What Distinguishes The Top Ranked Universities From One Another?

Applying to College
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<p>There is an overload of information from brochures and websites which is sometimes confusing.
At times, it is hard to pin point what exactly distinguishes one fine institution from another. It superficially seems every university encourages exploration among students, has freshman and sophomore seminars, mandates professor office hours, offers study abroad, etc.</p>

<p>So I am wondering if people have concrete examples of really unique features universities provide, which cannot be found anywhere else/are rare. Knowing this will make it easier for applicants to distinguish which schools to apply to.</p>

<p>(A really pronounced example I guess, is Brown’s Open Curriculum. But other more subtle examples would work too.)</p>

<p>Universities like the Ivies, Stanford, Chicago, Berkeley, Duke, among others.</p>

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<p>yale and rice and some other places like that have residential college systems</p>

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<p>Yeah, that’s true. And UCSD has something like that too, if I’m not mistaken.</p>

<p>Anything else? Anyone?</p>

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<p>sometimes there isnt that much difference. i find harvard, yale, and princeton the same colleges only with different names.</p>

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<p>The top unis do share the desirable qualities you mention. Then it goes to the other intangibles such as geographic location (NYU & Columbia in NYC, Stanford in beautiful Palo Alto). Sometimes its strength of certain curricula of study (MIT, Caltech, etc). Others include social aspects (big greek culture at Dartmouth and Duke, residential college system at Yale, Big Ten Sports at UMich, etc).</p>

<p>Some are positives, some are neutral, some are negatives. Speak to current students at your target schools or alums from your HS and see what they like/dislike.</p>

<p>Investigate what the schools themselves say is their most distinguishing factor (Brown’s open study, Yale’s RC system) and see if it grabs you. Best of luck to you.</p>

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<p>CC’s perception of how intelligent you are…</p>

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<p>^^^^^ditto</p>

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<p>“i find harvard, yale, and princeton the same colleges only with different names.”</p>

<p>well then you are rather ignorant.</p>

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<p>Ha! Beautiful but boring Palo Alto. </p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong. I respect Stanford a lot. But the pet peeve of many Stanford students and alumni, including my brother, is that in Palo Alto, there really isn’t much to do. It is hardly a college town at all, rather, it’s a highly upscale suburb. Sure, that’s real cool if you’re a millionaire venture capitalist or successful tech entrepreneur (as many Palo Alto residents are), but not much fun when you’re just a poverty-stricken student.</p>

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<p>I think Stanford offers a complete experience unlike any of the other top four. It’s questionably tops in both academics/athletics and it comes with great weather and a laid back atmosphere to boot.</p>

<p>I’m not biased at all…</p>

<p>Sakky, how far from Stanford is Berkeley and what can a poverty stricken student do there?</p>

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<p>How different are top colleges from each other? I think it’s a combination of macro-and micro-level examination.</p>

<p>On the surface, all of the schools you listed have a lot of similarities.</p>

<p>They all have really bright kids.
They all have great professors.
They all have the club and internship opportunities you’re interested in (most likely).
They all have dormitories.
They all offer classes.</p>

<p>I know that list sounds silly, but it’s my way of explaining that the experience you’d have at one college is probably going to be similar to the experience you would have at another. You’d be taking similar classes, doing similar things for fun, and hanging out with similar kinds of people.</p>

<p>If you zoom in a little bit, you’ll see that there are lots and lots of differences between the physical frame of the school and the kinds of students that school tends to attract.</p>

<p>Some of these schools have very prominent Greek scenes. Some don’t.
Some of these schools are in cities. Some aren’t.
Some of these schools are big. Some aren’t.</p>

<p>Aside from that, schools often espouse a sort of philosophy on education or “what makes us unique” rhetoric. I think this stuff is about 90% hogwash, designed to position the school against its competitors in extremely vague ways, (ex. “Students at our school are smart, laid-back, engaged in school and academic opportunities, and love to be with each other.”-- does that phrase NOT describe any school?) but sometimes schools tend to hold certain views or philosophies pretty strongly.</p>

