Research positions are incredibly easy to come by. Almost all professors will allow students who knock on their door an opportunity if they show interest and determination in what the professor is doing. Of course, the option of being paid for the work is often dependent on whether you have received work-study as part of your financial aid (but you can always volunteer and their are other options available). President Bienen has also pushed very hard to make grant money for undergraduate research available to students: [Undergraduate</a> Research Grants, Northwestern University](<a href=“Office of Undergraduate Research |”>Office of Undergraduate Research |) as he sees this as an important option in a Northwestern education. This is also an integral reason why Northwestern is one of the top schools in the country in receiving prestigious scholarships (including Goldwater’s, Gates, Rhodes and Marshalls) because of the opportunity to do research during the undergaduate years.</p>
<p>The opportunity for clinical research is also easy to come by. Evanston Hospital is located a short walk away (closer than the football stadium) and paid clinical research opportunities are readily available during the summer (Summer Research Fellowship Program): [Summer</a> Research Fellowship Program: NorthShore University HealthSystem](<a href=“http://www.northshore.org/research/aboutus/default.aspx?id=5503]Summer”>http://www.northshore.org/research/aboutus/default.aspx?id=5503)
This is a formal mechanism for the summer (and you can do research without the award as they have funds available by other routes) but funding and opportunities are available during the course of the year also (and collaborations are also available on the Northwestern campus). Students do seek clinical research opportunities at Northwestern Memorial and its affiliated hospitals in Chicago but of course this requires a commute.</p>
<p>toughyear-
For what it’s worth, my daughter and her friends (including her best friend, who is pre-med) don’t just like NU, they absolutely love it. And even though both my daughter and her best friend are very serious students, and will really hit the books hard when necessary, they also have a terrific social life and get to enjoy everything from the Greek social scene on campus to the offerings of Chicago. On a scale of 1-10, the enthusiasm level seems to be a clear 10. I simply could not imagine my daughter happier at any other school.</p>
<p>Not unexcited- just busy. If I could, I’d show you the pastiche of colors and numbers that is my google calendar, but honestly, that’s a bit too much of a privacy violation. </p>
<p>“Again, no one is going to Columbia for NYC, Harvard for Boston, UPenn for Philly,”</p>
<p>False. And being near a city IS a huge boon from time to time- not to mention just not being in a dead little city like Ithaca (I’m quite familiar with it).</p>
<p>Note the regional bias in that med school “commonly matriculate” list. I’m sure Cornell’s looks completely different. Perhaps the part of the country you want to end up in, eventually, may be worth considering.</p>
The ‘regional’ bias has everything to do with where the students are originally from at Northwestern and not where they need to end up. Students tend to apply to the schools from the state they were residents in before coming to Northwestern. Virtually, the only students who apply to Ohio State University from Northwestern for medical school are from Ohio just like the students who end up in New Jersey from Cornell are from New Jersey.</p>
<p>“The ‘regional’ bias has everything to do with where the students are originally from …”</p>
<p>Then at least you can say there appears from that chart to be a regional bias to where your fellow students are from, and will likely be located after med school. Which can matter if you ever care to see your college friends, when not attending college, or thereafter. Strength of alumni group/ network can likewise be expected to track geography. Though actually Cornell club is quite active in Chicago, considering. More active in New York, of course.</p>
<p>Sam Lee, it’s quite funny. While this forum is obviously dominated by Northeast U.S. posters, Endicott’s comments are meaningless in states such as Michigan or Illinois.</p>
<p>I would say that on the whole, NU students are not the type to post on CC. It’s kind of an unspoken rule, but it’s considered uncool to do so. That could be a good in thing in that they are far removed from the college admissions craze or a bad thing in that they still care about “coolness.”</p>
<p>NU students are also not easy to provoke. Honestly, I don’t think most of us care if you come to our school or not, only that you find what is right for you personally. We’ll help you make a decision by pointing out our strengths and weaknesses, but that’s it. For example, the suburban/rural considerations should indeed play a role in one’s decision. It was mentioned because Cornell and Northwestern are similar in many ways, and location is one of the many ways in which they differ. I do know people who would prefer a rural campus, so if your son is someone like that, he’d probably like Cornell better. Best of luck on your choice.</p>
