<p>Harvard C- (Grade Inflation & etc)
MIT A-
Princeton B- (Overrated)
Stanford C- (Grade Inflation & etc)
Yale B (Overrated)</p>
<p>Amherst A-
Brown A-
Cal Tech B- (faculty-student relation problem)
Columbia A-
Dartmouth B
Duke B (Grade Inflation)
Georgetown A-
Penn A-
Pomona B+ (Grade Inflation)
Swarthmore A-
U Virginia A -
Williams A</p>
<p>BC B Overrated
Bowdoin A-
Cal Berkeley B+ (grade deflation)
Carleton A-
CMU A-(CS is good)
Chicago A (somewhat overrated)
CMC A-
Colgate A-
Cornell A
Davidson A-
Emory A-
Grinnell A (good School)
Harvey Mudd B+
Haverford A-
JHU B
Michigan
Middlebury A
Northwestern B Overrated.
Notre Dame A-
Rice A-
Tufts A-
Vassar B+
WUSTL B+
Washington & Lee A
Wellesley B+
Wesleyan B+</p>
<p>Barnard A-
Bates A-
Brandeis A-
Byrn Maws A-
Bucknell A-
Case Western B+
Colby B+
Colorado College B(I don’t know)
Connecticut College B( I don’t know)
Dickinson A-
Franklin & Marshall B ( I don’t know)
Furman B (I don’t know)
GWU A-
Georgia Tech B+
Gettysburg B ( I don’t know)
Hamilton A-
Holy Cross A-
Illinois U-C B+
Kenyon A-
Lafayette A-
Lehigh A-
Macalester A
Maryland (I don’t know)
Mt. Holyoke A
NYU B+
Oberlin A-
Reed A
Rochester A-
St. Lawrence A-
Scripps B+
Skidmore A-
Smith A-
Texas B+
Trinity A-
UCLA B+(Grade deflation)
UCSD C+(Grade deflation no social life)
UNC B (Grade deflation)
USC B- (overrated)
Vanderbilt A-</p>
<p>Northwestern is certainly a research university. A quick-and-dirty litmus test is to check to see who the 62 members of the American Association of Universities are. <a href=“http://www.aau.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.aau.edu</a></p>
<p>Good question about Rice falling off the radar screen. I think, judging by this forum, that Rice University is way underrated. Probably mostly bc lots of people don’t know enough about it. Rice has an Ivy League education, brilliant students and faculty, and a much more affordable price than a lot of Ivy leagues and private schools with lesser educations. I think it is an awesome school that should not be overlooked!</p>
<p>Thanks for that info, TheDad. Northwestern is not only a member but also one of the earliest ones admitted to the “club”. Too much biased trashing on CC these days.</p>
<p>To some of the posters above (mainly dads and moms) who are mixing LACs with universities. I hope you realize that the education at these places cannot be compared. LACs have an extremely biased liberal arts education (hence the name), and universities typically offer a much broader/deeper range of study.</p>
<p>LACs should be compared with other, more appropriate colleges-- Say, non-doctorate granting institutions found at the back of the USnews. You keep bringing up these colleges on university posts, but you totally ignore posting where you should be posting - in the LAC forum. Is this because you know that nobody ever visits that forum? Is this some way of getting publicity? I’ve been watching posting trends for months, and this behavior seems very “trollish”.</p>
<p>Golubbu, the idea that LAC’s are somehow second-class institutions is yet another myth that is disproved by grad schools, professional schools, employers, and the performance of LAC grads themselves.</p>
<p>The LAC threads get posts by people interested specifically in that school, just as the specific schools in the Ivy League, the Top Colleges group, or the colleges listed on the Alphabetical list do.</p>
<p>For those who were wondering: TheDad’s famous “D” is a freshman at Smith (one of those glorious LAC’s, with a modest #6 rank on his list) and was rejected at Yale (ranked #30). I guess the D applied SCEA to Yale in a noble attempt to raise their pitiful standards.</p>
<p>SnappyRetort, my rankings, while derived from real numbers, were an illustration that any set of rankings are nonsense.</p>
<p>As to the virtues of LAC’s vs. Universities, if my D had been admitted to Yale I’m still not sure which would have been the better choice for her. Yale would not have been the slam dunk that many expect and someone we informally interviewed at Yale even said as much when she asked which schools D was applying to.</p>
<p>Btw, for those who are so down on LAC’s, you might want to ask yourself why so many Ivy League faculty send their kids to LAC’s. There was an article about this posted last year.</p>
<p>Btw, for those who are so down on LAC’s, you might want to ask yourself why so many Ivy League faculty send their kids to LAC’s. There was an article about this posted last year.</p>
<p>Personally I’m not down on LAC’s, but there are lots of possible answers to this question–for example, that faculty kids sometimes want a very different world from their parents’ or even, believe it or not, that they might not get into their parents’ schools. ;)</p>
<p>Folks: Let’s keep this board friendly and helpful and avoid the nastiness. Spirited discussion is one thing (a welcomed one at that!), but personal attacks are not acceptable forum behavior.
Thanks.</p>
<p>USnews segregates schools by degrees offered, but as you can tell, there are many ways to skin this cat. Besides, at LAC’s you are taught by faculty with Ph.Ds from those universities you hold in such high regard, not by a grad student who might be ony one year out of a LAC.</p>
<p>“For those who were wondering: TheDad’s famous “D” is a freshman at Smith (one of those glorious LAC’s, with a modest #6 rank on his list) and was rejected at Yale (ranked #30). I guess the D applied SCEA to Yale in a noble attempt to raise their pitiful standards.”</p>
<p>Snappy, you must really be at a loss for words to write such an abject comment. Anyone with a bit of history on CC knows about TheDad’s open-minded quest for the best fit for TheD. You should show some respect for someone who has not hesitated to post about his personal experience for the sake of helping others. </p>
<p>I, for one, was a staunch research university defendant until I allowed more experienced voices to lead me in the direction of a school that fits me a tee. TheDad’s experiences helped me tremendously in making the correct choice. </p>
<p>You may not agree with his conclusions -or mine- but your last comment won’t endear you to anyone who appreciates a respectful debate.</p>
<p>“To some of the posters above (mainly dads and moms) who are mixing LACs with universities. I hope you realize that the education at these places cannot be compared. LACs have an extremely biased liberal arts education (hence the name), and universities typically offer a much broader/deeper range of study.”</p>
<p>That is why most large universities are now “borrowing” extensively from that extremely biased education and offering “new programs”. They also seem to have a sense of humor since the universities do not hesitate to call them Honor’s programs.</p>
<p>TheDad, a top MIT administrator told me that they (deliberate use of androgynous plural for obvious reasons) would never recommend MIT to their kid. Their kid needed a more nurturing environment for premed. They recommended an LAC to their kid and were pleased the kid enthusiastically acquiesced. You will be particulary pleased to know the LAC where the kid happily matriculated.</p>
<p>Barron’s I have known small group discussion classes (4th credit of a 3credit lecture) to be run completely by TA who just completed their BS, once I knew a woman who TA’d such a class and she was a senior…This was at an IVY. </p>
<p>With the invention of the consortium LACs are picking up a great deal of depth of study. The difference between the two types of institutions is getting blurry.</p>
<p>Snappy, the reason that at lot of Ivy faculty children are going to LAC’s is because of the focus on undergrad education. Amherst, Williams, Wellesely, etc. not only have people who could have gotten into Ivies and other top-ranked research U’s but people who <em>did</em> and chose the LAC. </p>
<p>And anent the whole ranking thing, my D did things you might have regarded as peculiar. Columbia was her #1 on paper but after visiting she didn’t apply, though she did apply to Barnard, right across the street. And she turned down the “higher ranked” Wellesley for Smith on the basis of fit. Fwiw, my D has a classmate who <em>did</em> get into Yale and chose Smith anyway.</p>
<p>In terms of opportunities, including all the standard yada yada about small classes and close relations with the profs, which have turned out to be true, she already has her name on a research paper for work as a research assistant (computer science project)…something that doesn’t usually happen at larger U’s for undergrad students, particularly first-years. </p>
<p>Xiggi, I’m still startled that I had any influence on your decision. Especially all things considered. I’m glad it’s worked out for you. Viva fit!</p>
I’m glad it’s worked out for you. Viva fit!</p>