Which universities have gone DOWN in stature over the years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hampshire College

Definitely agree. They seem to be undergoing changes.

[Anonymous]

Harvard is hard to look up to after learning about Jared and Dershowitz. And so many others that I’ve forgotten them all. I doubt I’m alone in thinking that a few of the Ivies are falling from grace. Smoke and mirrors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on rankings/selectivity, Bryn Mawr and Smith. I guess the appeal of single-sex college is waning. Wellesley seems to be fairing better. But there seems to be great demand for all schools in Boston area, beyond just Harvard and MIT -- eg. Tufts, BC, BU, NE, HC. There is no significant difference in academic rigor/amenities between Bryn Mawr and Haverford (or Swarthmore for that matter), but perception/ranking/selectivity is SWAT > HC > BMC

It kind of baffles me that, given their location, schools like Emerson, Suffolk, Simmons, Emmanuel and others are not in vogue.

I don't know about Bryn Mawr but applications are way up at Smith (ever since Hilary lost-- women's colleges including Smith have become much more popular).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crest University. Now totally eclipsed by Colgate.

Colgate has risen so fast. I’m hearing acceptance rate is around 12% for 2026.

How can you possibly know that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is hard to look up to after learning about Jared and Dershowitz. And so many others that I’ve forgotten them all. I doubt I’m alone in thinking that a few of the Ivies are falling from grace. Smoke and mirrors.

Dershowitz? What are you talking about? I went to the law school. He was my prof

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Columbia falsified their numbers. See the news.

U Chicago tries to get anyone to apply in order to be more rejective. I think they send mailers to assisted living centers to see if they can get more applications they can reject. (Kidding only about the last part)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is hard to look up to after learning about Jared and Dershowitz. And so many others that I’ve forgotten them all. I doubt I’m alone in thinking that a few of the Ivies are falling from grace. Smoke and mirrors.

DERSHOWITZ left HLS in 2013

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Columbia falsified their numbers. See the news.

U Chicago tries to get anyone to apply in order to be more rejective. I think they send mailers to assisted living centers to see if they can get more applications they can reject. (Kidding only about the last part)

Acceptance rate doesn't factor into the USNWR rankings: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is hard to look up to after learning about Jared and Dershowitz. And so many others that I’ve forgotten them all. I doubt I’m alone in thinking that a few of the Ivies are falling from grace. Smoke and mirrors.

Dershowitz? What are you talking about? I went to the law school. He was my prof

Dershowitz is no longer worthy of respect

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think UMD has gone down recently. I remember a few years ago it was something like 35% acceptance rate and it's shot up to 45%

Wrong direction when applications are at an all time high and the Ivies are in single digits.

Do you really think acceptance rate is an indication of quality? You are misguided.

Wow.

Any school can market to get more apps and reject more students in order to lower their acceptance rate. See: U of Chicago.

Tell that to 95% of the population lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Oh, you! First by assuming "stature" is a thing that matters and can be put on a scale. Second by starting your list with "Harvard" which literally has been the generic term for the #1 college since it's inception in 1636.

You silly person! Just stop!

Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley down. Cornell down too (just look at rankings)

UP: JHU, Stanford and Chicago

You silly, silly person!

First, rankings don't matter. But if they did:

Brown has bounced between 10-17 consistently since the inception of USN.
Dartmouth between 6-12
Berkeley between 13-22
Cornell between 11-16 (with one outlier year at 6)

This is out of 3,000 colleges.

You are, as they used to say in my neighborhood, talking out of your ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is hard to look up to after learning about Jared and Dershowitz. And so many others that I’ve forgotten them all. I doubt I’m alone in thinking that a few of the Ivies are falling from grace. Smoke and mirrors.

Dershowitz? What are you talking about? I went to the law school. He was my prof

Dershowitz is no longer worthy of respect

Uh can you explain why? And he did leave the law school a decade ago. I’m not sure how you can equate the recent “fall” of Harvard you claim with a) two people only; b) a person who left a decade ago; and c) who didn’t even teach at the undergrad level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crest University. Now totally eclipsed by Colgate.

Colgate has risen so fast. I’m hearing acceptance rate is around 12% for 2026.

How can you possibly know that?

Google “college acceptance rates 2026” and similar phrases. There are lists already on line with the acceptance rates for 2026 to all the top colleges- Ivies,
Top SLACs, top State schools, etc…. Colleges are releasing their numbers.

Colgate, in one example, received over 21,000 applications in 2026 and accepted around 2,600 students.

[Anonymous]

Good list of college application number and acceptance rates for the class of 2026 can be found here: https://www.collegekickstart.com/blog/item/class-of-2026-admission-results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley and Cornell have gone down.

Columbia, Hopkins, U Chicago, Stanford, Rice, MIT, CalTech came up.

Oh, you! First by assuming "stature" is a thing that matters and can be put on a scale. Second by starting your list with "Harvard" which literally has been the generic term for the #1 college since it's inception in 1636.

You silly person! Just stop!

Brown, Dartmouth, Berkeley down. Cornell down too (just look at rankings)

UP: JHU, Stanford and Chicago

You silly, silly person!

First, rankings don't matter. But if they did:

Brown has bounced between 10-17 consistently since the inception of USN.
Dartmouth between 6-12
Berkeley between 13-22
Cornell between 11-16 (with one outlier year at 6)

This is out of 3,000 colleges.

You are, as they used to say in my neighborhood, talking out of your ass.

Dartmouth has actually fallen out of the top 10, and Cornell is now ranked below Vanderbilt, JHU, etc.