<p>For example, women’s and Quaker colleges tend to emphasize community and collegiality perhaps over and above other schools because it’s so deeply ingrained into that school’s history. You don’t choose a women’s college unless you want to be in the kind of environment a women’s college offers. Ditto for a Quaker school.</p>

<p>Chicago is an odd case, as it was once upon a time a much more experimental and non-traditional school than it is now (think a cross among Simon’s Rock, St. John’s College, and MIT). We still have remnants of the “Old Guard” and people who are very conservative regarding changes made to the school, and as a result I think we serve as a haven for the intellectually supercharged and socially awkward. That’s not to say that everybody at Chicago falls under one or both of those categories, because most don’t, but I think that those kinds of people tend to come here in higher concentrations, because of our Core, our “Life of the Mind” rhetoric, our unusual essay questions, etc. Chicago tends to put itself out there in a major way, and it turns some prospective students on and into the school, and turns a lot of people off. That’s a short rundown of why Chicago in particular might be different from the other schools you might be examining.</p>

<p>I also think that even though I’m pretty hardcore about the U of C, I would probably have a good time in my way at almost any school, particular any top school with kids who are going to be smart and intellectually curious. I did choose the U of C, though, because it was the best “fit” for catering to my academic, personal, and social desires. So again, there are differences, but in the grand scheme of things I think these differences come too greatly exaggerated.</p>

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<p>some unique features:</p>

<p>Yale, Harvard, Rice – res. college system
Brown - open curriculum
Dartmouth - D-Plan
UChicago - world’s biggest scavenger hunt, awesome application essays
MIT - independent activities period, mystery hunt, hacks
Princeton - eating clubs
Northwestern - the rock?</p>

<p>haha.</p>

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<p>i am ignorant? ignorant that HYP are pretty much elitist, located in northeast, have the same atmosphere, superior to any other colleges, etc…</p>

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<p>yeah, and i assume you’ve attended all three of these colleges. you probably have never even been on all three campuses (which I have). why don’t you tell us specifically how all three of these colleges are absolutely identical? let me guess; you’ll list elitist, snobby, and other unthoughtful comments.</p>

<p>please, go spread your useless ignorance elsewhere. you just seem to be a bitter, misinformed (not to mention misinforming) person.</p>

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<p>Honestly, I believe that apart from the general similarities, as someone as already mentioned (excellent academics, bright students, great professors, fantastic facilities and opportunities, etc.)–they are distinguished by their student bodies’ and an applicant’s preferences. A specific kind of applicant applies to UChicago because UChicago appeals to him/her the most, while another applicant may find UPenn to be the best fit for him, and yet another regards Dartmouth as her top choice–all may be very bright students with similar stats, but looking for different things in a college.</p>

<p>Look at each college’s student body and you can tell how people who attend Brown are different than those who attend Harvard or Chicago, for example. Or compare a Yale or Dartmouth student to a Stanford or Rice student. All the environmental factors and particular characteristics of the student bodies (besides academics) come into play to constitute each college to be the institution it is today.</p>

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<p>3365: your making broad statements like that display hubris to be sure. I know for a fact that RD31 is currently a student at one HYP. I’m an alum as well. My father worked as a cook six days a week, 10 hrs/day for about 40 years. My mother didn’t speak English when she came to the US. Learned what she could, learned to drive. Became a waitress. They provided fully for me and my brother’s education. While my HYP alma mater was many wonderful things, I never felt ostracized by the “Elites” there. Don’t project your biases on things you haven’t much real evidence beyond hearsay.</p>

<p>Not that I’m immune from it either – when my college sent me an app b/c I aced the PSAT, it went to the huge pile of stuff in my closet. Not until I met some undergrads at a recruitment function did I fall in love with the place. Before then, I never saw myself as an “Ivy” student. But I would think that I was wise enough not to slag institutions such as the HYP – otherwise I would display my ignorance.</p>

