Which colleges are considered top elite in the US?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Yale to be elite anymore.

Harvard, Princeton, Penn, MIT, and Stanford. Top 5.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Yale to be elite anymore.

Harvard, Princeton, Penn, MIT, and Stanford. Top 5.

+100

lol--your kid isn't getting into any of these schools, but sure, split hairs between Yale and Princeton. You folks are nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a tier ranking from another thread a little while back.

Tier 1 - HPSM (tops academically at everything, no special recruitment tactics needed)

Tier 2 - Caltech, UPenn, Duke, Yale, Columbia (great academically at vast majority of things, highly desirable but still employ some special recruitment tactics to compete with Tier 1)

Tier 3 - Brown, Dartmouth, UChicago, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Rice, Berkeley, UCLA, Georgetown, UMich, Cornell, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Bowdoin, Harvey Mudd, Olin College of Engineering (great academically at many things, slightly less desirable than previous tiers and slightly worse undergrad outcomes)

Tier 4 - UVA, NYU, UNC, Georgia Tech, USC, CMU, WUSTL, Emory, Carleton, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Claremont McKenna, Barnard, Davidson, Grinnell…

Agree with this, but I'd put UVA and NYU in Tier 3.

Interesting. My kid got WL for 1 in Tier 1. Didn't apply to any Tier 2. Got accepted at 3 of the 4- WL 1 in Tier 3. Accepted at 2 out of 2 in Tier 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy League + Chicago, MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, DUKE, Hopkins, Caltech.

+ Berkeley

For CS Berkley, MIT and Stanford would top the list. The other schools, not so much.

And Carnegie Mellon.

Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford and Berkeley have long held a 4-way tie for #1 in Computer Science.

It's true CMU has one of the best CS programs. Unfortunately, other programs there don't measure up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My take:

HYPSM
Caltech Columbia Penn
Chicago Duke Northwestern
Brown Dartmouth Cornell Johns Hopkins
Amherst Williams Swarthmore
Berkeley

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Yale to be elite anymore.

Harvard, Princeton, Penn, MIT, and Stanford. Top 5.

+100

lol--your kid isn't getting into any of these schools, but sure, split hairs between Yale and Princeton. You folks are nuts.

+1,000

[Anonymous]

On the private side, this is how I view the Top 12 (in order of overall reputation) ...
1. MIT
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Princeton
5. Yale
6. Cal Tech
7. Columbia
8. Duke
9. Penn
10. Brown
11. Dartmouth
12. USC

(Note: at this point, Cornell is losing ground as the Ivy backdoor, Hopkins and Chicago are becoming considered gimmick-y schools that very intentionally game the selectivity rankings, and Vanderbilt's heavier emphasis on the TO admissions program has diminished its reputation, at least in my eyes)

On the public side, this is how I view the Top 12 (in order) ...
1a. UCLA
1b. UC Berkeley
3. Michigan
4. UVA
5. UNC
6. Georgia Tech
7a. UCSD
7b. UT Austin
9. Florida
10. UC Irvine
11. Washington
12. UC Davis

(Note: there are certain honors college designations and differences in major programs that could vault other public schools into the Top 12 if considered heavily, etc., but this list is merely intended to represent overall reputation)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pomona belongs with AWS too

Ok this is the final list:

HYPSM
Caltech Columbia Penn
Chicago Duke Northwestern
Brown Dartmouth Cornell Johns Hopkins
Amherst Williams Swarthmore Pomona
Berkeley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a tier ranking from another thread a little while back.

Tier 1 - HPSM (tops academically at everything, no special recruitment tactics needed)

Tier 2 - Caltech, UPenn, Duke, Yale, Columbia (great academically at vast majority of things, highly desirable but still employ some special recruitment tactics to compete with Tier 1)

Tier 3 - Brown, Dartmouth, UChicago, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Rice, Berkeley, UCLA, Georgetown, UMich, Cornell, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Bowdoin, Harvey Mudd, Olin College of Engineering (great academically at many things, slightly less desirable than previous tiers and slightly worse undergrad outcomes)

Tier 4 - UVA, NYU, UNC, Georgia Tech, USC, CMU, WUSTL, Emory, Carleton, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Claremont McKenna, Barnard, Davidson, Grinnell…

Olin college of engineering and Bowdoin are nore prestigious than WashU and Emory... to you? That's hilarious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here was another one; Have at it:

Undergraduate Tiers
1A) Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton
1B) Columbia, Penn, Duke, Chicago, Caltech

2A) Northwestern, Brown, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst
2B) Rice, Cornell, Pomona, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Cal, Notre Dame, Emory, Swarthmore, UCLA, Wellesley

3A) Michigan, NYU, USC, UVA, Tufts, Middlebury, Barnard
3B)UNC, Boston College, W&M, Wake, W&L, Davidson

Tier 2A is very debatable is there are a lot of great schools that could go there.

