Reply to To you, what's the bottom of the "elite" colleges?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "To you, what's the bottom of the "elite" colleges?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can someone explain what makes Williams and Amherst more elite than Swarthmore and Pomona, to the point of being several tiers over? I am looking at several rankings (including national ones) and I see them all clustered in the same general area with no clear consensus on the best. Swarthmore and Pomona have the lowest acceptance rates, and are the most diverse LACs as well. [/quote]

No one will be able to explain this, but I agree with you. To me, given the question from the OP - what are the "bottom" of the elites, it includes UCLA, Cal and Michigan from the publics, at least 4-6 SLACs and the core list of IVY/MIT/Stanford.CalTEch etc. Probably 30-35 or so schools mostly covered on different lists debated here.[/quote]

It's because Amherst and Williams-  athletics-dominated schools which only went co-ed in the 70s- have produced numerous predominantly white alumni who work for top-tier investment banking, finance, and politics. Their grads are pretty well-known in the elite stratosphere of NYC/DC/Boston because their alumni network has a strong, visible pipeline for them.

Swarthmore and Pomona- coed from the beginning and emphasizing diversity over athleticism- have egalitarian roots. Their grads are more inclined to go into academia or civil service. That's not seen as socially "elite", though it doesn't change the fact that as institutions they very much are comparable to A/W.

Fundamentally, being elite is less about objectivity and more about perception. Harvey Mudd College, another one in the Pomona consortium, objectively has absurdly high-stat students and outcomes in top academia/technology/engineering exceeding most of the Ivy League and rivaling MIT/Caltech. But how many here will recognize it as an elite institution?[/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