Elite universities, Ivy Plus/Equivalents...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ There's a reason some would consider a school like UVa more prestigious than Berkeley or Michigan despite being far worse academically...One was founded by a founding father and was regularly attended by the wealthy Southern elites, while the latter two are massive, technical-focused universities”

Too funny. Berkeley and Michigan excel in practically every discipline they offer. UVA can only dream about being so strong in all areas. As for being founded by Jefferson, nobody outside of Virginia cares.

Yeah, I don't buy the original argument and the history level. Michigan is actually older than UVA. Berkeley is younger but has been a top notch university for a long time. Stanford is younger even than Berkeley. Are we going to say it lacks prestige? It likely is preferred by cross-admits over all other schools other than Harvard, and even there it is a close call.

History alone doesn't cut it. William & Mary has more history than all schools other than Harvard, but exited the Civil War broke and burned down by the Union occupiers. The Southern schools that rose to prominence, Duke, Rice, and Vanderbilt, did so because of the later munificence of industrialists. UVA was a school attended by some southern gentry, but it was far from a serious research university during the time when many of the great national universities like MIT, Harvard, Michigan, and Berkeley were establishing and advancing themselves. The most prominent component was the law school. The South was pretty much a backwater during this time. I'd say even Duke didn't emerge into what it has become until well after the renaming gift from James B. Duke (tobacco money).

[Anonymous]

Yeah, the people in here prattling on about New England country clubs have absolutely no idea what they're talking about, and have most likely never even been anywhere near an actual WASP or the old money elites in this country they so desperately want to emulate.

If anyone thinks Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell are more prestigious than UChicago, Northwestern or Duke, I'm going to assume they're a 16-year-old, a desperate Karen, or an alumnus/a of one of those schools. If anyone thinks UVA is more prestigious than Berkeley or Michigan, I'm going to assume they're either a Virginian who's never left the state or positively delusional. Or both.

[Anonymous]

God, who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God, who cares?

+100
Sometimes this forum offers valuable advice, but more often than not, it’s just the same status-obsessed dorks arguing about rank and prestige. Absurd people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God, who cares?

+100
Sometimes this forum offers valuable advice, but more often than not, it’s just the same status-obsessed dorks arguing about rank and prestige. Absurd people.

Can’t imagine why you clicked on the topic.

[Anonymous]

I’m always amused how the people splitting hairs over “this elite school or that one” sound so absurdly vacant and unsophisticated.

[Anonymous]

“If anyone thinks Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell are more prestigious than UChicago, Northwestern or Duke, I'm going to assume they're a 16-year-old, a desperate Karen, or an alumnus/a of one of those schools. If anyone thinks UVA is more prestigious than Berkeley or Michigan, I'm going to assume they're either a Virginian who's never left the state or positively delusional. Or both.”


+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the people in here prattling on about New England country clubs have absolutely no idea what they're talking about, and have most likely never even been anywhere near an actual WASP or the old money elites in this country they so desperately want to emulate.

If anyone thinks Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell are more prestigious than UChicago, Northwestern or Duke, I'm going to assume they're a 16-year-old, a desperate Karen, or an alumnus/a of one of those schools. If anyone thinks UVA is more prestigious than Berkeley or Michigan, I'm going to assume they're either a Virginian who's never left the state or positively delusional. Or both.

(michigan alum)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Ivy League is a sports category. There are hundreds of excellent colleges and universities in the U.S. It is a giant country.

It’s clear that the Ivy League has grown in the popular imagination to be more than just a sports league. It’s become a sort of designation or a shorthand for prestigious, top universities. Laypeople are rarely sure of which schools actually constitute the Ivy League, except for Harvard and Yale. Most also assume Stanford is one. I’ve met college basketball enthusiasts who thought Duke was an Ivy, and I know college football fans who assumed Northwestern was an Ivy. It’s a colloquialism that’s anchored in a slightly different reality from what most people think.

Well then they’re just ignorant.

