Anonymous
06/11/2026 08:43
Subject: Re:Is there an official T10 list?
Where I come from you thank your lucky stars you got into any T20 and don’t quibble over minuscule differences in prestige, but rather focus on being the top of the heap at an elite school which will be better outcome anyway.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 06:21
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
You have your own bias. No one I know hold Columbia in the highest regard anymore.
NP
I see the same in our non-DMV east coast feeder private. Columbia is not as desirable as Penn and Duke, which seem to be the two schools kids now want most after HYPMS, followed by Williams, Brown and Dartmouth. Not a lot of kids want Caltech but it’s held in high regards and seen as too hard for most kids.
Our school sends at least 20% to Ivies a year (not counting Ivy plus) including at least 7-8 kids to HYP (out of 100) and another 30% to the Ivy+ and WASP, latest trend parents are noticing (CC even commented some of this):
- fewer kids want JHU, seen as the new where fun goes to die
- a lot more kids want Duke than 5-10 years ago
- Brown is seen as most unpredictable among Ivies or top schools we historically “feed” to for over 100 years
- more kids now want Cornell than before. It used to be looked down upon (I know this will evoke eye rolls) by top kids and the wealthiest families but it is now seen as more well-rounded and less grindy as before
- not one single kid EDed to Chicago in the most recent cycle. Families are getting turned off by their ED or bust approach. Also kids are unclear if it is a strong humanities school or a strong STEM school, or neither. It is now only known for economics but I heard some recent alums from our school are choosing it for law school after going to HYPMS Penn Duke Dartmouth for undergrad.
- no non-athlete use their ED on WASP, it’s seen as a risky bet. A decent amount of kids get in RD from our school so if you really want WASP, you try your luck at HYPMS EA so you don’t waste your early choice but it’s not binding
- all the yield protection schools have in last 2 cycles made college app less stressful for a lot of kids, which is a reversal of the trend of hypercompetitiveness and hyper anxiety. Schools like WashU, Emory and Vanderbilt now very reliably take 3.6 GPA kids if you ED. If you ED schools like Middlebury, Hamilton, Tufts, Vassar with a 3.4, you will get in. This has made things more relaxing and at a school like ours that used to be HYP or busy, families have recently become more open to T20-40 schools. The only exception is Rice, they need high SAT plus around 3.8 GPA, but if you apply with that ED, your chance of acceptance is literally 100% for kids from our school in the last 5-6 years.
Where I come from, after HYPSM, it's really just Wharton and maybe Columbia. Schools like Dartmouth and Williams have fallen out of favor generally.
Where I come from, it’s really just Harvard. Schools like Yale and Princeton have fallen out of favor generally.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 03:45
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
You have your own bias. No one I know hold Columbia in the highest regard anymore.
NP
I see the same in our non-DMV east coast feeder private. Columbia is not as desirable as Penn and Duke, which seem to be the two schools kids now want most after HYPMS, followed by Williams, Brown and Dartmouth. Not a lot of kids want Caltech but it’s held in high regards and seen as too hard for most kids.
Our school sends at least 20% to Ivies a year (not counting Ivy plus) including at least 7-8 kids to HYP (out of 100) and another 30% to the Ivy+ and WASP, latest trend parents are noticing (CC even commented some of this):
- fewer kids want JHU, seen as the new where fun goes to die
- a lot more kids want Duke than 5-10 years ago
- Brown is seen as most unpredictable among Ivies or top schools we historically “feed” to for over 100 years
- more kids now want Cornell than before. It used to be looked down upon (I know this will evoke eye rolls) by top kids and the wealthiest families but it is now seen as more well-rounded and less grindy as before
- not one single kid EDed to Chicago in the most recent cycle. Families are getting turned off by their ED or bust approach. Also kids are unclear if it is a strong humanities school or a strong STEM school, or neither. It is now only known for economics but I heard some recent alums from our school are choosing it for law school after going to HYPMS Penn Duke Dartmouth for undergrad.
- no non-athlete use their ED on WASP, it’s seen as a risky bet. A decent amount of kids get in RD from our school so if you really want WASP, you try your luck at HYPMS EA so you don’t waste your early choice but it’s not binding
- all the yield protection schools have in last 2 cycles made college app less stressful for a lot of kids, which is a reversal of the trend of hypercompetitiveness and hyper anxiety. Schools like WashU, Emory and Vanderbilt now very reliably take 3.6 GPA kids if you ED. If you ED schools like Middlebury, Hamilton, Tufts, Vassar with a 3.4, you will get in. This has made things more relaxing and at a school like ours that used to be HYP or busy, families have recently become more open to T20-40 schools. The only exception is Rice, they need high SAT plus around 3.8 GPA, but if you apply with that ED, your chance of acceptance is literally 100% for kids from our school in the last 5-6 years.
