Northeastern and George Washington are not elite schools. They can raise their cost, can do whatever they can market hard for applications, even become test optional. They are playing the ratings game. They have created a market for their schools for rich families that want their kids going to school in a major city. Boston University and NYU Have been in that game for many years. NEU and GWU are their peers. As are Tulane and Miami.
In that group I would say NYU and Miami have the potential to elevate their standing. The other schools I listed have peaked. And of note the US News Ranking is flawed.
U of Chicago has LONG been considered to be one of THE most academically rigorous, elite universities in the whole world, let alone the US.
They did not “game the system”.
They adopted the Common App, which made it easier to apply ,and their applications soared as a result.
An upcoming & coming school can OBJECTIVELY be certified as having arrived, when it finally achieves a “Prestigiosity Index” of .980 or an “Irrational Financial Immolation Index” (IFII) of .995.
Not saying Chicago is not a good school just referring to their recent push to increase applications to look more selective. I’d call that a sort of gaming.
I would say, before checking out of this increasingly silly conversation, is that your school isn’t elite when a) you’re defensive about it and b) you need to talk it up and c) you can’t take comments.
At the University of Chicago the “yield” rate in 2014 reached a record 60.3 percent—an increase of more than 20 percentage points in five years. I don’t think UofC suddenly became more desirable during this time. I think they found a way to identify potential students for whom they would be the top choice.
How about considering whether the rest of the country has heard of a school for its top academics (not sports- some schools are forever in the championship run and therefore well known- eg UNLV))? That would eliminate so many schools on the east coast that are beneath the radar of the rest of us. It depends on where you decide the elite line is- and how many schools you allow in that pool. There are elite schools academically the east coast won’t think of- majority opinion does not make schools elite. Just because a school is popular and therefore harder to get into doesn’t mean it is better academically for top students than many of the upper Midwest flagships, btw. try to drop the northeast mindset and realize those schools you think may be becoming elite are regional. And a huge population there to make stats seem better perhaps.
I don’t think they will ever become elite in the sense of HYPSM or even the tier below, because that status is based of mostly pure name recognition based off history. You can’t get that no matter how much you actually improve a school. I do think that they can jump another tier though, up to around the Top 25. Similar to what USC has done essentially. I would say U of Chicago is the exception probably because they started there. But even they aren’t as well known that well outside of the CC community still. You have to remember we really do live in a bubble here, the game of caring about hundreds of colleges and their status and quality. I know personally I barely knew the ivies before coming here, and most people I meet are still at that point. I knew more about school by their football teams than their programs. I could name maybe two liberal art colleges, and could not tell you for the life of me their prestige or quality.
I will say this: I am an avid NEU supporter, and a student. I think that NEU supporters tend to talk about the school a lot because it is very much a change in mindset when compared with other schools, and the people who are NEU supports see it being about a different approach to education in today’s world, and it’s controversial as an idea. It’s no secret they gamed the rankings, but the reality is that gaming them still improved the school. It was and is a cycle that feeds itself. NEU is going to keep improving. I have literally seen it on campus, in my classes, in the differences in the classes below and above me, everywhere. Will it ever become “elite”? Probably not, and if it ever does by some miracle, not for another 50 years at least lol. But it doesn’t mean it has peaked or that it can’t become better known.
So to go back to the OP, basically, you really can’t get that “elite” status because its not really tied to direct improvement, it’s history and name recognition, and because these schools are improving constantly, their history is not going to help them that much. Getting name recognition in the real world is pretty hard too, outside of regional. But regardless of all this, the schools listed really made improvements and are now much better schools with high achieving and smart students. They are better schools than they were before by a good margin. So, do what you will with that.
Look, there will inevitably be at least one school to reach “elite” status that doesn’t have it right now within 10-15 years or so. Things don’t just stay the same forever, that isn’t possible. Maybe its George Washington, maybe its NEU. Don’t worry about it, because it will become apparent when it happens.