<p>Hello. I'm looking to study chemistry with either mathematics, physics, or classics on the side. I do not wish to go to med school; grad school would be cool with me. So, I know the academics at both schools are great. At this point, it really just comes down to where I'd have a social life and a good time. Any input?</p>
<p>JHU and NU both offer first tier academics and great national reputations, so you can’t lose there, as you say. But as for where you’d enjoy life outside of the classroom more, I can’t imagine that it’s close. It’s NU by a country mile. The campus is more social, more fun, and Evanston and Chicago beat the tar out of JHU’s location. Don’t get me wrong, I think JHU is great and if that was the best school my kid got into I would be thrilled because of the quality of the education, but I would certainly want my kid at NU over JHU because I believe that college is about so much more than the academics, and the environment of JHU just doesn’t compare to NU’s for the “other” things I want my kid to get out of college.</p>
<p>The thing that really attracted me to Northwestern was that it is really a 3-dimensional campus. Yes, there are academics, but there are also sports, greek life, music, drama, radio/film, and a great social scene-- all next to one of the greatest cities in America. JH’s location is a little sketchy, to be honest… and I can’t imagine their scene being more relaxed and multi-dimensional than NU’s.</p>
<p>JHU vs. NU was my primary decision for deciding where to apply ED, I visited both campuses and read A LOT about both colleges. In the end I determined that both the academics were pretty darn close and based my decision on the campus and atmosphere.</p>
<p>Honestly, JHU’s vibe seemed a bit more “nerdy” if you will, when I went there. Many of the people seemed to be cut from the same, intelligent but slightly socially awkward cloth. And for anyone from JHU reading… I’m sure there are socially acceptable people there… but that’s just the vibe I got. Also, the campus is very uniform, standard red brick all laid out in rectangular quads - very orderly, which kind of bothered me. The location of JHU itself isn’t so bad, my HS is in a worse location, so that could be it. However if you travel just a bit south into Baltimore, you get into some very… interesting areas,</p>
<p>When I went to Northwestern, the atmosphere seemed so much more diverse. Just walking around campus, it felt like you could stop and talk to any type of person walking along Sheridan. The buildings are very different, gothic architecture, neo-brutalist, standard brick -it’s diverse. On that note, the campus isn’t exactly “college-like” and that drew me to NU too. Plus it has two beaches (JHU has one, that’s not on the water) and the view of Lake Michigan is beautiful. Evanston is a great little city and there’s an El stop so you can go right into Chicago.</p>
<p>So in the end I picked Northwestern, purely because it seemed way more diverse, different, and pretty much like a more interesting place to spend 4 years of my life. Hope this helped.</p>
<p>While I am sure JHU’s chemistry department is stellar, I doubt you will get the same experience as you would at NU. With the redesign of the chemistry curriculum, you will come out of undergrad with experience that most grad students did not have before grad school (and that’s according to our TAs). The junior year lab sequence is one-of-a-kind, a year-long course that exposes you to new techniques and experiments, including at least one that NO undergraduate chemistry student performs anywhere else in the country. In addition, that one course alone has over 270 hours of lab-time, which is over half the amount required for ACS certification. But seeing as you can get a very similar academic experience at JHU, you should visit both and see where you feel more at home.</p>
<p>My friend is a Chem major here and loves it. He actually convinced them to let him count graduate level courses towards his undergraduate degree, so he’ll be finishing his Masters in Chemistry along with his BA in 4 years.</p>
<p>“the campus isn’t exactly ‘college-like’”</p>
<p>pesky 118, where you just referring to the buildings? Or perhaps the layout (split into north and south)?</p>
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<p>Hahaha. I know EXACTLY who you are talking about. Although, to be fair, there really are only like 10 Chem majors per year. But, yes, you even have the option of getting a BA/MS in 4 years.</p>
<p>For the record, the campus is not ACTUALLY split into north and south. I would argue NU’s campus is one of the most “college like” I’ve been to. Compared with Cornell, it’s definitely way more “college like”.</p>
<p>Really… I just thought the layout of the campus in general seemed un-college like. I’ve been to a few different colleges, JHU, UIUC, University of Florida, UCF, Purdue. All of which are laid out in “quad style” with like 4 or so buildings that looked almost exactly alike were around a centralized grassy area. That’s what I associate with college with. From when I went on the tour, it seemed like the buildings were all different and not exactly laid out with super organized planning.</p>
<p>One of the most un-college like campuses I’ve been to is U Mich, which is very intermingled with the city and just kind of odd overall.</p>
<p>So really what you meant is you wanted a quad. Did you see the fraternity quad up north? Did you go to the sorority quad in the south? Doesn’t much sound like it…</p>
<p>Admittedly, there’s no academic quad. But then, most college campuses aren’t located on a mile long stretch of the shore of a great lake, either (read: none)</p>
<p>I’ll take a HUGE grassy LAKEFRONT area over a grassy area within an academic quad anyday. :)</p>
<p>I actually don’t want a quad, which is why I said I liked Northwestern’s campus more… My original post said that I preferred the difference aspects of Northwestern’s campus more, and that the campus isn’t like the standardized majority, ala being on the shore of a great lake. In my second post I was simply contrasting the standard layout of the majority the colleges I visited (academic quads and that’s it) with Northwestern.</p>
<p>At least from my experiences, comparing the engineering buildings… at most colleges you have a mechanical engineering building, a materials science building, and electrical engineering building, amongst others… Northwestern has Tech. How many colleges do you know have one of the largest low-lying buildings in the United States as their engineering department. And then on top of that have a building built completely with modern architecture in mind, have a library that’s neo-brutalist architecture, and multiple buildings built in the school of gothic architecture. My point was not to say quads make a college campus, campusey… but the non-uniformity of Northwestern’s buildings is in stark contrast to the uniform campus of UIUC or JHU (red brick)</p>
<p>Does that clarify my point?</p>
<p>^I agree and I like that too. For some reason, the randomness makes it awesome…maybe because I am from Hong Kong, not Singapore…jk.</p>
<p>Thanks! Umm, how long is Evanston… cold?</p>
<p>I know people studying chem at Northwestern who say it’s a BlTCH. Just because NW’s student popultaion overall may be more social than at JHU doesn’t mean you would have more time to mingle with them than you would in the chem program at JHU…just something to think about…I know they say they don’t get aout much, but that’s just a few students at NW…</p>
<p>Don’t know who you’re talking with, coffeaddict. While orgo is a very tough offering at Northwestern, inorganic, biochem, and other upper tier courses are pretty standard grading/curve wise. </p>
<p>Chemistry is internationally respected - possibly the BEST department at WCAS, a school with a host of very strong departments. A degree in chem from Northwestern is a very, very valued commodity when applying to grad programs.</p>
<p>Over the last few years, quite a few chemistry majors won prestigious external scholarships like Cambridge Gates. In order to get nominated for Cambridge Gates, one has to be admitted to Cambridge first. It seems like Cambridge U loves NU’s chem majors.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys!</p>