top 15 most prestigious universities

College Search & Selection
1121

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Believe it or not, almost nobody in the Northeast has even heard of UChicago, UC-Berkeley, Caltech, Michigan, Vanderbilt, or Duke. The only time we hear of schools like these are for sports (Michigan, Duke, etc). If I were to say that I am going to UChicago people up here would say, why pay 45K to go to a state school in Illinois when you could go to UMass for 20K? (Of course UMass isn't even remotely comparable to UChicago). But people here regard any state university as their version of UMass. State schools are barely "average" for people from the Northeast. That's how unrecognized non-Northeast schools are. However, this is not to say that these schools aren't fantastic schools."

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<p>To the contrary, sports actually make a school a lot more prestigious. I don't know about all those schools you listed, but I'm quite familiar w/ U of M and Duke, and I KNOW U of M is huge in the North East. It seems like all the OOS kids either come from NY and NJ. It's ridiculous that you don't think Michigan is perceived as a prestigious school. It has world wide name recognition, is tops in the world for many of its programs, and has one of the (if not THE, I've heard THE but I'm not certain) largest group of alumni of any U.S. college. In fact, when espn.com polls have to do w/ U of M, NY and NJ always have more pro-Michigan voting stats than the rest of the nonbiased states.</p>

<p>Likewise, if we're talking general prestige in the U.S., I would put Duke only behind HYP and possibly Stanford. Williams and Amherst??? Are you kidding me? They may be better academic schools but I bet easily at least 95% of the U.S. population has never heard of them. If you want to argue that Duke is just a glorified Southern basketball school then fine, but I think it's pretty clear that Duke is seen as extremely prestigious among the general U.S. population (and yes, that includes Northeast) even if you think it may not deserve that reputation it partially gets from its awesome basketball program.</p>

<p>Oh, and for undergrad, Cornell is the least overall prestigious Ivy League school. period.</p>

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Oh, and for undergrad, Cornell is the least overall prestigious Ivy League school. period.

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<p>Why do they make it so easy to dislike Duke? Almost like it's done on purpose.</p>

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Williams and Amherst??? Are you kidding me? They may be better academic schools but I bet easily at least 95% of the U.S. population has never heard of them.

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<p>No, not exactly. I kind of like the way this guy thinks. He makes a valid concession.</p>

<p>But, here, I was under the impression that Cornell has hefty international renown.</p>

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<p>Really? Don't be so modest. I would easily put Duke above HYPS.</p>

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<p>Oh, and for undergrad, Duke is the most overall prestigious Ivy League school, period.</p>

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<p>Ditto, I would put Duke over HYPS, LSE, Cambridge, and Oxford as well.</p>

1126

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Likewise, if we're talking general prestige in the U.S., I would put Duke only behind HYP and possibly Stanford.

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<p>lol</p>

<p>I mean, of course.</p>

1127

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Totally disagree. In my world (NYC finance) Cornell has the lowest Ivy prestige. Dartmouth, Brown, Penn and Columbia are all about the same. I experienced the same when I was in Boston and DC.</p>

<p>Also disagree with your sentiments on Duke. In my experience its completely on par with the Ivies and above Cornell in terms of "wow" factor.

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<p>Coming from a highly competitive boarding school in the NE and spending a lot of time in NYC, I can tell you that for the most part what you said seems right. I did find columbia and upenn to be on the higher end, but I will admit that differs in some peoples minds. Cornell always seemed to occupy the bottom, I am not saying this as a criticism, but by simply ranking the "wow" factor that is what my experience has show. Here are my rankings from my perspective</p>

<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Stanford, Yale, Princeton</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Penn/Columbia</li>
<li>Dartmouth/Brown/ Duke</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Chicago/ Wash U </li>
<li>Hopkins</li>
</ol>

<p>Its a little harder for my school, since the LACs are extremely popular. Yet, these schools (more or less in tiers) would represent the rough hierarchy of schools by prestige. This would also hold true for what I have seen as peoples opinions in the NE.</p>

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<p>^That's like ours, except Columbia/Penn are beneath Dartmouth/Brown/Duke in the Northwest. The UCs are highly regarded, and Stanford is a more popular option than HYP due to proximity.</p>

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<p>This is mine:
(I went to a prep school in NJ)</p>

<ol>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT</li>
<li> Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>JHU</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>WUSTL</li>
</ol>

<p>Many at my school didn't prefer Brown. Everybody was crazy for Duke though!</p>

1130

<p>Ours is like this, roughly:</p>

<p>1) Harvard
2) Stanford/Princeton/Yale
5) MIT
6) Duke/Dartmouth
8) Penn/Columbia
10) Brown/Cornell
12) Amherst/Williams/Swarthmore
15) Hard...Either UofC/WUSTL/JHU or like Caltech/Berkeley</p>

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<p>before caming to the US i have never heard of Brown and Dartmouth.They would not be in my top 15 list</p>

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But, here, I was under the impression that Cornell has hefty international renown.

