<p>I posted this is the other forums as well, so go ahead and give me your biased opinions :)</p>
<p>Hey, just got responses from all my colleges today, and the verdicts are:</p>
<p>Rejected from: Swarthmore and Princeton
Waitlisted by: Williams
Accepted to: Connecticut College, Colgate, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Honors Program with substantial merit money), Amherst, Dartmouth (likely letter), and Notre Dame (Accepted EA and applied to Honors Program)</p>
<p>I’ve got it pretty much narrowed down to three schools: Amherst, Dartmouth, and Notre Dame (if I am accepted to the Honors Program)</p>
<p>I’ve been compiling a list of pros and cons for each school which I will post later, but for now, what are everyone’s thoughts on the three schools? (The “follow your heart” advice wouldn’t be very helpful at the moment as my heart is currently very conflicted…)</p>
<p>I plan to major in biochemistry/biology and minor in Chinese. I would also like to keep the possibility of applying to medical school open and I hope to study abroad in China at some point in college. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>If we put finances aside (and I say that knowing that it's perfectly fine to consider them!), Amherst would be my first choice of those three. I just don't think you can beat the style of education at a top LAC. Doing a semester in China would be no problem at all at Amherst. </p>
<p>Having said that, there are two things you have to consider. First, you need to look at the Chinese offerings. I haven't researched Amherst at all in that regard, but it's possible that you would have to factor UMASS or Smith into the equation for some of those courses. Depending on how advanced you already are and how deep you want to go in Chinese, that could be a legitimate reason to choose a larger school -- as in, "yeah, I prefer a smaller LAC, but if they don't offer the courses that are super, super important to me, then they don't offer the courses...." You don't go to an LAC looking for a course catalog the size of the NYC phone book.</p>
<p>Second, I don't know if the whole Catholic thing is important to you. Not being Catholic myself, Notre Dame isn't all that exciting to me -- just another big private university. But, I understand that Notre Dame has special meaning for many Catholics, so I wouldn't want to step on toes in that area. Those are personal, individual considerations.</p>
<p>Thanks, interesteddad- I have already looked into the Chinese issue and my current Chinese teacher suggested that I could take more advanced classes at Mt. Holyoke, which has a very strong program. Also, I am Catholic and that is part of the appeal of Notre Dame for me- if anyone has information about Amherst's Newman Club, please let me know.</p>
<p>Choosing a college is a very personal thing. Here's my take:</p>
<p>Amherst was my first choice. I got waitlisted. So in your shoes, I'd be running as fast as I could to send in my deposit to Amherst ... but if you're not as interested in the smalltown atmosphere, faculty attention, and so on that comes with the cream of the liberal arts colleges, it's understandable that you're still looking at the other two. Also consider that Amherst belongs to the Five College Consortium, so taking more advanced classes at another college would be possible.</p>
<p>Notre Dame. I got into Notre Dame as a fallback school because I'm a faculty brat. Faculty kids, if qualified, are basically guaranteed admission, but I want to get out of South Bend, so there's no way I'm going. However, the Catholic presence on campus is a huge draw if you want that. The dorm chapels are a great way to get to Mass every weekend, and the school has a great tendency for public discussion of moral and theological issues. </p>
<p>Dartmouth is where two of my cousins went. I received the impression that, while a fantastic school (duh), it was less intellectually rigorous than schools like Amherst and Princeton. I wish I knew more about it.</p>
<p>I would go with Amherst, myself ... As great as Notre Dame and Dartmouth are, I think Amherst is a step (albeit very small) up. I would put Amherst in the class with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Swarthmore, and so on. If the Catholic factor is a big one, no worries ... you'll get an outstanding education at Notre Dame!</p>
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you'll get an outstanding education at Notre Dame!
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<p>Not to mention the fact that they have the best football coach in the country and it is going to be a blast watching Charlie Weis win a national championship for the golden domers -- probably about the time this year's applicants are seniors.</p>
<p>Urgh ... I hate Charlie Weis ... hate hate hate him ... but it's going to kill me not to be around for the next men's basketball season. I love that team with a deep passion ... I just don't want to go to their school ... hehe. </p>
<p>But yeah, if you go to ND, you might be around for a national championship in football. And I can't deny that would be thrilling.</p>
<p>Why do you hate Charlie Weis? Yes he is very confident but he does great things too, like the Montana thing and I have some other great stories. I just think he is a hard guy to hate.</p>
<p>How in the world could you hate Charlie Weis? The guy is a fantastic teacher. And, devotes much of his life outside of football to his autistic child and a charitable foundation. He's perfect for Notre Dame on so many levels.</p>
<p>I would be willing to bet that he runs a clean program (at least by NCAA standards) for the university.</p>
<p>My dad is on the ND athletic board and works with Charlie Weis on occasion. He has found him to be abrasive, disrespectful, and arrogant to the point of insanity. I am glad that he has good qualities. But I will never care for him, myself.</p>
<p>And every ND coach runs a clean program. They have very high standards for these things.</p>
<p>haha, i too am a faculty brat from notre dame, and trust me, it's alright to disagree with pastariffic, but understand that she's not speaking about charlie weis from an unsubstantiated point of view. I am in the lucky position of choosing between amherst and notre dame (2 of the 6 on my list), and as a faculty brat, i get to watch nd fball regardless of my choice. But I'll tell you that I knwo a few people who did ND's chinese program, and they all said that it was well above-par. If you're looking for a good pre-med school, Notre Dame also fits that bill, and the catholic, welcoming atmosphere, especially for a catholic, is an enormous draw. I think you'd be happy at notre dame. </p>
<p>that being said, i think the biggest issue you have to consider is your desire for a basic philosophy for your college. either school you chose (i don't mention dartmouth simply because i know far less about it) will give you a tremendous education, and will set you up well for grad school, or whatever. however, you need to decide if you want the larger, religious, broad educational atmosphere notre dame offers or the small, somewhat more limited, but more focused and individual education amherst offers. it is not a decision to be taken lightly, and truly, i see it as a matter of simply deciding what format you see yourself thriving in for a college.</p>
<p>dude, are you kidding me?
