Well, you could go by recently published rankings in the Times:
Caltech: 2 (usually #1)
Chicago: 10
JHU: 17
UW: 25
UT: 50
If I were in your position, I would go to Caltech for the year. To acquire any association with that school is a fantastic opportunity.
Can’t you list them in order of preference?
Most American students interested in the sciences would jump at the chance to spend a year at Caltech. You are wise to consider it your first choice. I disagree about the social scene a bit.
It’s true that Caltech doesn’t have Division 1 football. It’s not a big sports college at ALL. It’s NCAA Division III.
But Caltech definitely has a campus culture. Students there live in their ‘houses’ all 4 years. And each house sits down together for dinner every evening in their house’s dining hall. There is a huge rivalry between Caltech and Harvey Mudd College in Southern California and both schools throughout the school year are known for playing huge pranks on each other that are very elaborate. Caltech has its own party culture, but it’s different than a traditional American college party culture…you won’t see big fraternity parties, but there is plenty of fun to be had. They study hard and party hard, too.
Plus, you’re probably less than an hour’s drive away from Disneyland and you’ll meet classmates who have cars, so you can bum a ride to visit the land of Mickey Mouse while you’re out there. Heck, you’d even be able to get a Southern California resident annual pass if you wanted to (it’s way cheaper than normal annual passes).
JHU is an excellent university as well. Chicago has an excellent public transportation system, which will make exploring around the city easy.
But you shouldn’t make your selection based on transportation, in my opinion. Many of the larger US cities have Zip Cars that you can rent by the hour to go on quick errands, trips to the grocery store, etc. Chicago, Baltimore, and LA all have them, along with many other cities. See http://www.zipcar.com/.
BTW, because of its small size, it is very easy for undergrad students to get research experience with their professors while at Caltech. That’s a little harder to come by at larger universities.
Zipcar has a location in Pasadena and student memberships for zip car cost $15. Looks like they cost $7.50-$12.50 per hour to rent. http://www.zipcar.com/universities/the-california-institute-of-technology
If I was in your shoes, I’d probably rank the options like this:
Washington would get last place because of its similarity in weather to London. UT-Austin moves up higher in the list because of 2-3 reasons: weather, local Austin culture/social scene, & getting a ‘traditional’ big American college experience (Texas football & baseball games, etc). Johns Hopkins is #2 because it’s 1 of the premier universities in the US in terms of science & engineering research & education. Caltech is #1 because of education, its cool yet quirky & nerdy campus culture, weather, & living for a year in southern CA.
@PurpleTitan , I think it’s pretty clear what I consider to be “academic category”. The student profile at Cal Tech, Chicago and JHU are an entire cut and half above the profile of the undergraduates at either UW or UT. Of all people on CC, I would have expected you to point that out.
@tucsonmom, in the sciences, UChicago would be just as good as JHU.
I don’t know if 'similar weather to London ’ makes Seattle in any way less of a good destination.
Essentially, there are no bad choices. Whatever university you choose will be good academically and interesting in its own way.
For example, Baltimore may have a reputation for eing 'ghetto ’ - although the suburbs are nice and the inner harbor is fantastic - but it’s also within easy access to DC, NY, Philadelphia.
Each choice has plenty of advantages. It really depends on what YOU prioritize.
I ran the OP’s choices past my daughter (who is in Year 13 at a British school here and is now applying to US Unis) as far as 1) overall experience and 2) what she thinks would look good on a CV. She said that if she had her choice it would either be an Ivy League Uni (or academic equivalent) or 2) “a cool city”. Given your choices, the only ones that she would pick would be UChicago or CalTech. The rest don’t come any where close in her opinion.
^except that for college students in the US, Seattle can be the epitome of cool, as well as Austin, whereas SouthCalifornia can be the temple of plastic. (I know, not CalTech :p)
It really IS subjective. OP cannot make a bad choice. Each possibility has advantages that OP can prioritize as they wish: academic challenge, cutting-edge research, partying, traditional campus, weather, cool city, easy access to other cities or places of touristic interest, public transportation vs.traffic jams, zip cars…
Note to OP:
You’d have 5 classes, with about 15-17 hours of class time a week, assigned preparation/problem sets/readings for each class period, regular quizzes and exams plus presentations. It’s very different from the British system - which, I hope, is why you’re trying to attend a university in another country.
What “course” are you in?
I assume STEM and on your way to a 1st?
A reminder that CC is not a debate society. The exchanges that I have largely deleted are the perfect example of what that means. One person provided the opinion that the students at a couple of the schools were of a certain caliber, another disagreed. Other than a post that can factually disprove a statement, the OP can look at the two (or more) opinions, do a bit of research, and decide for themselves. Turning the thread into a personal dispute helps no one and gets boring.
@Maverick96 some final thoughts before I sign off of this thread:
I’d put Chicago third, UW fourth, and JHU last.
Bear in mind, I’m only talking about a study abroad program. If you were deciding where to go to college, Chicago would be at the top of my recommended list.
Would any of these be an option?
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Northwestern University (just outside of Chicago)
Those three are top-notch academically AND have big-time sports.
One thing I think you should know: All public universities in Texas, of which UT Austin is one, allow people to carry personal guns on campus. Texas is is very “individual liberty” kind of state, and as of 8/1 of this year (or as you’d write it, 1/8), a law was passed permitting guns inside university buildings. As you are from England, for sure this is something you are not used to. You can google this issue to see how it’s affecting students and faculty. Here’s one link to start with:
http://campuscarry.utexas.edu/
JHU is a power in lacrosse.
Niche sport, but JHU is a king in that sport.
Cheers guys
Thanks to the mod
And never really considered gun laws, and guns on campus LOL I’ll be avoiding UT
Just wanted to say thank you
I found out that I can go to UPenn, and have decided to go there
Thank you again
It’s exactly what you’re looking for, so congratulations!! 
Oh, you’ll love it there! right in the charming city of Philadelphia, and halfway between NY and DC, easily accessible by train. Plus, the level of student there is quite high.
Great choice!