Sure, there are great, elite, high-ranking schools, but if somebody were to say “I go to …” which ones would make you stand up and take notice? Which ones would evoke that “Wow! Great School!” response? Give your most-impressive top 25. Here’s my version:
- Juilliard
- Harvard
- Yale
- Caltech
- Princeton
- Berklee College of Music
- Curtis Institute of Music
- US Naval Academy
- Stanford
- MIT
- NYU Tisch School of the Arts
- Olin College of Engineering
- US Military Academy
- Williams
- Cooper Union
- Brown
- Swarthmore
- Rhode Island School of Design
- Pomona
- Columbia
- Davidson
- Dartmouth
- Chicago
- Harvey Mudd
- Cornell
*Edited to add Tisch....Sorry Northwestern*
Also, as a variant, what are people’s most-interesting top 25?
Most impressive to me:
- Harvard
- Stanford
- Yale/ Princeton
- CalTech/ MIT
- Columbia
- Duke
- Brown
- Penn
- Pomona
- Chicago
- Williams
- Harvey Mudd
- Dartmouth
- Cornell
- Georgetown
- Northwestern
- Berkeley
- Vanderbilt
- Amherst
- Swarthmore
- Bowdoin/ Midd
- Hopkins
I’m not familiar enough with the music schools and service academies to include them.
@jackrabbit14 Interesting. Your personal list may reflect the influence – unconscious or otherwise – of US News. You have all but 4 (WashU, Notre Dame, Rice and Emory) of their top 22 National Universities, and all but 1 (Wellesley) of their top 7 LACS. Only one outlier (Harvey Mudd).
In no particular order:
MIT
Caltech
Yale
Harvard
Juilliard
Harvard
Stanford
Penn
Cornell
Dartmouth
Johns Hopkins
Vanderbilt
Rice
Tufts
Columbia
U Chicago
Pomona
Williams
Amherst
Claremont McKenna
Northwestern
Olin
UC Berkeley
Georgetown
Wash U
Bowdoin
@foosondaughter I tried to think of which colleges kids at my school obsess over the most, so no surprise that it heavily reflects US News.
Most impressive :
No particular order:
- Harvard
- Stanford
- UCLA
- UCSD
- UC Berkeley
- USC
- Pomona
- Harvey Mudd
- Scripps
- NYU
- Julliard
- Columbia
- MIT
- CalTech
- UChicago
- Vanderbilt
- Emory
- Johns Hopkins
- Princeton
- Yale
- Tufts University
- Carnegie Mellon
- West Point
- Purdue
- Wellesley
I’m really surprised by some schools that I perceive as “less than elite” appearing more highly ranked than schools I perceive as “elite”. I’m sure others will feel that way about my list though. I hate “ranking” schools individually and really believe that they should be groups of 10(?) for the first 50(?) and then groups of 25(?) and bigger as the “rankings” get lower. However, the OP asked for the top 25.
- Princeton
- Harvard
- Stanford
- Yale
- CalTech
- MIT
- Columbia
- Williams
- Dartmouth
- Middlebury
- Chicago
- Duke
- Penn
- Amherst
- Swarthmore
- Cornell
- Brown
- JHU
- Vanderbilt
- Rice
- Pomona
- WUStL
- Bowdoin
- Berkeley
- West Point
Haven’t been on this site for a while but here goes
- Stanford
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
- Amherst
MIT
Columbia
Caltech
Uchicago
10.Duke
Dartmouth
Upenn
Cornell
Claremont Mckenna
15)Brown
Northwestern
JHU
Vanderbilt
Berkeley/Michigan
20)USC/UCLA
UNC
WashU
Rice U
Notre dame
25)Georgetown
No order:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Williams
Dartmouth
Middlebury
Amherst
U Penn
Duke
Bowdoin
Stanford
Columbia
MIT
Cal Tech
Brown
Cornell
Swarthmore
Pomona
U Chicago
Rice
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Northwestern
Hopkins
Carleton
From a parent’s perspective & factoring in my personal interests
Stanford - Jock School, Future Technology & Science movers and shakers, overall high achieving student body, location, location, location
Princeton
Cal Tech/MIT
Pomona College - proud parent of incoming freshman so I moved P up about 15 spots, LOL!
Yale/Harvard
UCLA - Most national championships/Jock school, brand name recognized around the world, maintain academic excellence while meeting California’s mission to accept mostly Californians
U of Chicago
Swarthmore
Berkeley - fantastic graduate program; same as UCLA without the sports success
Dartmouth - inspiration for Animal House and still an Ivy League? Good balance, ha ha
Columbia
Williams
Amherst
Harvey Mudd
Michigan
USC Thornton School of Music
Claremont McKenna
Northwestern
Middlebury
Wesleyan
University of Miami
UC Santa Barbara - is this a school or a resort? science program is strong despite reputation of being surfer school
Faber College
No order:
Stanford
Brown
Northwestern
MIT
Pomona
Northwestern
Duke
Washu / wustl
williams
dartmouth
USC
UCLA
UC Berk
Penn
Swarthmore
Middlebury
Claremont mckenna
Hopkins
Rice
Cornell
Yale
Princeton
Harvard
Williams
gtown
No order
Ucla
Berkeley
Claremont McKenna
Pomona
Stanford
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Brown
Dartmouth
Columbia
Penn
Cornell
Uchjcago
Northwestern
Amherst
Williams
Mit
Cal tech
Vanderbilt
Rice
Duke
Emory
WashU
Harvey mudd
Stanford
Caltech
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
MIT
Columbia
Duke
Chicago
Penn
Dartmouth
Hopkins
Brown
Cornell
Northwestern
Pomona
WUSTL
Williams
Amherst