Top Colleges
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Anonymous
| There are so many “top colleges” out there, does it really matter where you go aside from the truly top 3-4? Most people would consider the top 25-30 national universities and top 15 or so LACs as good/elite. The problem is that then becomes about 50 schools, which by definition would not make them elite. So does it really matter if you went to a random one in that grouping, like Middlebury, over one just outside it or even further down the top 100 list? Otherwise it’s a lot of squabbling and toxicity over very little incremental difference. |
Anonymous
| No, it doesn’t matter. |
Anonymous
| IDK when I think of "top" or "elite" colleges, I think of around 20 or so universities and LACs, not 50 like you said. |
Anonymous
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I think a top college is top 25 national, top 10 LAC; but some people won’t recognize the LAC’s.
Elite is HYPSM |
Anonymous
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I'm a professor, when I look at grad school apps (which I receive filtered already for our GPA/score cut-offs), I would say there are roughly a group of 50 National Universities and 50 LACs that overlap but don't fully match the USNWR rankings that I treat mentally equivalent in terms of knowing the schools select strong students, the quality of education students received has prepared them well and that a high GPA from their school is meaningful. When I get an application outside those schools, I don't discount it, but I dig into other aspects of the application with greater scrutiny to get a read on academic preparation.
Likely my list of top colleges differs from that of entry-level employers as we are looking for different things. |
Anonymous
| Only 10 top colleges where I work. |
Anonymous
Doubt it. I call B.S. because there is no workplace with a diversity initiative (read: all companies) that would allow this. |
Anonymous
+1 I've worked for consulting agencies that everyone thinks only recruits at select schools and it's BS. |
Anonymous
It would also exclude half of the Ivy League 
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Anonymous
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T15 national - and maybe make a case for a couple that are not T15 like Cornell or CMU or Georgetown
SLACs are wonderful, and I have a DC at a little ivy, and they are receiving a tremendous education. But prestige wise, only T15 national universities matter |
Anonymous
Found the CMU alum |
Anonymous
And the Georgetown alum. |
Anonymous
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Elite:
HYPSM + Ivies Chicago Duke Northwestern Caltech Johns Hopkins Williams Amherst That's it. The rest of the top 20-30 are "top schools" but I would not categorize them as elite. |
Anonymous
Skip Duke and Hopkins and I'll buy it. |
Anonymous
haha u guys crack me up - |