What schools are better than the lower Ivies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rough pecking order:

1. HYPSM (+Caltech)
2. Penn, Columbia, UChicago, Duke
3. Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Northwestern

If by lower ivies you mean any non-HYP then Stanford, MIT, Caltech are better. If by lower ivies you just mean Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, then I’d also put Duke and Chicago above those 3 too.

How do you get Chicago in that 2nd group? Are you a Big3 parent?
Chicago's ability to game USNWR helped them rise but that second group is very high for them. Isn't NW ranked above Chicago in every major publication? Even in the midwest, Chicago isn't considered the top undergrad school in the region reputation wise.

Times Higher Education (UK based) has it as their number 13 ahead of JHU (ouch) and UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, Duke, etc
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking

QS (also out of the UK) has it at 11 and ahead of places like CalTech, Yale and Princeton
https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-top-uni-wur

However I do not believe these roll up rankings are all that useful. It is better to look at individuals programs and there are a few where Chicago is indisputably in the world top 10 if not top 5.

These rankings also suggest UVA is a top 200 and top 300 school... yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rough pecking order:

1. HYPSM (+Caltech)
2. Penn, Columbia, UChicago, Duke
3. Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Northwestern

If by lower ivies you mean any non-HYP then Stanford, MIT, Caltech are better. If by lower ivies you just mean Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, then I’d also put Duke and Chicago above those 3 too.

How do you get Chicago in that 2nd group? Are you a Big3 parent?
Chicago's ability to game USNWR helped them rise but that second group is very high for them. Isn't NW ranked above Chicago in every major publication? Even in the midwest, Chicago isn't considered the top undergrad school in the region reputation wise.

Times Higher Education (UK based) has it as their number 13 ahead of JHU (ouch) and UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, Duke, etc
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking

QS (also out of the UK) has it at 11 and ahead of places like CalTech, Yale and Princeton
https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-top-uni-wur

However I do not believe these roll up rankings are all that useful. It is better to look at individuals programs and there are a few where Chicago is indisputably in the world top 10 if not top 5.

These rankings also suggest UVA is a top 200 and top 300 school... yikes.

Duke is #57

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rough pecking order:

1. HYPSM (+Caltech)
2. Penn, Columbia, UChicago, Duke
3. Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Northwestern

If by lower ivies you mean any non-HYP then Stanford, MIT, Caltech are better. If by lower ivies you just mean Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, then I’d also put Duke and Chicago above those 3 too.

How do you get Chicago in that 2nd group? Are you a Big3 parent?
Chicago's ability to game USNWR helped them rise but that second group is very high for them. Isn't NW ranked above Chicago in every major publication? Even in the midwest, Chicago isn't considered the top undergrad school in the region reputation wise.

Times Higher Education (UK based) has it as their number 13 ahead of JHU (ouch) and UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, Duke, etc
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking

QS (also out of the UK) has it at 11 and ahead of places like CalTech, Yale and Princeton
https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-top-uni-wur

However I do not believe these roll up rankings are all that useful. It is better to look at individuals programs and there are a few where Chicago is indisputably in the world top 10 if not top 5.

These rankings also suggest UVA is a top 200 and top 300 school... yikes.

The students at UVA are better than the professors. UVA doesn't have highly ranked academic departments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rough pecking order:

1. HYPSM (+Caltech)
2. Penn, Columbia, UChicago, Duke
3. Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Northwestern

If by lower ivies you mean any non-HYP then Stanford, MIT, Caltech are better. If by lower ivies you just mean Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, then I’d also put Duke and Chicago above those 3 too.

How do you get Chicago in that 2nd group? Are you a Big3 parent?
Chicago's ability to game USNWR helped them rise but that second group is very high for them. Isn't NW ranked above Chicago in every major publication? Even in the midwest, Chicago isn't considered the top undergrad school in the region reputation wise.

Times Higher Education (UK based) has it as their number 13 ahead of JHU (ouch) and UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, Duke, etc
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking

QS (also out of the UK) has it at 11 and ahead of places like CalTech, Yale and Princeton
https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-top-uni-wur

However I do not believe these roll up rankings are all that useful. It is better to look at individuals programs and there are a few where Chicago is indisputably in the world top 10 if not top 5.

These rankings also suggest UVA is a top 200 and top 300 school... yikes.

The students at UVA are better than the professors. UVA doesn't have highly ranked academic departments.

Haha no. Thanks for the laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rough pecking order:

1. HYPSM (+Caltech)
2. Penn, Columbia, UChicago, Duke
3. Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Northwestern

If by lower ivies you mean any non-HYP then Stanford, MIT, Caltech are better. If by lower ivies you just mean Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, then I’d also put Duke and Chicago above those 3 too.

