<p>I'm still waiting on financial aid information (I had some odd circumstances), but I would like to get a good feel for which school I would most prefer if the money doesn't matter. The decision is definitely going to have to be my own, but does anyone have any ideas, thoughts, experiences, or anything else to share in helping me make my decision? I could really use a few "second" opinions.</p>
<p>Opinions are terribly biased.</p>
<p>You’re probably going to get a string of one word responses.</p>
<p>What do you want out of college?</p>
<p>what major are you looking into? If you don’t know, what are you leaning towards?</p>
<p>I have interests in poli sci and psychology as pre-law degrees, but I’m somewhat undecided.</p>
<p>Also, probably. But if I get even one good piece of advice, why not try?</p>
<p>…And exactly what I want from my college experience is a little vague, but I’m primarily after a solid education and a basis for either grad school or a career. I’d also like to be exposed to a different kind of culture than I have now. Montana is very rural, very low-population, and is filled with people who are all very similar in race, religion, politics, etc. I want to get a taste for a new place and the rest of the world.</p>
<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Political Science](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area39.html]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area39.html)</p>
<p>I would choose Chicago</p>
<p>Those are all great choices, and it’s hard to go wrong. I’d say Chicago or Brown if you are a very intellectually inclined person. Georgetown if you are interested in international relations/government/modern languages. Penn if your focus is more pre-professional.</p>
<p>For me, Chicago and Georgetown would probably have more to offer in terms of the city in which they are located than Brown or Penn. Penn is probably the most gritty urban and least attractive. Georgetown has a small campus, but Washington is lovely. Brown has a nice campus and Providence is greatly improved, but doesn’t have the huge cultural resources that Washington does, or somewhat less so Chicago, and somewhat less so Philadelphia. The U of C has a really nice urban campus, better than the others IMHO, and Hyde Park is homey, not concrete canyons.</p>
<p>If you can narrow it down and visit, it would be a good idea.</p>
<p>Of these 4 schools, 2 have top-tier law schools (usually at or near a tie in US News somewhere in the top 10): Chicago and Penn.</p>
<p>Penn is relatively unique in that it will allow you to enroll in Penn Law courses as an undergrad. What better recommendation for law school could you get than from a top 10 law professor? ;)</p>
<p>Penn has a large, beautiful campus (not as much nice gothic as Chicago though) and has great access to the heart of Philadelphia (Center City), you could walk there in less than half an hour.</p>
<p>Philadelphia is also a very big law city. Lots of law offices around there, and home of the American Law Institute.</p>
<p>And the Ivy League label never hurt anyone ;)</p>
<p>What are the differences in the cultures?</p>
<p>Ah, but Ilovebagels, IIRC, we do better sending kids off to Harvard or Yale law than you do. We are one of the top feeders into law school as well, so I wouldn’t say that Penn has the edge on that unless you really thought it was immediately necessary to take law classes before law school, etc.</p>
<p>Culture differences in general between UPenn and Brown… UPenn students are more pre-professionally motivated on the whole. Brown’s culture, IMO, is quite unique and I’m far better at defining that than I am comparing it to other schools I don’t attend. The starting place, in my mind, is the Open Curriculum as I describe in this post: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html</a> . The university-college, where undergraduates, graduates, and professors are viewed as colleagues, undergraduate focus is central to research production, and instruction is considered a central part of our mission also has a huge effect. Our graduate school is designed to be large enough to bring in top research faculty and not make them feel as though they could not be successful at Brown, but small enough to keep with our promise of undergraduates being integrated in all parts of education at Brown and to ensure that all professors get the message that we have high expectations for their support of undergraduates. In labs, undergraduates often have the same responsibilities as graduate students and are often working on their own, independent research projects without oversight from anyone but the PI. Research is mandated in the sciences, not encouraged or even expected, mandated. Etc, etc, etc. Feel free to come by the Brown boards, megamom, where there are a few students currently actively answering questions.</p>
<p>definitely brown</p>
<p>Georgetown Law is top 15, and has an early acceptance program as well.</p>
<p>from everything i read–chicago has the best quality of education/academic experience right after hyp. it’s arguably one of the best in the world. but all of your school choices are fantastic. </p>
<p>my favorite out of your choices are chicago and brown, but that’s because i love quirky and intellectually-inclined individuals. i like people who are passionate about learning, because in the end–i don’t believe anyone really needs a “pre-professional” education. if you can follow your passions, intuition, and really learn for the sake of learning–then you’re going to be a well-respected human being in society no matter what and in turn it will help you know yourself and what you want in life, but most importantly how to sell yourself in the professional world. just my two cents, though.</p>
<p>Chicago hands down in my book. The students and city are fantastic.</p>
<p>nice choices:</p>
<p>Brown
Chicago
Georgetown
Penn</p>
<p>Chicago
Brown
Penn
G-town</p>
<p>1) Chicago
2) Brown
3) Georgetown
4) Penn</p>
<p>chicago, brown, georgetown, penn</p>
<p>Penn.
Chicago.
Brown.
Georgetown.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the opinions, especially the details from those of you who are there or have been there. I’m working on making a trip out east, but I don’t know that I’ll get the chance…so details are definitely appreciated. What’s the student life like at Georgetown? I know Chicago is studious and quirky, as is Brown. I’ve heard Penn is very pre-professional and ingrained in the city…but I don’t know as much about Georgetown’s atmosphere.</p>