Anonymous wrote:Undergraduate:
Harvard Stanford MIT
Yale Princeton Columbia Caltech
Penn Chicago
Dartmouth Brown Duke Northwestern
Cornell JHU Berkeley

Overall:
Harvard Stanford
MIT Columbia Berkeley
Yale Princeton Caltech
Penn Chicago
Duke Northwestern JHU Cornell

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Anonymous wrote:I think the really 'top of top' colleges are Harvard, Stanford and MIT.

Then some gap, then Princeton, Yale, Caltech.

Then some more gap

then Columbia, Chicago, etc.

Move Caltech a notch below. Not really above Columbia or Chicago. It’s not a comprehensive university and in the public eye, generally not as well known.

CalTech is a niche school, don’t belong with ivy schools. It’s like Olympics athletes who are born with skills that the average people can’t compete with. I actually give them less credit than DCUM. It’s like mike Tyson and his destructive punches. I don’t doubt he worked hard, but the gift from God made it that much easier. Likewise, science and math geeks will have an easier time getting into CalTech. USNews for it right to place it below most ivies next to WashU, Vandy, Emory, NU...

Northwestern is an ivy level school. It's better than Cornell Brown, and Dartmouth.

For undergraduate education I'd say Brown and Dartmouth are both better than Northwestern. As a university it's probably a peer of Cornell's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the really 'top of top' colleges are Harvard, Stanford and MIT.

Then some gap, then Princeton, Yale, Caltech.

Then some more gap

then Columbia, Chicago, etc.

Move Caltech a notch below. Not really above Columbia or Chicago. It’s not a comprehensive university and in the public eye, generally not as well known.

CalTech is a niche school, don’t belong with ivy schools. It’s like Olympics athletes who are born with skills that the average people can’t compete with. I actually give them less credit than DCUM. It’s like mike Tyson and his destructive punches. I don’t doubt he worked hard, but the gift from God made it that much easier. Likewise, science and math geeks will have an easier time getting into CalTech. USNews for it right to place it below most ivies next to WashU, Vandy, Emory, NU...

Northwestern is an ivy level school. It's better than Cornell Brown, and Dartmouth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the really 'top of top' colleges are Harvard, Stanford and MIT.

Then some gap, then Princeton, Yale, Caltech.

Then some more gap

then Columbia, Chicago, etc.

Move Caltech a notch below. Not really above Columbia or Chicago. It’s not a comprehensive university and in the public eye, generally not as well known.

CalTech is a niche school, don’t belong with ivy schools. It’s like Olympics athletes who are born with skills that the average people can’t compete with. I actually give them less credit than DCUM. It’s like mike Tyson and his destructive punches. I don’t doubt he worked hard, but the gift from God made it that much easier. Likewise, science and math geeks will have an easier time getting into CalTech. USNews for it right to place it below most ivies next to WashU, Vandy, Emory, NU...

Northwestern is an ivy level school. It's better than Cornell Brown, and Dartmouth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the really 'top of top' colleges are Harvard, Stanford and MIT.

Then some gap, then Princeton, Yale, Caltech.

Then some more gap

then Columbia, Chicago, etc.

Move Caltech a notch below. Not really above Columbia or Chicago. It’s not a comprehensive university and in the public eye, generally not as well known.

CalTech is a niche school, don’t belong with ivy schools. It’s like Olympics athletes who are born with skills that the average people can’t compete with. I actually give them less credit than DCUM. It’s like mike Tyson and his destructive punches. I don’t doubt he worked hard, but the gift from God made it that much easier. Likewise, science and math geeks will have an easier time getting into CalTech. USNews for it right to place it below most ivies next to WashU, Vandy, Emory, NU...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is just no way that all the secondary and tertiary UC schools are as good as their USNWR ranking. I have several colleagues from CA, and they just laugh. One colleague mentioned that UCSB used to be known as a stoner school.

Those days are long gone. You need to look under the superficial stereotypes. It is true that UCSB is surrounded by the Pacific on three sides with a majestic mountain backdrop that is relaxing. There are more bikes than cars around campus.

It has very competitive admission even though they have programs to encourage high levels of admissions of first generation, Latino and veteran military undergraduate students. It ranks #10 best college for veterans, #10 for best ethnic diversity and #9 for promoting social mobility.

Their institute for advanced physics (Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics) is top notch. UCSB is ranked number 5 among public universities. Seventeen UCSB researchers have been named among the most influential scientists in the world according to Thomson Reuters tracking of widely cited researchers.

UCSB has a post graduate program for undergraduates (Center for Creative Studies) that allows top students in 8 different disciplines (hard sciences and the arts) to take accelerated classes in their disciplines. They are mentored from first year. Many students admitted to this elite program choose it over the Ivy League schools for undergraduate but end up at Ivy League and top programs in their fields for post graduate studies. CCS students can take post graduate classes by their chosen discipline by third undergraduate year.

