<p>I am interested in the following subjects: </p>
<p>Economics
Philosophy/Political Science
Arabic </p>
<p>Northwestern has an awesome economics program but I have been told that Amherst has an alright one as well. Northwestern has good Arabic offerings and I can take Arabic at Amherst as part of the five college consortium. </p>
<p>Idk much about either poly sci department. </p>
<p>Rant away!</p>
<p>Does NU offer a more liberal arts oriented undergraduate experience as schools like U Chicago/6 of the 8 Ivies do? If not, then the biggest difference between Amherst and NU would be in philosophy and curriculum, apart from the size.</p>
<p>Amherst has no core curriculum, much like Brown (if you’re talking Ivies). Not sure what Northwestern’s policy is, but I imagine that a visit to either will clarify a lot of things more than people posting on here. They are hugely different schools.</p>
<p>^2 courses in each of 6 different areas (certain courses count for more than 1 area; so it’s not necessarily 12 courses), 2 years of language (can skip with 4+ on AP), and 2 freshmen seminars.</p>
<p>Amherst is a much better school.</p>
<p>Can’t speak for Philosophy or Arabic at Northwestern, but Northwestern has one of the top econ programs in the country. </p>
<p>Not sure how you can say that “Amherst is a much better school.” They are both outstanding schools and you can’t go wrong with either choice – just different in terms of size and overall feel. Apples and oranges. One of the nice things about Northwestern is that you have all the benefits of a great liberal arts education but you also have the experience of being with students of all different stripes – engineering, music, theater, journalism, etc. I would say it enriched my experience there to mix with students with all different interests, but that’s just me.</p>
<p>I agree that saying flatout Amherst is the better school is a leap. the comment smacks of east coast elitism as if only those schools in and around boston are worthy. Amherst can be a bit stifling in size (and from all accounts the college consortium is something that’s promoted but not very well utilized by the majority - socially OR academically) and of course, being on Lake Michigan outside of Chicago isn’t anything like Amherst. But above all, this has got to be the best argument for fit that’s out there. Comparing Amherst to Williams is one thing, but Amherst and Northwestern is a clear case of applies and oranges… both delicious, but a matter of taste and preference.</p>
<p>I just remember when we visited NW that the Dean told us it would be virtually impossible to take classes in a different school," since you apply to the individual school, and not the university. If all the courses you want are in one school, that is great! If not, then it may be a bit problematic.</p>
<p>
Ju·ve·nile…
I don’t know why the Dean would say anything like that. Are you sure you heard it correctly? It is easy to take classes in different schools in general and LOTS of students double-major in different schools. Almost half of the industrial engineering and management sciences students double-major with econ. Furthermore, taking a bunch of classes at another school is REQUIRED for students in schools of communications, music, engineering, and journalism (liberal arts requirements).</p>
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<p>I’m not sure whose accounts you are referring to, but I think the consortium is definitely quite useful. It would be a rare student who didn’t attend a class, lecture, concert, or social event at another campus, or interacted with students from other campuses doing the same at Amherst. Sure, not everyone does things on other campuses on a weekly, or even a monthly or yearly basis, but for them there is literally no cost to the consortium, except perhaps for the couple additional students in their classes.</p>
<p>In all honesty, the difference in culture and feel between Northwestern and Amherst is so big that it easily outweighs whatever academic differences there are. Very different people would be happy at both schools. Visit and then decide.</p>
<p>Well, I personally have a number of friends who are currently taking courses at either UMass or Holyoke, in film studies and Arabic, respectively, and last night, the National Philharmonic of Russia performed at UMass, and I just found out that a bunch of guys took the bus over to enjoy the performance.</p>
<p>The Five College Consortium is a privilege that one occasionally has the pleasure of taking advantage of.</p>
<p>what if i cannot travel before I make my decision? Any advice as to how I could substitute this experience?</p>
<p>No mistake about what the Dean told us. My D was with me, along with her friend, and all three of us heard the same thing. And we were the ones who asked the questions. There was a bit of rumbling in the room in response to the answer. We left right after the talk, and didn’t even go on the tour. Needless to say, D didn’t apply there because of that statement.</p>
