What are the top 10 universities in the USA?

[Anonymous]

Wow, 9 pages. You folks are nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look at US News & World Report and be done with it.

I don’t think so.

Why not?

Why?

Seems like USNWR often changes its ranking formula in order to jumble up their list to get more eyeballs and clicks. Would be bad for USNWR business, if the top 10 was the same every year. Was a joke when they listed Chicago at number 3. HYPSM should be alone in the top 5 every year until they are knocked off their respective perches. USNWR lost credibility with me with the #3 Chicago ranking a few years back. Chicago should be somewhere in the 6-10 range. No way Chicago deserves to be at number 3. This is not an attack on Chicago but how many students would choose Chicago over Stanford. 1 in a hundred maybe.

Student preference shouldn't be factored in rankings. Many reasons why a kid will choose one school over another, like Cali weather or grade inflation, etc.

Sure there are other factors like weather, but prestige is the only criteria when most students choose between two schools. We all know that prestige is too subjective: Stanford’s rise was partly due to the global attention that Silicon Valley received, Princeton would be a Brown/Dartmouth if the WASP establishment of the HYP acronym didn’t exist, etc.

Basically student preference shouldn’t be a factor in these tier lists. If we take out this factor and solely look at departmental rankings and research productivity, Chicago, Columbia, and Caltech all have a strong argument to be a part of HYPSM. Northwestern, JHU, etc. would also be considered as ivy-level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard
Stanford
Yale
MIT
Princeton
Caltech
Columbia
Chicago
Penn
Northwestern
Duke
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell
JHU

ding ding ding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My list...

1. HYPSM
3. Caltech, Columbia
4. Wharton, Chicago
5. Brown, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke
6. Cornell, Penn (ex-Wharton), JHU

I have a hard time fathoming why Brown or Dartmouth, under most circumstances, would ever be above Cornell or "ex-Wharton Penn."

If one wants to break down and rank departments within these universities then have had it but do NOT stop at Wharton/Penn.

[Anonymous]

HYPSM
Columbia, Chicago, Penn
Northwestern, Duke, Cornell
Hopkins, Brown, Dartmouth

Cornell gets extra points for me because it's an actual, fully-fledged research institution and ranks well globally. I omitted Caltech due to the fact that it's so tiny and niche.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My list...

1. HYPSM
3. Caltech, Columbia
4. Wharton, Chicago
5. Brown, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke
6. Cornell, Penn (ex-Wharton), JHU

I have a hard time fathoming why Brown or Dartmouth, under most circumstances, would ever be above Cornell or "ex-Wharton Penn."

If one wants to break down and rank departments within these universities then have had it but do NOT stop at Wharton/Penn.

I think folks break out the two because there is a wider gap between Wharton vs. non-Wharton than any other comparisons between programs at any of the top 15 schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard
Stanford
Yale
MIT
Princeton
Caltech
Columbia
Chicago
Penn
Northwestern
Duke
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell
JHU

ding ding ding

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look at US News & World Report and be done with it.

I don’t think so.

Why not?

Why?

Seems like USNWR often changes its ranking formula in order to jumble up their list to get more eyeballs and clicks. Would be bad for USNWR business, if the top 10 was the same every year. Was a joke when they listed Chicago at number 3. HYPSM should be alone in the top 5 every year until they are knocked off their respective perches. USNWR lost credibility with me with the #3 Chicago ranking a few years back. Chicago should be somewhere in the 6-10 range. No way Chicago deserves to be at number 3. This is not an attack on Chicago but how many students would choose Chicago over Stanford. 1 in a hundred maybe.

Student preference shouldn't be factored in rankings. Many reasons why a kid will choose one school over another, like Cali weather or grade inflation, etc.

Sure there are other factors like weather, but prestige is the only criteria when most students choose between two schools. We all know that prestige is too subjective: Stanford’s rise was partly due to the global attention that Silicon Valley received, Princeton would be a Brown/Dartmouth if the WASP establishment of the HYP acronym didn’t exist, etc.

Basically student preference shouldn’t be a factor in these tier lists. If we take out this factor and solely look at departmental rankings and research productivity, Chicago, Columbia, and Caltech all have a strong argument to be a part of HYPSM. Northwestern, JHU, etc. would also be considered as ivy-level.

“Sure there are other factors like weather, but prestige is the only criteria when most students choose between two schools.”

Prestige is not just an ethereal construct. It comes from a long history of achievement and creating the leaders of our global community. You are attempting to say preference (which would more accurately should also include parental preference) is based purely subjective opinion devoid of any objective analytics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard
Stanford
Yale
MIT
Princeton
Caltech
Columbia
Chicago
Penn
Northwestern
Duke
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell
JHU

ding ding ding

+1

Agree if you put Penn in the slot ahead of Chicago and Duke in the slot ahead of Northwestern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My list...

1. HYPSM
3. Caltech, Columbia
4. Wharton, Chicago
5. Brown, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke
6. Cornell, Penn (ex-Wharton), JHU

I have a hard time fathoming why Brown or Dartmouth, under most circumstances, would ever be above Cornell or "ex-Wharton Penn."

If one wants to break down and rank departments within these universities then have had it but do NOT stop at Wharton/Penn.

I think folks break out the two because there is a wider gap between Wharton vs. non-Wharton than any other comparisons between programs at any of the top 15 schools

You seem to suggest that Wharton belongs in the first tier with HYPSM and Penn CAS belongs at 14. No way. Breakout MIT and Caltech’s STEM departments from non STEM and redo your rankings. A very slippery slope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, 9 pages. You folks are nuts.

What aspersions shall be cast once this thread hits 18 page?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, 9 pages. You folks are nuts.

What aspersions shall be cast once this thread hits 18 page?

Toxic and obsessed, no doubt! *But secretly is just as invested and furiously taking notes*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My list...

1. HYPSM
3. Caltech, Columbia
4. Wharton, Chicago
5. Brown, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke
6. Cornell, Penn (ex-Wharton), JHU

I have a hard time fathoming why Brown or Dartmouth, under most circumstances, would ever be above Cornell or "ex-Wharton Penn."

If one wants to break down and rank departments within these universities then have had it but do NOT stop at Wharton/Penn.

I think folks break out the two because there is a wider gap between Wharton vs. non-Wharton than any other comparisons between programs at any of the top 15 schools

You seem to suggest that Wharton belongs in the first tier with HYPSM and Penn CAS belongs at 14. No way. Breakout MIT and Caltech’s STEM departments from non STEM and redo your rankings. A very slippery slope.

Wharton has its own admissions, whereas MIT/Caltech do not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard
Stanford
Yale
MIT
Princeton
Caltech
Columbia
Chicago
Penn
Northwestern
Duke
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell
JHU

ding ding ding

+1

Agree if you put Penn in the slot ahead of Chicago and Duke in the slot ahead of Northwestern.

More like Penn ~ Chicago and Duke ~ Northwestern (i.e., peers in same tier)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard
Stanford
Yale
MIT
Princeton
Caltech
Columbia
Chicago
Penn
Northwestern
Duke
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell
JHU

ding ding ding

+1

I would put in tiers, but this is a reasonable ordering