<p>I have to choose a college now and I confused...</p>
<p>Which one would you say sends a higher percentage of grads to elite grad school like Harvard Yale etc.? Also which is a better school in terms of academics (especially Economis and Physics) and in terms of social life and how happy students are and in terms of overall undergrad experience? Didn't visit any of these campuses cos I live outside the US</p>
<p>Nobody can choose for you. All we can do is tell you what we think.</p>
<p>Of the choices you mention, my preference would be Carleton. Why?</p>
<p>It's one of the best liberal arts colleges in the United States, and overall the top liberal arts colleges provide the best, most interactive undergrad academics. Nice for your professors to know you by name and not have TAs teaching the labs and discussion sections.</p>
<p>Carleton has big per student endowment, more than double Brandeis. Plain and simple, they have more money to spend.</p>
<p>It's one of the biggest per graduate producers of future PhDs in the country. 6th highest in the country behind CalTech, Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Reed, and MIT over the most recent ten year period. About 17% of Carleton's grads got a PhD. </p>
<p>It's also 6th highest in Physics/Astro PhDs.</p>
<p>It's fourth highest in Econ PhDs, behind Swarthmore, Grinnell, and Williams, just ahead of Harvard -- although Econ PhDs are smaller numbers than science PhDs.</p>
<p>Those kind of per capita PhD numbers suggest a school that has an unusually strong degree of academic focus and engagement.</p>
<p>So, there ya go. There's one opinion. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>Well, it depends quite a bit on where you want to go. Internationally, the University of Toronto probably has the best reputation of them all and we do send quite a few people to prestigious graduate schools. In my final year seminar (18 people) only 1 person wasn't going to graduate school and that was purely financial. The rest were all going to Law School, one person got into Columbia, we have someone going to Trin. College Dublin, and I'm off to the London School of Economics (I know four other people going). I know we're fielding at least 1/2 Ontario Rhodes Scholars and a bunch of my friends are off to Med. School. </p>
<p>Mind you, the campus is ridiculously large and unless you live in residence, the social life can be a bit dull. On the other hand, the fact that it is so huge means that I haven't even began to touch upon the number of successful students at the University. I'm not the biggest fan of my (now) alma mater but at the same time, out of those four I have to admit, it's probably your best bet. My cousin studies at UBC so if you have any other questions, just ask.</p>
<p>--Phoenix</p>