Harvard and Princeton Top the U.S. News College Rankings

In light of the "Best University" discussion, I've come up with my own "Best Mammal" ranking.

#1 - Lion. For obvious reasons. Come on, it's the African king.

#2 - Puppy dog. Its endearing snuggles and licks will make even Scrooge's heart melt.

#3 - Whales. Because they are the biggest.

#4 - Dolphins. A close competition to the whales. Although some might argue that its cuteness tops the size of the whales.

#5 - Hyenas. For their awesome team work and predatory skills.

#6 - Bats. They are kind of like the URM status. They have a visual disability yet they thrive in numbers.

#7 - Squirrels. They are deceptively cunning in the way they pretend like they aren't rats.

#8 - Giraffes. Because they reach high like no other mammals can.

#9 Cheetahs. Fastest mammal on earth. Problem is that it's only fast.

#10 Humans. Because they make stupid rankings like this.

Mike of CA 11:19PM January 27, 2010

I think that kids who do their first 2 undergraduate years at a community college (=junior college) and transfer to a university have a hurdle. They are not used to he intensity of classes and get a gentleman scholar's degree of "C". Instead they should hit the ground running. The learning intensity is much more at a regular university. A "C" grade is the kiss of death. better to flunk a course and take it over to replace the grade, a "C" grade is not repeatable. Thinks like this were not a factor when I was an undergrad at a University. HOWEVER, No matter how bad a student is taught, He or She will succeed, I heard this while I was doing a Post Doc at an Ivy League school.

Neal of MI 5:32PM December 09, 2009

Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, MIT, Stanford and Chicago have always been the most prestigious U.S. universities in that respective order, regardless of US News ranking fluctuations.

Bill Bufkins of TX 11:15PM October 28, 2009

It's completely comedic how you mention " Let's face it, Harvard and Princeton provide sucky social climates for their students and often (but definitely not always) churn out corporate ladder climbing, self-serving automatons. It is very well known that Yale prides itself on a social scene encouraging egalitarianism, service, leadership and activism. Most importantly, the relative character of Y's student body is qualitatively less bombastic and pretentious as its HP counterparts and considerably more committed to equilibrating unjust social and political systems locally and globally".

I don't know about you, but I've been to Princeton's Campus many times and every single time I go, it somehow manages to become even more amazing and astounding. The schools structures its self as breathtaking as well as the nice quiet town around it. It's reminisceent of an European town. It's not too far away from Philidelphia nor is it too far away from NYC.

Another point is that while you may argue that Princeton graduates go on to be "Corporate Ladder Climbing, Self serving automons", isn't that the goal of most ivy league graduates?? I understand that Yale is extremely politically active with presideants such as G.W.B on the list of Graduates but it is also a center for controversey. It is a well known fact in the skeptic world that Yale is the center of the Masons. There is also more skeptecism around other secret groups lurking around Yale.

I will agree with you on your other points such as the optional SAT, and the fact that the top ten are pretty much the same except for a few differences in certain areas. The honor of being in the top ten should in fact shadow placement within the group, except of course for #1.

16 and Thinking of NJ 1:27AM August 22, 2009