When does an up & coming university finally become “elite”?

PurpleTitan
Wed, 26 Aug 2015 23:08:59 +0000

@Marian, WashU has been an academic/research powerhouse for a long time now. It may have been obscure outside its home region, but that was true of Brown for a long time as well, yet few people “in the know” would say that Brown isn’t elite.

As for the original schools mentioned, note that USC, NEU, and GWU are among the schools that game the USNews rankings most heavily. Thus, I tend to focus on outcomes, and by alumni achievements, USC, while in the same league as good publics like UCLA/UNC/UW-Madison, still isn’t at the Ivy/equivalent or near-Ivy level yet (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1682986-ivy-equivalents-p3.html). That said, USC is known for their alumni network and has some premier programs.