<p>I was accepted at U Chicago, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore and Georgetown School of Foreign Service, as well as waitlisted in Columbia, Brown and Harvard. My main interest is International Relations, with a focus in economics/international health, but there is a small possibility that I will change my mind and choose to pursue neuroscience. I'm very happy with the schools I have been accepted to, and academically I know they are all excellent, but I'm not sure about how suitable they are in all other factors. I'm looking for an intellectual environment with a friendly student body, a focus on undergraduate education with research/internship opportunities and great law/med school placement. Location can vary as long as the immediate surroundings are not too dangerous. I've already done research about each school regarding these criteria and am planning to visit the ones I am yet to see, but I would appreciate the input of people on CC that are very familiar with at least one of these. Also, should I pursue any of the wait lists?</p>
<p>Shameless bump. Please…</p>
<p>Alright, final bump, won’t be bothering you guys anymore after this.</p>
<p>I’d choose Darmouth for your interests. It has a great economics department, a strong IR minor and a new interdisciplinary program in international health. It’s one of the friendliest schools out there. The only thing is I would not call it a place where kids wear their intellect on the sleeve like Chicago and Swat.</p>
<p>All are excellent schools. But since you posted this on the Hopkins forum I’ll tell you why I think Hopkins is the best for your interests. Both Hopkins and Georgetown are equally famous for international studies (their graduate schools are frequently rated #1 and #2). But Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health is also #1, and it is particularly strong international health. Georgetown can’t come close to that and, of course, neither can the other schools you mentioned.</p>
<p>Also, should you change your mind and decide on neuroscience, Hopkins is also a top choice for that. So you can’t lose!</p>
<p>Otherwise, it all comes down to subjective factors. Do you prefer cities (Hopkins, Chicago, Georgetown) to the great outdoors (Dartmouth), or is suburbia (Swat) your thing? Swarthmore and Chicago are often stereotyped as being for egg-head intellectuals, and Hopkins as where people are too serious (i.e., they study and work all the time). There is a thread of truth to the stereotypes, but the whole truth is that they have a lot of cross-admits to those schools so the students can’t possibly be that different. Hopkins and Chicago in fact have a lot in common (which isn’t too surprising since Chicago was modeled after Hopkins). They are of similar size and both have very nice campuses despite being in big cities (Chicago is a better city than Baltimore but Hyde Park is pretty far from the center of town and from where things are happening; Hopkins is just 3 miles north of the center of downtown). Hopkins and Swarthmore are both in the Centenial Conference, and are D-III athletic rivals (although Hopkins usually wins). If you hadn’t been admitted to the Walsh School at Georgetown, I’d argue that Georgetown, while very popular and selective, isn’t really in the same category as the others in terms of faculty and facilities. But the Walsh School is the best part of Georgetown and so I really can’t make that argument. </p>
<p>Good luck with you choice</p>
<p>“I’m looking for an intellectual environment with a friendly student body, a focus on undergraduate education with research/internship opportunities and great law/med school placement.”</p>
<p>All 5 of your admitted schools meet these criteria. Congratulations! Will you have a chance to visit any?</p>
<p>If you go to each school’s CC board, you will have a chance to meet other admitted students and get a sense of who your classmates are. That may help you develop a preference.</p>
<p>Oops…I just noticed it wasn’t on the Hopkins forum. So change that to I’ll just do a shameless plug for Hopkins :)</p>
<p>Congrats on all your acceptances! All I know is that I would look for a more flexible school. Flexible in the sense that if you do choose to change majors, you will find a strong department in whatever you choose.</p>
<p>Of course, on the note of the waitlist, I too was waitlisted at some awesome schools, and I’m going to stay on the Princeton waitlist. However, I think that we both should keep in mind that the chances of getting off are slim, and even if you do, I’m not sure that the new school is significantly better than the choices you already have.</p>
<p>Thanks guys! </p>
<p>@emilylove: Yeah, I figured that the wait lists are a long shot, but for the sake of my parents (my dad’s dream has always been that I go to Harvard) I’ll stay in Harvard’s. The chances of getting accepted are very slim so it wouldn’t hurt to…besides, I truly am VERY happy with my acceptances, especially considering how tough admissions were for Puerto Rico this year. I wish you the best of luck with the Princeton wait list. Either way, you must have other excellent schools lined up so I offer you my congratulations. </p>
<p>@Hanna: I’m going to head out for Dartmouth tomorrow and will visit the college Thursday and Friday. Next week I’m going to stay overnight at Chicago for the admitted students weekend. I spent three weeks in Hopkins last summer, and although I know it’s not the same environment during the summer than the school year, I was at least able to get a feel. I’ve been to Georgetown three times and DC even more, so location wise I know that I would be happy in Georgetown. My hope is to be able to attend both admitted students weekends, which fall around the 19th and 20th, seeing as they’re 40 min far by car. As for Swarthmore, I have a cousin that studies there, so my hope is to be able to make a last minute visit the last weekend of April and stay with her. It’s either that or going to the admitted students weekend, which is the same as Georgetown’s and Hopkins’s, and not visiting the other two. </p>
<p>@bonanza: Thank you for such a comprehensive post! I’ve found that I can adapt toany environment, the exception possibly being suburbs, but a teacher of mine that studied in Haverford says that Swarthmore is gorgeous so it’s probable that the campus will make up for the surroundings. As you rightly pointed out Hopkins seems like the best fit in terms of my main interests, but I am yet to experience the environment when students are actually around. Sports have never been a big factor for me, but I could definitely see myself cheering for the Blue Jays in a Lacrosse game :). I think my biggest worry is how much attention undergraduates receive, something I hope to be able to ask when I (hopefully) visit. </p>
<p>@Waverly: Dartmouth is my mom’s pick for the moment (my family is very much split on which school they envision me in) and we’ve been in contact with many alumni in the island. I know that, like Swarthmore, undergrads are the chief focus and some of the latest developments in the school have me very excited. My biggest worry is the frat culture. I understand that not EVERYBODY gets involved in the frats, but a current student made it out to be the single dominating factor in the social scene and I’m not sure I would be comfortable in such an environment. I’m hoping that this week’s visit dispels my worries on that front.</p>
<p>Sometimes I wish they could all merge to form the University of <em>insert name here</em>, because I truly am torn. I’m hoping that at some point in one of my visits I’ll have an epiphany, but even then I get the sense this is going to go down to the wire.</p>