Thapap, you spoke my mind... Riten, how do you measure "success"? success might have different connotations. the meter that you keep to measure it might be useless or even absurd to a person who has different definition of success in his dictionary. coming to the question put forth by the thread, to be really honest, the ranking system never appealed me personally. not because i don't go to havard but because it does NOT always guarantee success of the individual (again, "success" might have different meanings for different individuals). just to clarify my point a bit, i have had gotten a chance to work with graduates from MIT and Stanford, and my experience with them tells me that its not the school name but the individual's aptitude and attitude that make a difference. i am NOT saying the ranking method is completely foul and/or MIT and Standford are no good. LooTe