2018 USNWR Rankings Forum

[Rigo]

Not to mention my GPA would probably be more fucked so

Are any of the prestigious schools actually rigorous? I thought they were all guilty of rampant grade inflation.

I bet it would be more rigiorous than my state school. I partied 3 nights a week and just crammed a few days before finals and pulled off A's. I feel like I would have been punished grade-wise had I pulled the same shit somewhere else--especially somewhere more writing intensive.
Maybe not though. I know my friend from high school who went to Dartmouth had a really hard time adjusting to the rigor.

[Rigo]

Not to mention my GPA would probably be more fucked so

Are any of the prestigious schools actually rigorous? I thought they were all guilty of rampant grade inflation.

A lot of the top LAC's don't grade inflate. Not nearly anywhere close to the grade inflation at Harvard College for example.

I read up on a lot of the profs at Amherst for the major I wanted and quite a few seemed to not really give out A's.

[guynourmin]

Not to mention my GPA would probably be more fucked so

Are any of the prestigious schools actually rigorous? I thought they were all guilty of rampant grade inflation.

A lot of the top LAC's don't grade inflate. Not nearly anywhere close to the grade inflation at Harvard College for example.

I didn't go to a school anyone would mistake for a "top LAC", but it was a decent LAC and if anything we had pretty bad grade deflation from what I can tell.

[guynourmin]

Not to mention my GPA would probably be more fucked so

Are any of the prestigious schools actually rigorous? I thought they were all guilty of rampant grade inflation.

A lot of the top LAC's don't grade inflate. Not nearly anywhere close to the grade inflation at Harvard College for example.

I read up on a lot of the profs at Amherst for the major I wanted and quite a few seemed to not really give out A's.

Wouldn't be surprised. My advisor went to Amherst and I had to kill myself to get an A- in his classes.

[star fox]

Just another reason not to go to a LAC. But I guess there's appeal to some for going to a school that's smaller than high school.

[grades??]

Not to mention my GPA would probably be more fucked so

Are any of the prestigious schools actually rigorous? I thought they were all guilty of rampant grade inflation.

A lot of the top LAC's don't grade inflate. Not nearly anywhere close to the grade inflation at Harvard College for example.

I read up on a lot of the profs at Amherst for the major I wanted and quite a few seemed to not really give out A's.

Wouldn't be surprised. My advisor went to Amherst and I had to kill myself to get an A- in his classes.

I didn't go to Amherst, but went to one of the other top LAC's in the mid-atlantic. I can say from personal experience that getting an A- was hard work, and some professors didn't give out As at all. My advisor hadn't given an A in 15 years. My friend at Harvard College said she slept through class, did minimal work, and you basically automatically get an A- at the minimum.

[Hikikomorist]

Not to mention my GPA would probably be more fucked so

Are any of the prestigious schools actually rigorous? I thought they were all guilty of rampant grade inflation.

A lot of the top LAC's don't grade inflate. Not nearly anywhere close to the grade inflation at Harvard College for example.

I read up on a lot of the profs at Amherst for the major I wanted and quite a few seemed to not really give out A's.

Wouldn't be surprised. My advisor went to Amherst and I had to kill myself to get an A- in his classes.

I didn't go to Amherst, but went to one of the other top LAC's in the mid-atlantic. I can say from personal experience that getting an A- was hard work, and some professors didn't give out As at all. My advisor hadn't given an A in 15 years. My friend at Harvard College said she slept through class, did minimal work, and you basically automatically get an A- at the minimum.

That's how it should be. If you've gotten into Harvard/peer school, you shouldn't have to work for grades.

[grades??]

Not to mention my GPA would probably be more fucked so

Are any of the prestigious schools actually rigorous? I thought they were all guilty of rampant grade inflation.

A lot of the top LAC's don't grade inflate. Not nearly anywhere close to the grade inflation at Harvard College for example.

I read up on a lot of the profs at Amherst for the major I wanted and quite a few seemed to not really give out A's.

Wouldn't be surprised. My advisor went to Amherst and I had to kill myself to get an A- in his classes.

I didn't go to Amherst, but went to one of the other top LAC's in the mid-atlantic. I can say from personal experience that getting an A- was hard work, and some professors didn't give out As at all. My advisor hadn't given an A in 15 years. My friend at Harvard College said she slept through class, did minimal work, and you basically automatically get an A- at the minimum.

That's how it should be. If you've gotten into Harvard/peer school, you shouldn't have to work for grades.

I would then respond that it is harder to get into Amherst/Williams/Swarthmore/Haverford than it is to get into Harvard. Yet I guarantee you at at least 2 of those 4, there is grade deflation.

[Hikikomorist]

Are any of the prestigious schools actually rigorous? I thought they were all guilty of rampant grade inflation.

A lot of the top LAC's don't grade inflate. Not nearly anywhere close to the grade inflation at Harvard College for example.

I read up on a lot of the profs at Amherst for the major I wanted and quite a few seemed to not really give out A's.

