The Inside the Beltway Bragging Rights University Rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at thinking Davidson is a braniac school. It ranks 54th nationally for alumni earning PhDs per capita. St. John's is in not in the top 20, whereas HYP, Williams, Pomona, Haverford, and Amherst are. Those are the real next tier braniac schools.

It is really odd & kind of creepy that you even have this kind of random information about this very small college (or any other for that matter).

Are you the poster who spews your strange vitriol for this school on almost every thread where it is mentioned? Are you pathologically bitter about not getting in or about them accepting your kid’s (obviously less worthy!) archenemy over him or her or something?

-NP with no affiliation whatsoever with Davidson

Not PP but I’d rather have facts like the PP provided than the worthless opinion of some stranger.....do you understand the difference in value? And I particularly detest the idiotic retort that any critique of a college must be motivated by a denial of admission......just a monumentally stupid comment.

[Anonymous]

This thing is a spoof...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thing is a spoof...

Several posters have also pointed that out. But it doesn't stop new people from joining in like htis is a serious analysis. Which in itself is hilarious and typical DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top Tier “Brainiac” schools:
Chicago
Swarthmore
Cal Tech
MIT


Next Tier:
Carleton
St. John’s
Rice
Davidson
Harvey Mudd

Hopkins should be here somewhere, probably in the top tier because c'mon, it's a very serious place. I don't personally know much about Davidson, and I'm reasonably knowledgeable, so I'd leave it off. But otherwise, I think PP's updates are helpful.

[Anonymous]

I live just outside the beltway in NoVA. So our list is different:

HYPS MIT
Every other Ivy + Duke
UVA/WM/VT Engineering
VT non engineering/JMU
Other state schools
NOVA

Radford

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at thinking Davidson is a braniac school. It ranks 54th nationally for alumni earning PhDs per capita. St. John's is in not in the top 20, whereas HYP, Williams, Pomona, Haverford, and Amherst are. Those are the real next tier braniac schools.

It is really odd & kind of creepy that you even have this kind of random information about this very small college (or any other for that matter).

Are you the poster who spews your strange vitriol for this school on almost every thread where it is mentioned? Are you pathologically bitter about not getting in or about them accepting your kid’s (obviously less worthy!) archenemy over him or her or something?

-NP with no affiliation whatsoever with Davidson

Not PP but I’d rather have facts like the PP provided than the worthless opinion of some stranger.....do you understand the difference in value? And I particularly detest the idiotic retort that any critique of a college must be motivated by a denial of admission......just a monumentally stupid comment.

I get that facts are important but it just seemed like a really random fact to pull out.

As someone who has read this board on & off for a couple of years, it also seems like there is at least one poster who relishes in any chance to put down this particular school (& a couple of others). Just my honest observation! It’s kind of like the (anti) hard-on some on the far right have for Soros &/or Podesta lol... I have no idea what motivates him or her to do so, obviously, but was just hazarding a guess in a (fruitless) effort to understand as I find having so much vitriol towards a SLAC of all things to be very odd (& the only real life case of this I know of — in which the person’s strange vitriol is directed towards a different SLAC — was, in fact, motivated by her DC not getting in when she thought he should have).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at thinking Davidson is a braniac school. It ranks 54th nationally for alumni earning PhDs per capita. St. John's is in not in the top 20, whereas HYP, Williams, Pomona, Haverford, and Amherst are. Those are the real next tier braniac schools.

It is really odd & kind of creepy that you even have this kind of random information about this very small college (or any other for that matter).

Are you the poster who spews your strange vitriol for this school on almost every thread where it is mentioned? Are you pathologically bitter about not getting in or about them accepting your kid’s (obviously less worthy!) archenemy over him or her or something?

-NP with no affiliation whatsoever with Davidson

Not PP but I’d rather have facts like the PP provided than the worthless opinion of some stranger.....do you understand the difference in value? And I particularly detest the idiotic retort that any critique of a college must be motivated by a denial of admission......just a monumentally stupid comment.

If you find the PP you are responding to’s musings to be “monumentally stupid”, then you better get off this board before it lowers your (surely astronomically high!) IQ....

[Anonymous]

Actually, the "where is that" school category puzzles me as well. Notre Dame and UCLA have significant brand recognition. Perhaps in this region, you don't have as many applying to ND or UCLA because of the location, but these schools are very well known as elite universities. Rice I get because people don't know it unless they are in the throws of college applications or have a friend or relative that attended. You could probably argue that Wash U, Emory, and Panoma belong on the "where is that" list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at thinking Davidson is a braniac school. It ranks 54th nationally for alumni earning PhDs per capita. St. John's is in not in the top 20, whereas HYP, Williams, Pomona, Haverford, and Amherst are. Those are the real next tier braniac schools.

It is really odd & kind of creepy that you even have this kind of random information about this very small college (or any other for that matter).

