The OG listicle. I do think it's a bit difficult to separate reputation from educational quality. Educational quality is affected by professors, facilities, re

The OG listicle. I do think it's a bit difficult to separate reputation from educational quality. Educational quality is affected by professors, facilities, research opportunities, etc, but these factors are saturated at a lot of research universities. Another factor of educational quality is the peer group, and in this sense reputation matters a lot. There's an "if you build it, they will come" circularity here, where if you have a good reputation, you will attract students who will burnish your reputation. Conversely institutions can get stuck in a loop of low reputation and marginal students. If however, you are armed with the knowledge that the non-circular components of education quality are saturated at, say, the top 50 universities in the US, well that opens some doors. You can rest easy that your flagship land grant university honors program is giving you the same education you'd receive at an Ivy League school. Personally I think student debt load and chosen major matter way more than which school you go to.