What are the "bottom Ivies"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top Ivy has always meant H,Y, P throughout our history and as evidenced by the rankings.

Says who? Top Ivy is a DCUM construct, and if it has any meaning at all (which I doubt), I'm not necessarily ready to let one anonymous poster determine that meaning.

And at some points in history, as recently as WWII, Columbia was more highly regarded than some of the HYP. I read this recently - maybe I can find the source for you guys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh wait, when did Columbia get hot?

Maybe when they won a football game?

My kid is very smart, but I doubt he's driven enough to get into an Ivy. On the other hand, if he did, I am having trouble imagining the circumstances under which I'd recommend Columbia over Brown.

You're not paying attention then.

Actually you're right, I'm not. I might be turning into my mother, who had some outdated prejudices when I was applying to college.

I will say that I think people frequently give too much weight to the quality of a school's grad programs in evaluating undergrad education. Harvard is a great example of place where the reputation of the grad programs colors the reputation of the undergrad education (for the better obviously).

[Anonymous]

To reply to earlier post requesting sources for assertion that Tufts is among the
top schools for SAT scores, and therefore an indication of quality of student body...

Here are two, in descending order...

IPEDS tops SAT scores, as posted in CAPPEX 2/8/12:

Caltech, H, P, Y, UChic, H Mudd, MIT, Pomona, Col., Stanford, Olin, N'western, UPenn, TUFTS, Vandy, Amherst, Dartmouth, Swat, Rice, Duke, Brown, Reed, Bowdoin, Haverford, Vassar, Carleton, Wash. & Lee, Hamilton, Emory, Middlebury, JHU, CMU, Wesleyan, Oberlin, Wellesley, USC, Scripps, Jewish Theological, Barnard, Macalester

BUSINESS INSIDER, 4/1/13:

Caltech, H, Y, P, UChic., Wash U, MIT, Columbia, Stanford, H Mudd, Vandy, Dartmouth, Duke, N'western, Swat, Pomona, UPenn, Rice, TUFTS, Williams, Brown, Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Haverford, UND

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


And at some points in history, as recently as WWII, Columbia was more highly regarded than some of the HYP. I read this recently - maybe I can find the source for you guys.

Plainly IMPOSSIBLE because DCUM didn't even exist before WWII

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


And at some points in history, as recently as WWII, Columbia was more highly regarded than some of the HYP. I read this recently - maybe I can find the source for you guys.

Plainly IMPOSSIBLE because DCUM didn't even exist before WWII

And who cares what the rest if the country thinks, anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cornell. That's the only one that "doesn't really count."

For an engineering degree, Cornell is the top pick, in my opinion. Carnegie Mellon for Computer Science....and neither are Ivy League!

What about Stanford, Caltech, and MIT, they've got to be up there.

For CS, CMU is as good as any school out there. The ones you mention are also right there.

I'm the one that mentioned Carnegie Mellon originally, and yes, they're all good. None better than CMU, although I think it may compete with Stanford for top honors most years I've bothered to look. It varies with the year.

My SUNY CS degree seems to pose no issue getting a job, but I think in a lean market people from top schools are still going to get top pick. If you can get someone from Cornell or someone from a state school for the same price....assuming they both have some job experience and interview well.....you're going to edge out with the degree from Cornell.

[Anonymous]

If someone referred to a "top Ivy" to me, I would likely break out laughing at the absurdity and the insecurity. Ivy League is a cluster of good schools that share some common features -- all are good but none are for everyone and they all have their plusses and minuses. Cornell is different in that part of the school is public (which may have been noted previously).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If someone referred to a "top Ivy" to me, I would likely break out laughing at the absurdity and the insecurity. Ivy League is a cluster of good schools that share some common features -- all are good but none are for everyone and they all have their plusses and minuses. Cornell is different in that part of the school is public (which may have been noted previously).

I think it sounds less pretentious than "my kid is going to Yale," FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If someone referred to a "top Ivy" to me, I would likely break out laughing at the absurdity and the insecurity. Ivy League is a cluster of good schools that share some common features -- all are good but none are for everyone and they all have their plusses and minuses. Cornell is different in that part of the school is public (which may have been noted previously).

Said the parent of a kid at a non-Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top Ivy has always meant H,Y, P throughout our history and as evidenced by the rankings.

"our history"? Whose would that be? DCUM history? And rankings have existed throughout this history? Which rankings?


It's an athletic conference, people. (And, no, not sour grapes -- my kids are at one of these schools.)

[Anonymous]

columbia is tougher to get into than princeton this year.

that is CRAZY. i would've never imagined that would ever happen.

Has P's new reputation of grade deflation, being 'less fun', UG thesis....make it less popular for applicants than columbia?

[Anonymous]

I think "top Ivy" is just a contraction of "top college-- an Ivy"-- it's for people who are afraid that someone might miss the "importance" of going to an Ivy-- quelle horreur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think "top Ivy" is just a contraction of "top college-- an Ivy"-- it's for people who are afraid that someone might miss the "importance" of going to an Ivy-- quelle horreur.

Haha, no. I'm another Columbia parent. (Not the one with two kids there, and not the person who just posted the stats that Columbia is now higher than Princeton by some measure.) These theories that it's all about parental insecurity, because "regular ivy" somehow isn't enough to stroke our feeble egos, are stupid. Trust me, if I needed an ego boost (which I don't), it's more than enough to say the words "ivy" or "Columbia" and watch the reaction, especially in person. That's why I usually don't even volunteer it until asked.

My guess? "Top ivy" is some sort of contraction used to protect anonymity. If you're explaining "my kid got recruited for soccer" and then you name Yale as the school, then everyone who has heard of your kid being recruited to Yale for soccer (probably everyone in the school) will know it's you posting.

[Anonymous]

This has got to be the stupidest thread ever. I can only guess that it is a bunch of parents who are reliving their senior years through their kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has got to be the stupidest thread ever. I can only guess that it is a bunch of parents who are reliving their senior years through their kids?

You took the time to write a gratuitous nasty post - what's your guess about your own obvious psychological shortcomings?