<p>I think Dmouth is one of the best undergrad schools in the country.
Caltech is the definition of genius, and Duke is a great all round university with an undergrad focus that is not content with the status quo and continually strives towards the highest echelons of American education.</p>
<p>Why are these schools Dartmouth and duke in particular so grossly and blatantly underrated on these forums by prestige hungry high schoolers who have no knowledge whatsoever of their real world status and prestige. I do not intend to start a flame war but it is upsetting to see institutions of this calibre being hated upon for a variety of frivolous reasons. I have observed that this has been going on for a considerable period of time and I can no longer remain oblivious to this prejudiced viewpoint that is expressed on such an esteemed forum. I must apologize at the outset for this uncharacteristic outburst, but I desperately seek answers to the question posed above. Is the behavior of some students of these institutes irksome or is there some deep rooted resentment against them that I am not yet aware of.</p>
<p>Who says they’re underrated on CC? A few (very young, probably high school-age) posters may denigrate a school here or there. Their opinion should be taken with a grain of salt at best. It’s certainly not worth starting a thread or feel ‘irked’ by. Unless you really have nothing more serious to worry/think about.</p>
<p>I don’t know about CalTech, but Duke and Dartmouth are frat/prep heavy, which CC automatically dislikes. Most people here would rather wear something out of Mark Zuckerberg’s closet than wear a polo and play beer pong.</p>
<p>Dartmouth isn’t underrated. Realize you naturally suffer from a bias coming from the school. The entire Ivy League is overrated. </p>
<p>CalTech doesn’t get the love it deserves because it’s a smaller school that specializes in Engineering. While it doesn’t pop up in many “top” school conversations, most users will recognize it as an equal to HYPSM, however. </p>
<p>Duke is meh. I think it draws fire because there are a lot of Duke students always boosting up the school.</p>
<p>I can see the obvious reasons: Dartmouth is bumping elbows with universities, and even though it does have some characteristics of a university, it mostly lives up to its name: a college. Even Dartmouth says it should be ranked with LACs, and would kick most LACs’ butts. People on CC tend to prefer universities over LACs.</p>
<p>People criticize Duke on CC because some Duke supporters can be very vehement and sometimes rude. So it’s gotten a reputation for being a little too vehement.</p>
<p>And Caltech? It’s small and doesn’t do as well in subject rankings as MIT, has a low yield, etc. and students overwhelmingly choose MIT or Stanford over Caltech (according to Caltech’s own statistics). Size matters to people on CC, and Caltech seems like the “little brother of MIT.”</p>
<p>Not saying any of this is legitimate, only that CC seems to have a certain attitude that’s pretty consistent and may lead some to think that the schools you mention are underrated here.</p>
<p>Dartmouth tries to be a research university and a liberal arts college at the same time, and therefore falls short on both accounts.</p>
<p>CalTech is too specialized, lacks humanities and social sciences, and therefore cannot be mentioned in the same breath as other highly respected research universities.</p>
<p>Duke gets scorn because of the drunken orgy culture that pervades undergraduate life; students are the school.</p>
<p>Many CC folks, especially hs students, tend to underrate all schools besides. HYPMS. Sometimes the other Ivy’s, Duke and a few others are included in the exclusive top rated schools. Often a few Ivy’s are looked down on, especially Cornell, Brown and sometimes Dartmouth and Penn.</p>
<p>It is elitism (and ignorance) to the extreme.</p>
What statistics? Source? I have a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) citing CalTech as the second most “preferred” university in the United States.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen anything bad said about any of them in my time browsing CC. They’re all absolute top notch schools, and I don’t think anyone disputes that.</p>
<p>I read a PDF document that lays out a plan for Caltech to improve in various ways like financial aid. In it he said that something like 80% of the cross-admits with Stanford and MIT choose not to go to Caltech. If I have the time, I’ll find it for you.</p>
<p>The study that found that Caltech is the “most preferred” was flawed (as discussed ad nauseum on these forums). I’d also point out that Caltech has probably the lowest yield among top-10 universities, so it’s hard to say that it’s “most preferred.”</p>
<p>For one, I’m not saying it is, just that such seems to be the perception. For another, I don’t think anyone’s basing their views on the production of PhDs, but rather on the size (Caltech is probably the smallest top-50 university - hence “little”), on its comparatively narrower focus (MIT has more programs in STEM fields and also has social sciences and humanities), and on its ranking in most STEM disciplines (MIT is usually ranked higher).</p>
<p>CalTech seems to be appropriately rated here; they are the absolute best in their very narrow focus, but greater breadth would of course be required for an even higher ranking. Still, everybody seems to recognize CalTech as a one-of-a-kind gem, and that’s why its limitations have been ignored. Indeed, CalTech is justifiably held in very high regard, and it has earned that reputation.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Duke and Dartmouth seem to be very much overrated here. In a large band of rough equals, neither one offers anything sufficiently compelling to stand out from the crowd. And yet, their advocates have somehow managed to float the notion that they’re the very best of the rest, just below the most elite levels, perhaps indistinguishable from the elite. And Berkeley, too; do those Berkeley defender guys ever sleep? Are they paid to stand vigil?</p>
<p>But the truth is that Duke, Berkeley, Dartmouth and the like are just great all-around universities, each with certain strengths and weaknesses - proud members of a large group of wonderful institutions. But it’s a reasonably large group, one that probably includes at least a solid 25-50 members (guesstimating).</p>