<p>I saw a thread like this in northwesterns spot and I became curious about schools that are similar to chicago besides columbia. so what schools have the most similarities with the university</p>
<p>Reed, Carleton</p>
<p>I have Reed, Chicago, and Swarthmore as my top three. All three are intensely academic schools, however different they may be in other regards. Reed more so than Swarthmore, though, from what I understand.</p>
<p>Bard reminded me of Chicago in many ways, but it definitely differed in many ways. It's my number two school.</p>
<p>Reed would most likely be my number two if it wasn't on the other side of the country.</p>
<p>I think Reed, Swarthmore, and Carleton are good calls among LACs. Pomona and Haverford, probably, too. I question Bard -- most (all) of the kids I know who have gone there would not have been happy at all at Chicago. It's really pretty isolated, and it's arty in a way Chicago isn't at all.</p>
<p>Columbia is very similar in curriculum design, obviously. Brown is diametrically different in curriculum design, but not so different at all in spirit and in the students it attracts. Another obvious comparable is Johns Hopkins, based on its strength in sciences, English, and history, and its urban-but-not-downtown location.</p>
<p>DS almost went to Chicago or Brown but in the end chose Williams. He did see similarities, mostly in that he could get a great and serious education, find sophistication, engage in the arts and define himself. I think what decided him in the end was the very intimate atmosphere and the mountains. But it was a very hard choice.</p>
<p>Mountains-- something Chicago has none of and something I dearly miss.</p>
<p>As far as overlap schools, a good number of kids would tell you the midsize urban research uni's have something in common with Chicago-- JHU, NU and WashU share some overlap with Chicago.</p>
<p>I also think that the other schools in the UAA match Chicago in attitude in some ways: Case, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Rochester, NYU, Brandeis, WashU.</p>
<p>If I were to apply to schools again, I would probably apply to Oberlin, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Colorado College, as well as Swat, St. Johns, Carleton, Reed. On the less selective end, I would probably look at Beloit, Earlham, Bard, and Knox.</p>
<p>I would also add Wesleyan.</p>
<p>If you prefer the southern climes, look at Rice and Emory as well. </p>
<p>Young men might look at Deep Springs.</p>
<p>Rice is quite different from UC in many respects but I've always felt that most UC students would be happy there, so it's probably worth a look.</p>
<p>Agreed. My GC pushed Rice on me.</p>
<p>If one is a science person, CalTech is a little like Chicago in the quirkiness of its students and the intensity of the learning one experiences there. It also has a surprisingly lovely campus.</p>
<p>Along with many of the colleges already mentioned, Cornell was also on our list. If Chicago is where fun goes to die, Cornell is the easiest Ivy to get into and the hardest to get out of (or so they say...)</p>
<p>Nah, disagreeing with CalTech. I wanted to be a CalTechie at first, but then I realized it didn't agree with me at all. (I need my humanities and social sciences) I liked UChicago much better. Plus I didn't like the idea of problem sets where I could only do one problem, that just didn't sound fun to me at all.</p>
<p>My top four schools are UChicago, Harvey Mudd, Wesleyan, and Carleton.</p>
<p>DS got to Chicago by looking for other schools like Harvey Mudd -- deep math, strong humanities/social sciences, not afraid to be intellectual vibe. He has also considered several of the schools mentioned here by other posters (but not Rice or Emory -- no southern schools for him).</p>
<p>if you're into chicago you'd also want to die by a over-reading a textbook or having too little fun</p>
<p>It's funny -- I thought Harvey Mudd was going to be THE ONE: a dark-horse, no-name-recognition, top-math-program, humanities-embracing college in a warm climate, but for some reason it didn't click at all when we went to visit. I think what turned the final screw may have been HMC's emphasis on their ties to the corporate world.</p>