CWRU or University of Rochester?

College Search & Selection
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Looking for any thoughts or advice to help my kid choose between these two. He will be a social science/liberal arts major at either but he likes the feel of a bigger school in a big city.

He likes the flexible curriculum at U of R but not sure about all the snow/grey weather in winter. He also likes CWRU a lot. He has visited both. He is an athletic recruit so knows he will be admitted at both and he likes both teams/coaches.

Any experience/advice on either school or how to choose would be appreciated!

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IMO these two schools are more similar than they are different. A student who would be happy at one, will be happy at the other. Weather won’t be much better at Case. Maybe a bit less snow but we found the weather in central NY to be very similar to NE Ohio (I’ve lived in both places).

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I second that the weather won’t be appreciably different. The schools are indeed very similar, but I think they have a slightly different vibe. CWRU is more urban but the neighborhood is lovely. To me it seems more STEM nerdy – the vibe is like there’s a lot of students who isolate in their rooms to study. Rochester has plenty of nerds, but it’s a more broad academic vibe and it seems maybe a little more lively? The neighborhood isn’t quite as nice as CWRU (though I still like it).

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Both are popular options in our area. Case tends to appeal more to kids also interested in, say, Carnegie Mellon. Rochester maybe to kids also interested in WUSTL. Some apply to both, but some rule out one or the other.

To me, Rochester is big enough of a city for “when not on campus” options, and I don’t think the weather is really that different, so off hand I would think your kid sounds a little more like our Rochester kids.

But that is all very personal, and if your kid likes the feel of Case/Cleveland better, that is definitely not a wrong choice! I have a healthy respect for instinct in cases like this.

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Rochester’s main “River” campus felt atypically isolated to us for a more or less urban school, a product of it being in a bend of the river and then having a big cemetery along almost the entire land side. They had a really robust shuttle system, so I doubt that is very limiting in terms of getting out to do things. But it was definitely not one of those campuses which felt like it spilled over into nearby college-towny stuff.

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This really comes down to personal preference. The weather in both cities is similar, gray and damp in the winter because of the great lakes and nice in the summer for the same reason.

Athletically they are both in the lower half of the UAA for most sports so no large difference in athletics between the two. Academically I think that there are more similarities than differences.

My D (also a recruited athlete) visited both schools as part of her journey. Academically both were fine but she did not like the CWRU campus because of the city streets running through it. Strictly a personal preference. She was also not fond of Cleveland itself again a personal preference. You cannot go wrong on from an academic POV, they are both excellent. I think that your S needs to go with their heart/gut while removing weather as a differentiator.

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The best way for your son to choose between these two schools might be for him to make a visit in person to each campus, when the respective schools are in session. If you can’t do that prior to making applications, then there are always “admitted student days” in the Spring when your son can visit and see who his future classmates may be.

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This student likely will not have this opportunity. As a recruited athlete, they will likely be required to apply ED.

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Yes totally true. My kid needs to commit asap to one of these schools.

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10

I think the schools are similar enough that he should choose based on which coach/team he likes better.

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11

Just curious what sport your child does? S25 is a recruited athlete and looking at these schools, PM me if that’s more comfortable.

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These are peer institutions and two reasonable people could make two different choices. Assuming they are equally affordable, go with personal fit (academics, coach/team, location, etc.).

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If that’s the case about admitted student days, then hopefully he can make an in-person visit to one of the schools as soon as he can. Otherwise, it may just come down to flipping a coin, if all other things are equal.

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Echoing what others have said, these two are academic peers. This choice should be all about fit and cost.

I might be wrong, but I tend to think that these two are kind of like UW-Madison and UIUC – UW is probably a bit more broadly strong than UIUC (more ranked programs overall), while UIUC is a bit more spiky with CS and Engineering and a couple other things. In this case, U of Rochester is like UW while Case is like UIUC. Not a perfect analogy, but just a sense I have. Regardless of the distribution and concentration of academic strengths, I consider UW/UIUC and URoch/Case to be peers.

Both are in cities with plenty to do, they will subject the kid to similar weather, and both are adequately large that there will be a good variety of students. A person might prefer one setting strongly over the other, but I would bet that most kids could be happy at both. So I would concentrate most on academic fit – majors, courses, curricula.

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I see you visited both. Both schools are great. I personally probably will go with Case since it is in the City and it is what is important for your son. I think it is also cool that Case is in art/museum district, so he will get a lot of opportunities to do things outside of campus right around the corner from campus. But it should be your child’s choice anyway.

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Rochester gets 100"(!) of snow on average where Cleveland gets less than half that.

I live in a place that gets on average 2" of snow, so it’s hard for me to imagine that an additional 4+ FEET of snow is not noticeable.

We asked our tour guide at Case Western about the weather, and he (a Cleveland native) said something on the order of meh, winter jacket. They keep the paths cleared so boots aren’t even necessary on campus.

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50" and 100" of snowfall are more alike than are 2" and 50" of snowfall :wink:

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18

As someone who loves snow, Rochester does sound like more fun.

To sort of break it down, here are Rochester and Cleveland’s 20-year annual averages for 1+, 3+, 5+, and 10+ inch snowfall days:

Cleveland 19.5, 6.3, 2.5, 0.2
Rochester 29.2, 9.9, 3.9, 0.8

So more decent snowfalls, not a ton more really big snowfalls.

Same breakdown for annual days with 1+, 3+, 5+, 10+ inches on the ground:

Cleveland 51.7, 26.2, 15.7, 3.3
Rochester 72.3, 42.2, 27.1, 7.3

So again, more days with a decent amount on the ground, only a few more with a lot more on the ground.

In practice, places with a lot of snow tend to plow and shovel and so on as much as they need. Rochester may have a few more hours/days during the term where all that hasn’t caught up yet with a fresh snowfall, but probably not a lot more.

It will, however, end up with a decent amount of snow, fresh or accumulated, on uncleared areas on noticeably more days than Cleveland. Which I again would see as a feature and not a bug.

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We toured CWRU right before a Arctic front was coming through before Christmas last year, and had to just book it outta there. We only made it to St. Louis (on our way to visit family for the holidays), and we holed up in a hotel for a couple of days until the roads were clear-ish again.

Ermagerd, what is this white stuff pelting us sideways?

I mostly kid, I grew up in a place with seasons, but for D24, who has always lived in NC, it’s something to be aware of. Syracuse is still on her list though!

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At both, some of the worst days will be over winter break. Is his sport indoor or outdoor?