<p>Which colleges/universities are considered to be America's elite colleges?</p>
<p>Obviously, the Ivy Leagues fall into there. But does that include Brown, Cornell and Dartmouth, all of which are in the lower echelon of the Ivy League?</p>
<p>Of course, Stanford, MIT and Caltech are in there too. </p>
<p>But what about schools like Duke and Johns Hopkins? Are they also considered 'elite'?</p>
<p>There's a top universities and colleges section on here. In most circles, any/all of those schools listed would be considered as America's Elite.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would argue that any school with an SAT 25-75 percent range starting at more than 1350/1600 and topping off at 1500 or above would be a true "elite" school.</p>
<p>A college is only as elite is people want it to be. Can you consider a CC "elite"? Sure, You might be called delusional, but you're entitled to your opinion nonetheless. In reality, the phrase "elite-schools" is thrown around by misguided students who have an infatuation with the ivy league, a number of schools widely recognized for their high academic standards. Make no mistake, they are indeed wonderful institutions, but to ask whether John Hopkins is also considered by America to be an "elite" is like asking whether the corner Mexican grill is considered to be quality food.</p>
<p>Gee, what a provacative question. I too long to hear what the truly "elite" universities are here in the good 'ol US of A. This info. just hasn't penetrated my brain as of yet. Please help.</p>
<p>"but to ask whether John Hopkins is also considered by America to be an "elite" is like asking whether the corner Mexican grill is considered to be quality food"</p>
<p>what does this mean?</p>
<p>all of those schools are elite. yes. Just about all schools in the top 35 or so of USNWR are pretty elite. Some exceptions might go to USC, Tufts, Brandeis, etc, which are not exactly at that level yet.</p>
<p>But yeah,</p>
<p>Ivies, Duke, Hopkins, UChicgao, MIT, Stanford, etc are some of the cornerstone universities of the United STates.</p>
<p>On "elite-ness" or prestige, your best bet is the USNWR Peer Review.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Honestly, I would argue that any school with an SAT 25-75 percent range starting at more than 1350/1600 and topping off at 1500 or above would be a true "elite" school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You cannot just rely on SAT scores alone. There are many more important criteria that are far more important measures than SATs for world-class academic institutions. In fact, many world-class universities don't put as much weight on SATs as they would high school GPAs. The most acceptable criteria used in assessing academic institution are as follows: faculty caliber, facilities, academic prestige of the institution as assessed by people who know, curriculum, research output and scholarship privileges to talented students. </p>
<p>Basing on that criteria, here's how US schools would probably be ranked:</p>
<p>HYPSM - on the league of their own</p>
<p>SUPER ELITE:
Group 1- Caltech, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Chicago, UPenn, Duke, Cornell, UMich, JHU, NU</p>
<p>ELITE:
Group 2 - CMU, Brown, Dartmouth, Rice, UVa, Notre Dame, UCLA, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Emory, Georgia Tech, WUSL </p>
<p>EXCELLENT:
Group 3 - NYU, USC Tufts, Brandies, Wake Forest, UNC, W&M, Lehigh and the like</p>
<p>I'd have to guess RML goes to , NU or Cornell. Those schools more elite that Brown or Dartmouth? Check out the stats. In sports, sure. In undergrad selectiveness and education, no way.</p>
<p>hmom, Deep Springs is extremely selective. does that make it prestigious or elite?
Selectiveness does not necessarily mean much in terms of prestige. Just because Columbia College is harder (statistically) to get into than MIT, doesn't mean MIT is less prestigious or elite than Columbia. These examples can run on and on.</p>
<p>IN short, Prestige and eliteness are based on a lot. Overall, I would agree with you at putting Brown and Dartmouth up in Tier 1 or RML's list, though not at the expense of equally amazing if not more so, schools like NU and Cornell.</p>
<p>Of course it make Deep Springs elite. Selectivity is synonomous with elite. Deep Springs is in the most elite category if you ask people with knowledge of academics purely because of the brilliant stdents and profs it brings together.</p>
<p>Are you talking abot prestige as defined by the average person? That would probably be based on athletics which is how most people come to hear of most colleges outside of their community. </p>
<p>But what method is more fair in terms of judging how elite a college is than selectivity? Student body is the key to any school.</p>
<p>Berkeley's grad school are elite. But for undergrad it's far less selective than the schools in the top tier, most undergrads are taught by TA's and it's per pupil endowment does not compete.</p>
<p>hmom5, I went to Cambridge in England a little more than a decade ago. :)</p>
<p>I really think selectivity alone is lacking, not enough. although I would admit that it's a strong indication of being elite. but again, it's not an absolute indication of being elite. If we go by that logic, Caltech would be more elite than HYPSM. But is that really true?</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>clearly explaining your mis-categorization.</p>
<p>many thanks.</p>
<p>ta ta</p>
<p>^ please expound. </p>
<p>hmom5, how would you assess Cambridge vs Dartmouth, for instance, if we go by SATs??</p>
<p>
[quote]
most undergrads are taught by TA's and it's per pupil endowment does not compete.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>But it's a state funded institution. so aside from the juices it got from endowment money, it also gets funding from the government, tuition fees, research patents, and private donors/companies. it also does not have a medical school. besides, schools don't just rely funding from endowment. where did you get that idea??</p>
<p>Hmom, don't hate on Cornell, but yes your right Dartmouth should definitely be super elite no doubt. But not at the expense of Cornell. What are your connections to Dartmouth, I'm going to Cornell but I'd really like to do some work or possible grad work at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Don't just look at endowment as per-pupil spending. That is a lot of bull. Most endowments (like a good 50%+++++ chunk) can only go towards building, infrastructure, etc. A much smaller portion can actually be SPENT on a pupil, so the per-pupil-thing is ridiculous.</p>
<p>And Hmom, that you mention Deep Springs is a "super elite" place is very surprising. You seem to base so much of your argument on selectivity, when, easily, the faculty, administration, and the facilities are equally if not MORE important than the student body. You can give the stupidest kids the best faculty and facilities in the world, but they would still get no where. Just as you could give the smartest kids the worst facilities and worst faculty, and still get them no where. It needs a balance. For a lot of these reasons, schools like Dartmouth and/or Brown might pale in comparison to places like Cornell or Penn because of the Grad-school trickle down effect of great grad teachers also teaching undergrad and having great modern facilities, etc.</p>
<p>However, Dartmouth and Brown still deserve to be "Super Elite" though not simply because of selectivity and not at the expense of any of the schools in that category.</p>
<p>
All my courses at Berkeley were taught by professors. TAs taught discussion sections, which is very common in any public or private research university.</p>
<p>
High scoring SATers are a dime a dozen at all top universities. Faculty and academic program distinction make a college elite.</p>
<p>RMLs list-- true if you include graduate education, otherwise, I think it's got some inaccuracies.</p>
<p>I would say and I think most people would agree USNWR top 25 schools are the elite of America.</p>
<p>If you want the elitist's elite (the best of the best) then it would probably be
HYPSM at top
Rest of the ivies, Duke and maybe Caltech</p>
<p>Those are undoubtedly the top. With the rest you will find disagreement...Wash U, NU, Hopkins, Michigan, Berkeley and so on</p>
<p>RML, I'm going to Cornell next year. What is the perception of Cornell, if any, over in UK?</p>