"Top 10" - what does that mean?

[Anonymous]

I hear parents on this forum talk about colleges as if the rankings are set in stone. I do wonder, which ranking are they going by - US News? Forbes? Niche?

Just found this article that some might find interesting:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/noodleeducation/2015/09/16/how-u-s-news-rigs-the-game-for-private-schools/?sh=5f398924e4ce

[Anonymous]

I like this

[Anonymous]

Whichever ranking has the school they are talking about in the top 10

[Anonymous]

Same 20 colleges which are shuffled differently by different ranking lists.

[Anonymous]

These rankings are almost always to sell magazines or generate clicks. Surprising results help to make money. Ranking only the endowment size will roughly recreate most lists though. Focus on your interests instead when looking at colleges.

[Anonymous]

Very interesting article. I missed that when it came out. The essay below shows other reasons USNWR's methodology is flawed, and creates a ranking from scratch using very different criteria (professor quality, diversity, student happiness, etc) that ends up with a very different looking list: Penn and Yale are the only two Ivies in the T20.

https://lesshighschoolstress.com/blog/

[Anonymous]

T10 is basically Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Caltech, Duke, Yale, UPenn, and then some combination of 2 other schools that some places/people consider t10 and others don’t.

[Anonymous]

USN&WR
That's the flagship ranking.

[Anonymous]

HYPSM, Columbia, Penn, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech, Hopkins, in some combination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM, Columbia, Penn, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech, Hopkins, in some combination.

That's 12 schools lol. The only ones that are consistently in the top 10 across multiple undergrad rankings are hypsm penn and duke. Columbia, caltech, chicago, northwestern, and hopkins are in-and-out of top 10 in a lot of sources. I'd say dartmouth also deserves a fair look as a t10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM, Columbia, Penn, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech, Hopkins, in some combination.

Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
UPenn
CalTech
Duke
Chicago
John Hopkins/Northwestern/Dartmouth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM, Columbia, Penn, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech, Hopkins, in some combination.

That's 12 schools lol. The only ones that are consistently in the top 10 across multiple undergrad rankings are hypsm penn and duke. Columbia, caltech, chicago, northwestern, and hopkins are in-and-out of top 10 in a lot of sources. I'd say dartmouth also deserves a fair look as a t10.

Yes, which is why I added "in some combination". These are the ten schools that have a strong case for being top 10, and are ranked top 10 by multiple sources.

Dartmouth to me is not a top 10 school, and in my experience is not widely viewed as such. However, all of the Ivy League schools obviously have their own separate cachet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM, Columbia, Penn, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech, Hopkins, in some combination.

Why do so many people group HYPSM? Private counselors really push it and push things like "top 10" when any ranking has a school in the top 10. At this point it really is HS and then a gap.
Top 10 is a completely arbitrary cutoff and there is no solid list. Several lists have Chicago and Hopkins outside the top 10 for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM, Columbia, Penn, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech, Hopkins, in some combination.

Why do so many people group HYPSM? Private counselors really push it and push things like "top 10" when any ranking has a school in the top 10. At this point it really is HS and then a gap.
Top 10 is a completely arbitrary cutoff and there is no solid list. Several lists have Chicago and Hopkins outside the top 10 for example.

Harvard and Stanford are the most complete universities. For eng, MIT and CalTech are right at the top too but their other offerings are not as wide or consistently strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM, Columbia, Penn, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech, Hopkins, in some combination.

Why do so many people group HYPSM? Private counselors really push it and push things like "top 10" when any ranking has a school in the top 10. At this point it really is HS and then a gap.
Top 10 is a completely arbitrary cutoff and there is no solid list. Several lists have Chicago and Hopkins outside the top 10 for example.

HYPSM = Elite of the Elite