2022 US News Best National Universities

[Anonymous]

Columbia is an Ivy + in a rapidly gentrifying part of Manhattan.

There's no shortage of top, wealthy international students that wouldn't rush the opportunity to attend Columbia. By that metric, it's really only behind Harvard since the name brand carries so much weight and Cambridge/Boston is cosmopolitan enough. MIT, Stanford, and for some even Berkeley beat it for engineering-focused internationals.

Wealthy international students, and even wealthy American students today, want to attend school in wealthy metropolises, not a third-rate town like Yale's or a sleepy suburb like Princeton, or worse a rural middle of nowhere like Dartmouth. Not to add these schools reflect the epitome of old-money WASP snobbery with weirdly exclusive clubs, which wealthy internationals would avoid given they have more cosmopolitan options.

Harvard is ironically the most diverse in this aspect, other than perhaps Brown/Cornell.

Penn is in Philadelphia, Chicago in Chicago and Hopkins in Baltimore - none of these cities are particularly attractive to any international or even American students for obvious reasons.

Both UCLA and NYU have received huge boosts in both applicant numbers and general reputation. They are in the most desirable parts of the two largest and most internationally well-known cities in the US.

Please explain the "obvious" reasons. Chicago, for instance, is the 3rd largest city in America and has lots of appeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Columbia is an Ivy + in a rapidly gentrifying part of Manhattan.

There's no shortage of top, wealthy international students that wouldn't rush the opportunity to attend Columbia. By that metric, it's really only behind Harvard since the name brand carries so much weight and Cambridge/Boston is cosmopolitan enough. MIT, Stanford, and for some even Berkeley beat it for engineering-focused internationals.

Wealthy international students, and even wealthy American students today, want to attend school in wealthy metropolises, not a third-rate town like Yale's or a sleepy suburb like Princeton, or worse a rural middle of nowhere like Dartmouth. Not to add these schools reflect the epitome of old-money WASP snobbery with weirdly exclusive clubs, which wealthy internationals would avoid given they have more cosmopolitan options.

Harvard is ironically the most diverse in this aspect, other than perhaps Brown/Cornell.

Penn is in Philadelphia, Chicago in Chicago and Hopkins in Baltimore - none of these cities are particularly attractive to any international or even American students for obvious reasons.

Both UCLA and NYU have received huge boosts in both applicant numbers and general reputation. They are in the most desirable parts of the two largest and most internationally well-known cities in the US.

Please explain the "obvious" reasons. Chicago, for instance, is the 3rd largest city in America and has lots of appeal.

There is a safety concern for U Chicago. Otherwise it will be more attractive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“ Everyone who is being honest can agree Columbia is a phenomenal school but not deserving of a #2 ranking. Columbia occupies the tier just below HYPSM.”

+1

Columbia is already #2 - it overtook H, Y, M, S. It’s like NKorea already has nukes and some political neophytes saying they will not recognize NKorea as a nuclear power. NKorea is already a nuclear power.

Columbia is already #2. It already nuked H,Y, M, S.

[Anonymous]

Hyde Park in Chicago is a fantastic neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ Everyone who is being honest can agree Columbia is a phenomenal school but not deserving of a #2 ranking. Columbia occupies the tier just below HYPSM.”

+1

Columbia is already #2 - it overtook H, Y, M, S. It’s like NKorea already has nukes and some political neophytes saying they will not recognize NKorea as a nuclear power. NKorea is already a nuclear power.

Columbia is already #2. It already nuked H,Y, M, S.

I am endlessly amused by the posters who are proclaiming Columbia is absolutely not a school that can be ranked #2. What are you basing your opinion on?
I have no connection to Columbia but I am not particularly attached to any particular ranking metric. It is hilarious to me how people find it so difficult to let go of their preconceived notions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia is an Ivy + in a rapidly gentrifying part of Manhattan.

There's no shortage of top, wealthy international students that wouldn't rush the opportunity to attend Columbia. By that metric, it's really only behind Harvard since the name brand carries so much weight and Cambridge/Boston is cosmopolitan enough. MIT, Stanford, and for some even Berkeley beat it for engineering-focused internationals.

