<p>^^In all honesty, I think Harvard and Stanford will be battling it out for the honor of carrying the mantle as the top dog now and into the future regardless of what the USNWR says. With the trajectory seen in the admissions selectivity (lower than Harvard’s), more money being donated than any institution yearly since 2008, yield rate approaching Harvard’s and possibly exceeding that of Harvard’s in the near future, the shift of economic power from the east coast to the west coast due to its ties to Asian powers, becoming the #1 dream school for students and parents for the past few years…all point to Stanford. No matter how much we like to dismiss Stanford as a “technology school” for the entrepreneurs…Stanford has top programs in most other areas of study. I know how much people from the northeast love to look down on anything past New York…it is a strong wake up call what is happening in the world of competitive university “business”. Trust me, Harvard is not worried about Yale or Princeton…they are deeply worried about Stanford. I wouldn’t be surprised that Harvard and Stanford will be both ranked #1 to be politically correct.</p>
<p>…I believe Yale, Chicago, MIT, Columbia, and Princeton will be jockeying for the 2-5 position in the years to come. As for Chicago, it is still lacking an engineering program which will be its rate limiting step…</p>