<p>UCLA
NYU
Columbia
Berkeley
USC</p>
<p>Columbia
Berkeley
USC
NYU
UCLA</p>
<p>I’m asking for a friend who applied to all these schools</p>
<p>I would use this order.</p>
<p>Berkeley
COlumbia<br>
UCLA
USC
NYU</p>
<p>Though depending on your major the order can change. For film, theater, journalism, communications I would make UCLA, USC, and NYU top 3.</p>
<p>I think you could switch USC and NYU depending on where you plan to live/ work after graduation. If you’re on the west coast USC has a better rep. On the east coast it’s probably NYU. </p>
<p>Here’s how most people would rank these schools from most respected to least respected, if we’re talking about Americans. Foreigners may have different opinions:</p>
<p>Columbia University</p>
<p>UC Berkeley</p>
<p>UCLA</p>
<p>NYU(This might be tied with or slightly exceed UCLA. Not sure, really. I’m placing NYU here because it’s lower ranked than UCLA, Berkeley, and Columbia)</p>
<p>USC</p>
<p>Columbia
CAL/UCLA
NYU
USC.</p>
<p>Deal with it! </p>
<p>In the states:
Berkeley
Columbia
UCLA
NYU
USC</p>
<p>Outside the US:
Berkeley
UCLA
Columbia
NYU
USC</p>
<p>I feel like the reputation outside the states is easier determine.The world reputation rankings from the Times Higher Education seems pretty accurate. </p>
<p>Columbia might be the most “prestigious” but if we’re talking about reputation in terms of what the average American citizen/ company/ student thinks, I do think that it’s extremely close at the top. </p>
<p>I was telling him the same thing. He was gonna go to berkeley with me, but then he had second thoughts. He’s a bio major.</p>
<p>Columbia > Berkeley > USC = NYU = UCLA</p>
<p>Where did this idea come from that USC is any good?</p>
<p>@RamonaFalls </p>
<p>It may have to do with the fact that USC is tied with UCLA in the USNWR rankings. USC is a decent school, but to say that it’s in the same league as UCLA/Berkeley is simply not true. Other ranking systems consistently place USC somewhat behind UCLA, Berkeley, and comparable schools. Outside of California, I doubt it’s very well known.</p>
<p>Though, to be fair, USC has been doing a lot of catching up in the rankings over the past several decades. If it continues to do what it’s doing now, it’ll no longer lag behind the academic heavyweights in the U.S. and may even surpass some of them.</p>
<p>USC is so far behind every other school in reputation IMO. Especially when factoring in graduate school rankings. Academically speaking, USC has only recently caught up to UCLA in UG rankings. USC’s “reputation” for the majority of its existence isn’t academic excellence. That’s for sure 
</p>
<p>It’s so funny. Growing up (we’re talking from age 8-16) I thought USC was the ■■■■ because it’s so expensive. I even thought it was HYP caliber and up there with Stanford. I thought UCLA was the poor man’s USC haha and I didn’t even know Berkeley existed until high school. Poor me!</p>
<p>Columbia. </p>
<p>Columbia, but if he is getting into their general studies program then it’s not as great as getting into their regular admission so Berkeley would be a better choice</p>
<p>Berk = UCLA > Columbia >> NYU >>> USC</p>