This is good.

[Anonymous]

1)Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Duke, Chicago, Caltech, Northwestern, Brown

2) Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst, Rice, Cornell, Pomona, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Cal, Notre Dame, Emory, Swarthmore, UCLA, Wellesley, WashU, CMU

3) Michigan, NYU, USC, UVA, Tufts, Middlebury, Barnard, UNC, Boston College, Vassar, Bowdoin, W&L, Davidson, GaTech, Hamilton

I removed Wake and W&M, as they're a tier below.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Yale to be elite anymore.

Harvard, Princeton, Penn, MIT, and Stanford. Top 5.

+100

lol--your kid isn't getting into any of these schools, but sure, split hairs between Yale and Princeton. You folks are nuts.

+1,000

+2

People concoct the most humorous lists, and DCUM falls for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the private side, this is how I view the Top 12 (in order of overall reputation) ...
1. MIT
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Princeton
5. Yale
6. Cal Tech
7. Columbia
8. Duke
9. Penn
10. Brown
11. Dartmouth
12. USC

(Note: at this point, Cornell is losing ground as the Ivy backdoor, Hopkins and Chicago are becoming considered gimmick-y schools that very intentionally game the selectivity rankings, and Vanderbilt's heavier emphasis on the TO admissions program has diminished its reputation, at least in my eyes)

On the public side, this is how I view the Top 12 (in order) ...
1a. UCLA
1b. UC Berkeley
3. Michigan
4. UVA
5. UNC
6. Georgia Tech
7a. UCSD
7b. UT Austin
9. Florida
10. UC Irvine
11. Washington
12. UC Davis

(Note: there are certain honors college designations and differences in major programs that could vault other public schools into the Top 12 if considered heavily, etc., but this list is merely intended to represent overall reputation)

LMAO. USC Parent is so painfully obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here was another one; Have at it:

Undergraduate Tiers
1A) Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton
1B) Columbia, Penn, Duke, Chicago, Caltech

2A) Northwestern, Brown, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst
2B) Rice, Cornell, Pomona, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Cal, Notre Dame, Emory, Swarthmore, UCLA, Wellesley

3A) Michigan, NYU, USC, UVA, Tufts, Middlebury, Barnard
3B)UNC, Boston College, W&M, Wake, W&L, Davidson

Tier 2A is very debatable is there are a lot of great schools that could go there.

Almost. If all that's being ranked is what's "elite" in 2024, I'd make a couple of changes:

1A) Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton
1B) Yale, Duke, Penn, Caltech
1C) Chicago, Columbia

2A) Brown, Dartmouth, West Point, Annapolis, Williams, Amherst
2B) Northwestern, Cornell, Rice, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Pomona, Berkeley, Notre Dame

3A) Michigan, UCLA, Emory, Georgetown, Swarthmore
3B) UVA, Tufts, Wellesley, Carnegie Mellon, WashU, USC, NYU, Bowdoin

I think that's it for colleges that can plausibly be called elite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here was another one; Have at it:

Undergraduate Tiers
1A) Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton
1B) Columbia, Penn, Duke, Chicago, Caltech

2A) Northwestern, Brown, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst
2B) Rice, Cornell, Pomona, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Cal, Notre Dame, Emory, Swarthmore, UCLA, Wellesley

3A) Michigan, NYU, USC, UVA, Tufts, Middlebury, Barnard
3B)UNC, Boston College, W&M, Wake, W&L, Davidson

Tier 2A is very debatable is there are a lot of great schools that could go there.

Almost. If all that's being ranked is what's "elite" in 2024, I'd make a couple of changes:

1A) Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton
1B) Yale, Duke, Penn, Caltech
1C) Chicago, Columbia

2A) Brown, Dartmouth, West Point, Annapolis, Williams, Amherst
2B) Northwestern, Cornell, Rice, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Pomona, Berkeley, Notre Dame

3A) Michigan, UCLA, Emory, Georgetown, Swarthmore
3B) UVA, Tufts, Wellesley, Carnegie Mellon, WashU, USC, NYU, Bowdoin

I think that's it for colleges that can plausibly be called elite.

Depending on major some may be higher in rank. For instance anyone SFS at Georgetown is Tier 1. It's program is rated top in the US, 1A.