<p>I would like to be pre-med (majoring in Biological Sciences).</p>
<p>But I am unsure as to which school to go to. Costs are around the same. And both are very similar (size-wise). NU is more suburban, but well within reach of Chicago, while Carnegie Mellon is in the city of Pittsburgh, PA. </p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon probably is easier to get higher grades, while NU is more competitive. But while the medical school admissions staff would look at the GPA, they would notice that NU is slightly more prestigious. </p>
<p>So I'm really undecided here? Please help ><</p>
<p>I don’t think your grade comment is valid. I have heard much the opposite and the truth is probably somewhere in between. Both are great schools and CMU has prestige where it matters…with the people who will be judging your medical school application. A statement I might make however is this…all other things being equal if you want to go to “pre-med” school go to CMU, if you want to go to college go to NU. Don’t underestimate the difference in the environment, either. Evanston is a great town and provides a definite buffer between NU and Chicago.</p>
<p>if all you’re worried about is grades, go to CMU. ochem’s a killer at NU.</p>
<p>but NU’s biosci and bme programs focus more on biology, so you could get a head start on topics in med school such as physiology and anatomy. its really up to what you are going for. do you actually like your major? do you want to do research?</p>
<p>Go where you think you’ll have the better experience.</p>
<p>With all due respect to the advice thus far offered, don’t for one minute believe that one school vs the other will offer an “edge” applying to medical school.</p>
<p>I would probably recommend NU over CMU.
Both are great schools, but NU is better. But that’s not the reason why I’d pick it.
As Bala said, don’t believe that either school offers you an advantage over the other in terms of being pre-med; it’s all about how you do and, more important, how you do on the MCATs. But you should keep in mind that MANY students who start college being “pre-med” don’t stay “pre-med,” and it would therefore be a bad idea to pick ANY school based on any preconceived notion of the pre-med program. (And I suspect that NU students applying to med school do at least as well as CMU students.) From what I know, NU offers a far better integration of students from the different schools and curricula, and that have a very positive impact on one’s college experience. At NU, a journalism student at Medill will integrate seamlessly with engineers, drama students, engineers and SESP students, while such integration is less common at CMU. To be blunt, I think this just makes the NU experience more fun. (By the way, while NU food is nothing to write home about, CMU food is reputed to be a nightmare - you should check with some current students whether this is accurate.)
At the end of the day, given that both are fine schools with fine academics in good cities (okay, Chicago is a great city), I think you need to decide which atmosphere just feels more right for YOU. That’s the school you should pick. I guarantee that this approach will not fail you.</p>
<p>Northwestern certainly has broader college options. All arts, socialsci, engg, music, etc. Definitely a greater scope, whereas cmu is VERY engineering dominated. I remember visiting cmu and remembering that everyone I met was engineering save a couple of people. And Pittsburgh sucks, is in the middle, and again with that erroneous H in the end.</p>