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<p>Sorry if I wasn't clear, as I was in the rest of my post I was talking about the general U.S. prestige. Cornell's probably the best engineering school in the ivy League, but it's not as prestigious overall as the others (high admit rate, etc). It seems like you could make a valid argument for 4 of the ivy League schools coming right behind HYP, but it becomes much more difficult when arguing Cornell behind them for UG prestige.</p>

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"Really? Don't be so modest. I would easily put Duke above HYPS."

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<p>I can see you're sarcasm, but I think you'd be surprised by the number of people (particularly from the south), who do. Again I'm talking general, not academic prestige here.</p>

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[quote]
"1. Duke
2. Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT
7. Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell
11. Brown
12. Chicago
13. JHU
14. Northwestern
15. WUSTL"

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<p>I'm surprised Princeton wasn't regarded higher since that school was located in NJ and that Brown was less popular than Cornell.</p>

<p>If you disagree with what I'm saying please tell me why or just don't respond. Can someone tell me how you quote people again... I thought is was
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"blah blah blah"

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but I can't get it to work.</p>

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Sorry if I wasn't clear, as I was in the rest of my post I was talking about the general U.S. prestige. Cornell's probably the best engineering school in the ivy League, but it's not as prestigious overall as the others (high admit rate, etc).

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<p>Your argument is that Cornell is less prestigious than the other Ivies because of it's high admit rate. Last time I checked, Duke's 23% acceptance rate was higher than every single Ivy League school(Yes, even Cornells-20%!). By your logic, Duke is worse than every Ivy and is not behind HYP and ahead of S in prestige like you say it is.</p>

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I'm surprised Princeton wasn't regarded higher since that school was located in NJ and that Brown was less popular than Cornell.

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<p>Sorry if I wasn't clear, I was being sarcastic. Duke probably was not in the top 15 school choices at my school.</p>

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If you disagree with what I'm saying please tell me why or just don't respond.

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It really needs no explanation, it's just that you're ridiculously arrogant by claiming Duke is behind HYP, probably ahead of Stanford and better than every other school in the nation in terms of prestige. </p>

<p>Here's a reality check:</p>

<p>The</a> New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices</p>

<p>Percent of students who get into both Stanford and Duke and chose Stanford: 92%
Percent of students who get into both Stanford and Duke and chose Duke: 8%
Yea, Duke might be more prestigious than Stanford.</p>

<p>Ready for more?</p>

<p>MIT 92% Duke 8%</p>

<p>Brown 78% Duke 22%</p>

<p>Columbia 74% Duke 26%</p>

<p>Cornell 54% Duke 46%</p>

<p>Dartmouth 70% Duke 30%</p>

<p>Penn 66% Duke 34%</p>

<p>Georgetown 51% Duke 49%</p>

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It seems like you could make a valid argument for 4 of the ivy League schools coming right behind HYP, but it becomes much more difficult when arguing Cornell behind them for UG prestige.

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<p>Actually .... I find it quite easy. Seeing as how Cornell is the best ivy for CS, engineering, physics, astronomy, among others. Seeing as how Cornell received more patents than any other ivy this past year. Seeing as how Cornell receives more NSF science and engineering funding than any other university.</p>

<p>You need to look beyond the admit rate.....</p>

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<p>No, that is not my argument. Please don't tell me my argument and make all sorts of assumptions to critique my logic (the irony...). Compared to the rest of the ivy league cornell's admit rate is high. I thought I made it clear that I was comparing Cornell only to the Ivy League when I said :Cornell's probably the best engineering school in the ivy League, but it's not as prestigious overall as the others" Maybe I should have wrote out Ivy League and capitalized it to be more clear. Duke draws a stronger applicant pool, and the students who matriculate to duke are stronger. I should have said "weaker students" from the beginning although I guessed this would draw a strong backlash, as Cornell students are in no way weak. I think we've seen enough threads like these so I wrote one thing that people often mention when talking about Cornell for UG and wrote etc because I thought you would understand that I didn't want to list a million things out. Duke admitted 18% this year btw, not 23%. Again though, I should have never even mentioned admit rate to save myself this explanation. Prestige is solely a subjective measure. I believe the average American thinks Duke is much more prestigious than Cornell for an undergrad school. It could very well be different at your prep school (much different sampling frame). </p>

