<p>^ As long as we're doing that, how about nudging it down just a smidge to 4.5, and letting Penn and Michigan into the party? :p</p>
<p>^No because then we would have to let Duke into the party with a 4.4 lol</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is definitely not a household name. I'm from the northeast and had never heard of Vanderbilt until i started to get mail from colleges. Duke, on the other hand, is much more well known. Duke beats Vandy.</p>
<p>Duke is only more well know because of its BB teams. Go to some midsize midwestern city and ask folks you meet at the local bar watching football games to name the top 10 UG schools in the country. You will be in for a surprise if you think almost any of them can name all but a couple of schools mentioned. Most don't even think about the words college and prestige together. Heck, I once asked a group of Ph.D.s if they could name the Ivy League schools, none could. They could, however, name most of the Big Ten and Pac-Ten schools.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Vanderbilt is definitely not a household name. I'm from the northeast and had never heard of Vanderbilt until i started to get mail from colleges. Duke, on the other hand, is much more well known. Duke beats Vandy.
[/quote]
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<p>I'm from the Northeast as well. I hadn't heard of either for their academics before I started to get mail from colleges. I had known of both as "colleges with good sports teams". Johns Hopkins beats both in my opinion.</p>
<p>
[quote]
As long as we're doing that, how about nudging it down just a smidge to 4.5, and letting Penn and Michigan into the party?
[/quote]
Sounds good to me, 45%er...you're always welcome to the party! :D</p>
<p>i agree most people know duke for it's basketball, but upon further examination they realize it is one of the premier schools in the nation far better than jhu and vandy imo.</p>
<p>^^ I would never dare say that, and I even attend one of those schools.</p>
<p>I can agree Duke may be more undergraduate focused than JHU and Vandy, but to make a distinction would cause argument and it would be fruitless to argue about each schools strengths and weaknesses. Tell me, what experience do you noobie prefrosh have? You don't even have experience in college yet. Speak for yourself.</p>
<p>"Far better" That is laughable. haha. Don't you dare come to my city with that attitude. I'd kick your butt. :)</p>
<p>Why is there such a premium placed on Undergrad focus? </p>
<p>Do you think Duke produces more top students than JHU because it's more UG focused?</p>
<p>Not the production, rather I believe the attraction and retention of top students with initial freshman classes begin with, average SAT scores of Duke undergrad students are considerable higher than JHU's student body.</p>
<p>As for which institutions produces higher caliber students, JHopkins for sure. :)We get our asses handed to us every single day and finals time are truly hell. I wonder if any Duke student would face the type of hard headed gung ho very admirable deep hearted and highly motivated scholastic brainiacs that I've seen at JHop. Premeds here are pretty....tough. Johns Hopkins challenging by design and competitive by nature. You truly realize how much your able to mature in one single week and how much your character and personality can develop with just going through one week of hell, it made me physically want to vomit once too (no lie, absolutely true, there was one time i was in a study session with a group of new friends i made. I wanted to throw up because I studied and concentrated wayyy too long. Too much studying can kill ya. :)</p>
<p>That's a common misperception -- albeit one I once believed in. Berk and Umich, two top schools that lack "UG focus", both have freshmen retention rates that rival the top privates. </p>
<p>That theory doesn't hold much water. Student quality is much more important when it comes to retention than "Undergrad focus/attention".</p>
<p>^Student quality cannot exist without attraction to begin with, one thing that I also mentioned. How does UG focus relate to student quality again? I think I made the mistake by saying UG focused schools produce students of greater quality. Obviously, I have misspoken. :-p</p>
<p>Attraction is foremost. The 75%ile of applicant quality is obviously dependent on attraction. Of course attraction is determined by a number of factors -- UG focus being one or not being one. </p>
<p>The importance it receives on this site is puzzling. Their seems to be little correlation between production and UG focus.</p>
<ol>
<li><pre><code> Princeton University (NJ)
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>Harvard University (MA)</p></li>
<li><p>Yale University(CT) *</p></li>
<li><p>Stanford University(CA) *</p></li>
<li><p>University of Pennsylvania</p></li>
<li><p>California Institute of Technology</p></li>
<li><p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</p></li>
<li><p>Duke University(NC)</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia University(NY)</p></li>
<li><p>University of Chicago</p></li>
<li><pre><code>Dartmouth College(NH)
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Washington University in St. Louis
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Cornell University(NY)
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Brown University(RI)
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Northwestern University(IL)
</code></pre></li>
<li><pre><code>Johns Hopkins University(MD)
</code></pre></li>
</ol>
<p>USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: National Universities: Top Schools</p>
<p>Harvard owns all, theres really no point arguing that, no matter what the rankings say... Princeton lacks good grad schools.</p>
<p>JHU got switched to 13th this year for US News rankings...and Harvard doesn't own all, it depends on what you want to do. Would you say that to someone who wants to be an engineer major? Even though Harvard engineering program ranks 23rd.</p>
<p>i know lol i was joking, but in prestige it does.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Phead I cannot think of any less desirable experience in a school than what you mentioned. It sounds horrible and I wholly understand why certain kids can now choose schools over Hopkins. College is about learning, growing and having fun. The cut throat competitive atmosphere that I heard people refer to about Hopkins has to be one of the most negative aspects of its image.I think its a testament to duke that it can be such a fabulous university and still have a rep for having a great sports culture and fun party scene. Moderation is healthy.</p>
<p>^^ of course, because what you want, Bescraze, must be what everyone else wants...</p>
<p>Well I can certainly say what I mentioned is a lot more desirable to a vast majority of people than what Phead does. Because everyone wants to throw up over stress? At least recognize what I said is normal</p>