<p>I see all three of these schools as pretty close competitors - as does U.S. News. Were I you, and I am expressing this in an overly simplistic way, I would choose ND if I loved the idea of a rah-rah brotherhoody type of environment - and didn't mind the absence of an attractive nearby city; Georgetown if being in a neat urban environment was important; and Vanderbilt if you wanted the social atmosphere of a Southern U.</p>