It’s #24 this year, and generally either there or #23. But the top N schools of the US News rankings is way too high a standard for elite schools unless N is large enough to cover their entire first tier, and even then that’s kinda arbitrary.
You would think so, but Cal really peaked in the 60s. Sorry, but little sister in LA is the face of UC these days. 
This thread needs more rivalry. Where are the U$C grads?
Am I the only one who got his online?
www.apus.edu
A damn fine school, I must say. I was satisfied with everything.
Adult literacy classes.
I would think as part of the “Little Three” they would be “high class private colleges/universities”. As would the Patriot League, theLittle Iviesand most of the private, secular colleges in the US News, Businessweek or Financial Times top 50 or so colleges.
Basically the way the OP has broken it down, you have private and state schools. Of the private schools you have “snooty private schools” which can be either secular or religeous (ie Jesuit schools like Boston College or Catholic like Notre Dame) or non-snooty private schools which I assume are just schools pretty low on the various rankings surveys. You have state schools. And finally you have community colleges, trade schools and online colleges which are really not considered the equivalent of the other 4 year schools.
Although one wonders where CalTech or MIT falls in the survey.
Well, I’d say those two are high-class private schools. They’re not Ivy League, but they are considered some of the top schools in the country, and they’re not shy to act like it.
I’m more concerned about my own school…RPI. Certainly not as high-class and elitist as MIT or CalTech…or is it? I guess it’s just a regular, private university?
Bachelors: SUNY (IT) Utica/Rome.
Masters: Not so Prestigious Private School.
Who made up the term “first tier” anyway? Stanford and MIT?
I went to one of the so-called “lesser” Ivy League schools. I was thrilled to be there. Half of my classmates spent most of their freshman year being mad that they didn’t get in to Harvard.
B.A. in English, Western Michigan University.
Broncos for life!
I voted for “snooty private college,” since I went to Cornell, which is Ivy League. But since Cornell is a hybrid institution, with private and state parts, I actually went to the New York College of Agriculture at Cornell. I picked “private college” since the atmosphere is much more Ivy League than Ag School (except out by the dairy barns :D).
Oh, snap.
We call it the “University of Spoiled Children” ourselves.
The 17th Douchiest College in America, according to GQ.
A religious school (Carroll College), but you can’t be very snooty in Helena, MT. Not that some people don’t try, but they’re invariably dismal failures.
Well since my school is one actually listed in the poll I thought I’d weigh in. Baylor. Definitely snooty. Definitely religious. But the snootiness doesn’t really go hand in hand with the religion. Yes we were required to go to chapel, but chapel was typically a speech by a local businessman or politician, followed by a prayer. Nobody “holding a bible” at any orientation, no religious litmus tests, no rules for student conduct or behavior excepting dorm rules. I’m sure there is a dress code tucked away somewhere in the student handbook but I can’t imagine anyone taking it seriously nor any effort at enforcement. There is a large contingent of very religious students at Baylor, but like any large college the student body forms cliques. There are also tons of atheists, progressives, and gays at Baylor too, and not tucked away in a closet. The snoot is rather a side effect of the outrageous cost of the university, and the (falsely) perceived safety of its small town locale. (Waco isn’t really small and the university is located smack dab in the most dangerous part of town, once the murder capital of the US). So a large part of the student body are rich Texans and Midwesterners who aren’t willing to mix with the rabble at a public school in Austin or Dallas. But it is much more Rice than Bob Jones. And snooty is a good qualifier.
I attended both (undergrad & grad). Sorry: Berkeley kicks UCLA’s metaphorical ass. (Though what does it say that I’ve taught at UCLA but never at Berkeley?)
And I, too, felt dirty for lumping Cal in with the State Schools. I mentally consigned the entire CSU system plus the minor UCs into “commuter schools.” (Perhaps “snooty state school” would have been the best option for me.)
I think we can all agree that this forum needs a solid lesson on proper poll creation. Where do you put top elite schools like Berkeley or MIT? What about the service academies? What about the small run-of-the mill private religious schools like Rockhurst or Benedictine, or bigger religious schools like Marquette?
Berkeley: High-class
MIT: Technical or high-class; it’s up to the respondent
Rockhurst, Benedictine, Marquette: Snooty religious, I guess, but I didn’t attend any of them so I can’t say for sure; again, it’s up to the respondent.
Hanover College, Indiana. Vaguely Presbyterian but not especially a religious college. Somewhat prestigious but not elitist- certainly nowhere near Ivy League. I put Other.
I couldn’t afford an actual education so I was forced to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh.
I ONLY go to high-class public schools. I’m just that kinda girl. I went to one of the UCs for undergrad (Santa Cruz…although it’s one of the less competitive UCs) and I’m working on my masters at the University of Michigan right now.