Which do you think is the best overall college after the super unattainable ones like HYPMS?

[Anonymous]

Cal, Michigan, UCLA, Texas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:State flagships

+1
My kid is at state flagship. Came in with over 50 credits, working with professors on research and already found a prestigious internship as a sophomore. Limitless opportunities.

[Anonymous]

UVA is a diploma factory.

[Anonymous]

Maybe Rice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA is a diploma factory.

Diploma mill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends entirely on which field the student will study. No school is equally great in all fields.

How insighful.

[Anonymous]

There are hundreds of answers to the is question. It's ridiculous that you say ignore ranking while trying to create a ranking of "the best."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UChicago, Brown, Dartmouth, Hopkins... and lots and lots more.

No. Unless U of Chicago ED.

Brown is as hard an admit as HYP. Dartmouth right behind. Hopkins just a bit better (ED helpful at D and H, not much at B).

U of Chicago RD nearly impossible unless off the waitlist.

[Anonymous]

If kid is indeed super smart with great GPA, SAT, course rigor and normal good activities, they are likely to get into at leat one T20, most likely Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Duke, UChicago, Amherst, Willams, USC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Best overall"? For a philosopher or a business major? Someone who likes snow or heat? Someone who's preppy or hippy (or whatever the current terms are)? Someone who wants to talk about ideas, or someone who wants to spend Saturday at the Big Game, or someone who wants both?

People like you are so annoying and unhelpful. Which do YOU think is best overall? just pick one. When someone asks what's your favorite movie, do you give them a rapid fire list of comedy or drama? full length or short film? Foreign or domestic?? It's exhausting

DP, but bugger off. I actually DON’T have a “favorite movie”; it depends on the context and what I’m the mood for. And if someone asks me my favorite anything, I usually give them a list of my favorites, not a singular one, because a rank ordering is stupid. Nor do I think it’s a knowable thing to decide the “best movie”. It’s subjective. Some are certainly stronger than others, but then again they likely had different audiences. In defense of the poster you are being obnoxious to, colleges are multifaceted things. What makes one “good” for someone might be undesirable to someone else. I don’t understand this almost pathological desire to create a consensus pecking order among universities. It’s an impossible goal. Just weight the criteria that are most important to you, and apply to colleges that tick the most boxes. Of course, this is DCUM, where the single most important factor seems to universally be “what does everyone else think is good”.

+1 I completely agree. "Best" is always subjective. People don't get that there are professors who discourage their kids from applying to ANY of the Ivy League schools, because they are not the best for undergraduate students in the opinion of these professors. DH ignored his father's opinion in this, but now is passing on that advice to his kids, because he gets it now.

[Anonymous]

But depends on how many colleges they apply to. Mine applied to 12, obviously waitlisted at HYPSM as an Asian kid but got into state flagship and two T20.

[Anonymous]

Well, my super smart kid's list of 'best' had to include a college with <4000 undergrads, primary focus on undergrad teaching, well rounded and flexible for the undecided student, geographically diverse student body, strong ADHD support, wholistic admissions that would understand a lopsided resume with high SATS and scattered grades due to a disability and non-inflating school, drivable from home within 5 hours, broad fine arts programs accessible to non majors, option to live on campus for all four years, social life that doesn't focus on alcohol or exclusive group forming.

Would that "Best" list be helpful to you OP? Or is your "best" going to have different criteria? Because if all you are asking is what do the majority of people think of as "the best" in general, with no specific criteria at all, they are just going to list their favorites from the top of the USNWR list, and you can do that yourself just as easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Best overall"? For a philosopher or a business major? Someone who likes snow or heat? Someone who's preppy or hippy (or whatever the current terms are)? Someone who wants to talk about ideas, or someone who wants to spend Saturday at the Big Game, or someone who wants both?

People like you are so annoying and unhelpful. Which do YOU think is best overall? just pick one. When someone asks what's your favorite movie, do you give them a rapid fire list of comedy or drama? full length or short film? Foreign or domestic?? It's exhausting

It's not unhelpful, it's the truth. How could anyone possibly give a helpful answer to that broad and useless question? Notably, OP didn't ask for people's "favorite" school (lord help us, er'd get 400 different answers), OP asked for the "best overall" that is "attainable" for a smart kid. No one can answer this broad, subjective question.

And yes, even when someone actually does ask for your 'favorite" movie, that's too broad of a question for people who know a lot about movies. Sure, some people will say "The Notebook" without giving it a second thought, but OP might quickly say, "Ew, no, I mean a non chick-flick." To which the reponse might be "Die Hard," but the OP says, no, no, no, too much violence! And so on.

If the question were for the "best overall movie" with no other criteria, then people would look to the Oscars Best Picture list and pick their favorite among those. To which OP would say, no, don't use the rankings. And around we go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget rankings and prestige, which college do you think is best overall that a normal super smart kid could have a shot at? Assume full pay.

UVA, UCB, UMich, UNC are the top academic “attainable” schools that are not difficult to get into if you are a state resident AND are super smart(ie 1500+ and top 5-10% of your high school while taking the hard classes)

Well, to be fair for UVA, you also need a 4.5 gpa, 35 ACT, be in top 6% of class, have taken the most rigorous courses offered by the high school, and have extraordinary ECs. That's what SCHEV reports for the 75th percentile on incoming students last year (unless URM or first generation or otherwise hooked)

Has UVA been known to taken any with about 4.1 GPA?

[Anonymous]

The op says “NORMAL super smart kid.” Which in my world would mean about a 33 ACT/1480 SAT, no big academic honors, no val or sal, no hooks, but still at about the 98th percentile. That means top 20 schools are a longshot, with EDing at the ones that are tired of getting Ivy rejects being the best shot.

So suggesting Duke, Rice , Vandy, Cornell etc seems to be missing the mark, as they are almost as hard to get in as HYPMS. For the most part, gonna have to drop down a tier or two. BU was an interesting suggestion, as it gets some great students & profs who just want to be in that area. Michigan too. Places where a really smart kid could be challenged but which are not insanely difficult to get into.