<p>TheDad, yes</p>
<p>hey retardos, University rankings are not ranked by the people who get accepted there, but by what the university has to offer. In terms of overall resources IIT lacks a lot. Obviously you are going to get geniuses when you select only 5000 out of 200000 people. The student body in IIT would tell you that.</p>
<p>"Obviously you are going to get geniuses when you select only 5000 out of 200000 people. The student body in IIT would tell you that."</p>
<p>Yes, but the geniuses would only be the top 5-10 students out of the 5000 admits since the rest 195000 students may only have an average performance.</p>
<p>I think you have 2 schools at the top of the charts both in the U.S. and abroad. As for undergraduate education, the top school in the U.S. is Princeton. This view is supported by:</p>
<ol>
<li>The U.S. News & World Report Annual Rankings</li>
<li>The Boston based Atlantic Monthly </li>
<li>The Prowlr Student College Guide</li>
<li>The Princeton Reviews List of Toughest Schools to Get Into</li>
<li>The Early Admissions Game (where Avery himself, a Harvard
employee/researcher lists Princetons median SAT as the highest in
thecountry (behind only CalTech/MIT).</li>
<li>The Consus Group which regularly flip flops H and P at 1 and 2</li>
</ol>
<p>Princeton is an undergrad institution where undergrads comprise the great majority of the population. For this reason there is a near total undergrad focus. The school's endowment, on a per student basis, is the largest in the country. This allows it to give its students the intimacy of an LAC and the resources of a large university.</p>
<p>Harvard, with its broad base and very large graduate program (twice as many graduate students as undergrads) should be recognized as the nation's top graduate/research university with MIT closely behind.</p>
<p>Many years ago the Gourman report came out with a ranking of international law school. Its top ten included Oxford, Cambridge, the University of Paris, Moscow State, and what was then known as "Leningrad State." I was struck by the uselessness of such a list. No one would choose between Cambridge and Moscow based on where they appeared on such a list. People who wanted to study Russian law would choose Moscow or Leningrad.</p>
<p>The top schools in any large country in the world are generally very selective in admission. (The same is true in a number of smaller countries. Talk to people about Trinity College in Dublin, or National Taiwan University.)</p>
<p>University of Tehran is one of the most difficuilt schools to get into.</p>
<p>Well, just think of it this way... Iran has a huge younger population. So, take California, more than triple the size of High School graduates, then make it so that 95% of the students will only apply to schools in Iran, and then make it so that if you don't go to school, you have to go to the military. Also, take away UC Berkley, and all other good private schools in California, and then imagine what the acceptance rate would be like at UCLA. It would be almost impossible to get in. Thats what the University of Tehran is like.</p>
<p>Very nice, TheDad. Garth Nix, I believe...</p>
<p>Greybeard- The Gourman Report's rankings are absurd and are not a reliable source of information. </p>
<p>Carrera_GT- Neither selectivity nor popularity (the two often go together) always indicates quality. In the U.K. alone, Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Edinburgh, Glasgow, etc. are generally less attractive to Americans than HYP, but that does not make them inferior institutions. Selectivity implies a large applicant pool- not necessarily quality. :)</p>
<p>That's the same with the top 2 universities in China, Tsing Hwa and Beijing U, except this time you have the elites drawn from a quarter of the world's population. All except a few cannot go abroad for college...and there is a clear pecking order in the university ranking in China. You can imagine how difficult it is to get in. Of course these two universities get the very best students. The irony of the whole matter is that it is not that difficult for 'foreign' students. Recently both of these universities were recruiting top students from Hong Kong. The criteria they set (4A's in O-Level) were actually lower than those set by the Hong Kong universities (6A's).</p>
<p>It just show that selectivity is a rather meaningless measure when ranking universities worldwide.</p>
<p>WarblersRule, correct. Not typical adult reading. Recs in the house go in both directions.</p>
<p>U of T is an amazing school however. Maybe not comparable to the top American Universities, but in eastern europe, the middle east and most of Asia, it probobly ranks in the top 10.</p>
<p>"Yes, but the geniuses would only be the top 5-10 students out of the 5000 admits since the rest 195000 students may only have an average performance."</p>
<p>Huh what ?</p>
<p>asiaknight's list is a great list of schools!!</p>
<p>if your in the engineering field and never heard of, IIT, oh god!</p>
<p>btw if you travel to china, alot of students talk about:</p>
<p>Berkeley for engineering, Chicago for Medicine, and Minnesota for Mathematics</p>
<p>when it comes to graduate studies, which is pretty consistent with the link that war gave:
<a href="http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2004/2004Main.htm%5B/url%5D">http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2004/2004Main.htm</a></p>
<p>Berkeley #3
Chicago #8
Minnesota #26</p>
<p>However in America, we often down grade these schools alot espically Chicago and Minnesota. It's its split on Berkeley in America, 1/2 thinks its overrated, 1/2 thinks its underrated, lol</p>
<p>"It's its split on Berkeley in America, 1/2 thinks its overrated, 1/2 thinks its underrated, lol"</p>
<p>thats because those who think its overrated dont take into account berkeley's graduate programs, and those who think its underrated take that into account. thats what throws everyone off here on CC, in that berkeley's one of the few schools where theres somewhat of a disparity between the quality of undergrad and graduate education (even though both are very good).</p>
<p>Harvard has " a disparity between the quality of undergrad and graduate education" as well ;)</p>