<p>bernie12 You are right of course. Given that my oldest graduated from USC I would support the notion that UCLA is inferior to USC - but here I go being facetious. Since my youngest attends Yale, I do see that the student experience at USC and Yale is very, very different. What makes the difference? Probably the extreme concentration of super high achieving kids vs. a broader spectrum. </p>
<p>Given the OP’s dilemma I still think that my suggested strategy may not be entirely foolproof but it might hold some water if one has to pick an objective measure to help choose.</p>