<p>^Regardless of how/why he said that, any NU student <em>can</em> take courses in other schools. I was a chemE major and took courses in econ, history, env sci, and poli sci departments. No signature/petition required for any of them.</p>
<p>NU students can absolutely take classes in other NU schools - several of my son’s friends (he’s a NU freshman) have already done so.</p>
<p>I agree this is a very personal choice about the type of experience you prefer for undergrad. Do you want a small school in a small town? Or a medium university right near a large city? I’d prefer the small school (I am a Williams alum and loved it) but my son preferred the bigger place - and I’ve seen that can be the right choice too. You won’t go wrong either way - both schools have top notch academics. Good luck!</p>
<p>My brother went to NU, I’m headed to Amherst next year.</p>
<p>NU is not liberal arts, no matter how much they try to sell that to you. When I was looking at a NU we talked to a family friend of ours who is a professor there. We asked him if it would be a good school if I did undergrad there. Without a hesitation his answer was “only if you get involved in research.” That pretty much sealed NU’s fate in my mind at least for the worst. But, if that’s what you’re looking for it may be a good fit.</p>
<p>I’ve always been a huge advocate of liberal arts, so I’d say if you’re looking for the best education then go Amherst. That said, I like small classes, and professor interaction. My brother (full disclosure: he loved Nothwestern) would often complain about his papers being graded by TA’s. I know that’s not going to happen at Amherst. Amherst has the most diverse college campus in the country and it shows. Everyone there is very different and that doesn’t just apply to skin color. Each student has one thing they have about them that is truly special. My host there won awards for his oil canvas protraits, his roommate has played violin professionally in Carnegie Hall. From my impression, that’s pretty standard at Amherst. I didn’t notice that at NU. Both boast a highly intelligent student body, but Amherst’s is just full of incredible, diverse, special people, all 1,700 of them. I chose Amherst for that reason.</p>
<p>Weinberg Arts & Sciences at Northwestern is a liberal arts college within the university - students enrolled in Weinberg are getting a liberal arts education. In that respect it’s really no different than my experience as an undergrad at Williams. In each of the last two quarters my son had 4 classes - for each quarter he had one intro econ class (huge) and the other 3 classes were each under 20 students. His written papers (in two seminars) were graded by the profs; math tests are graded by TA’s. There are numerous opportunities for undergrads to get involved in research starting in freshman year. There are many good reasons to pick Amherst over NU, but if you are in Weinberg at NU, the ability to get a liberal arts undergraduate-focussed education is not one of them.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Yeah I was thinking along the same line. But the overall feel on campus would still be very different. BTW, when I first started looking at colleges, I thought NU had the most unimaginative/driest name among all top universities lol. Williams’s name also was bit of a turn-off for me because it always reminds me of two of my least favourite tennis players…</p>
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<p>How many people did you ask about their past achievement? How do you know “that’s pretty standard”? What about you? It seems to me you were really impressed. So are you an “outlier” there? </p>
<p>Northwestern scholarships won this year:
Northwestern just had three winners for the Goldwater scholarships (tied for most in the nation) (science and medicine study)
Two Churchill scholarships (tied for most in the nation) (study at Cambridge )
Four Gates scholarships (tied for most in the nation, five and most in the nation if you count the Northwestern grad who applied during his first year at Stanford med school) (study at Cambridge)
Two Rhodes scholarships (tied for second in the nation) (study at Oxford)
One Marshall scholarship (study at Oxford)
24 Fulbright scholarships (fourth in the nation) (study abroad)
One Mitchell scholarship (study in Ireland)
One Luce scholarship (study in Asia) </p>
<p>I wonder how NU students achieved all that without being special.</p>
<p>Those numbers shouldn’t be too surprising given the size of NU’s student body. Percentages should be more revealing. For me NU, while a fine school, doesn’t have the unique character that some of its peer schools (like U Chicago, Brown) and many other great colleges have.</p>