<p>Heh, I think we do our fair share of rubbing our stuff in too. Every time I go to our website to check my email I see a new article touting some research or a new faculty hire. Some of it’s not always significant, but hey, it’s news, and news must be rubbed in 
Tbh, all of the southern elites, including Duke (though to a lesser extent in its case), suffer from being southern. It’s just the way things are. And it’s a shame, really, because I think these schools (I guess most would say Duke, Emory, Rice, and Vandy, although pretty much every school in the south surely takes some flack) have a lot to offer that some people just refuse to acknowledge. Emory’s problem might actually not be its southern character, which I understand is not as prevalent as that at Vandy. Emory may simply suffer from a lack of exposure, such as that which Duke and Vandy have gained through sports. </p>
<p>@alwaysleah, goldenboy8784 probably meant that Duke can compete with some of the schools in the ivy league. It’s definitely not a peer of HYP, and I actually don’t think that even goldenboy would argue that it is. I don’t know if I completely agree with your grouping either; I think that the general consensus is that HYPSM are clearly a leg above the rest, but that schools like Duke actually can hold their own against the non-HYP ivies. Duke beats Cornell in cross-admits and wins between 40 to 60% of those whom it shares with Columbia, Penn, Brown, and Dartmouth.
I personally share the belief that HYPSM are in a league of their own, but I think that there are then maybe 15 schools that are all of approximately equal caliber. You could definitely draw distinctions within this group of 15 schools, such as arguing that Penn, Duke, Columbia, UChicago, and Dartmouth are above the other ten, but the real, not-so-subtle drop in quality happens right after HYPSM.</p>