The Best Public Colleges vs the 'worst' Ivy Leagues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For grad school, the difference between an ivy and a top state school varies. Big state schools, even those that are not considered "good," sometimes have a top program in a particular field.

For undergrad, an ivy is almost certainly better than Berkeley, UCLA, etc.

Given the choice, I'd go to an Ivy for undergrad and a big state school for graduate.

Better based on what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

Confirmation bias and failure to see generational differences.

I'm a millennial and when I look around my office I realize it DOES matter.

Anyone pretending any state college is better than Cornell is an idiot or just in denial.

I went to Cornell - and my boss went to a third tier (if that) SLAC.

You're obviously winning then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

Confirmation bias and failure to see generational differences.

I'm a millennial and when I look around my office I realize it DOES matter.

Anyone pretending any state college is better than Cornell is an idiot or just in denial.

I went to Cornell - and my boss went to a third tier (if that) SLAC.

Are you Andy Bernard from Scranton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

Confirmation bias and failure to see generational differences.

I'm a millennial and when I look around my office I realize it DOES matter.

Anyone pretending any state college is better than Cornell is an idiot or just in denial.

I went to Cornell - and my boss went to a third tier (if that) SLAC.

That's just an LAC.

And I would say that LACs provide the best education, but that's a whole other thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please don't compare UVA to Berkeley.

Berkeley faculty, alumni, and researchers have won 92 Nobel Prizes (including 32 alumni Nobel laureates), 9 Wolf Prizes, 13 Fields Medals (including 3 alumni medalists), 22 Turing Awards (including 11 alumni awardees), 45 MacArthur Fellowships,[17] 20 Academy Awards, 14 Pulitzer Prizes[18] and 117 Olympic gold medals (51 silver and 39 bronze).[19]

To date, along with Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley scientists and researchers have discovered 16 chemical elements of the periodic table – more than any other university in the world.[20][21] Lawrence Livermore Lab also discovered or co-discovered six chemical elements (113 to 118).

The 2010 United States National Research Council Rankings identified UC Berkeley as having the highest number of top-ranked doctoral programs in the nation.[72]

UC Berkeley doctoral programs that received a #1 ranking include Agricultural and Resource Economics, Astrophysics, Chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, English, Epidemiology, Geography, German, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Genomics, and Development, Physics, Plant Biology, and Political Science.

UC Berkeley was also the #1 recipient of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships between 2001 and 2010, with 1,333 awards.

Sounds like a great place to go for graduate school. I think this discussion is about undergrad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For grad school, the difference between an ivy and a top state school varies. Big state schools, even those that are not considered "good," sometimes have a top program in a particular field.

For undergrad, an ivy is almost certainly better than Berkeley, UCLA, etc.

Given the choice, I'd go to an Ivy for undergrad and a big state school for graduate.

Better based on what?

I would like to know this too. What makes an Ivy better for undergrad?

[Anonymous]

I find the list below interesting every year. It's the US News listing of top national universities with the Best Undergraduate Teaching. As far as the Ivies go, those with the reputation of a a strong undergrad focus all rank in the Top 7. Miami (OH) and Michigan are the only publics in the Top 10, nice to see William & Mary and UMBC in the Top 20.

To me, the focus on top universities often obscures what I'm looking for in my kid's college, which is a great undergraduate teaching environment. All the research accolades can wait to matter for grad school.

1. Princeton
2. Miami (OH)
3. Yale
4. Brown
5. Rice and Wake Forest (tie)
7. Dartmouth, Michigan and Notre Dame (tie)
10. Stanford and Vanderbilt (tie)
12. William & Mary
13. Purdue
14. Duke, Georgia State, Wisconsin, and Wash U. in St. Louis (tie)
18. Cal-Berkeley, UMBC and WPI (tie)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find the list below interesting every year. It's the US News listing of top national universities with the Best Undergraduate Teaching. As far as the Ivies go, those with the reputation of a a strong undergrad focus all rank in the Top 7. Miami (OH) and Michigan are the only publics in the Top 10, nice to see William & Mary and UMBC in the Top 20.

