<p>Is it true that the top non-Ivies that rival the Ivy League in prestige, selectivity, undergrad academic excellence, etc in order are
1) Stanford
2) MIT
3) Caltech
4) Duke
5) UChicago</p>
<p>?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>You forgot Humboldt State, which I hear carries more weight than Harvard and Princeton combined with employers in Latveria.</p>
<p>Yes, I would say that these are the top 5 non-Ivies in order. And US News college rankings seems to agree. The other ones up there are Johns Hopkins, WashU, Northwestern. </p>
<p>And slightly below that, Vandy, Notre Dame, Rice, Emory, Georgetown, UC-Berk, UCLA, USC, Georgetown, UVA, UNC, Tufts, Michigan, and Wake Forest are all incredibly prestigious schools close to Ivy level. And of course the top LACs that are just as good but unfortunately are not recognized to be as prestigious are the SWAMP schools- Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, & Pomona.</p>
<p>Chicago
Cal Tech
MIT
Stanford</p>
<p>Those would be my top 4, and I’d put them ahead of half the ivies.</p>
<p>I’d go Stanford, MIT, Chicago, Williams and Amherst.</p>
<p>In regards to prestige, selectivity, and undergraduate academic excellence, I would say:</p>
<p>Stanford
MIT
Duke
Cal Tech
UChicago</p>
<p>(IMHO)</p>
<p>Looking at the main ranking oranizations, these show up the most…
Stanford
Cal Tech
MIT
UC Berkeley
UCLA</p>
<p>Agree with the OP’s ranking</p>
<p>Northwestern could make an argument about it as well.</p>
<p>
Well, that depends entirely on what you’re looking for. I would break them down into different categories. For example:</p>
<p>Universities
California Institute of Technology
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor</p>
<p>Honorable mentions - Emory University, Georgetown University, Rice University, Vanderbilt University</p>
<p>Liberal Arts Colleges
Amherst College
Harvey Mudd College
Middlebury College
Pomona College
Swarthmore College
Williams College</p>
<p>Honorable mentions - Bowdoin College, Carleton College, Davidson College, Haverford College</p>
<p>Military Academies
US Air Force Academy
US Coast Guard Academy
US Military Academy
US Naval Academy</p>
<p>Music Conservatories
Curtis Institute of Music
Juilliard School</p>
<p>Other
Deep Springs College</p>
<p>Their unique status allows the top HBCUs - Howard, Spelman, and Morehouse - to be recruited rather heavily relative to their academic prowess and selectivity.</p>
<p>I think that all would agree that Stanford belongs on the list of top 5 non-Ivies. Most would also put MIT and CalTech on the list. The remaining two spots would probably be picked from Duke, Chicago, JHU, Georgetown, and Northwestern. A research oriented ranking would probably put Berk, UCLA, and Mich in the top 5. </p>
<p>I don’t know that much about LACs, but a few of them would probably be up there.</p>
<p>I’ve noticed some of you did not include Caltech Chicago and especially Duke…the super moderator eliminated Caltech and Duke…why?</p>
<p>What is JHU?</p>
<p><em>yawn</em></p>
<p>Though I very much like warblersrule86’s post.</p>
<p>@CaptnJack, JHU is Johns Hopkins University</p>
<p>Hmmm, “Bowdoin College, Carleton College, Davidson College, Haverford College” are honorable mentions, yet Vassar doesn’t make the list?</p>
<p>A lot of great LACs didn’t make the list. The poster seems to be referring to the USNWR rankings more than he should, but not exactly. For example, Haverford didn’t make the cut, yet Harvey Mudd did? Reed doesn’t appear anywhere, but it’s probably as good as it gets in terms of education (but then it’s ranked #54 on USNWR, with good reason because the sorry institution doesn’t have any data from Reed, so it makes crap up). But of course, I don’t really consider prestige or selectivity, just academic excellence, so take my word with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Also, I was just wondering in the case of Duke…I have family in NC so. Is it true that a lot of people have lost respect for the institution ever since the Lacrosse incident and the sex scandals? </p>
<p>Didn’t Duke used to be in the top 5 before the incident?</p>
<p>Wellesley???</p>
<p>Narrowing it down to just 5 is not possible…or fair, as it would leave out many excellent universities. I agree with warblersrule86’s list, though I would add Carnegie Mellon, Notre Dame, UCLA, UNC, USC, UVa and WUSTL to the Universities honorable mention and a few, such as Claremont McKenna, Colgate, Grinnell, Vassar and Weselyan would make the LAC honorable mention. </p>
<p>When I sit and write those lists I am often reminded of how the US is blessed with so many awesome colleges and universities. You guys are lucky!</p>
<p>If the Lacrosse incident had any impact on Duke’s reputation, it didn’t last for long. If I recall the students were framed and the case was dropped.</p>
<p>I don’t know why warblersrule’s list is so long. Most of those universities have no shot at getting consideration for the top 5.</p>
<p>Definitely Top 5
Stanford
MIT
Caltech</p>
<p>Strong Contendors
Chicago
Duke
Amherst
Williams
Swarthmore
Pomona
UCB</p>
<p>Although I don’t think Berkeley is a great place to be as an undergraduate, its phenomenal graduate strength is too difficult to ignore (top 3 next to Harvard, Stanford) so I would say its worthy of being a top 15 university.</p>
<p>By the way, I spoke to a famous Russian diplomat today and he said that these were the top 15 schools in the United States (LACs included):</p>
<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
Columbia
Dartmouth
Penn
Duke
Chicago
Cornell
Amherst
Williams
Swarthmore
Berkeley</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, he doesn’t consider Brown or Pomona to be a top 15 school. What do ya’ll think of his list?</p>
<p>Gotta go by academic peer assessment score:</p>
<p>Stanford
MIT
Berkeley
Caltech
Chicago</p>