<p>Most colleges today are much more selective and highly regarded then they were 15-20 years ago. With more students applying and with more money coming in, almost all colleges are better off today. But what colleges, if any, have a worse reputation or are worse off now then they were a generation ago?</p>
<p>The 7 sister schools all took a nose dive when the ivies went coed.</p>
<p>My mom told me Bennington used to be much more prestigious.</p>
<p>Antioch College</p>
<p>Duke I would think</p>
<p>While still a VERY respected university, Columbia used to be what HYP is today. It seems to have dropped a slight notch.</p>
<p>I actually think Duke has a better reputation now academically than it did 15 or so years ago. I guess the recent rape case may have hurt their reputation over all, along with the cheating allegations at the B-school, but you'll receive a pretty good education at Duke.</p>
<p>I agree the 7 sisters are less pretigious, some more so than others. I think Wellesley is still pretty prestigious.</p>
<p>Duke has gone way up in prestige as it's now regarded as a top 5 school.</p>
<p>It's true that the 7 Sisters took a big hit when places like Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale went co-ed, Vassar went co-ed, and Radcliffe became fully part of Harvard. Women's colleges lack the prestige that they used to have.</p>
<p>Columbia took a big hit during the uprising of the 1960s and I don't think ever regained its stature.</p>
<p>Duke and Notre Dame have gone way up. University of Washington has risen as well.</p>
<p>Rice, TCU, and SMU all had much higher profiles when they were in the Southwest Conference with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor (and at one time, Arkansas). When that conference was dissolved and UT, A&M, Tech, and Baylor joined the Big 8 (to make the Big 12), Rice, TCU and SMU sort of disappeared from the national sports psyche, and have become MORE like schools like WashU-StLouis, Rochester, and NYU that can't rely on a prominent sports program to make them famous.</p>
<p>I know Arizona State went down in the rankings, while not high to begin with, it used to be considered a very good state and business school. </p>
<p>I think places like USC and UCSD are slowly gaining more prestige than they had 15 years ago.</p>
<p>FIU in Miami was once really good, but it went down and now it's climbing back!</p>
<p>also definitely Berkeley. During the 60's, EVERYBODY was talking about Berkeley, now its sort of down to Michigan level (probly still a little higher, but I live on the East Coast)</p>
<p>
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FIU in Miami was once really good, but it went down and now it's climbing back!
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</p>
<p>I hate FIU more than any school in the world.</p>
<p>fast27,</p>
<p>on the west coast, berkeley is the *****</p>
<p>Technically speaking, would the 7 sisters' prestige have gone done within the last 15 years? Wouldn't it have been before that? I know that Radcliffe merged/disappeared for good fairly recently, but Vassar has been coeducation alsince 1969, as has Princeton and Yale become coeducational around the same time. </p>
<p>Anyway, I'm not too worried about Wellesley's overall prestige :), but I just think that the 7 sisters don't quite fit into the scope of the question, but I also can't personally think of schools that do fit into the question.</p>
<p>I also think that the question is a little vague--by reputation are we really talking prestige? Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but to me prestige = name recognition and reputation = school quality, and I can't see many high profile schools where the overall quality has really decreased appreciably.</p>
<p>Brown seemingly, though it's climbing back up in most recent years.</p>
<p>Bennington was very prestigious back when it was all women. During the late '80's and early '90's it suffered in enrollment and reputation. It definitely seems to be back on it's way up both financially and in terms of quality. There is a lot of building going on on campus, the numbers are going up (including size and SAT & GPA of incoming students). I heard from my daughter that they had a record number of applicants this year.</p>
<p>I agree with TourGuiide's comments on those former Southwest Conference schools. Rice et al have lost some of the attention that the sports media gives a school. I doubt that it has had any effect on the quality of the educational product at a school like Rice, but if you ask the average high school student in the Northeast about Rice, they probably have not heard much about the school.</p>
<p>As far as which schools have suffered in the last fifteen years, I think that it is clear that the state universities have suffered. State funding is under pressure almost everywhere and many state Us have had trouble keeping up in today's college "arms race." As a result, financial resources in support of students and faculty are sometimes pinched and this can have negative consequences for the undergraduate experience. Still, many State Us are a great bargain (especially compared to some privates) and still can offer a terrific education.</p>
<p>The statement on this thread concerning Columbia University is rot; utter nonsense! I'd be surprised if the poster had any intimate knowledge of Columbia or Harvard, Yale or Pennsylvania, for that matter.</p>