College tiers?

Anonymous
Tier 1 - HPSM (tops academically at everything, no special recruitment tactics needed)

Tier 2 - Caltech, UPenn, Duke, Yale, Columbia (great academically at vast majority of things, highly desirable but still employ some special recruitment tactics to compete with Tier 1)

Tier 3 - Brown, Dartmouth, UChicago, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Rice, Berkeley, UCLA, Georgetown, UMich, Cornell, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Bowdoin, Harvey Mudd, Olin College of Engineering (great academically at many things, slightly less desirable than previous tiers and slightly worse undergrad outcomes)

Tier 4 - UVA, NYU, UNC, Georgia Tech, USC, CMU, WUSTL, Emory, Carleton, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Claremont McKenna, Barnard, Davidson, Grinnell…
Anonymous
UF and University of Washington should be on that 4th tier.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:UF and University of Washington should be on that 4th tier.


Tier 4 was left somewhat open ended
Anonymous
Top company Employers recruiting on campus generally go to top 20 ranked schools on USNWR..some stretch to top 50, then top 100. Some do not limit if they are in a less desirable location/ field.

That means even the snobbiest/selective employers are more expansive/ inclusive than you are in defining tiers OP.
Anonymous
Based on prestige , layperson "perception" and demand alone, all 8 Ivy League schools are Tier 1, parsing aside.
Anonymous
DCUM obsession with prestige is so exhausting. Everything must be ranked and hierarchical.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:DCUM obsession with prestige is so exhausting. Everything must be ranked and hierarchical.


Welcome to the U.S.A.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:DCUM obsession with prestige is so exhausting. Everything must be ranked and hierarchical.


I wonder what someone gets out of this, especially the choice to separate the Ivies into different tiers. It's all subjective. There is no right answer. Is it just to feel better about a decision?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DCUM obsession with prestige is so exhausting. Everything must be ranked and hierarchical.


Welcome to the U.S.A.
I may be wrong, but I had assumed it was newcomers to the U.S. driving this.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DCUM obsession with prestige is so exhausting. Everything must be ranked and hierarchical.


Welcome to the U.S.A.
I may be wrong, but I had assumed it was newcomers to the U.S. driving this.


USN&WR

Drives the college ranking narrative.
Anonymous
Better tier explanation and app strategy on here last week.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DCUM obsession with prestige is so exhausting. Everything must be ranked and hierarchical.


I wonder what someone gets out of this, especially the choice to separate the Ivies into different tiers. It's all subjective. There is no right answer. Is it just to feel better about a decision?


The ivies are not all equal of course, some are better than others
Anonymous
Much simpler way to do this. And you should use this to guide your app strategy:

“There are three sets of rankings on US news and world report that are helpful for figuring out a shotgun or application strategy

1. Ivy, ivy plus schools; ranked one through Vanderbilt.

2. Ivy minus schools and a few other top 25. Vanderbilt through NYU.

3. NYU and down.

These tiers have different levels of selectivity, different strategies with respect to applications, and just different levels of scrutiny.”
Anonymous
Among these 4 tiers OP, where would you rank the local community college?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Tier 1 - HPSM (tops academically at everything, no special recruitment tactics needed)

Tier 2 - Caltech, UPenn, Duke, Yale, Columbia (great academically at vast majority of things, highly desirable but still employ some special recruitment tactics to compete with Tier 1)

Tier 3 - Brown, Dartmouth, UChicago, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Rice, Berkeley, UCLA, Georgetown, UMich, Cornell, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Bowdoin, Harvey Mudd, Olin College of Engineering (great academically at many things, slightly less desirable than previous tiers and slightly worse undergrad outcomes)

Tier 4 - UVA, NYU, UNC, Georgia Tech, USC, CMU, WUSTL, Emory, Carleton, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Claremont McKenna, Barnard, Davidson, Grinnell…


Must be a Monday.

Choose your field of study and then choose your schools. If you are interested in space sciences then places like Stanford and Johns Hopkins rank lower than University of Arizona.

But I suppose if you are just shopping for a name brand regardless of interest then go for it.

Good luck at the Dakar in your Bugatti!

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