每一级之间,办学效果和美誉度差别还是比较明显的。每半级之间差距不那么大
黄金藤 Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton
准金藤 Caltech
白银藤 Columbia, Chicago, UPenn, Duke, UC Berkeley
准银藤 Dartmouth, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Cornell, Michigan
青铜藤 Washington U. Vanderbilt, Rice, Georgetown, UCLA, UVA
准铜藤 Notre Dame, Emory, UNC (CMU, USC close)
The above is basically top 25 schools worth every penny.
US News typically under-ranked top public schools.