<p>I am not sure that is true rhg3rd. the CDS merely states on a 4.0 scale. Most high schools use a 4.0 scale but weigh their GPA where students are given significant boosts to their GPA for taking AP classes. For example, a B in an AP course at many high schools is weighed as a 5.0 on a 4.0 scale. That exlains why UVa’s average cummulative high school GPA for freshmen is 4.2. Cal clearly does not use the same scales in calculating GPA as Maryland and UVa.</p>
<p>Chicago, Columbia, and Princeton’s offerings are too limited at the graduate and professional level for them to lay claim as top 10 global universities if we are measuring them by how “comprehensive” they are. Duke, Penn, and yes even your beloved Michigan are much more complete institutions.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Fwiw, there is plenty of contradiction in the underlying numbers of wealth versus academic performance versus minority status. On the one hand, we are supposed to believe that wealth is directly proportional to SAT performance. Yet, the stronger performance of Asians on the SAT seems to defy that … logical conclusions. Then, there is the purported higher wealth of Asians among all minorities in California and the disparity in Pell reports. </p>
<p>One conclusion might be that relying on self-reported data on income/GPA on the College Board questionaires is just as perilous as expecting certain sub-groups to report what is predominantly cash income accurately and without playing musical chairs with the reporting family members. </p>
<p>In certain parts, cheating is only a problem when … caught!</p>
<p>^ xiggi, it seems you have distrust in a lot of things.</p>
<p>Have wiser words ever be spoken:</p>
<p>[Trust</a> but verify - YouTube](<a href=“Trust but verify - YouTube”>Trust but verify - YouTube)</p>
<p>Regarding my previous statement, I would wager that a sounder process of reported income verification would lead us to trust a bit less. Or pay closer attention to the fancy cars parked in front of donut shops and the ubiquitous SAT/Kumon factories in California. Or the obvious status symbols worn by the “typical” clients. </p>
<p>Trust but verify! The great leader had it right!</p>
<p>Goldenboy, Duke, Michigan and Penn are not more “complete” than Chicago, Columbia or Princeton. If you are looking purely at the 12 traditional disciplines (Bio, Chem, CS, Earth Science, Econ, English, Hist, Math, Physics, PoliSci, Psych, Sociology), Princeton is the strongest in this group of 6 universities, followed by Michigan, Chicago and Columbia. Penn would be 5th and Duke 6th. Naturally, given how strong all 6 universities are, the difference between them is insignificant, but Princeton is #1 in this group.</p>
<p>Of course, if you add the four main professional programs (Business, Engineering, Law and Medicine), Princeton will not do as well since they only offer Engineering. However, the remaining 5 schools are all approximately equal in the professional fields. Chicago and Columbia have top 10 Business, Law and Medical programs, so I am not sure how Duke, Michigan and Penn can be more complete. All five are equal here. </p>
<p>Overall, Princeton is clearly the best, not only because it is so strong in everything single traditional disciplines and Engineering, but also because it is so strong institutionally. With an endowment of $17 billion, a student population of just 7,000 (including graduate students) and no Medical program or major hospital, Princeton is arguably the wealthiest university on Earth. I would say Chicago and Columbia come next. Duke, Michigan and Penn are also brilliant, but come in in the next wave of top universities, along with Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and UCLA.</p>
<p>
[World</a> University Rankings 2012-2013](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking]World”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking)
Here they are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Oxford</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Cambridge</li>
<li>Imperial Colllege London</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>Yale</li>
</ol>
<p>Top Reputation:
- Harvard
- MIT
- Cambridge
- Stanford
- Berkeley
- Oxford
- Princeton
- Tokyo
- UCLA
- Yale</p>
<p>In no particular order:</p>
<p>Harvard
Cambridge
Yale
Princeton
UVA
Stanford
Berkeley
Chicago
Columbia
Northwestern</p>
<p>“HYPSM, Cal, Chicago and Columbia all make the top 10 comprehensive list. Cambridge and Oxford round up the top 10. Many other universities can lay claim to the top 10, including a dozen or so US universities, a handful of British, French and German universities etc…, but I think the 10 I listed probably make the strongest case.”</p>
<p>Other than American universities and a couple of British ones, only universities in Japan (Tokyo and maybe Kyoto) and Canada (Toronto and maybe McGill) might have a valid claim for a spot in the top 10.
Top 10:
Harvard
Stanford
MIT
Berkeley
Cambridge
Princeton
Yale
Caltech
Columbia
Chicago</p>
<p>^ Where’s Oxford in your list?</p>
<p>So, the general consensus top 10 comprehensive best universities worldwide are the following (based largely on academic prestige, school name brand power, facilities, faculty caliber, research output and student quality): </p>
<p>Clear Top 10
**
- Harvard</p>
<p>-</p>
<h2>slight drop </h2>
<ol>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Cambridge, UK</li>
</ol>
<h2>5. Oxford, UK</h2>
<h2>slight drop</h2>
<ol>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Yale</li>
</ol>
<p>-</p>
<p>huge drop </p>
<p>-</p>
<ol>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Chicago
**</li>
</ol>
<p>-</p>
<p>very small drop</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Next Group: Michigan, UPenn, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell</p>
<p>Next Group: Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>Next Group: U of Tokyo, Virginia, University of Sydney, U of New South Wales, U of Toronto, McGill, Australian National U.</p>
<p>Next Group: University College London, National U of Singapore, U of Hong Kong, Peking U, Tsinghua U, Kyoto U and Tohoku U.</p>
<p>World-Class highly specialized institutions:</p>
<p>Caltech
London School of Economics
Imperial College London
ETH-Zurich</p>
<p>“12 traditional disciplines”</p>
<p>Philosophy isn’t a traditional discipline? It’s THE traditional discipline.</p>
<p>RML, Georgetown and CMU AHEAD of Tokyo, McGill, Toronto? Wha?</p>
<p>^^^ I’m afraid the answer to that is, yes. But that’s just my opinion. Those two American schools still enjoy better name recognition, and, thus, more respect than those Japanese and Canadian schools in the political, academic and business community across the globe.</p>
<p>Top 10
Harvard
MIT
Cambridge
Stanford
Berkeley
Oxford
Princeton
Tokyo
UCLA
Yale
Only reputation matters, the rest is fluff.</p>
<p>LOL at the amount of time RML spends on this thread trying to convince everyone how good of a school cal b is…honestly man you need to chill. It is clear you are trying to make yourself feel better about your school, and yes, it is a good school…but NOWHERE near an elite school…not even close</p>
<p>and bigbirdfluff…saying the ONLY thing that matters is reputation is very ignorant…what matters is the networking you do in school and what you learn at the university that you can use after you graduate.</p>
<p>“LOL at the amount of time RML spends on this thread trying to convince everyone how good of a school cal b is…honestly man you need to chill. It is clear you are trying to make yourself feel better about your school, and yes, it is a good school…but NOWHERE near an elite school…not even close.”</p>
<p>What a ridiculous statement. Cal is no where near an elite school, not even close? I think you are the one who needs to “chill.”</p>
<p>“yes, it is a good school…but NOWHERE near an elite school…not even close”</p>
<p>In fact it’s VERY close to an elite school…it’s only 45 minutes from Stanford.</p>
<p>But seriously folks, Berkeley has as strong a faculty as any college in the world, so you’d need a really contorted definition of “elite” to not consider it elite.</p>