<p>From my perspective: they don’t share the same atmosphere. And people are extremely conscious of the privilege of attending. Walking around being snobby and sneering at “lessor” colleges – wasn’t cool at all. Also, P is not in the Northeast but in the Mid atlantic.</p>

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<p>Hotasice, I agree with you about the differences between student bodies… to an extent. Nobody has a school stamped across his/her forehead from birth and most people can fit in at a whole range of places, so the people at each school are usually not different in an extremely remarkable kind of way. I think if I were to step into a class on Ancient Greek at any of those schools, I’d run into similar people.</p>

<p>However, I do think you’re right that each school has its strengths that appeal to students who are looking for those strengths.</p>

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<p>T26E4: Could you talk about some of the differences you’ve perceived? (I am sure that they exist, it’s just that I haven’t met too many people that go to HYP nor have I visited, so I don’t have a good idea as to what sets them apart)</p>

<p>I really agree with unalove that the University of Chicago puts itself out about what it’s like. I could, in a way, feel it’s personality radiating from the view book, haha. Somehow, most other colleges I don’t really get that…</p>

<p>Example, I went to this Exploring College Options seminar. Every college presented, and somehow, it really sounded too much the same to me. It’s like they are trying to appeal to everyone, so they don’t take risks characterizing themselves to much in one way. Even when I though Georgetown was going to say, it is the ideal college for people interested in politics and government (after talking about internship opportunities in Washington), it skipped over to the school’s strength in the sciences.
I don’t blame them, because I want to go some place that is overall strong in everything, but it makes it so much harder to find where you might fit among the top universities, and thus where you should apply.
Like other than knowing that Harvard is good for smart, ambitious people, what makes it a better fit than say… Princeton (please don’t say campus or weather) if you had to choose between the two when applying? So cam people be more candid about what place will be good for who? What unique things each place offers? I saw some pretty good examples as responses. But more would be awesome! Like, what about Stanford?</p>

<p>And I know that you are going to get a great diversity in the applicant pool. But if so, does fit not really matter, because you will probably fit in somewhere, anyways? And plus, doesn’t the population change every year with incoming students, which makes it impossible to identify which place will remain a fit?
(As with weather and campus, please ignore the physical factors when responding. I know they are important, but even these are sometimes pretty similar among some universities.)</p>

<p>Could some of you who attend these colleges mention what sets your school apart?</p>

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<p>This would be a great question for individual forums.</p>

<p>What I’ve found most helpful when I want to assess the flavor of the school is not to ask the students outright, but instead to read along with what’s already there. I think there’s a great way to get flavor from a school.</p>

<p>And I’m sure you’re right that Georgetown is making a concerted effort to market itself as not-just poly sci. Most colleges, in fact, try to market themselves to the “Goldilocks” crowd-- the academics are challenging, but not too challenging, the parties are amazing, but not too much drunkenness, the students are engaged and involved, but still “laid back,” etc. etc. etc.</p>

<p>The other good question is: what do YOU want in a school?</p>

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<p>What’s most important is the right match for you. Look carefully at each institution’s academics, commitment to education, availability of good mentoring and advising, quality of teaching, culture, opportunities, values, social life, etc. What is the student body like? Is there a sense of community?</p>

<p>Some things to think about: What is the quality of the education? Do the faculty value teaching? Are faculty rewarded for teaching quality or mainly for their research? Are students taught mostly by TAs? Do graduate students have first priority, or does a true commitment to undergraduates exist?</p>

<p>Think about who will advise and mentor you. All of the schools will have famous researchers, etc, but will they really be involved in your education and contribute to its educational quality?

</p>

<p>[The</a> Harvard Crimson :: Opinion :: Re-Focus Advising](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=517434]The”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=517434)</p>

<p>So, check out the student newspapers, talk to students (not just those hired by the admissions office) to see what each institution is really like, beyond it’s name.</p>