How do you get Chicago in that 2nd group? Are you a Big3 parent?
Chicago's ability to game USNWR helped them rise but that second group is very high for them. Isn't NW ranked above Chicago in every major publication? Even in the midwest, Chicago isn't considered the top undergrad school in the region reputation wise.

Times Higher Education (UK based) has it as their number 13 ahead of JHU (ouch) and UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, Duke, etc
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking

QS (also out of the UK) has it at 11 and ahead of places like CalTech, Yale and Princeton
https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-top-uni-wur

However I do not believe these roll up rankings are all that useful. It is better to look at individuals programs and there are a few where Chicago is indisputably in the world top 10 if not top 5.

These rankings also suggest UVA is a top 200 and top 300 school... yikes.

The students at UVA are better than the professors. UVA doesn't have highly ranked academic departments.

Haha no. Thanks for the laugh.

Sorry--I did not make that clear. The students at UVA tend to be very good students, though the professors are not usually outstanding scholars. This is why UVA gets a relatively low ranking by the QS and TLS. It is a ranking of the academic prestige of the departments, not the quality of the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is such a dumb thread. Unless anyone can define "better," there really isn't an answer here.

This post is better than the ones right before it.

My ranking:

#1) 03/14/2024 11:14
#2) 03/12/2024 14:48
#3) 03/12/2024 14:29
#178) 03/13/2024 16:13

I am sure you find this immensely helpful, as there is no other way for you to objectively or independently judge the qualities of these posts without some rando putting ordered numerals to the left of them.

[Anonymous]

Lots of schools are considered better than Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth. This shouldn’t be news to anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Maryland. - Proud Terp '02

Agreed. Best undergraduate experience I've ever had with smart peers who chose to graduate debt-free over fancy name schools. Anyone choosing the ivies over UMD in-state is delusional. Quality of education at UMD better than most ivies since they funnel resources to grad students. Proud Terp '94

Curious...did you have more than one undergraduate experience? Maybe more accurately...the best and only undergraduate experience I've ever had.

Ha ha. I was thinking exactly the same thing. These UMD posters are something else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of schools are considered better than Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth. This shouldn’t be news to anyone.

Not really. The brand names of Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth are very strong internationally. Everyone has heard of them and respects them which is partially why these schools are ranked so high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of schools are considered better than Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth. This shouldn’t be news to anyone.

Not really. The brand names of Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth are very strong internationally. Everyone has heard of them and respects them which is partially why these schools are ranked so high.

In international rankings these schools are abysmal. Almost nobody has heard of them in most of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None. Ivy carries prestige that sticks with you for life. "He went to an Ivy League school." People are impressed, forever.

My kid turned down Columbia, UPenn and JHU for Berkeley CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None. Ivy carries prestige that sticks with you for life. "He went to an Ivy League school." People are impressed, forever.

Who are these people? Because I am not impressed one bit. It's not what I value.

Their prestige suffered in the last 10 years or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of schools are considered better than Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth. This shouldn’t be news to anyone.

Not really. The brand names of Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth are very strong internationally. Everyone has heard of them and respects them which is partially why these schools are ranked so high.

In international rankings these schools are abysmal. Almost nobody has heard of them in most of the world.

Well international rankings focus more on research - which is primarily performed by grad programs. So undergrad-focused schools gets punished. Can’t explain Cornell’s underperformance though, they’re just the weakest Ivy by a good margin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of schools are considered better than Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth. This shouldn’t be news to anyone.

Not really. The brand names of Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth are very strong internationally. Everyone has heard of them and respects them which is partially why these schools are ranked so high.

Practically nobody has heard of Brown or Dartmouth outside of US. Maybe few may have heard of Cornell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of schools are considered better than Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth. This shouldn’t be news to anyone.

Not really. The brand names of Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth are very strong internationally. Everyone has heard of them and respects them which is partially why these schools are ranked so high.

In international rankings these schools are abysmal. Almost nobody has heard of them in most of the world.

Well international rankings focus more on research - which is primarily performed by grad programs. So undergrad-focused schools gets punished. Can’t explain Cornell’s underperformance though, they’re just the weakest Ivy by a good margin

There are all sorts of rankings. I disagree that nobody's heard of Cornell outside the US. My grandmother at Cornell in the 1930s had schoolmates from Asian countries (not Asian-Americans).

Here is a ranking scheme I've learned about from DCUM that is created in China for Chinese students. It puts Cornell at #12, ahead of Penn.

https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/arwu/2023