Wouldn't be surprised. My advisor went to Amherst and I had to kill myself to get an A- in his classes.

I didn't go to Amherst, but went to one of the other top LAC's in the mid-atlantic. I can say from personal experience that getting an A- was hard work, and some professors didn't give out As at all. My advisor hadn't given an A in 15 years. My friend at Harvard College said she slept through class, did minimal work, and you basically automatically get an A- at the minimum.

That's how it should be. If you've gotten into Harvard/peer school, you shouldn't have to work for grades.

I would then respond that it is harder to get into Amherst/Williams/Swarthmore/Haverford than it is to get into Harvard. Yet I guarantee you at at least 2 of those 4, there is grade deflation.

Yeah, it's not Harvard's problem that other schools' administrations hate their students and don't want them to succeed.

[brinicolec]

My list would be:

Tier 1: PSYCHM
Tier 2: Columbia, Chicago, Duke, Penn
Tier 3: Dartmouth, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Brown, Rice, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Georgetown, WUSTL, UC Berkeley
Tier 3: NYU, Emory, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, UVA, Michigan, Boston College, USC, UCLA, UNC
Tier 4 (basically no national recognition, but well known in some circles): Tulane, William and Mary, top University of California campuses, Brandeis, BU.

Object to UNC and Tulane. Pretty sure Tulane is viewed as having negative prestige in most parts of the country. UNC has declined from a decade ago, or other top public schools have left it behind, to the extent that it's basically on par with UT/UI/other okay state schools. At the very least, there's no way it's better than W&M.

Meh, as someone who went to UNC, I'd say the prestige is still there. In fact, whenever I wear UNC stuff and someone's like "Oh, you're a UNC fan?" and I'm like "Actually, that's my alma mater," they're usually like Oh wow!

[somedeadman]

Why does Gonzaga have a law school?

They're just following the Duke formula: Top-tier basketball team + mediocre academic reputation = why not have a law school?

Low tier trolling makes me wonder where you went to law school

J.D., Duke University School of Law, 2012

If Nixon went there, you know it's good

[somedeadman]

Would you be ok with someone from BC saying they went to a "prestigious" school?

Id 100% roll my eyes.
I'd be impressed by Williams or Amherst though but I'm not sure if those LAC's have much prestige beyond the northeast.

They absolutely do among the top-colleges crowd.

I often think about how my life would be different if I took Amherst over cheap state school from a networking prospective. It's nice being debt free (until LS) though.
Glad my parents put their foot down in retrospect obviously, but I definitely have the what if's.

.

[Nagster5]

If the "T" distinction is for schools who have never been ranked lower, then Cornell can't be in the T13, since it was ranked 14 in 2012. So it's the T12.

[Rigo]

If the "T" distinction is for schools who have never been ranked lower, then Cornell can't be in the T13, since it was ranked 14 in 2012. So it's the T12.

Until next year when Cornell overtakes Berkeley.

[laqueredup]

My list would be:

Tier 1: PSYCHM
Tier 2: Columbia, Chicago, Duke, Penn
Tier 3: Dartmouth, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Brown, Rice, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Georgetown, WUSTL, UC Berkeley
Tier 3: NYU, Emory, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, UVA, Michigan, Boston College, USC, UCLA, UNC
Tier 4 (basically no national recognition, but well known in some circles): Tulane, William and Mary, top University of California campuses, Brandeis, BU.

Object to UNC and Tulane. Pretty sure Tulane is viewed as having negative prestige in most parts of the country. UNC has declined from a decade ago, or other top public schools have left it behind, to the extent that it's basically on par with UT/UI/other okay state schools. At the very least, there's no way it's better than W&M.

I guess it depends on if we're talking about lay prestige or academic strength of the schools. UNC is still pretty recognized and has brand name appeal, but yeah I would agree that there isn't much that differentiates UNC from the schools in tier 4 when it comes to academics. I personally had never heard of Tulane growing up but when I worked on the east coast the name kept popping up.

I'd think West Point and Annapolis would belong in the top 3 tiers somewhere.

[LurkerTurnedMember]

If the "T" distinction is for schools who have never been ranked lower, then Cornell can't be in the T13, since it was ranked 14 in 2012. So it's the T12.

It can't be T12 either since Berkeley has been ranked 13th before, and it can't be T11 because Northwestern and Duke (tied at 10) have been ranked above 11 before, and it can't be T9 because Michigan has been ranked above 9 before.. So what is it.. T8 now? Has virginia or penn been outside the top 8? If so, then T6? But chicago has been outside top 6.. So T5?

[Hikikomorist]

My list would be:

Tier 1: PSYCHM
Tier 2: Columbia, Chicago, Duke, Penn
Tier 3: Dartmouth, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Brown, Rice, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Georgetown, WUSTL, UC Berkeley
Tier 3: NYU, Emory, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, UVA, Michigan, Boston College, USC, UCLA, UNC
Tier 4 (basically no national recognition, but well known in some circles): Tulane, William and Mary, top University of California campuses, Brandeis, BU.