<p>Look–Northwestern is a fine school. But generally speaking, the region known for the best colleges is the east. If your intention is always to stay in the Midwest, go to one of those great Midwestern schools like Macalester or Northwestern or Oberlin. But on a national level, Ivy League schools would rank higher than non-ivies, and Williams/Amherst/Swarthmore would rank more highly than say, Carleton. That’s not to say what schools suit different kinds of students. And it’s not to say that there aren’t schools in the Midwest, South, or West that aren’t better than many other schools in the east. Prestige is not the only thing that matters. And it may be just a litle bit more prestige. But the northeastern part of the U.S. has a reputation for being the part of the country where the level of higher education is the best, and there is a reason for that reputation.</p>
<p>I agree with you, Endicott. Most colleges in the Northeast are more highly regarded. However, I don’t think this is true of Cornell necessarily. I believe it has the same national pull as NU, and perhaps NU might even have the edge here.</p>
<p>I second what linotreelion wrote. toughyear, if you look at number of posts, you’ll see the Ivy League schools have way way more posts than others. This whole college admission is more of a Northeast thing.</p>
<p>I also suspect that a lot of people who have this choice and who are torn at first ultimately choose Cornell for its Ivy status and then feel somehow more secure with their choice for that reason. Many of them will feel more pride in their school than they would otherwise because of its Ivy association. Whether the Ivy association really does confer significant material advantage, I don’t know, but because of the way “Ivy” has been understood by society, those who say they’re part of the “Ivy League” will be accorded greater status by laymen. I will say, though, that laymen typically think of most top schools as Ivy League due to their mistaken perception that it’s just a generic name used to describe schools ranked 1-20 (so even MIT, Stanford, Duke, NU, UChicago, and JHU would be included). Cornell has an advantage in that they can legitimately claim they’re Ivy League, but this advantage is really based on laymen’s mistaken perception of what the Ivy League is. As many of you know, the Ivy association alone does not necessarily mean that Ivy members have better students or resources than their non-Ivy peer institutions.</p>
<p>We also have to take into consideration that credentials are more highly considered in the Northeast. It hasn’t really spread to other parts of the country to such a high degree. Although, I must say Endicott, the Big Ten schools are the strongest academic conference outside the Ivy League. :)</p>
<p>I think that too many people - especially people from the Northeast - succumb to eastern snobbery and myopia. There is an unusual population density in the east, which is also the oldest part of the country, and I think that the density of fine schools in the east stems in substantial part from these things. But I think that the Eastern schools are a little too impressed with themselves and that people who are truly in the know realize that UChicago, NU, Stanford, and Berkeley (among others), and at the smaller level, Carleton, Pomona and others are comparable to the top schools in the East.<br>
I happen to be from the East, but I think that most people - and schools - from the East need to get over themselves and get some perspective, which is why I was delighted when my child decided to go to the midwest for college.</p>
<p>What I’m saying, tenisghs, is that each school should be judged on its own merits. For example, just because Michigan is part of the Big 10 shouldn’t mean MSU, which is also part of the Big 10, should all of a sudden be perceived in a better/worse light depending on how Michigan is perceived.</p>
<p>As a previous poster stated you can work in a major teaching hospital in Chicago either at NU or one of its affiliates. This does not exist in Ithaca and you may want to take that into account. </p>
<p>Both colleges have tons of research opportunities. I would take that off the table, since you can easily do that at either school.</p>
<p>What about the NU quarter system? My S is going back to visit NU to try and get a true feel about the workload and how the quarter system impacts it. Being premed is tough enough anywhere, but jamming it into the quarter system, I just don’t know. It also puts you off schedule with your friends from home, since you start later and end later with different breaks.</p>
<p>Does NU grade on a curve as Cornell does?</p>
<p>He is doing his due diligence and hopefully can make decision and be comfortable with it. You can talk to 50 kids but if they are different from you, its so hard to tell. S has friends at both that he says are his ‘type of kid’ and trusts what they tell him. Bottom line, they all LOVE their respective schools and are having fun and working hard.</p>
<p>I agree with WCASParent. Endicott, Brown and Cornell are actually ranked lower than Northwestern, UofChicago, and Stanford. Generally, Berkeley’s programs actually are much more recognized than those of Brown, Cornell, and even Dartmouth. I personally consider Pomona and Carleton to be “better” than the latter two Ivies as well. Just because a school is an Ivy does not mean that it is “better” than all the other schools.</p>