<p>good luck at Cornell it is an awesome school and place to go school</p>

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<p>"Actually .... I find it quite easy. Seeing as how Cornell is the best ivy for CS, engineering physics, astronomy, among others. Seeing as how Cornell received more patents than any other ivy this past year. Seeing as how Cornell receives more NSF science and engineering funding than any other university."</p>

<p>I see what you're saying. For engineers, Cornell is often better academically than HYP. I still don't think it's as prestigious as the other schools though.</p>

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<p>Just to set things straight... Duke admitted close to 21% of students this year. From the Duke forum (parents of 2012 newsletter):</p>

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<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/546229-anyone-know-how-big-duke-12-a.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/546229-anyone-know-how-big-duke-12-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Cornell is only better for engineers? Try engineers, architects, people who wish to study business, hotel managers, agriculturalists, and your list will be a bit more complete.</p>

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<p>No, it's actually pretty easy. Cornell has 3 number one schools in the world(Architecture, Hotel, Agriculture) and one number one school in the Ivy League (engineering).</p>

<p>Understand that if you are going to come around here and arrogantly assert your school is more prestigious than every school in the country other than HYP, people are going to tell you you're wrong.</p>

<p>Enjoy your time at Duke, it's a fun school. Don't let your head grow too big though.</p>

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<p>Anyone who says that Cornell/Penn are more prestigious than Brown/Dartmouth has got to be kidding me. </p>

<p>First off, many people don't even know that Penn exists. You won't believe how many times the following has happened:
I think I might want to check out Upenn.
Oh, you mean Penn State, good school.
No, I mean Upenn.
What's that?
It's an Ivy league school in Philadelphia.
REALLY?!?
...
and I live in NY. </p>

<p>As for Cornell, many, many people consider it to be the back door to the ivy league. It's a commonly held belief (inside and outside of my high school) that people apply to Cornell because they know its (relatively) easy to get in and they can still say they went to an ivy. Cornell is the "stupid ivy" (even though there's no such thing). </p>

<p>And as for Stanford, it's a great school and currently my number 1 choice, but it's really not as prestigious as many make it out to be. It's not a Northeast school so nobody really seems to care. The most common response I hear when I say I'm going to apply there is "Oo, is it a good school?" </p>

<p>Brown/Dartmouth have a stigma for being "party schools" but overall are held in high esteem as academic institutions. </p>

<p>My list would look something like this:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton (yes, I believe that Yale is more prestigious than Princeton as Princeton is the odd one out of the Big 3. Harvard and Yale have been rivals forever and Princeton is the underdog that happened to make it to the top)
Columbia
Brown
Dartmouth
Upenn
Cornell</p>

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<p>that was after the waitlists...I wasn't familiar w/ that number and even then don't think schools used the rates after the waitlist anyway, i don't think college board does when they report admit rates</p>

<p>Please, why can't you understand I'm not arrogantly asserting stuff about my school? Many other ppl have Duke that high on even general ranking lists. I'm not talking about rankings, I'm talking about prestige. Not rankings...prestige. I mean, we're sitting here talking about prestige. Prestige. Not how some people actually try to rank the schools, but prestige. We're talkin bout prestige.</p>

<p>Over the past 20 yrs Duke has held a very high ranking in the U.S. news. Normal people are familiar w/ it b/c of basketball. Do I think Duke is better than MIT for undergrad? No. Do I think MIT is better than Duke? I think its safe to say it probably is. I just think Duke's prestige among regular, non-CC Americans is probably slightly higher than MIT's. I think you're overestimating the American people. If MIT had a sweet basketball team (note this has nothing to do w/ academic quality of school) that probably wouldn't be the case.</p>

<p>I hope this post is not arrogant...again, prestige is not what I think of the schools but how I believe others think of them.</p>

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<p>I'm not interested in comparing Cornell to Duke. I'm interested in your statement that Cornell wasn't as prestigious as other ivies. In your original post you said that it was because of admit rate, but now you say that admit rate was not your argument. I'm a bit confused here. Could you explain why exactly you think Cornell isn't as prestigious as other ivies? Are you judging prestige based on what the average high schooler thinks or what the average American thinks? With HS students, I think your point is proven conclusively. Cornell has the lowest ivy yield and loses most cross admits to every other ivy in the NY Times survey posted above. With average Americans, it becomes about your perception of average Americans. I don't know of any way to gauge what the "average American" thinks.</p>

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good luck at Cornell it is an awesome school and place to go school

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Well........... I can't argue with that.
By the way, congrats on Duke. You're about to attend a very special school.... I'll be pulling for the Blue Devils come this winter when they take on those Tarheels :)</p>