<p>andy_college09: you’re just digging yourself a deeper hole. I’d get out while I can. This thread is quite painful to read really. Seems like all threads turn into a prestige pi**ing match. I think we can all agree that we’re all talking about fine institutions. One can get a great education on go on to doing great things at numerous schools across the country. But the ones we’re talking about here - placed like Princeton, Stanford, Rice, Duke, etc. all are the cream of the crop. People look for different things in a college and one school might be a better fit even if it’s seemingly less prestigious. </p>
<p>Having said all that, I think it’s pretty indisputable that HYPSM are above all other school in the nation when it comes to prestige, ability to attract top students and faculty, and ability to pour millions of dollars into research and facilities. Schools like Johns Hopkins, Rice, and Duke, while certainly great, are a step below. Now that doesn’t mean that HYPSM are better schools that everybody should choose if he or she gets in. But rather, those five have distinguished themselves as the top of the top of the US academic system. I don’t know how anybody could dispute otherwise, unless you’re talking about a specific department/major. As a whole, they beat all others on pretty much every academic and prestige criteria. </p>
<p>Again, it’s certainly possible that an individual could be happier attending Brown over Harvard and I’d see nothing wrong with making that choice. But still, those five are super duper elite. The schools that are 6-15 in the nation or so are pretty much interchangeable and are great schools - but are a notch below when it comes to “prestige” and financial resources. Duke is certainly less than Stanford in this regard; I don’t how you could argue otherwise. Even Duke’s own school newspaper has an article titled “Duke still step below top schools”, referring to HYPSM. [Duke</a> still step below top schools | The Chronicle](<a href=“http://dukechronicle.com/article/duke-still-step-below-top-schools]Duke”>Duke still step below top schools - The Chronicle)</p>
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<p>That’s ridiculous. To say Duke isn’t an “elite school” is a joke. To say it’s not as elite as Stanford is certainly reasonable. Being elite isn’t everything though, especially coming from somebody who calls other schools sh**. Duke is undoubtedly one of the top 15 or 20 most selective and respective institutions in the nation. In a country with thousands of schools, I’d certainly say that qualifies as elite. In the end, though, it matters much more about the individual than it does the school. There have been numerous long-term longitudinal studies that examined students from high school to the success after being in a workforce for 5+ years. They determined that those students who chose public state schools over extremely selective private institutions (specifically Ivy League schools; and mostly for financial reasons) turned out to be just as successful as those that chose the latter group. Really only high school seniors care so much about prestige. You’ll learn that it doesn’t matter so much when you get into the real world, unless you go into i-banking…That particular industry does seem to care more than any other.</p>