Where I come from, after HYPSM, it's really just Wharton and maybe Columbia. Schools like Dartmouth and Williams have fallen out of favor generally.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 03:42
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
there's no official T10 list. People usually just go by the most recent US News ranking. The only really solid tier is HYPSM
Anonymous
06/11/2026 02:07
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
You have your own bias. No one I know hold Columbia in the highest regard anymore.
NP
I see the same in our non-DMV east coast feeder private. Columbia is not as desirable as Penn and Duke, which seem to be the two schools kids now want most after HYPMS, followed by Williams, Brown and Dartmouth. Not a lot of kids want Caltech but it’s held in high regards and seen as too hard for most kids.
Our school sends at least 20% to Ivies a year (not counting Ivy plus) including at least 7-8 kids to HYP (out of 100) and another 30% to the Ivy+ and WASP, latest trend parents are noticing (CC even commented some of this):
- fewer kids want JHU, seen as the new where fun goes to die
- a lot more kids want Duke than 5-10 years ago
- Brown is seen as most unpredictable among Ivies or top schools we historically “feed” to for over 100 years
- more kids now want Cornell than before. It used to be looked down upon (I know this will evoke eye rolls) by top kids and the wealthiest families but it is now seen as more well-rounded and less grindy as before
- not one single kid EDed to Chicago in the most recent cycle. Families are getting turned off by their ED or bust approach. Also kids are unclear if it is a strong humanities school or a strong STEM school, or neither. It is now only known for economics but I heard some recent alums from our school are choosing it for law school after going to HYPMS Penn Duke Dartmouth for undergrad.
- no non-athlete use their ED on WASP, it’s seen as a risky bet. A decent amount of kids get in RD from our school so if you really want WASP, you try your luck at HYPMS EA so you don’t waste your early choice but it’s not binding
- all the yield protection schools have in last 2 cycles made college app less stressful for a lot of kids, which is a reversal of the trend of hypercompetitiveness and hyper anxiety. Schools like WashU, Emory and Vanderbilt now very reliably take 3.6 GPA kids if you ED. If you ED schools like Middlebury, Hamilton, Tufts, Vassar with a 3.4, you will get in. This has made things more relaxing and at a school like ours that used to be HYP or busy, families have recently become more open to T20-40 schools. The only exception is Rice, they need high SAT plus around 3.8 GPA, but if you apply with that ED, your chance of acceptance is literally 100% for kids from our school in the last 5-6 years.
You can get into Vandy, Emory, or WashU with a 3.6 and no test scores?! I doubt it.
When did I say no test scores?
No one goes test optional from our HS because everyone tests pretty high. The 20th-40th percentile kids typically test around 1500-1530. They ED with that and a 3.6 from our school, they get into at least Emory or WashU. It has been so reliable that families are much less anxious now than 3-4 years ago. It’s almost a blessing to have one of these kids who are done by Christmas, than to have a kid in top 10% of our school because those kids always go for HYPS Penn Duke and there has been a lot of cases they get deferred early and have to wait until April to find out, but they always get in somewhere in T10 even if it’s not their early choice.
Anonymous
06/10/2026 22:36
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
You have your own bias. No one I know hold Columbia in the highest regard anymore.
I am not rank ordering them. I am pointing out 10 schools that are better by reputation than Northwestern.
You are stuck in the 80’s. Northwestern = Penn/Duke, while Columbia fell out of T10 years ago and remains there due to terrible leadership and rampant cancel culture.
Anonymous
06/10/2026 20:28
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
You have your own bias. No one I know hold Columbia in the highest regard anymore.
Agree it really is not, even among ivies who are brand loyal it is shunned for the data-faking 3 yrs ago and all the other issues the past 18 months.
Top 10 are Likely HYPSM Caltech Penn Duke Chicago Northwestern/JHU tied for 10th. Some would move Chicago down due to the ED0-4 nonsense. Maybe that is fair, maybe not but it would remain above the bottom 3 ivies likely.
There are far more parents who's kids got rejected by Columbia on this board than I would have expected.....the copium is free flowing.
Yes with a ~4% admit rate
Anonymous
06/10/2026 19:43
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
CalTech is only prestigious in the immigrant engineering community. Outside of it one is considered exceptionally bright if one goes there but the school itself does not carry weight or prestige.
Anonymous
06/10/2026 19:41
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
You have your own bias. No one I know hold Columbia in the highest regard anymore.
Agree it really is not, even among ivies who are brand loyal it is shunned for the data-faking 3 yrs ago and all the other issues the past 18 months.
