Hamilton vs CMU vs Rochester

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Planning to study Political Science/IR,Math,Econ, or some combination of the three.</p>

<p>Not sure what future plans are, but graduate school of some kind is most likely in my future, whether immediately after or within 5 or so years.</p>

<p>I will take out the maximum stafford loans at Hamilton and CMU (27K over 4 years)</p>

<p>I will take out 10K stafford loans at UR (total over 4 years)</p>

<p>The loan amounts vary based on finaid packages and a set level of family contribution.</p>

<p>CMU: probably the most highly regarded of the 4, at least in Econ/math. Accepted as a Econ major (in the college of humanities and social sciences, though I think its in cooperation with Tepper). This might change. I'd like to try to get into the Quantitative Social Science Scholars and I like the fact that they have a decisions science major;it sounds pretty interesting. </p>

<p>Worries: Not sure if I would fit in socially given everything I've heard/seen about it..From all that I can tell their polisci department is incredibly lacking. If I decide to take the finance route, I will probably get screwed over by all of the tepper business students.</p>

<p>Hamilton:
It seems fairly strong in all of the departments I am interested in.
I Like the rural atmosphere and small school vibe from the initial visit, but I am a bit worried I might get bored of the environment/small size after a while.... </p>

<p>Rochester:
Wasn't initially on my radar but its starting to grow alot on me. Fairly strong econ and polisci departments, don't know about math. The city is lacking but it seems like theres a lot going on campus and there's eastman nearby so I don't think I'm going to run out of things to do. Will its lack of prestige hold me back? Since its the lowest cost option, should I just take it and run?</p>

<p>How do the academics at all of these schools compare? Employment opportunities? Chances for going to a top graduate school? What about costs, how much should this come into play?</p>

2

<p>I also got into the Elliot School of International Affairs at GWU and will take on approx 15K debt over 4 years but I’m not considering it as much as the other three because I’d like to be in a smaller environment, an actual campus, and am still undecided on my major. As appealing as DC is, I’m not sure if GWU is a good fit. If someone thinks I am overlooking it, feel free to tell me why</p>

3

<p>WSJunkie: The University of Rochester does not lack prestige, whatever its ranking relative to Carnegie-Mellon (apples-to-apples since they are both national universities) or Hamilton College (a harder comparison because they are different types of institutions). </p>

<p>Regardless of rank, these are all great choices. I personally do not think Carnegie-Mellon or Hamilton are worth that much more in debt, all things being equal and ESPECIALLY if the University of Rochester is growing on you.</p>

<p>Have you visited all of these places? We visited Rochester and it made a great impression. The university makes a big effort to shuttle kids to and from activities within Rochester and nearby. The facilities are impressive.</p>

4

<p>EDIT: CMU debt will be 19,000 over 4 years: I forgot to add in work study.</p>

5

<p>Well, $20K debt for CMU is not so bad if you’re hot for the school; it’s certainly not worth taking on twice as much in debt for CMU as you would for Rochester if you are lukewarm! Which of these schools have you visited? Have you done overnights or hung out with students at any of these schools?</p>

6

<p>I’ll be on the tennis team for Hamilton/CMU/Rochester and have visited them/talked to students. I visited GWU but didnt stay overnight/talk to students.</p>

<p>Felt like I fit in the best with the Hamilton/Rochester students but could see myself at any of the schools. I don’t really have a strong preference for any of them, which makes it so hard to choose! My biggest concerns are 1) hamilton’s size and 2)CMU’s polisci department. I am also not sure if I would be stupid to turn down the opportunities in CMU’s econ/decision sciences/quantitiative social science scholars programs. </p>

<p>Right now I am leaning towards UR because it is the cheapest and I don’t have any qualms with it like I do Hamilton or CMU. But there is also nothing I reallly like about it, and there are parts of both hamilton (chill student body, outdoorsey opportunities, intimate setting) and CMU (the econ/decision science opportunities) that I really like…urghhhhhh decisions.</p>

7

<p>Hamilton is a much different institution than CMU or Rochester, focuses on writing, and probably cannot compete with either institution in terms of math faculty or resources. Still, I do not know much about Hamilton and so will confine my thoughts to CMU and UR.</p>

<p>Given your wide array of interests I would suggest UR, whose cluster program allows you to pursue three different courses of study in some depth (often leading to a double major or a major and one or two minors). Also, UR has no distribution requirements and a beautiful campus. UR has a very pretty campus, with nice facilities, a couple of miles from a surprisingly thriving city.</p>

<p>My son is also interested in math, and so we visited CMU. Despite going during the school year, the campus did not bustle with activity. We did see a fair number of students wearing college t-shirts, just not for CMU (lots of support there for UCSB and its physics department) . Also, most of the facilities looked pretty ordinary (this surprised me because I thought CMU would look much more high tech given its reputation in CS, math and the sciences). Finally, despite being near UPitt (about a 15 minute walk) most of the fun stuff is much closer to UPitt than to CMU. My son was pretty turned off and did not apply there.</p>