Anonymous wrote:Overall, for undergrad I'd say:

Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, Duke, UPenn, Caltech, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown

Take out Duke, Dartmouth and Brown

Every college. A very small percentage of the world gets a college education.

Overall, for undergrad I'd say:

Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, Duke, UPenn, Caltech, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown

Anonymous wrote:John Hopkins

Johns Hopkins

Anonymous wrote:The kids from prestigious families and top students just don't attend the service academies in the same way they used to. Their younger alums are not holding the same types of jobs either. I'd include them in a list 50+ years ago but not at this point.

Anonymous wrote:+1. I went to West Point and there were many unimpressive kids. However, the mentality was to help everyone get through and by the end people adapted or left altogether. Most classmates I've kept in touch with have had solid careers but nothing mindblowing, with a surprising number taking sales jobs. The financial help and physical training are the biggest pros to me, but it's not for everyone and I didn't encourage either of my kids to consider a service academy. I would've rather had them attend a top school like Princeton or Duke and then consider ROTC if they really wanted to. Just my 2c, it's a unique experience and it can open doors in the right places (especially DC).

Sadly, this is where I am, at the moment, and I could be considered, as a PP postulated, a military supporter. It's hard to argue with past performance -- when there are only 5 US institutions with 100+ Rhodes Scholars and West Point is among them (Source: Rhodes Trust). And I have no doubt a high percentage of average Americans would know of, and think impressive, an academy and its graduates. That equals prestige, in my opinion, and that's the subject of this thread.

But I believe the luster is starting to dim and it's both self-imposed and a sign of the times. We would've been proud (but worried) for DC to attend had they passed the rigorous physical and academic requirements but am equally as proud (and on the hook for more $) of their choice to pursue Service in a different manor.

Here's to Singing Second.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Point
Annapolis
Nearly any of the other service academies

No offense but these folks have multiple talents to include athleticism, leadership and spatial, community service.

You are going to enter the last true meritocracy in America.

All of the others can be bought.

I’m sorry, but overall the kids at the service academies are academically blown out of the water by most kids at T10 schools. And many of those kids will just work out/participate in intramural or club sports on their own. People who are going to push the boundaries in math, science, etc. don’t enroll at service academies.

NP. Agree with the PP. The post didn’t specify best academic institution. It asked about most prestigious. The service academies are absolutely equally prestigious as many school mentioned due to requiring multiple talents and mental/physical fortitude far beyond other institutions. You can’t buy your way in and a perfect test score won’t help you either. You need to be a far more well rounded person than just a good test taker and starting a non profit.

+1 if the conversation is laser focused on "prestige" then West Point and Annapolis are up there.

You military boosters are hilarious. West Point and Annapolis are akin to Notre Dame in my eyes - culty and prestigious for a certain group of people (Catholics for Notre Dame, veterans for West Point/Annapolis). No one is taking West Point or Annapolis over a T10 unless they have a deep family military history or a weirdly strong desire to join the military. The kids who feel this way and who are smart enough to get into a T10 are likely in the single digits each year. Their 75th percentile test scores don't even reach the 25th percentile test scores at T10s.

ND’s test scores are pretty close to those of the ivies. So not sure why you are lumping them here. Yes I agree it is cultish, but the followers are among the brightest.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Point
Annapolis
Nearly any of the other service academies

No offense but these folks have multiple talents to include athleticism, leadership and spatial, community service.

You are going to enter the last true meritocracy in America.

All of the others can be bought.

I’m sorry, but overall the kids at the service academies are academically blown out of the water by most kids at T10 schools. And many of those kids will just work out/participate in intramural or club sports on their own. People who are going to push the boundaries in math, science, etc. don’t enroll at service academies.

NP. Agree with the PP. The post didn’t specify best academic institution. It asked about most prestigious. The service academies are absolutely equally prestigious as many school mentioned due to requiring multiple talents and mental/physical fortitude far beyond other institutions. You can’t buy your way in and a perfect test score won’t help you either. You need to be a far more well rounded person than just a good test taker and starting a non profit.

