<p>I'm Deciding. Any Input. Money Is Not An Issue With These Colleges. The One Thing About Dartmouth Is That It Is Very Isolated.</p>
<p>They're very very different schools. </p>
<p>UPenn is right smack dab in a City. Dartmouth is in the woods with beautiful nature. </p>
<p>UPenn has about 2000 students per class. Dartmouth has about 1050.</p>
<p>UPenn has about 6000 grad students on campus. Dartmouth has maybe 1300.</p>
<p>UPenn has lots of other schools close by. Dartmouth is the focus of Hanover.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is the bet ivy after HYP.</p>
<p>i would recommend researching the things you want to do academically and socially. also, if you really want to be in a city, penn is better. if you don't like the idea of streets running through your campus, dartmouth is better. i personally thought i wanted a city and then visited dartmouth and fell in love, so be sure to visit before calling it based on that.</p>
<p>Ask the Penn board too.</p>
<p>It's really the age-old question of large research university (in a big city) vs liberal arts college (in hanover). Depends more on your personality and your expectations than anything else.</p>
<p>Obviously I chose the big school in the big city, and I've loved it.</p>
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<li> best</li>
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<p>They're both crappy schools, you should have applied to Chicago.</p>
<p>I got into Dartmouth, Penn AND UChicago and am having trouble picking between the three (Northwestern is thrown into the mix too...arghh!!!)</p>
<p>Even though Dartmouth is seen as more prestigious than UPenn in some circles, I'm from San Francisco, so I'm used to big cities, moderate-warm weather and did I mention BIG CITIES. Dartmouth seems like a great school, but I'm not sure if I could make that big of a leap. Also, I've fallen in love with Penn (based solely on the photos and residential program descriptions.) I'll be visiting both campuses next week and that will be the make-or-break for me.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on what you like and the kind of environs you are accustomed to.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and the academics you're looking for. I don't know what they are, but there might be differences in what you're thinking of majoring in.</p>
<p>Penn will have the best (or rather, least-worst) weather of the three.</p>
<p>I went through this last year and frankly I still wonder whether I made the right decision. So...here's my personal list of pros and cons.
Dartmouth pros: relatively safe, small community, good resources, good setting, great interaction between the undergrads and grad/professional schools, and great residential housing (^_^).
Dartmouth cons: no formal Asian-American studies program (I thought I was gonna do bio...ha, what a joke), not as many programs of study available, in the middle of nowhere (seriously, a trip to wal-mart is like going to the mall or something...not that shopping is my life but when it comes to buying stuff it can be a pain).
Penn pros: was named a Ben Franklin Scholar (already had connections with CURF, center for undergraduate research and fellowships), in the beautiful city of Philadelphia, very convenient transportation anywhere, awesome building architecture...
Penn cons: big undergrad class, maybe not as much undergrad/grad school interaction, big city = some scariness, housing wasn't that great, felt that the student scene was a little too big (more comfortable with intimate student scenes).<br>
So basically, I wish that Dartmouth was in a big city and that I had the benefits of the Ben Franklin Scholars program (and Penn has an Asian-American studies program...<em>tear</em>). But that's okay. ALL HAIL THE BIG GREEN!</p>
<p>If you're not at Penn you clearly didn't make the right decision :-P</p>
<p>And now Asian-American studies has Kal Penn...woooooo-eee!</p>
<p>Alston89, as far as cities go, I am sure you will LOVE Chicago a lot more than Philadelphia. Academically, U of C and Penn are fairly equal however U of C is very well known for its idiosyncracies and its major grade deflation. Northwestern students have a healthier attitude towards school and def seem to enjoy themselves more. I applied to both schools because the city is so awesome and I am into BIG cities too..However, I ended up narrowing it down to Brown and Dartmouth ( also great academics, plus ivies, smaller campuses and that old New England feel is kinda cool..) I am kinda of set with Brown's Neuroscience program....and just hope that my upcoming Dartmouth's visit doesn't confuse me more...</p>
<p>Dartmouth is a more wholistic experience than Penn. The undergrad focus really is a difference maker, and it leads to amazing recruiting, tremendous alumni loyalty, and amazing graduate placement (you are more interesting after knowing professors so well, doing research that people care about, going on study abroad like 2/3 of Dartmouth students, etc). Dartmouth is much more a liberal arts college, and in my opinion that's what makes it great. It does everything it needs to incredibly well (grad placement, recruiting, etc) while managing to feel warm and friendly. I think that's also why the alumni are so loyal.</p>
<p>penn has philly cheesesteaks though</p>
<p>and superior faculty who despite dartmouthian protestations to the contrary are deeply involved with undergraduate education.</p>
<p>Dartmouth's Thayer dining hall has really good cheese steak sandwiches.</p>