Well those are the top ones, OP.
Other good universities: *Rest of the Ivies '*Duke *Northwestern *U of Chicago *Notre Dame *BC *Vanderbilt *Good state universities- Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, UNC, U Mich, U WI, U TX, WM *Williams *Amherst *Swarthmore *Pomona *Middlebury Many others |
+1 |
It depends on the kid and their interests. There are many schools with more rigor than Harvard or Yale. Generally, all the T6-20 colleges are exceptional and offer very good outcomes to their graduates. I'd focus on fit if you have an extraordinary student. But for intensity of experience, network, and career outcomes, I'd say West Point and Annapolis. For rigor, research opportunities, and campus experience, Rice. For network, probably Notre Dame. For money, Penn. For raw brain power, CalTech. For overall experience, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Brown. |
I’m the PP who suggested Rice and think this a good synopsis. |
Fit is always the question, but perhaps even more so here. There isn't just one kind of extraordinary kid. If you dig deeply, there are significant differences in schools that you would superficially think are similar, among the Ivies +, among publics, among urban privates (BU, NYU, USC, Georgia Tech), among SLACs. I'd start with fit and then decide the boundaries of your universe (Ivies +, Top25, Top SLACs, whatever it is), and then go from there. Especially important if applying ED, which I assume is the case. |
Honors programs at state flagships |
Of potential interest, Rice appears in this Princeton Review survey-based site, "Their Students Love These Colleges": https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=their-students-love-these-colleges |
False. |
No offense intended but you skipped a number of public universities to sneak in WM. |
What? |
Anything in top 50 works. |
Rice, UT Plan II, UT McCombs Honors, if you're OK with Texas |
The key is in the kid, not in the school. If that kid has all it takes, they will stand out in the real world no matter the SAME kid goes to T5 or T5000. |
Was coming here to say this - except I was thinking top 30 LAC and top 30 universities. It’s really shades of grey across those in terms of academic rigor and quality education - obviously the big names have more well known alum, faculty, and name recognition. The biggest problem you run into is that if you go to a top 30 or 50 school odds are the HR screener went to a community college. That person will recognize Harvard but maybe not Bates nor necessarily know that Johns Hopkins or Notre Dame are great school. In my personal life I basically know no one who didn’t go to a top school. Professionally, I can 90% of the time tell if someone went to a tier 3-4 school in just brief interactions. You’ll get a quality education at most of the top 30-50ish, maybe even better depending on major than at the highest ranked schools, but there are obviously other factors that make those top ranked school more desirable and peerless. |
Nobody separates the Ivies like the psychos on dcum. lol They are all regarded highly, as are the other T10/20s. |