Wealthy international students, and even wealthy American students today, want to attend school in wealthy metropolises, not a third-rate town like Yale's or a sleepy suburb like Princeton, or worse a rural middle of nowhere like Dartmouth. Not to add these schools reflect the epitome of old-money WASP snobbery with weirdly exclusive clubs, which wealthy internationals would avoid given they have more cosmopolitan options.

Harvard is ironically the most diverse in this aspect, other than perhaps Brown/Cornell.

Penn is in Philadelphia, Chicago in Chicago and Hopkins in Baltimore - none of these cities are particularly attractive to any international or even American students for obvious reasons.

Both UCLA and NYU have received huge boosts in both applicant numbers and general reputation. They are in the most desirable parts of the two largest and most internationally well-known cities in the US.

It’s funny watching you try and make NYC and “wealthy international students” do so much work for Columbia, when you’re clearly a class-obsessed American poseur who wouldn’t belong in any elite settings, much less international ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Columbia is an Ivy + in a rapidly gentrifying part of Manhattan.

There's no shortage of top, wealthy international students that wouldn't rush the opportunity to attend Columbia. By that metric, it's really only behind Harvard since the name brand carries so much weight and Cambridge/Boston is cosmopolitan enough. MIT, Stanford, and for some even Berkeley beat it for engineering-focused internationals.

Wealthy international students, and even wealthy American students today, want to attend school in wealthy metropolises, not a third-rate town like Yale's or a sleepy suburb like Princeton, or worse a rural middle of nowhere like Dartmouth. Not to add these schools reflect the epitome of old-money WASP snobbery with weirdly exclusive clubs, which wealthy internationals would avoid given they have more cosmopolitan options.

Harvard is ironically the most diverse in this aspect, other than perhaps Brown/Cornell.

Penn is in Philadelphia, Chicago in Chicago and Hopkins in Baltimore - none of these cities are particularly attractive to any international or even American students for obvious reasons.

Both UCLA and NYU have received huge boosts in both applicant numbers and general reputation. They are in the most desirable parts of the two largest and most internationally well-known cities in the US.

It’s funny watching you try and make NYC and “wealthy international students” do so much work for Columbia, when you’re clearly a class-obsessed American poseur who wouldn’t belong in any elite settings, much less international ones.

+1

[Anonymous]

If your kids didn’t go to a HYPSM, they should just drop dead. All other degrees are basically worthless and not worth of paying such a high price and non-HYPSM schools should have just disbanded themselves and turn into vocational schools to avoid the embarrassment. End of discussion. These five schools have been the most sought after institutions on this land even before America the country was founded and cannot be surpassed by any metric. The first college rankings published in the 1820s put them at top 5 and have been ranked as such ever since. Places where leaders of the past, present, and tomorrow are forged. The vast majority of Forbes 400, Fortune 500 CEOs, senators, cabinet members, US Presidents, unicorn founders, academy awards winners, nobel laureates have gone to those schools. All other schools are just wannabes and we should honestly just replace the Ivy League with those five schools and call it the V league. Any rankings that don’t have those 5 schools, domestic or international, are not worthy of looking. No, not even Oxford or Cambridge, as most of them won’t even have the $$$ or the holistic skills to get into one. All those STEM (and subject-by-subject) rankings are made up by poor state school graduates to diminish the value of these five institutions because at the end of the day, with 30+ billion in endowment, they will come out on top again in all fields, and even in NCAA Division I football too, but they’re just too involved in academics. Even an engineering degree from Yale generates infinitely more ROI than from your state school like Virginia Tech. Each one of them can lay claim to incredibly successful individuals that other schools just don’t have in comparison, JFK and Roosevelt for Harvard, Woodrow Wilson and Ted Cruz from Princeton, both Bushes, Jared Taylor, and Ron DeSantis from Yale, Herbert Hoover, Josh Hawley, Elizabeth Holmes from Stanford, and the Koch Brothers from MIT. These are the men who have truly made their mark on both the US (and undeniably, made this country a much better place) and the world and their impact will be felt for decades to come. If you argue against my facts and logic you are a pathetic booster who secretly wished that your kids had gotten into one. But too bad, no one gives a sh*t about your feelings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kids didn’t go to a HYPSM, they should just drop dead. All other degrees are basically worthless and not worth of paying such a high price and non-HYPSM schools should have just disbanded themselves and turn into vocational schools to avoid the embarrassment. End of discussion. These five schools have been the most sought after institutions on this land even before America the country was founded and cannot be surpassed by any metric. The first college rankings published in the 1820s put them at top 5 and have been ranked as such ever since. Places where leaders of the past, present, and tomorrow are forged. The vast majority of Forbes 400, Fortune 500 CEOs, senators, cabinet members, US Presidents, unicorn founders, academy awards winners, nobel laureates have gone to those schools. All other schools are just wannabes and we should honestly just replace the Ivy League with those five schools and call it the V league. Any rankings that don’t have those 5 schools, domestic or international, are not worthy of looking. No, not even Oxford or Cambridge, as most of them won’t even have the $$$ or the holistic skills to get into one. All those STEM (and subject-by-subject) rankings are made up by poor state school graduates to diminish the value of these five institutions because at the end of the day, with 30+ billion in endowment, they will come out on top again in all fields, and even in NCAA Division I football too, but they’re just too involved in academics. Even an engineering degree from Yale generates infinitely more ROI than from your state school like Virginia Tech. Each one of them can lay claim to incredibly successful individuals that other schools just don’t have in comparison, JFK and Roosevelt for Harvard, Woodrow Wilson and Ted Cruz from Princeton, both Bushes, Jared Taylor, and Ron DeSantis from Yale, Herbert Hoover, Josh Hawley, Elizabeth Holmes from Stanford, and the Koch Brothers from MIT. These are the men who have truly made their mark on both the US (and undeniably, made this country a much better place) and the world and their impact will be felt for decades to come. If you argue against my facts and logic you are a pathetic booster who secretly wished that your kids had gotten into one. But too bad, no one gives a sh*t about your feelings.

