What's the hardest/ most prestigious university in the world?

College Confidential Community
101

<p>actually the BEST known Unis around the would is havard. period. go anywhere are people know harvard. Next is cambridge, and oxford. then MIT. then stanford, yale, princeton etc. cal tech isn't well known at all.</p>

102

<p>Cal Tech is not really a full fledged university though its more like a science botique.</p>

103

<p>Where's the UChicago love?</p>

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India is full of AIDS!!!!!!!

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I'm stealing this.</p>

104

<p>The hardest AND most prestigious is by any means, Harvard. The next couple of unis are: Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Princeton. Period
By hardest I mean by the quality of the applicant pool (not only SAT, but overall brilliance). Places like IIT are regarded like THE THING in India, but its reputation outside... probably less known than even RPI. Btw, I'm from Korea, and never heard any university name (before I was 14, that is) other than HYPSM and Columbia, Cal-tech (yeah, I actually knew that), Oxford, Cambridge.</p>

105

<p>
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The hardest AND most prestigious is by any means, Harvard. The next couple of unis are: Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Princeton. Period
By hardest I mean by the quality of the applicant pool (not only SAT, but overall brilliance).

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You must have a different definition of brilliance than I. The smartest kids I know went to Cal Tech & MIT/Harvard. The IIT entrance test is highly G-loaded. I have no doubt it easily competes on an "IQ" level with Cal Tech.</p>

106

<p>what is the acceptance rate for IIT?</p>

107

<p>^Mr Payne, Cal Tech, MIT's brilliance is mostly math/science based. HYPS Oxbridge are more all around, and more brilliant in social sciences</p>

108

<p>Define "all around brilliance"...in the end, it likely comes back to IQ.</p>

109

<p>^ I've never seen a president from MIT/Cal-Tech... leadership is also a brilliance, perhaps as valuable or more so than IQ. But I get your point. Caltech/MIT are the leaders in RAW brilliance, in other words, IQ levels.</p>

110

<p>The problems at "<a href="http://www.mathiit.com/PDF/IIT/IIT2004M.pdf"&gt;http://www.mathiit.com/PDF/IIT/IIT2004M.pdf&lt;/a&gt;" are not that tricky, they seem to be hard standard questions. Most questions in the Qualifications for the Swedish Science or Math Competitions are harder than any of those...
But I do agree that they are more difficult than average high school test questions.
It ultimately comes down to "what makes a unviersity hard"?
Typical ToK question for you IB-candidates :P</p>

111

<p>I agree with you Kowloon. I mean Yale College and Harvard buisness School can lay claim to Mr. George W Bush. NOTHING is more pretigous and brilliant than that.</p>

112

<p><<<i agree="" with="" you="" kowloon.="" i="" mean="" yale="" college="" and="" harvard="" buisness="" school="" can="" lay="" claim="" to="" mr.="" george="" w="" bush.="" nothing="" is="" more="" pretigous="" brilliant="" than="" that.="">>></i></p><i agree="" with="" you="" kowloon.="" i="" mean="" yale="" college="" and="" harvard="" buisness="" school="" can="" lay="" claim="" to="" mr.="" george="" w="" bush.="" nothing="" is="" more="" pretigous="" brilliant="" than="" that.="">

<p>Sarcasm aside, I agree with Kowloon. Princeton, for ex., can claim 7 Presidents (I think). That says alot about the prestige of the University, regardless of whether you agree with what these Presidents did or not.</p>
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113

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Typical ToK question for you IB-candidates :P

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<p>Shudder .</p>

114

<p>
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Most questions in the Qualifications for the Swedish Science or Math Competitions are harder than any of those...

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And is that used as the sorting mechanism for college entrance?</p>

115

<p>just hard math questions suck. It doesn't test anything. contest questions actually test your understanding and ability to critical think. </p>

<p>and not everyone wants to be a president. Especially people who go to MIT/Cal tech etc. </p>

<p>I for example would rather be a hobo than a president.</p>

116

<p>Didn't Benjamin Netanyahu attend MIT? He was Prime Minister of Israel, but that's the highest office in Israel so it would be equivalent to President.</p>

117

<p>This is blasphemous! Everyone knows that University of North-Nebraska is the best! [/end sarcasm</p>

118

<p>Service Academies. Grades alone wont get you in, hell grades + great ec's wont get you in, you need congressional nominations. On top of that you graduate with a degree that says not only are you smart but, unlike 99% of US universities (including every ivy) you are a leader. And in 5 years when you're applying for a job you're gonna have an equal school as a hyp grad but in your 5 years since graduation you'll be leading hundreds of troops, possibly in armed combat. It's going to be hard to top that work experience.</p>

119

<p>Princeton hasn't been able to claim presidents for a while. Also aside from a few exceptions, presidents are not known for their intelligence. It was not their HYP education that helped most take the office but rather Daddy's bank account. So if money and stupidity is prestige then HY are prestigious on that metric alone.</p>

<p>The smartest presidents tend to be the ones who didn't attend HYP (ie Clinton-Georgetown)</p>

120

<p>Except that Clinton went to Yale Law School and also studied at Oxford.</p>