OK, one trick pony. We get that you know the Ivy League is a sports league and you think people who use it as shorthand for the academic stature of the schools in the league are idiots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey OP:

- Nobody who knows anything thinks only the Ivy League has good colleges. Everybody knows Stanford and MIT are "more prestigious" than Cornell, for example. I'm not saying you won't find someone who will disagree with that, but it will be a rarity, and they will be mis-informed.

- More importantly, nobody cares but idiots who like to say things like "The Ivy League is just a sports league!" - which is a stupid thing to say and only said by those with issues abut the ivy league.

- Those with kids in the Ivy League - and I am one - know that those schools have flaws also and no college is perfect. Most of us would be just as proud if our kid was at U Chicago, Williams, Michigan, or (gasp!) UVA. We know the US is blessed with hundreds of good colleges and it is possible our kid would have a better experience and outcome elsewhere.

It's only the Ivy League haters that have Ivy League issues.

I repeat:

It's only the Ivy League haters that have Ivy League issues.

Is it hating to state a fact? It is a sports league. (You added "just").

It's hating to trivialize common meaning to make your derogatory and bitter point, yes.

You'll be happier if you let it go, you know.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“If anyone thinks Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell are more prestigious than UChicago, Northwestern or Duke, I'm going to assume they're a 16-year-old, a desperate Karen, or an alumnus/a of one of those schools. If anyone thinks UVA is more prestigious than Berkeley or Michigan, I'm going to assume they're either a Virginian who's never left the state or positively delusional. Or both.”


+1

Parents tend to obsess over minute differences in rankings and try to translate that into prestige. I think of prestige from the perspective of someone who has hired and reviewed many applications (and prestige there doesn't seem like the right word - I'm just thinking in terms of "can the applicant get the job done and fit in?") I don't have anywhere near as many "Prestige" tiers as USNWR has in their rank order. If I am evaluating a Berkeley grad, a UVA grad, and a Michigan grad, I'm not going to think of them that differently all other things being equal. There are a bunch of other schools that fall into a similar category. Sure, if is computer science, I may think the Berkeley kid may start with an extra point or so, but they would have to show it. Also, in my field (high tech) undergrad institution doesn't seem to matter much after the first job. It almost never seems to come up, in fact. That may be different in finance, or law, but that's the way I've seen it for 20 years in high tech.

[Anonymous]

Hence why these tiers actually make the most sense.

Anonymous wrote:These are widely-regarded tiers for undergraduate prestige.

AAA+: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Columbia
AAA : UChicago, Duke, Northwestern, Penn, Caltech
AAA- : Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Hopkins
AA+ : Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, UNC, Rice, WashU

...and many more! Enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hence why these tiers actually make the most sense.

Anonymous wrote:These are widely-regarded tiers for undergraduate prestige.

AAA+: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Columbia
AAA : UChicago, Duke, Northwestern, Penn, Caltech
AAA- : Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Hopkins
AA+ : Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, UNC, Rice, WashU

...and many more! Enjoy.

these tiers only make sense if you're a Columbia alum lol

also dartmouth and brown certainly wouldn't be below chicago and northwestern, at least not in the northeast

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hence why these tiers actually make the most sense.

Anonymous wrote:These are widely-regarded tiers for undergraduate prestige.

AAA+: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Columbia
AAA : UChicago, Duke, Northwestern, Penn, Caltech
AAA- : Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Hopkins
AA+ : Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, UNC, Rice, WashU

...and many more! Enjoy.

these tiers only make sense if you're a Columbia alum lol

also dartmouth and brown certainly wouldn't be below chicago and northwestern, at least not in the northeast

Hate to break it to you but most people have never even heard of Dartmouth, and Brown is the color of poop and is only relevant because it's in the Ivy League. Certainly on an international level, these two schools are lucky to even be grouped with the rest of the universities listed here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hate to break it to you but most people have never even heard of Dartmouth, and Brown is the color of poop and is only relevant because it's in the Ivy League. Certainly on an international level, these two schools are lucky to even be grouped with the rest of the universities listed here.

If that's the best you've got, you minimum-wage troll, you are still highly overpaid. Weak tea. Room temp water, actually.