UIUC #34</p>

<p>So all in all,
Chicago vs Yale, score = 3:3. Tied.
Columbia vs Yale, score=3.5 : 2.5. Columbia beats Yale.
Cornell vs Yale, score=3:3, Tied
UIUC vs Yale, score=3:3, tied
Michigan vs Yale, score=2:4, Yale beats Michigan.
In conclusion, Yale's science is on par with Cornell, Columbia, Chicago, UIUC, and Michigan.</p>

985

<p>^OMFG!! Ppl don't read threads anymore do they. With regards to the topic of whether or not Yale graduate programs in the engineering and science areas were "undeniably on par" with Columbia, Cornell, Chicago, or Whatever....I said...."**I'm very skeptical about the engineering part." **lol...</p>

986

<p>kids, kids.....</p>

<p>you're all wrong.</p>

987

<h1>Peer review:</h1>

<h1>1 Berkeley, score 100</h1>

<h1>1 Stanford, score 100</h1>

<h1>1 Yale, score 100</h1>

<h1>28 Duke, score=98</h1>

<h1>Employer review:</h1>

<h1>6 Stanford, score=99</h1>

<h1>11 Berkeley, score=98</h1>

<h1>12 Yale, score=98</h1>

<h1>23 Duke, score=97</h1>

<h1>Citation:</h1>

<h1>2 Stanford, score=100</h1>

<h1>18 Berkeley, score=92</h1>

<h1>18 Duke, score=92</h1>

<h1>30 YAle score=91</h1>

<h1>international staff (why this ties to quality? no clue):</h1>

<p>Stanford not in top 50
Berkeley not in top 50
Yale not in top 50
Duke not in top 50</p>

<h1>International students:</h1>

<h1>43 Stanford, score=93</h1>

<p>Berkeley, Yale, and Duke not in top 50</p>

<h1>staff/students ratio</h1>

<h1>1 Yale, score=100</h1>

<h1>11 Duke, score=100</h1>

<p>Stanford and Berkeley are not in top 50.</p>

<p>Again, below is THES ranking result by categories.</p>

<p>In humanities, Berkeley is #2, Stanford is #11, while Yale is #5, Duke is #20.</p>

<p>In life science, Berkeley is #5, Stanford is #6, while Yale is #8, and Duke is #19.</p>

<p>In technology, Berkeley is #2, Stanford is #3, while Yale is #46, and Duke is not in top 50</p>

<p>In science, Berkeley is #1, Stanford is #7, while Yale is #10, and Duke is not in top 50.</p>

<p>In social science, Berkeley is #2, Stanford is #5, while Yale is #4, and Duke is #25.</p>

<p>The OVERALL THES ranking: Yale #2, Duke #13, Stanford #19, Berkeley #22.</p>

<p>Let me sum up. Stanford beats Yale in employer review, citation, # international students, life science, natural science, and technology, tied with Yale in peer review, lost to yale in humanity, social science, and staff/students ratio. What drives Yale to be #2, and puts Stanford so far behind? Is that due to staff/students ratio? </p>

<p>Now, look at Berkeley. Berkeley beats Yale in humanities, life science, social science, techgnology, natural science, employer review, and citation, tied with Yale in peer review, and only lost to Yale in staff/students ratio. The end result is Yale #2, Berkeley #22. </p>

<p>Now I really don't understand what the hell THES ranking is doing. I suspect THES ranking staff are extremely poor in math at the elementary school level.</p>

<p>In conclusion, THES overall ranking = TRASH.</p>

988

<p>Yes, the THES ranking is crap. Just like US News. But perhaps it's worth considering that "overall graduate program strength" is meaningless, since people attend graduate school only in a given field (ie, if you're getting a PhD in classics, you couldn't care less about rankings in chemistry), and that, regardless, it isn't a proxy for undergrad prestige. Berkeley has far more excellent graduate programs than every school save Stanford and Harvard (who are on par with it). But, for undergrads (again, the only level at which overall prestige, rather than strength in a given program, has any significance), it is certainly less prestigious than Yale, Princeton and MIT, and, outside of the West Coast at least, a lot of other schools (the remaining Ivies if you live in the Northeast, Northwestern, Chicago, and WashU in the Midwest, Rice in Texas, etc) beat it in prestige. So stop arguing about overall strength in graduate programs. It's silly and pointless. Also, to clear up another misconception, the differences between the 8th best chemistry department and the 4th best chemistry department (or whatever similar example you prefer) have absolutely no effect on undergrads and anyone who chooses a school on such a narrow basis is misguided, whatever datalook may think.</p>

989

<p>um... okay. This has definitely been blown out of proportion. </p>

<p>Guys/girls, CHILL</p>

990

<p>But.... isn't this what we do on CC?</p>

991

<p>

And the award for the best post in the thread goes to...svalbardlutefisk!:)</p>

992

<p>^^ I agree.</p>

993

<p>I agree also.</p>

994

<p>yea me too</p>

995

<p>^Definitely</p>

996

<p>As a CA parent, I agree with Sval as well.</p>

<p>Top students at our high school are way more impressed by classmates who get accepted to HYPS and some others than to Berkeley. There were 13 students accepted to UCB from our h.s. last year and maybe three or four at the most to HYPS.</p>

<p>There's a reason the short-hand for undisputed prestige on CC is HYPSM. IMO, those are the only unconditional "wow!" places for prestige (not discussing quality of education at all.)</p>

<p>After that, I agree with Hawkette that setting an arbitrary limit of 10 for the "next" most prestigious is ridiculous. The other Ivies might easily win five of the next spots among people in the NE, but that would not be the case everywhere and even if you give the next five spots to the Ivies, the five spots following are entirely debatable based on regional preference, major/program interest, even religious affiliation. </p>

<p>For example, ND and Georgetown are quite prestigious among Catholic parents, and the same for WashU among Jewish parents (ones I know at least) and there's no more prestigious uni than Brigham Young among the Mormon parents I know. </p>

<p>In each region, the top state flagships do hold as much prestige as the non-HYPSM top privates and for certain major interests, programs such as computer science at CMU and theater at Tisch in NYU are as prestigious as they come (certainly in the top 15 for someone who is looking for that.) Students primarily interested in engineering, pre-med, or international relations can cite an entirely different list for "most prestigious." </p>

<p>There's no way to come up with an undisputed 15.</p>

997

<p>Please...if Yale had the depth and breadth of grad programs that Stanford, Harvard and Berkeley enjoy, I would say that svalbardlutefisk would be arguing the opposite.</p>

<p>Play up your strengths, downplay your weaknesses...it's a matter of perspective.</p>

998

<p>lol, I always wonder why people debate topics like this on CC.</p>

999

<p>
[quote]
Play up your strengths, downplay your weaknesses...it's a matter of perspective.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yeah. I'm sure Berkeley, Stanford, and Harvard students wouldn't want to compare undergraduate focus to schools like Yale and Princeton.</p>

1000

<p>It is possible for a school to be both Graduate/UG focused at the same time.</p>