<p>I am planning to major in the Biological Sciences/Biochemistry. I will certainly follow my undergraduate education with postgraduate education, but I am uncertain as to whether I will pursue a PhD, MD, or a joint program.</p>
<p>Basically, which of these three universities will offer me the best academic experience given my major, and which will offer me the best chances when applying to a top graduate or medical school?</p>
<p>All three schools have very strong undergrad programs with grad programs all top 20 ranked. All will place you in good stead for grad/prof schools. Don't focus on the minute differences in academic strength in these fields. Choose the school that suits you best outside the classroom - they are very, very different from one another.</p>
<p>I would agree.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins, Chicago, and MIT are tops for sending students off to grad schools of any kind. I'm sure Cornell is way up there too. In any case, I think all 3 will give you top-notch opportunities.</p>
<p>Important differences:</p>
<p>Chicago: cold and flat
Cornell: cold and hilly
Johns Hopkins: less cold, less hilly</p>
<p>Chicago: Core Curriculum
Cornell: writing seminars and a few other requirements
JHU: ?</p>
<p>Chicago: neogothic, Harry Potter
JHU: brick
Cornell: varied architecture and gorgeous natural scenery</p>
<p>Cornell: rural surroundings, but Ithaca is nothing to sneeze at (solid bar scene/nightlife)
JHU: Homewood neighborhood of Baltimore
Chicago: Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago</p>
<p>Cornell + JHU: engineering/ bioengineering programs
Chicago: engineering......? (but we have some cool nanotech or something...)</p>
<p>Cornell: relatively pronounced Greek Scene... the Cornellians I know embrace "work hard, play hard".... and some of them just do "play hard"
Chicago: less emphasis on Greek Scene, less emphasis on parties, but still solid options for "things you're doing when not studying"
JHU: ?</p>
<p>is cornell a good fit for a more humanities based major. econ/poli sci at CAS?</p>
<p>As far as I know, absolutely.</p>
<p>I'm a Cornell half-breed (as in, half of my extended family went there) so I feel somewhat qualified to talk about the school. When I flipped through the course catalog, visited classes, and talked to my relatives (some more recent alumni than others) it seemed like the humanities offerings were great.</p>
<p>What I see as the primary difference between Cornell and Chicago (you're talking to somebody who basically had to submit a two-page paper to relatives about why she wasn't applying there ED), is that Cornellians tend to think practically and Chicagoans tend to think theoretically. Cornellians are normal people who happen to be absurdly smart, and I felt Chicagoans were absurdly smart people who weren't always normal.</p>
<p>Perhaps my bias is too focused on my family members, but I have a lot of friends who attend Cornell currently, and they range from brooding intellectuals in the Chicago fashion to extremely focused pre-professionals in a variety of fields.</p>
<p>All great choices - Chicago, IMHO, is the best location wise. It is a great city and a wonderful place to go to college.</p>
<p>I guess I'll be visiting this week, though it would be nice if I could narrow it down a bit so I don't have to do too much driving.</p>
<p>Hahaha, I love the drive up to Ithaca.</p>
<p>I should also add that I think of Cornell and Hopkins as siblings-- if you like one, you'll like the other, though your heart will probably point you towards one or the other based on other preferences (hockey or lacrosse? rural or urban?).</p>
<p>Chicago is a bit more of a distant cousin. It fits into the Cornell-Hopkins-Northwestern-Tufts-WashU peer group, but it's definitely a different school, top to bottom. Different approach to academics. Different kinds of people. Different classroom experience. Different social experience.</p>
<p>How do you figure that Chicago fits into that particular peer group?</p>
<p>Unalove said: "What I see as the primary difference between Cornell and Chicago (you're talking to somebody who basically had to submit a two-page paper to relatives about why she wasn't applying there ED)..."</p>
<p>LOL! I made my younger son (then nine years old) write a two page essay about why he wanted a dog and what the responsibility of having one meant to him. I still have it around here somewhere...have never had to threaten him with it, though. ;) And yes, we got a dog -- when he was almost 12. (We never maske hasty decisions in our house!)</p>
<p>Haha, Cornell is the family school, and I think it speaks well for itself that my family is as enthusiastic as they are. They were disappointed that I didn't apply to Cornell, but they also understood that I was looking for something else.</p>
<p>Beefs: I see Chicago falling into that peer group in a few ways. First, I use "peer group" loosely, but I think that a lot of students who apply to Chicago also apply to the schools I listed there (upon further reflection, add Rice to the list). They're all midsize, private, quasi-urban (minus Cornell), top-notch schools, and it doesn't surprise me at all that the OP applied to all three.</p>
<p>This isn't adding much that hasn't already been said but I've spent a bit of time visiting both schools and I think that each one of them have something unique to offer. I ended up not applying to Cornell but the school is amazing, the location is beautiful, and it is most certainly NOT rural by my standards--it seems much more suburban, even though it's in the middle of nowhere if that makes sense.</p>
<p>I ended up applying to Chicago because I like the intellectual environment and "uniqueness" of the school. Johns Hopkins I have no experience with but it is an excellent school.</p>
<p>There is no "wrong" choice here; pick the one you feel most comfortable at.</p>
<p>Cyzo, this is a good week to visit Chicago, the weather will be good.</p>
<p>I think in general all three will offer you solid preparation for MD-PhD programs in the sciences, and are pretty much a wash in biosciences in particular. That being said, one advantage of going to JHU is that is has very accessible joint master's programs in a diversity of scientific and science policy fields. Of the three students from my graduating HS class that attended JHU, two of them walked away with a MS to complement their BS degree with only a semester or so of additional studies. While one went right to an MD program muting the terminal degree value outside of the heightened academic preparation it afforded, another ended up getting a research job with a big name biotech firm that would have been impossible to garner with only a bachelors degree, and has since decided that she would rather attend a top flight MBA program after a few years in the workforce. </p>
<p>Normally, I would never encourage students to choose a school based on its announced joint degree programs, since they tend to be dangled out in front of students and then are made impossibly difficult to get into once enrolled (UChicago has quite a few of these). However, JHU really does ascribe to the philosophy that a masters degree is the new bachelors degree as far as science and engineering goes, and it quite encouraging of its undergraduates to step up to the plate internally.</p>