+1 if the conversation is laser focused on "prestige" then West Point and Annapolis are up there.

You military boosters are hilarious. West Point and Annapolis are akin to Notre Dame in my eyes - culty and prestigious for a certain group of people (Catholics for Notre Dame, veterans for West Point/Annapolis). No one is taking West Point or Annapolis over a T10 unless they have a deep family military history or a weirdly strong desire to join the military. The kids who feel this way and who are smart enough to get into a T10 are likely in the single digits each year. Their 75th percentile test scores don't even reach the 25th percentile test scores at T10s.

Dude - you blow a fuse every time somebody mentions West Point or Annapolis. Why? Seriously? What irks you so much?

Some people want to go to RISD and spend their lives designing plastic kitchen widgets. Others want to go to Julliard and spend their lives playing the same repertoire of 18th classics over and over and over again. You express no opinion whatsoever on whether or not those students are "good enough for the T10" but get super worked up about kids that want to serve in the military?

Why? A thousand times, why?

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Anonymous wrote:Internationally, there are far fewer that everyone is familiar with (essentially the way Oxford and Cambridge are in the US). In Europe, Harvard and Yale are the two American names that carry the most prestige. In Asia, I'd add Stanford to the top of that short list next to Harvard and MIT to the bottom.

Yes. Although Harvard is significantly better known than Yale IME.

+1 I've been to many places where Yale is non-factor. However, Yale is surprisingly popular in Singapore for some reason.

Anonymous wrote:Internationally, there are far fewer that everyone is familiar with (essentially the way Oxford and Cambridge are in the US). In Europe, Harvard and Yale are the two American names that carry the most prestige. In Asia, I'd add Stanford to the top of that short list next to Harvard and MIT to the bottom.

Yes. Although Harvard is significantly better known than Yale IME.

Anonymous wrote:I’m pro-Capitalism, but this discussion makes me want to dress up in one of those Antifa outfits & lay siege to a country club.

Thread comment winner.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Point
Annapolis
Nearly any of the other service academies

No offense but these folks have multiple talents to include athleticism, leadership and spatial, community service.

You are going to enter the last true meritocracy in America.

All of the others can be bought.

LOL! The academies are full of legacies. I worked on Capitol Hill. If your family gave $$$ to the Member or went to an academy, you would get in over a more deserving kid.

+1. I went to West Point and there were many unimpressive kids. However, the mentality was to help everyone get through and by the end people adapted or left altogether. Most classmates I've kept in touch with have had solid careers but nothing mindblowing, with a surprising number taking sales jobs. The financial help and physical training are the biggest pros to me, but it's not for everyone and I didn't encourage either of my kids to consider a service academy. I would've rather had them attend a top school like Princeton or Duke and then consider ROTC if they really wanted to. Just my 2c, it's a unique experience and it can open doors in the right places (especially DC).

The kids from prestigious families and top students just don't attend the service academies in the same way they used to. Their younger alums are not holding the same types of jobs either. I'd include them in a list 50+ years ago but not at this point.

I was surprised that Princeton wasn't known more in the UK. Part of it is they don't have the big top-ranked grad schools that huge numbers of international students are considering.

I was studying abroad with a friend from Harvard and he really enjoyed that people were less aware and impressed by MIT in Europe.

Internationally, there are far fewer that everyone is familiar with (essentially the way Oxford and Cambridge are in the US). In Europe, Harvard and Yale are the two American names that carry the most prestige. In Asia, I'd add Stanford to the top of that short list next to Harvard and MIT to the bottom.

Anonymous wrote:West Point
Annapolis
Nearly any of the other service academies

No offense but these folks have multiple talents to include athleticism, leadership and spatial, community service.

You are going to enter the last true meritocracy in America.

All of the others can be bought.

LOL! The academies are full of legacies. I worked on Capitol Hill. If your family gave $$$ to the Member or went to an academy, you would get in over a more deserving kid.