To me, the focus on top universities often obscures what I'm looking for in my kid's college, which is a great undergraduate teaching environment. All the research accolades can wait to matter for grad school.

1. Princeton
2. Miami (OH)
3. Yale
4. Brown
5. Rice and Wake Forest (tie)
7. Dartmouth, Michigan and Notre Dame (tie)
10. Stanford and Vanderbilt (tie)
12. William & Mary
13. Purdue
14. Duke, Georgia State, Wisconsin, and Wash U. in St. Louis (tie)
18. Cal-Berkeley, UMBC and WPI (tie)

Where is Harvard on this list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find the list below interesting every year. It's the US News listing of top national universities with the Best Undergraduate Teaching. As far as the Ivies go, those with the reputation of a a strong undergrad focus all rank in the Top 7. Miami (OH) and Michigan are the only publics in the Top 10, nice to see William & Mary and UMBC in the Top 20.

To me, the focus on top universities often obscures what I'm looking for in my kid's college, which is a great undergraduate teaching environment. All the research accolades can wait to matter for grad school.

1. Princeton
2. Miami (OH)
3. Yale
4. Brown
5. Rice and Wake Forest (tie)
7. Dartmouth, Michigan and Notre Dame (tie)
10. Stanford and Vanderbilt (tie)
12. William & Mary
13. Purdue
14. Duke, Georgia State, Wisconsin, and Wash U. in St. Louis (tie)
18. Cal-Berkeley, UMBC and WPI (tie)

Thanks for posting this. It's an interesting perspective.

[Anonymous]

Went to Cal Berkeley, graduated in 1984, still getting a lot of mileage out of my Cal degree. It is instantly recognized and considered a plus even on the East Coast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Went to Cal Berkeley, graduated in 1984, still getting a lot of mileage out of my Cal degree. It is instantly recognized and considered a plus even on the East Coast.

+1 People in VA are delusional enough to equate UVA to Berkeley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Went to Cal Berkeley, graduated in 1984, still getting a lot of mileage out of my Cal degree. It is instantly recognized and considered a plus even on the East Coast.

+1 People in VA are delusional enough to equate UVA to Berkeley.

Or we're reading US News top 10 public universities list where UVA is tied with UCLA for 2nd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the list below interesting every year. It's the US News listing of top national universities with the Best Undergraduate Teaching. As far as the Ivies go, those with the reputation of a a strong undergrad focus all rank in the Top 7. Miami (OH) and Michigan are the only publics in the Top 10, nice to see William & Mary and UMBC in the Top 20.

To me, the focus on top universities often obscures what I'm looking for in my kid's college, which is a great undergraduate teaching environment. All the research accolades can wait to matter for grad school.

1. Princeton
2. Miami (OH)
3. Yale
4. Brown
5. Rice and Wake Forest (tie)
7. Dartmouth, Michigan and Notre Dame (tie)
10. Stanford and Vanderbilt (tie)
12. William & Mary
13. Purdue
14. Duke, Georgia State, Wisconsin, and Wash U. in St. Louis (tie)
18. Cal-Berkeley, UMBC and WPI (tie)

Where is Harvard on this list?

Harvard really focused its resources on graduate students. In many respects it isn't a great place to be an undergrad. But it is still Harvard. Still the best of all worlds is to go to a place like Princeton or Yale for undergrad and then Harvard for grad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Went to Cal Berkeley, graduated in 1984, still getting a lot of mileage out of my Cal degree. It is instantly recognized and considered a plus even on the East Coast.

+1 People in VA are delusional enough to equate UVA to Berkeley.

Or we're reading US News top 10 public universities list where UVA is tied with UCLA for 2nd.

UVA is great but it doesn't have the world recognition of Berkeley or UCLA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Went to Cal Berkeley, graduated in 1984, still getting a lot of mileage out of my Cal degree. It is instantly recognized and considered a plus even on the East Coast.

+1 People in VA are delusional enough to equate UVA to Berkeley.

Or we're reading US News top 10 public universities list where UVA is tied with UCLA for 2nd.

UVA is great but it doesn't have the world recognition of Berkeley or UCLA.

Isn't UVA a much smaller school?