Anonymous wrote:What list are you using?

UCLA is now #20 on US News - higher than Berkeley.

Georgetown is tied at #23 with Michigan.

Anonymous wrote:Only people with kids at tier two colleges say such things or invent "Ivy Plus" and other things in a cringy attempt to wed your kid's college to the true elite. You boosters are projecting so hard. In fact, a deep applicant pool fortifies the elite. Makes them even more elite than they were. While faux elites like Chicago have doubled in size to chase tuition money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only people with kids at tier two colleges say such things or invent "Ivy Plus" and other things in a cringy attempt to wed your kid's college to the true elite. You boosters are projecting so hard. In fact, a deep applicant pool fortifies the elite. Makes them even more elite than they were. While faux elites like Chicago have doubled in size to chase tuition money.

Hahaha you sound like the typical state school grad who's super confident that their sweet Larla will get into Yale next year and are rubbing your hands in glee at the prospect. Come back in April.

Anonymous wrote:Only people with kids at tier two colleges say such things or invent "Ivy Plus" and other things in a cringy attempt to wed your kid's college to the true elite. You boosters are projecting so hard. In fact, a deep applicant pool fortifies the elite. Makes them even more elite than they were. While faux elites like Chicago have doubled in size to chase tuition money.

Anonymous wrote:If you asked 12th graders where they'd like to attend college next year, no strings, no admissions gaming:

- Northwestern
- Chicago
- Duke

98 out of 100 would choose Duke.

Same question:

- Northwestern
- Chicago
- Columbia
- Penn

98 out of 100 would choose Columbia or Penn.

I don't care how many apps Chicago and NU receive, I don't care how you [they] twist the admissions data, Chicago and Northwestern are simply not top rung elite. And outside of the Rust Belt, nobody sees Chicago as some aspirational city to live in, let alone settle down in after college. It's fairly stagnant, cold as hell half the year, and the crime is through the roof.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d argue for schools that made in top 10 list of all of the Forbes, US News and WSJ rankings: HYPSM, Northwestern, Duke

As others have noted, admissions shenanigans no longer justify this narrow focus. If one objectively compares the quality of students (average SAT, for example) attending the Top 25 schools, there isn’t much difference. Same with admission rates. And, the differences that do exist are not meaningful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question is a lot like asking someone their definition of rich. It’s both a relative and absolute thing. For the average person, a NW of $1+ million may be rich, yet it is “only” the 90th percentile. The Top 1% in NW is around $10 million. Even still, it’s mostly the 600+ billionaires that grab the headlines. And, within the billionaires, there are differences. Before Musk hit it big, Bezos, Buffet, and Gates (BBG) were a separate club. In sum, perceptions of rich depend on one’s awareness and life opportunities, but there are also the cold facts that define exclusivity.

Now, apply that same logic to colleges. Each year, about 5 million kids start a four-year school. The top 1% or 99th percentile, includes 50k kids. If the average freshman class at an upper-tier school is 2000, that’s 25 schools or the Top 25. In the analogy to “what is rich,” these kids are very rich. However, the Top 0.1% of kids, or 5000, go to the Top 3 schools. Traditionally, the well-educated considered those to be HPY. But, like BBG, there’s been one extra-special club, which is Harvard. As in wealth, distinctions other than these are mostly noise.

Oh Harvard....you were doing so great with your analysis until you had to ruin it at the very end. Did they forget to teach you voting yourself "extra-special" is not " extra-special" behavior? As for the "extra-special" BBG club......none of them sent their kids to study at your " extra-special" club. Strange.

Thanks for the compliment on the analysis, but I didn’t go to Harvard. I was trying to explain the TRADITIONAL thinking about what qualifies as elite, and, for many, if they had to select ONE college that epitomizes excellence in academics across a broad range of subjects and is the beacon of American education on both the domestic AND international stage, more would choose Harvard than any other college.

No one is impressed by obama’s first kid at Harvard. It's his second kid at Michigan who is impressive. She is saying she doesn't need the H name brand to strike out on her own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UChicago and Northwestern are fine colleges but they're no kid's first choice, which by definition does NOT make them elite. If you offered 12th graders the choice between: Northwestern, UChicago, Columbia or Penn. 99% would choose Penn or Columbia. Therefore, not elite -- and their flyover geography certainly doesn't help.

Bingo!

No, that's just not true. No matter how hard you try.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question is a lot like asking someone their definition of rich. It’s both a relative and absolute thing. For the average person, a NW of $1+ million may be rich, yet it is “only” the 90th percentile. The Top 1% in NW is around $10 million. Even still, it’s mostly the 600+ billionaires that grab the headlines. And, within the billionaires, there are differences. Before Musk hit it big, Bezos, Buffet, and Gates (BBG) were a separate club. In sum, perceptions of rich depend on one’s awareness and life opportunities, but there are also the cold facts that define exclusivity.

Now, apply that same logic to colleges. Each year, about 5 million kids start a four-year school. The top 1% or 99th percentile, includes 50k kids. If the average freshman class at an upper-tier school is 2000, that’s 25 schools or the Top 25. In the analogy to “what is rich,” these kids are very rich. However, the Top 0.1% of kids, or 5000, go to the Top 3 schools. Traditionally, the well-educated considered those to be HPY. But, like BBG, there’s been one extra-special club, which is Harvard. As in wealth, distinctions other than these are mostly noise.

Oh Harvard....you were doing so great with your analysis until you had to ruin it at the very end. Did they forget to teach you voting yourself "extra-special" is not " extra-special" behavior? As for the "extra-special" BBG club......none of them sent their kids to study at your " extra-special" club. Strange.

Thanks for the compliment on the analysis, but I didn’t go to Harvard. I was trying to explain the TRADITIONAL thinking about what qualifies as elite, and, for many, if they had to select ONE college that epitomizes excellence in academics across a broad range of subjects and is the beacon of American education on both the domestic AND international stage, more would choose Harvard than any other college.

No one is impressed by obama’s first kid at Harvard. It's his second kid at Michigan who is impressive. She is saying she doesn't need the H name brand to strike out on her own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question is a lot like asking someone their definition of rich. It’s both a relative and absolute thing. For the average person, a NW of $1+ million may be rich, yet it is “only” the 90th percentile. The Top 1% in NW is around $10 million. Even still, it’s mostly the 600+ billionaires that grab the headlines. And, within the billionaires, there are differences. Before Musk hit it big, Bezos, Buffet, and Gates (BBG) were a separate club. In sum, perceptions of rich depend on one’s awareness and life opportunities, but there are also the cold facts that define exclusivity.

Now, apply that same logic to colleges. Each year, about 5 million kids start a four-year school. The top 1% or 99th percentile, includes 50k kids. If the average freshman class at an upper-tier school is 2000, that’s 25 schools or the Top 25. In the analogy to “what is rich,” these kids are very rich. However, the Top 0.1% of kids, or 5000, go to the Top 3 schools. Traditionally, the well-educated considered those to be HPY. But, like BBG, there’s been one extra-special club, which is Harvard. As in wealth, distinctions other than these are mostly noise.

Oh Harvard....you were doing so great with your analysis until you had to ruin it at the very end. Did they forget to teach you voting yourself "extra-special" is not " extra-special" behavior? As for the "extra-special" BBG club......none of them sent their kids to study at your " extra-special" club. Strange.

Thanks for the compliment on the analysis, but I didn’t go to Harvard. I was trying to explain the TRADITIONAL thinking about what qualifies as elite, and, for many, if they had to select ONE college that epitomizes excellence in academics across a broad range of subjects and is the beacon of American education on both the domestic AND international stage, more would choose Harvard than any other college.