Anonymous wrote:If the USA could only afford 8 schools they would be
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Annapolis
West Point
Hopkins
MIT
Stanford

Those are the most important national schools.

Never thought of it that way .. but interesting and true. 1/4 of them are in MD!!

DCUM parents are idiots arguing over extremely trivial matters such as this.

^ Being repetitive is a sure sign of dumbness.

^ dumb and inaccurate.

A: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Columbia
B: UPenn, UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech
C: Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown
D: Rice, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UMichigan

Anonymous wrote:
OP here.

I'm not a student, I'm a foreigner trying to understand the American method of ranking colleges and universities.

In my country there is no "college experience" because there are no campuses. No sports teams. There are some student dorms around certain universities, and low-cost student cafeterias, but mostly students try to find rooms somewhere around the university. There are no fraternities and sororities, very few clubs. Universities are ranked by the quality of teaching: how good the teachers are, how well-funded the programs are, what type of research is done. "School spirit" is not a factor - students want a prestigious degree, but prestige is based on academic prestige and possibly how well-connected the student and professors are in general, although that's mostly reserved for political sciences and things like that.

So... if you take out factors that have to do with sports, leisure, student social life, and keep factors that have to do with quality of learning and teaching...

What do you think would be the ranking of the top US universities? I thought Hopkins was among the best, but perhaps I'm wrong.

1. Harvard, Stanford
2. MIT, Yale, Princeton
3. Columbia, Penn, Cal Tech
4. Duke, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, UChicago
5. Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Vandy, Rice

Anonymous wrote:Tangential, but what is the JHU culture like for the undergrads? I have an image of little social activities, intermurals, etc. Many alums who respond on these threads seem to have loved their undergrad experiences at JHU and I’d love to hear more about it, what they appreciate from their time at JHU.

Hopkins actually has a relatively big Greek scene, about a third of the students are in a fraternity or sorority although they no longer have houses. Also, there is a lot of emphasis on athletics. Beyond the lax teams, there are many d3 sports where Hopkins consistently makes it far in their respective championships— swimming, track, football and baseball are some examples. There are a ton of clubs students can join, just as is the case as peer schools. There is a very popular program where a group of students do dinners and field trips with professors. Many students spend time abroad, Hopkins Bologna campus was particularly popular. For those interested, there are good internship opportunities on Baltimore or DC. Some students are “finding their people” for the first time, others have always been social (this is a far bigger group than dcum posters suggest).

I do think it’s funny that people who never attended the school claim that the school’s reputation is based on the graduate program. I personally never had a class with a TA after freshman year (and even then, only for small group breakdowns for calculus and introductory economics). Thereafter, class size was 15 to 25, with most classes being seminars. I was an international studies major. We also had some great visiting professors from SAIS.

Tangential, but what is the JHU culture like for the undergrads? I have an image of little social activities, intermurals, etc. Many alums who respond on these threads seem to have loved their undergrad experiences at JHU and I’d love to hear more about it, what they appreciate from their time at JHU.

My daughter decided to go to Cornell over JHU last year and is thrilled with her choice

This thread is just so dcum, people splitting hairs in an ugly way, really makes you wonder why they have nothing better to do with their time then argue if Hopkins or Cornell or Pennn is a marginally better school.

This was a sly troll post. I see you, OP.

Anonymous wrote:No, but it's a fabulous school and I would choose it over several Ivys.

I can’t think of a single Ivy I would pick JHU over.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 8 most important schools for the United States are Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Annapolis, West Point, Hopkins, and Stanford. Hopkins is the number one research institution by a wide margin.

This is woefully misinformed and deeply wishful thinking from a Johns Hopkins booster.

It's a good school. It's not at the level of HYPSM. (Yes, you missed out on MIT)

Probably on the same tier as Northwestern and Brown/Cornell. Below Columbia/Penn/Duke and UChicago/Dartmouth. But preference-wise probably ranks dead last among top elite privates.

Lol. Hopkins has more Nobel Prizes than UPenn, Duke, and Dartmouth. Also more than Northwestern. Brown and Cornell don't even belong in the same discussion.

Number of Forbes 400 alumni members (undergrad): Penn: 19. Dartmouth: 8. Cornell: 6. JHU: one (Michael Bloomberg)

Number of US Presidents: JHU - 0; Senators: JHU - 2; Cabinet Members: JHU - 0; Governors: JHU - 0; Supreme Court Justices: JHU - 0. Penn/Dartmouth/Cornell/Duke/Brown: too many to count

Number of Nobel Prize Laureates who attended undergrad: Cornell: 6. Penn: 3. Dartmouth: 3. JHU: 2. Brown: 1.

Number of Fortune 500 CEOs (undergrad): Penn: 8. Cornell 6. Northwestern 6. Duke: 2. JHU: 0.

The list goes on...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP here.

I'm not a student, I'm a foreigner trying to understand the American method of ranking colleges and universities.

In my country there is no "college experience" because there are no campuses. No sports teams. There are some student dorms around certain universities, and low-cost student cafeterias, but mostly students try to find rooms somewhere around the university. There are no fraternities and sororities, very few clubs. Universities are ranked by the quality of teaching: how good the teachers are, how well-funded the programs are, what type of research is done. "School spirit" is not a factor - students want a prestigious degree, but prestige is based on academic prestige and possibly how well-connected the student and professors are in general, although that's mostly reserved for political sciences and things like that.

So... if you take out factors that have to do with sports, leisure, student social life, and keep factors that have to do with quality of learning and teaching...

What do you think would be the ranking of the top US universities? I thought Hopkins was among the best, but perhaps I'm wrong.

OP, it's a fair question. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. university system, especially at the top, is flush with money, so things like educational prestige, teaching quality, research, is a given -- in fact, it's among the best in the world (if not the best). So all the other trappings that you mention are what add to the American college experience; they are not there in lieu of the academics and intellectual output.

Roughly, the "rankings" of the tippy top US colleges goes somewhat like this:

Tier AAA+: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT (some would maybe add Columbia to this tier)
Tier AAA: Columbia, UPenn, UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, Caltech
Tier AA: Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Johns Hopkins
Tier A: Rice, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, UCLA, UC Berkely, UMichigan

Something that is good to keep in mind is that there is a much higher number of "elite" schools in the U.S. than most other countries, again largely due to the aforementioned wealth concentrated at the top, as well as the general gravity that America commands in the world of academia.

This tier thing is stupid. I have degrees from a school in each of your top three "tiers" and there is no qualitative difference among them. They are all top tier universities in the U.S. with relative strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

No

Anonymous wrote:God, you "tier" people are simpletons who can't handle slightly complex concepts. All of those schools listed are top-notch and better in certain programs than others, and extremely well respected by employers and grad schools. Why do you think that is helpful, necessary or accurate?

Also, you have no expertise in the subject even if there were a benefit to doing it. So please just stop.

Most of the “tier” folks are probably rejects from these schools anyways.