^ Overwrought.

[Anonymous]

^ it’s onion worthy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kids didn’t go to a HYPSM, they should just drop dead. All other degrees are basically worthless and not worth of paying such a high price and non-HYPSM schools should have just disbanded themselves and turn into vocational schools to avoid the embarrassment. End of discussion. These five schools have been the most sought after institutions on this land even before America the country was founded and cannot be surpassed by any metric. The first college rankings published in the 1820s put them at top 5 and have been ranked as such ever since. Places where leaders of the past, present, and tomorrow are forged. The vast majority of Forbes 400, Fortune 500 CEOs, senators, cabinet members, US Presidents, unicorn founders, academy awards winners, nobel laureates have gone to those schools. All other schools are just wannabes and we should honestly just replace the Ivy League with those five schools and call it the V league. Any rankings that don’t have those 5 schools, domestic or international, are not worthy of looking. No, not even Oxford or Cambridge, as most of them won’t even have the $$$ or the holistic skills to get into one. All those STEM (and subject-by-subject) rankings are made up by poor state school graduates to diminish the value of these five institutions because at the end of the day, with 30+ billion in endowment, they will come out on top again in all fields, and even in NCAA Division I football too, but they’re just too involved in academics. Even an engineering degree from Yale generates infinitely more ROI than from your state school like Virginia Tech. Each one of them can lay claim to incredibly successful individuals that other schools just don’t have in comparison, JFK and Roosevelt for Harvard, Woodrow Wilson and Ted Cruz from Princeton, both Bushes, Jared Taylor, and Ron DeSantis from Yale, Herbert Hoover, Josh Hawley, Elizabeth Holmes from Stanford, and the Koch Brothers from MIT. These are the men who have truly made their mark on both the US (and undeniably, made this country a much better place) and the world and their impact will be felt for decades to come. If you argue against my facts and logic you are a pathetic booster who secretly wished that your kids had gotten into one. But too bad, no one gives a sh*t about your feelings.

^ Overwrought.

c'mon. It's sarcasm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Columbia is an Ivy + in a rapidly gentrifying part of Manhattan.

There's no shortage of top, wealthy international students that wouldn't rush the opportunity to attend Columbia. By that metric, it's really only behind Harvard since the name brand carries so much weight and Cambridge/Boston is cosmopolitan enough. MIT, Stanford, and for some even Berkeley beat it for engineering-focused internationals.

