<p>They are all fine schools. For Chem Engineering, go to Carnegie Mellon. Both Northwestern AND Johns Hopkins are not as good as CMU in engineering overall, even though it may appear that their rankings are “relatively” close.</p>
<p>However, they are all such great schools that the difference will matter very litter. Northwestern cannot offer you anything academically that Johns Hopkins cannot and vice versa. However, outside of academics and more into extracurriculars/extra (internships, volunteering, etc.), you will find some differences.</p>
<p>Also, prestige is really a regional thing. I can tell you that Northwestern will be more well known in the midwest, but that the Hopkins name is much stronger on the east coast and competes in name recognition with the ivies, whereas Northwestern can often get you a “is that like Northeastern?” type question. Of course, this is amongst people that don’t matter regardless. Amongst top employers and educators, both Northwestern and Johns Hopkins are regarded pretty evenly with a slight edge to Hopkins for more rigorous academics.</p>