<p>I also think that the Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 thing wasn’t organized like that. I remember that Tier 1 comprises of Big Research Univs with more than $100 million in researh activities and all elite schools such as the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Duke, Chicago (add some more) are in the premier league. There is no significant difference among them.</p>
<p>If you really wanna break elite schools in tier then, basing solely on reputation, only Harvard sits on tier 1 and the rest are tier 2 schools. Please don’t mistake me, I ain’t a Harvard lover but we all have to agree that Harvard’s brand is worldly huge. Play a fair game, PrincetonDreams, either we all are in one tier or Harvard sh1ts on us all :))</p>
<p>thank you everyone for the input! i honestly think they have equal footing at both grad schools/ job prospets (excluding wharton and finance–but i’m not interested in that anyway). i’m still at lost and hoping that the answer will just present itself at my footstep by april 30th</p>
<p>If you’re into the whole pre-professional scene, Penn hands down. If you’re more into the intellectual culture, still Penn (Penn is large enough that you will be able to meet tons of intellectual kids). Penn is urban, has 12 professional schools which you can take classes in, has a large enough student body that you can find your niche group, and has the highest internship placement. I’m sure Amherst has its selling points as well, but I can’t think of anything Penn couldn’t offer that Amherst could.</p>
<p>hahah, truth. i do like the purple sweatshirts.
i know i am greatly generalizing, but i’ve heard several times that penn’s students tend to be “pretentious, snobby, rich…” I don’t want to make a judgment based on this, but I didn’t get a chance to interact with the fellow penn '15s and I’m a little scared to committ based on these generalizations. At Amherst, I met so many down to earth intellectuals! I know I won’t have to worry about the people at Amherst. Social life…I can’t say the same for.</p>
<p>ilovebagels, blue and red combined make purple </p>
<p>puremn, over 42% of students this year are receiving some sort of financial aid. Again, the population at Penn is large enough that you’ll be able to find tons of people from low-income families, mid-income, high-income, celebrities’ children, etc.</p>
<p>This jumped out at me: “especially when the opportunity to take courses in Penn’s other schools…”. Amherst is part of the Five College Consortium which enables Amherst students to take courses at Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire and UMass. That’s a lot of potential courses!</p>
Not really the same thing. Penn’s vaunted “One University” policy encourages all undergrads to take courses in all of its undergrad schools (College of Arts and Sciences, Wharton, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Nursing) as well as–and here’s the kicker–most of its graduate and professional schools (Graduate Arts and Sciences, Law School, Annenberg School for Communication, School of Design, Graduate School of Education, School of Social Policy and Practice, etc.). And of this is done seemlessly within the undergraduate curriculum, with all of these courses literally a block or two away on the same relatively compact campus.</p>
<p>And Penn does this with a commitment and vigor that’s really unparalleled at any other school. For example, the Law School places large ads in The Daily Pennylvanian every semester to encourage non-law students–especially Penn undergrads–to enroll in its classes. The breadth and depth of courses offered to Penn undergrads on their very own campus, and within the context of their undergraduate curriculum and degree requirements, is extraordinary.</p>
<p>“Amherst is part of the Five College Consortium which enables Amherst students to take courses at Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire and UMass. That’s a lot of potential courses!”</p>
<p>If you are a guy and Amherst allows you to take classes at even Mt. Holyoke then, by all means, go to Amherst! I can’t imagine the privillege of a guy taking class at Mt. Holyoke. [wink wink] Hahaha. J/k.</p>
<p>Personally I would opt for Amherst. It is incredible and small and the town is great too especially in the five colleges context. It is tough to turn down an Ivy league school but Amherst and Williams are two LAC’s are on par.</p>
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