<p>Couldn't understand what part of the country anyone would live in where Brown was thought of as more prestigious than Columbia. but I could be wrong, claret quilty. But general consensus would easily have Columbia as more revered academically and more name recognition than Brown University.</p>
<p>Everyone is trying to push what they think should be the case and what they believe: Columbia is prestigious.</p>
<p>It isn't though, it's largely forgotten and not talked about much. If the issue is pressed, obviously it will be considered prestigious, but it is strangely far away from Harvard's level of prestige.</p>
<p>somehow its difficult to take posts seriously with blanket statements like:</p>
<p>"I don't know anywhere in the country that XXX is considered better than YYY" when comparing two highly selective and distinguished institutions.</p>
<p>you just can't justify those kinds of all-or-nothing type of blanket statements.</p>
<p>but to answer the original posters question, Columbia is indeed an extremely prestigious university (both nationally and abroad) - though one could argue not nearly quite as prestigious as HYPS (conversly, one could argue that you are certainly splitting hairs at that point). as for Columbia vs. Brown, both are extremely well known and well respected institutions.</p>
<p>Are you from the northeast!??</p>
<p>Columbia is highly thought of at least in NY. . . .</p>
<p>I definately think of it as highly as Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. But that's just me.</p>
<p>Geez. People are so sensitive on this board. I read this, knowing that Columbia is probably one of the top 10 universities in the nation, and kind of agreed with the OP. Columbia is very well known, but considering that it has a peer review from US news of 4.7 and HYP have 4.9s, it's odd that it is as selective. There's a fairly large difference in rankings between Columbia and HYP, yet both have acceptance rates in the low teens. </p>
<p>I, for one, would love to go to Columbia but there's no way I'd ever be accepted. I think that its urban location attracts more applicants, causing it to be as selective as higher ranked schools. </p>
<p>This is an interesting trend among urban schools. Take Georgetown for instance. GU is a great school, but its 23% acceptance rate and SATs in the 1400s makes it as selective as the lower ivies. The problem for GU is that its ranking of #25 puts it 10-15 spots away from schools that are equally selective. What could be the cause for this sizeable difference between rankings and selectivity? Probably its great location in DC.</p>
<p>This is a trend among other well-located schools, as well. No longer do students want to flock to the middle-of-nowhere. Students want to be in major cities. This is a trend causing schools like NYU, GWU, Boston University, USC, Fordham, Miami, and American to be more selective than their rankings would suggest.</p>