<p>What do you guys think about this university. It's ranked the highest among Ohio universities but i never hear about it. How come?</p>
<p>After months of trying to figure out what the heck is up with Case Western I can't. Which is a problem because it's one of my S top choices and he's been accepted. All I can tell you is there is definitely something up, because Case has way too high an acceptance rate for the SAT scores etc of its applicant pool, so it must have a lower yield than its peer schools.</p>
<p>Part of it has to do with being in Cleveland I know. </p>
<p>The campus is really very nice. We visited and were very pleasantly surprised. Freshman dorms aren't wonderful, but I'd be sending my S not my D, so don't care as much :) New dorms for upperclassmen are gorgeous and overlook the football field which is also gorgeous. Library, student union, and building where undergrad engineering students hang out are all very nice.</p>
<p>Bit like Johns Hopkins in that your impression of area around campus depends on which side of campus you drive in and out from.</p>
<p>If you could please figure out what's up with this school for me I'd most appreciate it....</p>
<p>Case Western is one of my choices but i'm just as clueless as you guys. I mean it's ranked pretty high, but i never hear it.</p>
<p>Hi. I live about 30 minutes from campus and my mom is a grad student at case. I'm a senior and, although I did apply, I am nearly positive that I will not be attending next year. </p>
<p>Case just really isn't for everyone. Here are a list of characteristics that may be bothersome for some people (yet may be great for others).</p>
<p>A main street runs through the middle of campus.
Cleveland weather is pretty hard to adjust to.
It's not as "well known" as similar schools (CMU, etc.) and the students who grow up around it are usually itching to get away.
Some neighborhoods around it are pretty bad (but some are really great - Little Italy).
It tends to be stereotypically "nerdy," almost in a bad way.
The dorms are pretty small, comparatively.
Not much other than Science and Engineering.</p>
<p>I think the biggest problem is the money and the fact that there are just better schools out there. OSU engineering has surpassed Case engineering in the rankings and is less than half the price for in state students. Even the biggest scholarship at Case only puts the price of OSU and Case at around the same level (assuming that the student gets no money from OSU).</p>
<p>And it's not only OSU that is "stealing" students from Case. Case costs just as much as many top 25 schools and has a worse reputation.</p>
<p>I hope that sort of cleared it up. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me!</p>
<p>Do you know how well grad placement is?</p>
<p>I go to Case, and I really do love it here.</p>
<p>I think one of the biggest problems is its location. Even though there are some great cultural and residential neighborhoods around campus, Case also borders one bad neighborhood.</p>
<p>As far as grad placement goes, I can say that it is pretty good for science and engineering- I don't know much about the humanities/social sciences. There's so much research going on around here, that I had a very easy time getting an internship in a lab. Since having research experience is so essential to grad school placement, I can only imagine that all the opportunities around here would help.</p>
<p>case is really big in research</p>
<p>It was built on the "western reserve", a part of ohio formerly owned by connecticut. That's literally all I know about it, because that's all my grandfather (who went there) ever told me.</p>
<p>I can't imagine that grad placement would be horrible, as Case tends to be big on research. Especially in medicine, science, and engineering, Case is pretty well regarded and has a ton of research. In other areas, Case has an average reputation and still has a lot of research (my mom is working on two sociology research projects).</p>
<p>Bad neighborhoods don't keep people away from Penn or other urban schools. Not sure that's an explanation.</p>
<p>^^ Philadelphia is still a much more attractive place than Cleveland- even if they both have bad and good neighborhoods</p>
<p>You're right though, there must be more to it.</p>
<p>My son is a Junior at Case and we hadn't really heard about it before his guidance counselor mentioned that we might want to consider applying. My daughter (who isn't overly fond of cold because of health issues is actually considering going there). My views (which may be different than my son's):</p>
<p>Cleveland is cold and snowy. My son handles it very well and even jokes about it. I think each person would react differently. There is currently a huge amount of construction going on through the main street which bisects the campus. It was worse last year and hopefully will be reaching a conclusion in the next year. </p>
<p>Case students tend to self select (we were told this by admissions when my S applied). Namely only those who really want to go there bother to apply. That's the reason its statistics look the way they do. </p>
<p>Dorms are so/so. Freshman dorms are small and somewhat old (I think there's a plan for them to redo these but don't remember when). Sophmore dorms are on the opposite side of campus (a little closer to most classes) and a bit nicer. Upper class living is in new buildings fully airconditioned and really nice. There is excellent public transportation to the campus from the Greyhound station or the airport. They also have buses that run to the nearby shopping/dining areas.</p>
<p>The campus is next to some fabulous museums, and the Cleveland Symphony plays basically on campus (my S doesn't care about this but my D would). They also have an excellent music program.</p>
<p>Students at Case tend to be pursuing multiple majors and/or degrees.</p>
<p>While some students tend to be a bit nerdy, I don't see my S in that way at all. There are plenty of different types of folks to hang out with. The only thing really lacking is a lot of female students (the ratios on the campus are quite lopsided).</p>
<p>Classes vary in size tremendously. Intro science classes are large but not as large as some other schools.</p>
<p>Relative to money, the scholarship that S got was pretty good making it just a bit more expensive than going to OSU.</p>
<p>Hope this helps a bit. S is very happy he chose to go to Case.</p>
<p>See this review of Case Western from ISI's Choosing the Right College 2008-9: The Whole Truth about America's Top Schools. <a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2008/case.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2008/case.pdf</a></p>