Any Final Input on Colleges?

College Search & Selection
1

I’ve visited my last school and hope to make my decision tomorrow. I’ve whittled down my choices to a final four: Emory, Tulane, U of Chicago, and UCSB. I love all of these schools for their similarities and their differences. I am majoring political science and possibly minoring in Mandarin Chinese and am considering every factor (location, academics, weather, athletics, etc). After the aid that I have received from each, the cost difference is essentially negligible.

Although I am starting to lean towards one in particular, I would greatly appreciate any final thoughts or advice about these schools. Thank you!

2

Perceived national Rep (in my opinion didn’t check rankings). In fact everything is off the cuff I didn’t go to all of these schools. But I have visited c e t. Cousin went to UCSB but that’s where any direct experience ends

Rep

Chicago
Emory
Tulane
UCSB

Fun

UCSB
Tulane
Emory
Chicago

Weather

UCSB
Tulane/Emory
Chicago

Degree of difficult in classes

Chicago
Emory
Tulane/UCSB

3

I think @privatebanker summed up the major criteria pretty well; at the end of the day, how much weight to put on there criteria depends on the type of experience you seek.

Other factors to consider include:

General environment in terms of urban vs. suburban location, culture, etc.

Chicago, Atlanta, and New Orleans are all interesting cities with a lot of history and culture. Santa Barbara is beautiful and has great beaches, but it’s not exactly a cultural mecca.

If you can tolerate its weather (I’m not sure I could), Chicago is a great city with superb museums, great theatre, great music scene, etc.; it’s also got more crime and dicey areas not too far from the school (but area immediately around the campus is relatively safe).

Tulane / Emory are going to have heat and humidity. Atlanta may have more going on culturally than New Orleans.

Santa Barbara is a beautiful suburban beach town. Definitely the best weather.

Chicago is the most prestigious of the schools by a long mile and hands down has the best political science program; it’s also the most intense intellectually and academically speaking.

Three other criteria to consider are:

  1. quarter vs. semester systems if that matters to you. UChicago and UCSB are on the quarter system; Emory and Tulane have semesters.

  2. Core/Gen Eds: UChicago has a core curriculum and has the most stringent requirements that will require more classes in a variety of subjects (e.g., Arts (6 quarters); Natural and Mathematical Sciences (6 quarters); Social Sciences (3 quarters); Foreign Language

  3. Class Size / Interaction with professors / Research opportunities: Smaller class sizes at private universities with more resources available.

  4. Sports Culture / Greek life: Highest at Tulane/Emory. UChicago not known for its sports culture. UCSB average.