UCSB also has the largest recreational sports program in the country that still allows for both healthy non competitive sports and competition in national level sports.

The student health service was phenomenal when our DC attended.

UCSB flies under the snob radar in DC area, but it is truly a wonderful school that fosters excellence in academic research and access to hig quality education for many different types of people.

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Anonymous wrote:There is just no way that all the secondary and tertiary UC schools are as good as their USNWR ranking. I have several colleagues from CA, and they just laugh. One colleague mentioned that UCSB used to be known as a stoner school.

They are nowhere near as good for undergraduate study as a number of schools they are in front of. It must have to do with the boost from Pell grants.

+1. It's downright silly.

Now that UCs are test blind and most others test optional, I suppose US News will remove scores from the formula completely for whichever year class of 2025's scores would have shown up in the calculation. With UC GPAs seeming very high, I'm sure they'll rise even further in the ranking.

The UC rankings are beginning to test the credulity of the rankings.

+1

UC Davis is tied with Georgia Tech, UT Austin, and William & Mary. I don't get that.

UC Davis has top ranked vet science studies and agricultural programs…

Yep literally ranked number for both veterinary science and agriculture programs in USA and number 2 in world for animal science. Also very high on affordability rankings.

Yiu people need to look more at quality of individual programs and less at rankings of colleges overall.

Also, is the u fet grad program taking your DV where she/ he wants to go? the percentages of Ivy League school
undergrads who get into top stem Programs is pretty much the same as for top 50 colleges. You have to be in the top 10% just like in HS. However, it is extremely competitive to make it to the top 10% of HYP grads, and arguably, often much less fun along the way.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is just no way that all the secondary and tertiary UC schools are as good as their USNWR ranking. I have several colleagues from CA, and they just laugh. One colleague mentioned that UCSB used to be known as a stoner school.

They are nowhere near as good for undergraduate study as a number of schools they are in front of. It must have to do with the boost from Pell grants.

+1. It's downright silly.

Now that UCs are test blind and most others test optional, I suppose US News will remove scores from the formula completely for whichever year class of 2025's scores would have shown up in the calculation. With UC GPAs seeming very high, I'm sure they'll rise even further in the ranking.

The UC rankings are beginning to test the credulity of the rankings.

+1

UC Davis is tied with Georgia Tech, UT Austin, and William & Mary. I don't get that.

UC Davis has top ranked vet science studies and agricultural programs…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is just no way that all the secondary and tertiary UC schools are as good as their USNWR ranking. I have several colleagues from CA, and they just laugh. One colleague mentioned that UCSB used to be known as a stoner school.

They are nowhere near as good for undergraduate study as a number of schools they are in front of. It must have to do with the boost from Pell grants.

+1. It's downright silly.

Now that UCs are test blind and most others test optional, I suppose US News will remove scores from the formula completely for whichever year class of 2025's scores would have shown up in the calculation. With UC GPAs seeming very high, I'm sure they'll rise even further in the ranking.

The UC rankings are beginning to test the credulity of the rankings.

+1

UC Davis is tied with Georgia Tech, UT Austin, and William & Mary. I don't get that.

Anonymous wrote:There is just no way that all the secondary and tertiary UC schools are as good as their USNWR ranking. I have several colleagues from CA, and they just laugh. One colleague mentioned that UCSB used to be known as a stoner school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the really 'top of top' colleges are Harvard, Stanford and MIT.

Then some gap, then Princeton, Yale, Caltech.

Then some more gap

then Columbia, Chicago, etc.

Move Caltech a notch below. Not really above Columbia or Chicago. It’s not a comprehensive university and in the public eye, generally not as well known.

CalTech is a niche school, don’t belong with ivy schools. It’s like Olympics athletes who are born with skills that the average people can’t compete with. I actually give them less credit than DCUM. It’s like mike Tyson and his destructive punches. I don’t doubt he worked hard, but the gift from God made it that much easier. Likewise, science and math geeks will have an easier time getting into CalTech. USNews for it right to place it below most ivies next to WashU, Vandy, Emory, NU...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the really 'top of top' colleges are Harvard, Stanford and MIT.

Then some gap, then Princeton, Yale, Caltech.

Then some more gap

then Columbia, Chicago, etc.

Move Caltech a notch below. Not really above Columbia or Chicago. It’s not a comprehensive university and in the public eye, generally not as well known.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So do you all seriously think that Columbia is now a "better" school than it was last year just because of the ranking shuffle?



All of these schools that go up or down a few spots are essentially the same schools that they were a year ago.

It was 3 last year tied with Yale, it's 2 now tied with Harvard.

All are excellent and very challenging, along with the stimulation and rewards.

Go choose among a Ferrari, a Jaguar, a Mercedes Benz and a BMW. Lucky to get into any of them. All have outstanding students. I know equally brilliant people from all four undergraduate programs.

Which one is Tesla?