Top 10 are Likely HYPSM Caltech Penn Duke Chicago Northwestern/JHU tied for 10th. Some would move Chicago down due to the ED0-4 nonsense. Maybe that is fair, maybe not but it would remain above the bottom 3 ivies likely.
There are far more parents who's kids got rejected by Columbia on this board than I would have expected.....the copium is free flowing.
Anonymous
06/10/2026 19:28
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
You have your own bias. No one I know hold Columbia in the highest regard anymore.
NP
I see the same in our non-DMV east coast feeder private. Columbia is not as desirable as Penn and Duke, which seem to be the two schools kids now want most after HYPMS, followed by Williams, Brown and Dartmouth. Not a lot of kids want Caltech but it’s held in high regards and seen as too hard for most kids.
Our school sends at least 20% to Ivies a year (not counting Ivy plus) including at least 7-8 kids to HYP (out of 100) and another 30% to the Ivy+ and WASP, latest trend parents are noticing (CC even commented some of this):
- fewer kids want JHU, seen as the new where fun goes to die
- a lot more kids want Duke than 5-10 years ago
- Brown is seen as most unpredictable among Ivies or top schools we historically “feed” to for over 100 years
- more kids now want Cornell than before. It used to be looked down upon (I know this will evoke eye rolls) by top kids and the wealthiest families but it is now seen as more well-rounded and less grindy as before
- not one single kid EDed to Chicago in the most recent cycle. Families are getting turned off by their ED or bust approach. Also kids are unclear if it is a strong humanities school or a strong STEM school, or neither. It is now only known for economics but I heard some recent alums from our school are choosing it for law school after going to HYPMS Penn Duke Dartmouth for undergrad.
- no non-athlete use their ED on WASP, it’s seen as a risky bet. A decent amount of kids get in RD from our school so if you really want WASP, you try your luck at HYPMS EA so you don’t waste your early choice but it’s not binding
- all the yield protection schools have in last 2 cycles made college app less stressful for a lot of kids, which is a reversal of the trend of hypercompetitiveness and hyper anxiety. Schools like WashU, Emory and Vanderbilt now very reliably take 3.6 GPA kids if you ED. If you ED schools like Middlebury, Hamilton, Tufts, Vassar with a 3.4, you will get in. This has made things more relaxing and at a school like ours that used to be HYP or busy, families have recently become more open to T20-40 schools. The only exception is Rice, they need high SAT plus around 3.8 GPA, but if you apply with that ED, your chance of acceptance is literally 100% for kids from our school in the last 5-6 years.
You can get into Vandy, Emory, or WashU with a 3.6 and no test scores?! I doubt it.
Anonymous
06/10/2026 17:36
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The 7 pre-Revolutionary Ivies plus Stanford, MIT, and Chicago. No other answers will be accepted.
GTFOH
Cornell is having a day thanks to its focus on engineering.
It's international reputation has been pretty high for a while.
https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings?region=North%20America&countries=us
This ranking puts Penn State ahead of Rice.
Anonymous
06/10/2026 17:34
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Hi all, my DD is a sophmore in HS so we're just starting to truly think about this college application process (but no, we are not only now starting to think about having a well-rounded kid with a variety of interests, that's been her whole life).
But I'm new to reading this sub, and I see lots of people talk about T10 and T5. Are these the top 10 schools according to US News & World Report? Or where is the "official" list of T10 colleges and universities for undergrad?
Top 10 is about 16 schools. Top 15 is about 20ish schools. Top 25 is about 35ish schools.
Anonymous
06/10/2026 17:30
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:The 7 pre-Revolutionary Ivies plus Stanford, MIT, and Chicago. No other answers will be accepted.
GTFOH
Cornell is having a day thanks to its focus on engineering.
It's international reputation has been pretty high for a while.
https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings?region=North%20America&countries=us
Anonymous
06/10/2026 17:27
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:pre-Revolutionary? Then we should include Queen's college (Rutgers today) and Willam and Mary.
That would be true if they hadn’t taken a different path and had kept up with their private counterparts.
Anonymous
06/10/2026 17:23
Subject: Is there an official T10 list?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:HYPSM
Caltech
Columbia
Penn
Chicago
Duke / Northwestern
Wrong. Northwestern is not part of this group. Look at what the Ivy League considers its peers.
Northwestern is not a peer of the lower ivies. It is consistently ranked ABOVE Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, so on that point you are correct.
NU is T10 and has been for some time.
I like Northwestern but it's not top 10 in the general sense.
Here are 10 schools that are generally more prestigious
1-5 HYPSM
6 CalTech
7 Columbia
8 Penn
9 Chicago
10 Duke
You have your own bias. No one I know hold Columbia in the highest regard anymore.
I am not rank ordering them. I am pointing out 10 schools that are better by reputation than Northwestern.