Wealthy international students, and even wealthy American students today, want to attend school in wealthy metropolises, not a third-rate town like Yale's or a sleepy suburb like Princeton, or worse a rural middle of nowhere like Dartmouth. Not to add these schools reflect the epitome of old-money WASP snobbery with weirdly exclusive clubs, which wealthy internationals would avoid given they have more cosmopolitan options.

Harvard is ironically the most diverse in this aspect, other than perhaps Brown/Cornell.

Penn is in Philadelphia, Chicago in Chicago and Hopkins in Baltimore - none of these cities are particularly attractive to any international or even American students for obvious reasons.

Both UCLA and NYU have received huge boosts in both applicant numbers and general reputation. They are in the most desirable parts of the two largest and most internationally well-known cities in the US.

Please explain the "obvious" reasons. Chicago, for instance, is the 3rd largest city in America and has lots of appeal.

There is a safety concern for U Chicago. Otherwise it will be more attractive.

Crime and weather for U Chicago. Crime for Johns Hopkins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kids didn’t go to a HYPSM, they should just drop dead. All other degrees are basically worthless and not worth of paying such a high price and non-HYPSM schools should have just disbanded themselves and turn into vocational schools to avoid the embarrassment. End of discussion. These five schools have been the most sought after institutions on this land even before America the country was founded and cannot be surpassed by any metric. The first college rankings published in the 1820s put them at top 5 and have been ranked as such ever since. Places where leaders of the past, present, and tomorrow are forged. The vast majority of Forbes 400, Fortune 500 CEOs, senators, cabinet members, US Presidents, unicorn founders, academy awards winners, nobel laureates have gone to those schools. All other schools are just wannabes and we should honestly just replace the Ivy League with those five schools and call it the V league. Any rankings that don’t have those 5 schools, domestic or international, are not worthy of looking. No, not even Oxford or Cambridge, as most of them won’t even have the $$$ or the holistic skills to get into one. All those STEM (and subject-by-subject) rankings are made up by poor state school graduates to diminish the value of these five institutions because at the end of the day, with 30+ billion in endowment, they will come out on top again in all fields, and even in NCAA Division I football too, but they’re just too involved in academics. Even an engineering degree from Yale generates infinitely more ROI than from your state school like Virginia Tech. Each one of them can lay claim to incredibly successful individuals that other schools just don’t have in comparison, JFK and Roosevelt for Harvard, Woodrow Wilson and Ted Cruz from Princeton, both Bushes, Jared Taylor, and Ron DeSantis from Yale, Herbert Hoover, Josh Hawley, Elizabeth Holmes from Stanford, and the Koch Brothers from MIT. These are the men who have truly made their mark on both the US (and undeniably, made this country a much better place) and the world and their impact will be felt for decades to come. If you argue against my facts and logic you are a pathetic booster who secretly wished that your kids had gotten into one. But too bad, no one gives a sh*t about your feelings.

^ Overwrought.

c'mon. It's sarcasm

Thanks, Captain Obvious. And it’s overwrought sarcasm.

[Anonymous]

I am really surprised about Columbia ranking #2. What caused the increase in ranking? I looked at the categories on the website, and it appears the only category where Columbia is clearly better is the percent of classes with <20 students. It is also not at the top in terms of peer review. Is there some outcome or diversity score I am not seeing?

It's just all the categories that are summarized on the website show it is somewhere between 5-10 in ranking.

[Anonymous]

I am pp. So I think I figured out some of the Columbia increase in USNews World Report. If you compare Stanford (tied at#6, 95 points) and Columbia (tied at #2, 97 points), Columbia has 82.5% of classes with 20 or fewer students, and Stanford has 68.6% This is roughly a 14% difference on a category that is weighted at 8% of total. This appears to represent 1.2 points out of 100 points in the ranking, or over half of what put Columbia in the 2nd place, based on the weighting tables I can see.https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-criteria-and-weights

Basically, what this tells me is that these rankings are very easy to game.

People on this thread are creating elaborate fictions of why one university is better than another, but its really nothing to crow over, given that the criteria are so sensitive to relatively minor factors. It just means that the Columbia administrators were better than Stanford's this year at manipulating their numbers.

I have no affiliation with either Stanford or Columbia, by the way.