Reply to The Inside the Beltway Bragging Rights University Rankings

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "The Inside the Beltway Bragging Rights University Rankings"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]People post on here a lot about which colleges are the most highly ranked by different publications. But who really cares about academics? What matters most is The Brag Factor. When you’re at a DC cocktail party and people start talking about where their kids go to college, how do schools stack up vs. one another? I’ve come up with my best try at a Brag Factor ranking – grouping schools by tiers based on which are more boast-worthy.

[b]THE GOLD STANDARD[/b] – Yes, there are distinctions even within this lofty group, but if your kid attends any of these schools, you have top bragging rights at any gathering.
Harvard
Stanford
Yale
MIT
Princeton
*Naval Academy/West Point – for some people, having a kid at one of these schools is as prestigious as it gets. For others, it’s crazy to consign your kid to 5 years of military service after college, and these schools don’t belong on this list.

[b]THE BRAINIACS[/b] – These schools are all great, and within certain brainy circles who value intellect more than well-roundedness, might even accrue as many bragging rights as those in the group above.
Columbia
U of Chicago
Penn
Cal Tech

[b]THE JUST-MISSED[/b] – Still highly brag-worthy schools, but just a rung below. If your kid attends one of these schools, you can counter by talking about how well-rounded they are, and that quality of life was most important in their college search.
Duke
Brown
Dartmouth
Amherst/Williams
Pomona

[b]JUST-MISSED BRAINIACS [/b]– Similar to the Brainiacs above, intellectuals might consider these schools as good as/better than the Just-Missed Schools. But among the general population, they don’t have quite the same cachet. 
Johns Hopkins
Cal-Berkeley
Swarthmore

[b]NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF[/b] – These are schools whose sticker you’ll be happy to put on your car. But you might be hoping your kid places into grad school at one of the institutions listed above.
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Northwestern
Bowdoin/Middlebury
Cornell
Michigan/UVA

[b]WHERE IS THAT AGAIN? [/b]– All outstanding schools, but definitely outside the Beltway bubble. You might have to do some educating about these institutions to some people.
UCLA
Notre Dame
Rice

[b]THE SAFETY SCHOOLS [/b]– Actually, with yield protection, you might have to apply early to get into one of these schools. But if you’re applying early to one of these schools, that’s a step down the prestige ladder from everyone listed above.
Tufts
Wash U
Emory
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics