"For undergraduate teaching, USNEWS ranks Brown is #3, Dartmouth #5, and Rice #8. Maybe as a whole all the other T20s are more prestigous/chosen more often, but for undergrads, Rice among Brown, Dartmouth and Pricneton lead the pack and that is undeniable. "
Many exaggerated statements in this thread but "undeniable"only means according to US News. According to the same rankings, Georgia State is at 3, Arizona State is 10, UM-Baltimore is 12 and the maligned UM (large lecture halls at Michigan any day of the week) is 13 and Yale at 14!
How much credibility would you put in a teaching ranking where ASU is ahead of Yale? close to zero, but ok I’ll grant Rice is at 8, there but you have to grant that it’s not all that much ahead of Michigan and behind schools much larger it.
“Like Forbes, Money magazine publishes a ranking of best colleges for value (cost vs earnings).”
Another ranking that does not support the greatness that is Rice. This list is filled with public universities because that is where you attend if you want value. If you want to say to attend Rice over say Williams (#39) that’s reasonable. But not Michigan is #8 or any of the private universities ahead of Rice.
If you add both rankings, this is what many people do if they just looked at the rankings the first time:
Rice - composite of 33 (lower the better)
UM - composite of 21