Object to UNC and Tulane. Pretty sure Tulane is viewed as having negative prestige in most parts of the country. UNC has declined from a decade ago, or other top public schools have left it behind, to the extent that it's basically on par with UT/UI/other okay state schools. At the very least, there's no way it's better than W&M.

I guess it depends on if we're talking about lay prestige or academic strength of the schools. UNC is still pretty recognized and has brand name appeal, but yeah I would agree that there isn't much that differentiates UNC from the schools in tier 4 when it comes to academics. I personally had never heard of Tulane growing up but when I worked on the east coast the name kept popping up.

I'd think West Point and Annapolis would belong in the top 3 tiers somewhere.

Probably not in any ranking I'll ever produce.

[proteinshake]

If the "T" distinction is for schools who have never been ranked lower, then Cornell can't be in the T13, since it was ranked 14 in 2012. So it's the T12.

It can't be T12 either since Berkeley has been ranked 13th before, and it can't be T11 because Northwestern and Duke (tied at 10) have been ranked above 11 before, and it can't be T9 because Michigan has been ranked above 9 before.. So what is it.. T8 now? Has virginia or penn been outside the top 8? If so, then T6? But chicago has been outside top 6.. So T5?

it can't be anything but the T1.

e: actually not sure if H or S has fallen out the T3 before

[ckb614]

I went to Tufts and then moved to the west coast. Can confirm no one here has heard of it

[ponderingmeerkat]

I'd think West Point and Annapolis would belong in the top 3 tiers somewhere.

Blatant USAFA trolling.

[rpupkin]

If the "T" distinction is for schools who have never been ranked lower, then Cornell can't be in the T13, since it was ranked 14 in 2012. So it's the T12.

It can't be T12 either since Berkeley has been ranked 13th before, and it can't be T11 because Northwestern and Duke (tied at 10) have been ranked above 11 before, and it can't be T9 because Michigan has been ranked above 9 before.. So what is it.. T8 now? Has virginia or penn been outside the top 8? If so, then T6? But chicago has been outside top 6.. So T5?

Penn has been ranked 12th at least twice. Not sure about UVA, but I'm sure it's been lower than #8 multiple times.

[LurkerTurnedMember]

If the "T" distinction is for schools who have never been ranked lower, then Cornell can't be in the T13, since it was ranked 14 in 2012. So it's the T12.

It can't be T12 either since Berkeley has been ranked 13th before, and it can't be T11 because Northwestern and Duke (tied at 10) have been ranked above 11 before, and it can't be T9 because Michigan has been ranked above 9 before.. So what is it.. T8 now? Has virginia or penn been outside the top 8? If so, then T6? But chicago has been outside top 6.. So T5?

Penn has been ranked 12th at least twice. Not sure about UVA, but I'm sure it's been lower than #8 multiple times.

Ok then it can't be T5 cause NYU has been outside T5. It can't be T4 since Columbia just fell out of T4. So we're down to T3. Has HYS ever been out of T3?

[rpupkin]

If the "T" distinction is for schools who have never been ranked lower, then Cornell can't be in the T13, since it was ranked 14 in 2012. So it's the T12.

It can't be T12 either since Berkeley has been ranked 13th before, and it can't be T11 because Northwestern and Duke (tied at 10) have been ranked above 11 before, and it can't be T9 because Michigan has been ranked above 9 before.. So what is it.. T8 now? Has virginia or penn been outside the top 8? If so, then T6? But chicago has been outside top 6.. So T5?

Penn has been ranked 12th at least twice. Not sure about UVA, but I'm sure it's been lower than #8 multiple times.

Ok then it can't be T5 cause NYU has been outside T5. It can't be T4 since Columbia just fell out of T4. So we're down to T3. Has HYS ever been out of T3?

HLS was fifth in 1990.
ETA: And I think SLS was fourth at least once.

[Moneytrees]

Thank God for Yale and its consistent n.1 ranking.

[michlaw]

If the "T" distinction is for schools who have never been ranked lower, then Cornell can't be in the T13, since it was ranked 14 in 2012. So it's the T12.

It can't be T12 either since Berkeley has been ranked 13th before, and it can't be T11 because Northwestern and Duke (tied at 10) have been ranked above 11 before, and it can't be T9 because Michigan has been ranked above 9 before.. So what is it.. T8 now? Has virginia or penn been outside the top 8? If so, then T6? But chicago has been outside top 6.. So T5?

Penn has been ranked 12th at least twice. Not sure about UVA, but I'm sure it's been lower than #8 multiple times.

Ok then it can't be T5 cause NYU has been outside T5. It can't be T4 since Columbia just fell out of T4. So we're down to T3. Has HYS ever been out of T3?

HLS was fifth in 1990.
ETA: And I think SLS was fourth at least once.

Michigan was 3rd in 1987. Stanford was tied for 4th.