@socaldad2002 - Most of the popular academic rankings are based upon subjective opinions of college administrators and others. They are strongly correlated with selectivity which is not in itself a measure of quality. They are not quantitative to any great extent. They are opinions, that’s it. MIT can be as selective as it is because everybody - naively - thinks they are going to be the next Bill Gates/Zuckerberg/insert filthy rich entrepreneur of your choice here (and the former didn’t even graduate from college at all) by going there hence they have 20 times as many applicants as they can accept. Selectivity by itself is a measure of popularity not quality. At least salary surveys have some degree of quantitative measurement which the academic surveys do not. Stevens by the way is the most selective school in New Jersey with the exception of Princeton University (same logic as MIT with regard to popularity).
@ucb - I’ve worked with some capable Rutgers and TCNJ graduates. I worked with a very capable MIT graduate and another one who was next to useless. One of my former colleagues was a graduate of both Stevens and UCB and was a PE in three states (including California which has very stringent requirements for the PE due to earthquake resistance needs). I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a Stevens graduate who was not capable.