<p>I got into both of these schools and can't seem to decide between them. I know that I will be happy at both of them, I just don't know which I'll be HAPPIEST at. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Congrats!</p>
<p>Would you prefer a small school in a rural city or a large university in an urban city? That should be the first crucial question you ask yourself.</p>
<p>Yes, congratulations. What prompted you to apply to such different schools? Urban midwest medium sized research on the one hand and rural NE LAC on the other? Do you live near one? What makes you happy? The people you’re around? Being close to family? Adventure? Weather? A girl who works at my local coffee shop did both. . .undergrad at Middlebury and is now a grad student at WashU. Misses Vermont but is happy and challenged here, too. Winters are mild and short in StL, not in Vermont. Academics, by reputation, are good at both schools so it seems to get down to the type and size of student body, what you hope to study, and where you want to live.</p>
<p>Again, congrats on two great acceptance letters!</p>
<p>i have a friend who transferred from wash u to a small LAC, because she felt wash u was too graduate school oriented. just something to keep in mind, it’s all about personal preference.</p>
<p>Dude, is this J. L.?</p>
<p>if you are referring to me, no haha.</p>
<p>No, I’m referring to the O.P.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your responses!</p>
<p>I applied to both schools because I’m interested in majoring in language and science and WashU has an amazing science program (PNP sounds especially interesting) and Middlebury has an amazing language program. Furthermore, both of their campuses are beautiful, and from what I’ve heard, there seems to be a very strong bond between all members of the student body (both of which are very active as well). However, as large t-rex said, I also fear if WashU (since it is much larger) will be able to provide me with the individualized attention and close relationships Middlebury professors offer their students. This is definitely something that is really important, and although WashU has more opportunities, I would rather have individualized attention from professors. Does anyone know if this is true?</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of your responses!</p>
<p>P.S. colinization, this is not J. L.</p>
<p>Yellow, if cost is not an insurmountable obstacle, you might consider enrolling at WUSTL, but also spending one or two summers at a Middlebury language school. You can get the equivalent of a year’s worth of undergraduate language training in a summer there.</p>
<p>Are you interested in Linguistics, from a “PNP”/cognition perspective? That would be a logical point of intersection between language and science. According to some posts here, Midd has no Linguistics department.</p>
<p>Yellow, to rephrase the question I asked, what’s the nature of your interest in “language and science”? Do you see these as two distinct sets of interests? Or do think you would be interested in how they intersect, in a field such as Cognitive Psychology, Psycholinguistics, Human Language Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Speech Pathology, etc.? If it’s the latter (as I suspect, from your reference to PNP), WUSTL likely will offer more course offerings, and a better research environment.</p>
<p>It is very satisfying to learn to speak one or two languages well. However, if you do foresee a serious academic interest in some area of cognitive science, it probably would be more interesting (and useful) for you to become familiar with the basic structure of 4 or 6 or 10 diverse languages. WUSTL offers Swedish, Hebrew, Persian, Hindi, Swahili, Portuguese, and perhaps a few other “less commonly taught” languages that Middlebury may not offer.</p>
<p>Middlebury is a great college, though. Have you looked into their Neuroscience program? That seems to be Middlebury’s answer to WUSTL’s “PNP”.</p>
<p>You can always go to Middlebury for undergrad and WUSTL for graduate school. Unfortunately the reverse isn’t true. You only have one chance to attend a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of your responses. I’m going to visit both schools sometime in April and will report back afterwards and tell you all what I school I end up choosing. If anyone has any other insights, I would greatly appreciate them as well!</p>
<p>Go for it, Yellow!
You have a bright future wherever it leads, and I’m eager to hear what you decide.</p>
<p>take wustl! It gives us all an extra spot to hope for! haha!</p>
<p>Yellowavcable - </p>
<p>My son (Class of 2012) looked at Northwestern and Middlebury last year. He did not care for Northwestern and was surprised given its academic reputation. The undergraduate “feel” was not impressivie - it seems that Northwestern puts a lot more of its resources into its graduate schools which are highly regarded. Of course, WUSTL isn’t Northwestern, but you should try to get a sense for the balance of emphasis on the graduate schools versus the undergraduate schools. I don’t know how large undergraduate WUSTL is, but ~5,000 or so students can seem like a large student body depending upon how large a high school you’re coming from and what you’re used to.</p>
<p>Just for some closure, I ended up choosing WashU after a WONDERFUL visit. See my comments here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/668078-wustl-vs-middlebury-2.html?highlight=middlebury[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/668078-wustl-vs-middlebury-2.html?highlight=middlebury</a></p>
<p>My son picked Middlebury over WashU mainly because of the location (closer to Northeast employers) and because of the great quality of its career service office CSO. The campus itself was more appealing than WashU. Academically, they are comparable.</p>