T20 College Rankings (New and Improved)

This is honestly going to be the best and most unbiased college t20 ranking that factors in everything from prestige to also threshold of getting in. I'm being completely unbiased and won't over rank/ under rank the college I'm attending but I want to preface by saying that I did get into most of these colleges this cycle (DM if you want proof) and this is just my own personal opinion but what I believe is relatively accurate especially when I was deciding between schools.

Tier 1: Harvard, Stanford, MIT

No doubt the top 3. Highest cross admit rates and the 3 most prestigious colleges. Threshold to get in is just slightly harder than the rest and honestly the top 3 hardest colleges to get into.

Tier 2: Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Wharton, Caltech

Second tier of top schools. Honestly all very cracked but in my opinion someone getting into a tier 1 school is more likely to choose that. All are very good especially yale for humanities. Princeton and Caltech are the best for academia and research. Columbia is very strong in multiple disciplines and also is in NYC which arguably is the best location in the world for career progressing and Wharton is the best business school in the world. I will say though that they have flaws which is why they aren't on the first tier. Yale's lack of stem is a concern and I feel like nowadays they are trying to get numbers to show they are "catching up" by saying they will admit specially for stem students. Princeton's main issue is that it's not extremely strong in medicine, business or pre-law. It has a very good undergrad focus but lacks a lot of resources that other colleges have through grad schools as well as not being in the best location in terms of accessing stuff say a top nearby hospital (commute is an issue ppl will say it's near NYC or philly but think abt the amnt of time u will go traveling between just a huge hassle). Columbia main issue is obv the current scandal which ig will be dying down soon or has been and simple fact that it still uses ED. Caltech is just a smaller school and experience might not be the best as well as the fact that it is very stressful. Wharton is very good but also I heard a lot of it being super toxic but overall very good if you're doing business.

Tier 3: UPenn, Duke, Brown, JHU, Darthmouth

Very good schools only reason I didn't put Upenn higher is simply because of the threshold of getting in. I know a lot of people who bs'd their app and got in (literally told me) and I feel like Upenn's resources are not the best even though they have a good alumini network. Duke is very good, good social life and overall environment but not insanely strong in a lot of disciplines. Brown is very artsy and low cortisol environment where you can actually enjoy college. JHU is prob best pre-med program (its tuff tbh but overall in terms of learning its the best) but if you're gpa maxxing maybe its not for you. Darthmouth has a very nature and cozy vibe and honestly is the mosty preppy and like gossip girl vibe college in my honest opinion.

Tier 4: Uchicago, Northwestern, Cornell

Only reason Uchicago is not above is because of ED2 and also because I think Uchicago is extremely strong in academia/research but in terms of overall college experience and other stuff it's not on par with the other colleges. Northwestern same thing and p good for engineering and journalism. Cornell has the ivy name brand and honestly its a toss up I've seen a lot of people go cornell over uchicago due to the ivy name brand but also a lot of ppl turn down cornell for uchicago because cornell is the loewst ivy. Regardless I think cornell has a lot of cracked departments and best engineering school out of all the ivies. I still think it's harder than uchicago or northwestern to get into.

Tier 5: Vanderbilt, CMU, UCLA, Georgia Tech, Berekley, Geogetown

All very good schools but simply not more desirable in my eyes. Vanderbilt is good but imo like yale and outdated for stem. CMU is overhyped imo but SCS is very cracked and I just would not pay full price here but good college. UCLA and UCB are good but imo very big, oos it's hard to get into but also very good in many fields. People may wonder why is GT so high? I really think the threshold to get into GT oos especially is p high if not higher than UCB and def higher than UCLA. Also in terms of opportunities and internships is def better than UCLA and imo better than berk but depends on the person, also just pure cost it's better. However humanities is where it lacks so that's really why I can see it being down. Georgetown very good especially if you're doing pre-law.

Tier 6: Umich, Rice, Washu, Emory, UNC

Good schools but simply not more desirable or harder to get into than the ones above. Umich is good but very overpriced but good for business and very good for engineering. Rice is alright in my opinion and same with Washu. Emory has a good business school and pre med proram and also UNC is pretty decent overall.

lmk if im forgetting anything

I also want to say that in terms of threshold of getting in a lot of these schools are uber selectve meaning that someone at a lower ranked t10 is still gonna be as cracked as someone getting into a top 3 school if not maybe more cracked. It's so hard these days that I'm just basing off what I've seen especially during orientation and just knowing past admits as well as my college results.

Just my opinion to be honest but also what I felt like in terms of if I would get in. I didn't get into every college listed here (few WL) but got into a majority and this is how I ranked based on where I wanted to go and in terms of level of prestige and threshold of getting in.