Are you the poster who spews your strange vitriol for this school on almost every thread where it is mentioned? Are you pathologically bitter about not getting in or about them accepting your kid’s (obviously less worthy!) archenemy over him or her or something?

-NP with no affiliation whatsoever with Davidson

Not PP but I’d rather have facts like the PP provided than the worthless opinion of some stranger.....do you understand the difference in value? And I particularly detest the idiotic retort that any critique of a college must be motivated by a denial of admission......just a monumentally stupid comment.

I get that facts are important but it just seemed like a really random fact to pull out.

As someone who has read this board on & off for a couple of years, it also seems like there is at least one poster who relishes in any chance to put down this particular school (& a couple of others). Just my honest observation! It’s kind of like the (anti) hard-on some on the far right have for Soros &/or Podesta lol... I have no idea what motivates him or her to do so, obviously, but was just hazarding a guess in a (fruitless) effort to understand as I find having so much vitriol towards a SLAC of all things to be very odd (& the only real life case of this I know of — in which the person’s strange vitriol is directed towards a different SLAC — was, in fact, motivated by her DC not getting in when she thought he should have).

To me, it looks as if the schools that get the most weird hate are the University of Chicago and Davidson College.

One thing that those two schools have in common is serious battles over speaking engagements with an alt-right media personality, Milo Yiannopoulos.

Maybe the weird posts come from Milo fans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at thinking Davidson is a braniac school. It ranks 54th nationally for alumni earning PhDs per capita. St. John's is in not in the top 20, whereas HYP, Williams, Pomona, Haverford, and Amherst are. Those are the real next tier braniac schools.

It is really odd & kind of creepy that you even have this kind of random information about this very small college (or any other for that matter).

Are you the poster who spews your strange vitriol for this school on almost every thread where it is mentioned? Are you pathologically bitter about not getting in or about them accepting your kid’s (obviously less worthy!) archenemy over him or her or something?

-NP with no affiliation whatsoever with Davidson

Not PP but I’d rather have facts like the PP provided than the worthless opinion of some stranger.....do you understand the difference in value? And I particularly detest the idiotic retort that any critique of a college must be motivated by a denial of admission......just a monumentally stupid comment.

I get that facts are important but it just seemed like a really random fact to pull out.

As someone who has read this board on & off for a couple of years, it also seems like there is at least one poster who relishes in any chance to put down this particular school (& a couple of others). Just my honest observation! It’s kind of like the (anti) hard-on some on the far right have for Soros &/or Podesta lol... I have no idea what motivates him or her to do so, obviously, but was just hazarding a guess in a (fruitless) effort to understand as I find having so much vitriol towards a SLAC of all things to be very odd (& the only real life case of this I know of — in which the person’s strange vitriol is directed towards a different SLAC — was, in fact, motivated by her DC not getting in when she thought he should have).

To me, it looks as if the schools that get the most weird hate are the University of Chicago and Davidson College.

One thing that those two schools have in common is serious battles over speaking engagements with an alt-right media personality, Milo Yiannopoulos.

Maybe the weird posts come from Milo fans.

That’s possible as Berkeley gets what seems like a disproportionate amount of hate on here,too. I guess it doesn’t seem quite as weird,though, as it is a much larger school that has long been the subject of much hatred among a certain segment of the population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn is the one I would struggle to characterize in terms of how people talk. It's reputation is one that people are divisive about. The Whartons would say they are in the Gold Standard, not Brainiacs. And others would place Penn in the just missed.

OP here - yeah, Penn was one of the ones I struggled with. While I'd say it belongs at the top of the Just Missed, the conventional wisdom around here - fueled by the Wharton rep - is that it's a step above those schools. Maybe Columbia and Penn belong in a category parallel to the Brainiacs, in that they're not quite the gold standard, but they're also just a notch above the Just Missed.

To the previous poster, I agree that Rice is a great school! But it's pretty clear to me that around here it just doesn't have the snob factor of every school I listed above it. But I'm definitely open to everyone's perspectives.

And thanks to all who saw this as in exercise in reflecting on people who rank schools, not in reflecting on the schools themselves!

Actually, as the parent of a Penn student, the conventional wisdom around here has me saying "no, not Penn State..."

[Anonymous]

Ha. Your list is really sad OP. Really no one cares unless it's an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

My kids go to a top area private and frankly I only care about ivy. One kid will likely get into some ivy but not HYP because we are not legacy, can't dunk a basketball, and not black. Other hoping for a borderline top 20 like Wash U or Emory or something like that. If not we will just take UVA for the second.

[Anonymous]

This post is sad but true. And I agree - get rid of the service academies and California and Midwestern schools - none of those would be bragged about - sadly the parents OP is calling out would be totally defensive.

[Anonymous]

Jesus.

I'm glad to be a normal person with normal friends who when asked where a kid goes to college might say "Oh wow, cool!" to a handful of 15 or so well known schools but otherwise will still say "Cool, does s/he like it?" and actually mean it.