List of highly selective colleges

College Search & Lists
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<p>What are highly selective colleges other than the ivy-league schools
I already know of Stanford, MIT, Berkely, Duke California Tech
What are other great colleges like these?
Also what makes them so selective, rather, what makes these ivy-league colleges and selective colleges better than normal state-public colleges?
I want to know that because i want to know why my education would be bettered at a highly selective school. It seems like a lot of people want to go to these colleges just because they are Ivy-league and in reality know nothing about what makes them so great and i want to know.</p>

<p>I’m new to the collegesearch game and am really searching for knowledge about one of the most important decisions in ones life. Sorry for the incessant questions thx for your help</p>

2

<p>Universities:
Washington U St Louis
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
U of Chicago
Rice
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt
Emory
Carnegie Mellon
Georgetown</p>

<p>Liberal Arts Colleges:
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Wellesley
Carleton
Bowdoin
Pomona
Haverford
Middlebury
Claremont McKenna
Davidson
Wesleyan
Vassar
Washington and Lee
Colgate</p>

<p>What makes more selective colleges better?
talent of fellow students
fellow students are academically motivated
talent of faculty
quality of instruction
level of instruction that challenges excellent students
faculty-student mutual respect and interest
professional maturity and accomplishments of faculty
personal maturity of faculty
resources and facilities
academic climate
mentoring/role models
maturity and dedication of fellow students
originality and sophistication of ideas that are presented/discussed
opportunities for research and academic/professional experience
advantages seekeng jobs and grad schools later
professional contacts of faculty
quality of academic advising
special culture, tradition, history
imparts a sense of pride and accomplishment
prestige factor
environment that imparts desire for excellence
social consciousness/moral awareness/cultural growth
fun and pleasures that are not malicious or self destructive</p>

3

<p>To Collegehelp’s list, I would add a few schools. </p>

<p>Boston College
Tufts University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin-Madison</p>

4

<p>There’s also Deep Springs College…but that’s a whole other league…</p>

5

<p>Harvey Mudd is excellent for math, science, and engineering and is pretty selective</p>

6

<p>Julliard is the North Pole of selective schools and Deeps Springs is the South Pole, the big bottom belly.</p>

7

<p>Add Brandeis to the list…</p>

8

<p>Highly selective colleges are good for all the reasons collegehelp listed. However, the primary reason most people want to attend highly selective colleges is definitely the prestige factor; it will help in the job market. I agree, most people don’t know anything about Ivy Leagues other than that they’re prestigious, and it’s pretty ridiculous. I think that’s why a lot of colleges are making students write “Why ______ University?” essays these days. </p>

<p>I want to emphasize that there are many amazing colleges that aren’t highly selective. You can find a good network of intelligent, highly motivated students there. There’s a thread discussing such schools, and everyone should check it out.</p>

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<p>

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<p>I don’t necessarily agree with that. I think people aspire to selective institutions because they aspire to be like the peers they’d find there. And as Collegehelp notes, those peers tend to be talented, academically motivated, mature, dedicated, sophisticated, etc. And yes - they also tend to be accorded post-grad perks which include prestige and good jobs.</p>

<p>By the way, Collegehelp, that’s an excellent list of characteristics!</p>

10

<p>add USC
University of Southern California</p>

11

<p>Alex,
What constitutes “highly selective” is certainly up to the reader, but I doubt many objective observers would describe colleges with a 50%+ Admit Rate as “highly selective.” </p>

<p>In the case of several of the publics you mention (U Illinois, U Wisconsin, U Michigan, U North Carolina), they may be “highly selective” for OOS students. However, IMO such a description would be a stretch for the bulk of the IS students who make up a great majority of the enrollment. The IS and overall Acceptance Rate for each of these is 50%+. </p>

<p>As for the original question, I compared the USNWR Top 40 Nat’l Unis using the following formula:</p>

<p>65% = Ranking by SAT 25/75 mid-point</p>

<p>20% = Ranking % of Top 10% students</p>

<p>15% = Acceptance Rate</p>

<p>Below is how they ranked. I inserted gaps where there were marked scoring differences between groups. </p>

<p>Rank , College , ( # of points )</p>

<p>1 , Yale , ( 2 points )
2 , Caltech , ( 3 points )
2 , Princeton , ( 3 points )
4 , Harvard , ( 4 points )
5 , MIT , ( 5 points )</p>

<p>6 , Columbia , ( 8 points )
6 , Wash U , ( 8 points )
8 , U Penn , ( 11 points )
8 , Dartmouth , ( 11 points )
8 , Stanford , ( 11 points )
11 , Brown , ( 12 points )
11 , Duke , ( 12 points )
13 , U Chicago , ( 13 points )
14 , Northwestern , ( 14 points )</p>

<p>15 , Rice , ( 17 points )
15 , Georgetown , ( 17 points )
17 , Tufts , ( 19 points )
17 , Cornell , ( 19 points )
19 , Vanderbilt , ( 20 points )
19 , Emory , ( 20 points )
19 , Notre Dame , ( 20 points )
22 , UC BERKELEY , ( 21 points )
23 , Johns Hopkins , ( 22 points )
23 , USC , ( 22 points )</p>

<p>25 , Brandeis , ( 26 points )
26 , Carnegie Mellon , ( 27 points )
26 , UCLA , ( 27 points )
28 , Boston College , ( 28 points )
28 , WILLIAM & MARY , ( 28 points )
28 , NYU , ( 28 points )
31 , U VIRGINIA , ( 29 points )
31 , Lehigh , ( 29 points )
31 , U MICHIGAN , ( 29 points )</p>

<p>34 , UC SAN DIEGO , ( 31 points )
35 , GEORGIA TECH , ( 33 points )
35 , U Rochester , ( 33 points )
37 , U N CAROLINA , ( 34 points )
38 , Wake Forest , ( 35 points )
39 , U ILLINOIS , ( 38 points )
40 , U WISCONSIN , ( 39 points )</p>

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<p>Food for thought: [Prestige</a> Versus Education](<a href=“http://www.creators.com/conservative/thomas-sowell/prestige-versus-education.html]Prestige”>Prestige Versus Education, by Dr. Thomas Sowell | Creators Syndicate) By Thomas Sowell:</p>

<p>

</p>

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<p>USNews has a list of the 100 most selective schools in the country. It has most of the expected, and some not so much. It also does not include some you would have expected.</p>

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<p>[Best</a> Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/lowest-acceptance-rate]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/lowest-acceptance-rate)</p>

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<p>Define Highly selective.</p>

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<p>I guess this my point. If you want a list–here it is. Is this list what you were trying to get at? Or was there a different agenda?</p>

17

<p>I don’t think the OP cares anymore. This thread is four years old. Could be a new record for bringing up an old thread.</p>

18

<p>hahaha. I didn’t even look at the date of the first entry. You’re right, I doubt the OP cares.</p>

19

<p>gadad-
I’m glad you liked the list of factors that make highly selective colleges better. I’ve had experience at 4 different colleges from third tier to Ivy, public and private. I can feel the differences.</p>

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<p>I would omit Urbana, Madison, and Ann Arbor from the list. They shouldn’t be put in the same bracket with Wesleyan, Williams, Chicago, etc.</p>