<p>I love NYU’s writing program, but for the sciences, meh. I agree with much of the support for JHU, Penn, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Chicago, Pomona, Kenyon, Williams, Smith, Wesleyan, WUSTL, etc. They all have great English departments and the first two have two of the best creative writing programs anywhere. Reed is no place to double major because of its traditional core curriculum, </p>
<p><a href=“Study options - Guidebook to Reed - Reed College”>http://www.reed.edu/academic/gbook/acad_pol/study_options.html</a></p>
<p>and somehow I cannot bring myself to think of Northwestern as having a lot of school spirit. Let me add to your list a couple of less prestigious schools that are in or near cities: UPitt and Brandeis. Both are strong in English, creative writing, science, and spirit.</p>