<p>I have been looking at a lot of colleges lately and have been wondering if there is a clearcut line between the tiers. I know that HYP are top tiers, but where does it end? Are the Ivy Leagues considered top tier? What about colleges such as Emory and Tufts? Where does 3rd tier begin?</p>
<p>Since there are about 4,000 4-year institutions of higher learning in the U.S., I would consider all the schools regularly discussed on this message board to be "top tier". </p>
<p>However, on this board, users would say top tier is like the Top 30 national universities and Top 20 liberal arts colleges ranked by USNWR.</p>
<p>Second tier would be the next 50-100 and third tier would be 100-200.</p>
<p>Just my opinion...others have much narrower tiers.</p>
<p>Since you're posting on CC, I'll give you a CC answer.</p>
<p>Top Tier = HYPSM, Other Ivies + Caltech </p>
<p>Second Tier = Top LAC's = WAS + Top Publics, Cal, UVA, UMich, UCLA, W & M? ... + Top privates not in the Ivy league = Chicago, Duke, Vandy, Northwestern, Emory, Rice, Tufts and such...</p>
<p>Third Tier = Wake Forest, UNC, Brandeis, Lehigh, RPI ...</p>
<p>the real CC answer:</p>
<p>Top Tier = HYPSM,Caltech </p>
<p>Second Tier = Other Ivies, Chicago, Duke, Northwestern, etc. schools that are CONSISTENTLY in the top 15 in USNEWS and Top 5 LACs.</p>
<p>Third Tier = WUSTL, elite publics, elite southern privates, this tier stops right before NYU in any given year's USNEWS ranking, rest of top 20 LACs.</p>
<p>
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wondering if there is a clearcut line between the tiers
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</p>
<p>Of course not. The debatability of what criteria to apply to ranking colleges applies even more so to the issue of how to decide how low is too low in a ranking on any one criterion, or any set of criteria.</p>
<p>Oh I love how warped our perspectives are! :)</p>
<p>-first or second tier ilovebagels</p>
<p>First Tier - Top 50 national, top 25 LAC
Second Tier - 51-200 national, 26-80 LAC
Third Tier - All other four year accredited institutions
Fourth Tier - 2-year and unaccredited colleges</p>
<p>gprime provided the best real answer. keefer provided the CC answer.</p>
<p>Top Tier: HYPSMC, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore
Second Tier: Other "Ivy League" schools, Top National Universities, Top LACs</p>
<p>Emory and Tufts are both excellent universities and second tier schools.
Attending a second tier school still means that you're better than, what, 90% of college students: keep that in mind.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Top Tier: HYPSMC, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore
Second Tier: Other "Ivy League" schools, Top National Universities, Top LACs
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</p>
<p>Swarthmore and Williams above Brown or Dartmouth? These LACs aren't considered to be top tier on CC if you choose to exclude non-HYP ivies in the top tier.</p>
<p>Top tier is basically USNWR's Princeton to Tufts (top 28). That's only universities though; I'm unsure of LACs.</p>
<p>P.S. I'm not going by CC's high standards; I'm going by normal standards.</p>
<p>That's because a vast majority of people on CC have Ivy League lust.
Why don't we all agree that every school is a good school?</p>
<p>Why top 28? such an odd number...</p>
<p>Because right after Tufts, Wake Forest is #30 and I think it is slightly overrated and not that great. So at #28 is the best dividing line for me.</p>
<p>The tier rankings are typically those of the USNWR. For eg, for the National Universities, the 2008 edition has the top 50 as 1st tier, second tier is 52-124 (there was a tie for #50 and a 7 way tie for #124), third and fourth tiers are listed alphabetically, not numerically. The LACs have the top 2 tiers to # 122, then the go to third, fourth and unranked. etc., etc, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses! It surprised me that some top 50 colleges (ones that I thought were really good) seem to have a bit of a negative reputation. Also, these tiers include the strength of each colleges' honor program, correct? From what I see, the honors' program seem to be in a totally different level than the regular college programs.</p>
<p>keefer's seems most accurate</p>
<p>Repeating. Top tier is, for the Big U's , essentiallty the top 50. Next 50 or so are the second tier. It's right out of the book,. The other stuff is the ever-present "my list is better than your list" debate.</p>
<p>remember USNWR rankings for universities tend to be based on graduate programs. they really don't say much about the undergrad education, however, the list is a great starting point for researching great schools</p>
<p>How do you compare US NEWS rankings for master's universities with LACs ?</p>