<p>^^Chicago or Wash U</p>
<p>Chicago, as we all know, was a 40% acceptance school only a few years ago. It has advanced on the basis of some very good marketing and, admittedly, very good faculty in the social sciences and economics. USNews loves this school.</p>
<p>WashU. USNews also loves this school, for reasons most readers can’t really fathom. It has a well-recognized medical school, but after that it is just plain, plain, plain.</p>
<p>USNews doesn’t like Duke, Brown, or Cornell. </p>
<p>As good as NU may be, it is essentially a midwestern institution with virtually no national reputation. </p>
<p>USC will overtake both Duke, Chicago, and NU within the next 15 years if (a) Nikias raises the $6.0 billion he is working to raise; (b) great professors continue to be hired and great research is done; and (c) student selectivity continues to increase and USC starts to claw, with scholarships, California students away from Stanford. These “ifs” are not that problematic – USC is well on the way.</p>