What does top tier school mean?

[Gibson486]

I was talking with one of my old friends today and he said that he is not going to the college I am going to because it was not a top tier school, it's a third tier. What does that mean?

 

[woodie1]

Guess he means you are attending a third class school.


His is First Class.

Get his source.

 

[Gibson486]

but what does this "tier" thing mean?

 

[poopaskoopa]

Class, level, etc... Like... First Team All-America and Third Team All-America, that sort of thing...

 

[dave127]

it might have something to do with the usnews rankings...im not quite sure, but i think they use that

 

[McPhreak]

A top tier school is one that's got the highest reputation, highest funding, and highest selectivity of students as well as faculty. They tend to go hand in hand.

For example:

Stanford Medical School = Top tier medical school
Mount Sinai Medical School = Second tier medical school
Stonybrook Medical School = Third tier medical school

 

[Jinny]

Tier 1 is top 50, tier 2 is 51-100 and so on.
..I think.

 

[SerraYX]

USNews ranks colleges based on a lot of factors. Basically, the higher you go, the more it'll cost and the less money you'll receive. I'd go for any first/second tier school, which is exactly what I did.

Bucknell in 12 days...

 

[gotsmack]

not entirely true some state schools are in top tier and a lot of crappy private schools are in the third.

 

[Bkas]

Originally posted by: SerraYX
USNews ranks colleges based on a lot of factors. Basically, the higher you go, the more it'll cost and the less money you'll receive. I'd go for any first/second tier school, which is exactly what I did.

Bucknell in 12 days...

Wrong. You get plenty of money from top schools, especially top 20 privates. I'm going to a school that's ranked No. 12 in the country by U.S. News (national reserach universities) and I got a good bit of aid and merit scholarship money from them.

The top 50 publics won't give you as much money, because they're endowments are smaller than top privates for lots more students. For example...my school has an endowment of about 2.5 billion dollars for 2500 undergrads. UT-Austin has an endowment of 1.2 billion or so for 36,000 undergrads.

I personally consider "top tier" to be the top 25 research unis and top 20 liberal arts colleges (amherst, williams, etc.). But U.S. News uses top 50 for both.

This is the link to what your friend is probably referring to:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex.htm

You're friend is an a**hole, by the way, for saying that to you. I respect anyone who goes to college (for the most part), and I would never say such a thing to a friend (or anyone else).