dartmouth's perceived "less academic rigorous" reputation is because we're a huge work hard, play hard school. we're doing a semester's work in 10 weeks, reading a book a week.
also, although dartmouth is not a huge research school either, for sciences like biochem, i'd think that a school with research facilities and research opportunities would be the best choice. and i'd think dartmouth would fit the bill.
i love ND, and I love Amherst, but, man, ain't nothing beat Dartmouth. </p>
<p>and you can always dream of a happy utopian world where labels don't matter. but dartmouth label carries a LOT further than i ever expected. i also graduated D thinking "o, i just went to a strong liberal arts college, the label itself won't mean much".... i was wrong. not only the ivy label, but dartmouth label means a huge lot.
choose dartmouth. choose life. choose a family.
seriously, though, very very very few at dartmouth ever regret it. if people didn't have it as a first choice, they fall in love with the school. the beer they have there much be like, crack. seriously though. it's a great place. amherst's a great school, but dartmouth is head and shoulders above</p>
<p>also, for chinese? dartmouth has a good department and a fan freakin tastic study abroad program. not only in chinese and not only in languages. in every field imaginable. seriously. no contest.</p>
<p>I actually think I would want a huge research school if I was going into bio-chem or biology. If you are going to go on for a Ph.D after your undergraduate work, it is probably like psychology is where you have to have a good amount of research experience. In order for this to happen, you have to have faculty who are involved in research, as is the case at ND. At ND the professors teach, and most of them are pretty good (few bad apples here and there) but they also must do research as we are a research university. The advantage of this is then students can enter their lab and start working under them and learn the ropes. Also, when you are doing research, you know that the facilities are going to be pretty good (and actually here they are about to become really good with the new science building opening). ND also has a very good Chinese department, as mentioned earlier, and as good of study abroad options as anyone. I think in all of these ways it would be pretty comperable. I must admit it is work hard play hard as well so you will have to decide if that appeals to you or not.</p>
<p>Again though, I think you are going to get a great education at any of these schools; you just have to find where you fit best.</p>
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He has found him to be abrasive, disrespectful, and arrogant to the point of insanity.
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<p>Of course! Charlie's a Jersey boy. Plus, he has spent his entire coaching career learning from two of the most abrasive people in the business: Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. It's part of their charm, in a perverse sort of way.</p>
<p>Amen interesteddad! Are you a Notre Dame fan by chance? You have to realize that the man is a football coach, and he is quite a change from Ty but that is why it is working (and it is part of the reason I feel that Mike Brey isn't getting the job done with basketball here). You can't be your player's friend, you must be their coach, and you must let them know when they screw up. It is nice to be kind and gentle but football isn't that way and you want your players to play a little bit scared honestly (of you that is) and with a chip on their shoulder. I was a swimmer in high school actually and the best coach I had would do that...you would hear it if you didn't perform your best...but guess what... I did my best.</p>
<p>My dad's a Jersey boy. That one's not flyin' with me. My father is not disrespectful to those he works with. It's fine to be stern with players, but treating EVERYONE like they are your players is simply disrespectful.</p>
<p>But I'm done. I'm glad Charlie Weis is helping our football program. So that's that.</p>
<p>just one thing. I dunno about dartmouth's study abroad program, since i'm obviously not in a position to judge it, but notre dame's is ridiculously good. I think they said they ahve the 3rd highest percentage of kids studying abroad in the country, and you can literally go anywhere that strikes your fancy. I do know one kid who was able to set up a china trip, but didn't go to hong kong/beijing, but rather managed to connect his trip into the rural reaches of china to the west. You can't really top that (though dartmouth, for all i know, has a connection to something similar).</p>
<p>Also, considering the schools we're discussing, i'm guessing all of them are "work hard, play hard", I don't think you're really gonna be able to avoid that prevalent atmosphere at amherst, dartmouth, and notre dame.</p>
<p>Ditto on the Jersey boy thing, straight talk is fine, I have relatives in jersey, and he's quite nice to the public eye, but I also have heard stories about him with those around him, and that's really not acceptable for anyone from anywhere [e.g., he has 3 cell phones from the athletic department for recruiting, etc...they noticed that the 3rd phone was used like once in 4 months, so they took it to give to an athletic coach who didn't have one, since the athletic dep't only has limited phones. he went and threw a tantrum to the athletic office to get it back, apparently yelling at them all that they were trying to inhibit his success, and it would be their fault if he turned into another willingham (my dad was on the athletic board for awhile too)] All in all, I think he's a decent guy, and I like that he's the coach, but that kind of thing makes me thing pastariffic isn't entirely wrong in her feelings. ND national title '06-'07!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input everyone! Although I will add that I don't think I'll be spending much time with Charlie Weis no matter which school I choose, so I probably don't have to worry about issue that too much :)</p>
<p>haha, fair enough...we did get kinda off topic...but best of luck with your discussion. let us know what you choose (amherst and ND are 2 of my 6 choices too, so I'm wrestling with the same issue)</p>
<p>Yeah, I'll be sure to let you know (you'll all most likely have to deal with a few more of my indecisive posts in the next month anyway)- and let me know what you choose as well, hanumang06- maybe we'll end up at school together :)</p>