<p>here is my final college list:</p>
<p>Dartmouth (Less than 12K)
Brown (No PLME)
Northwestern (Fin-aid Pending)
WUSTL (Full-ride)
JHU (No Financial Aid)
Emory
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt
UC Berkeley
UCLA (about 20K)</p>
<p>My intended major is Biology or Economics. I am a pre-med student but I may change my mind to go to business or Law school. I still want to have an amazing pre-med program at college.</p>
<p>Based on what I’ve heard, JHU and WUSTL will be your best bets for Premed/Biology. I’m choosing WUSTL because of the flexibility; if you don’t like Premed, I hear it’s quite easy to change majors/schools. That drew me there in the first place.</p>
<p>WUSTL no doubt… amazing pre-med + top 1 or 2 med school + very very highly ranked as an MBA feeder school (no proof, unfortunately)+ FREE RIDE?! I am 99.9% positive you should go to WashU.</p>
<p>Guys and Girls, please message me so that we can talk on Instant messenger.
I am not too sure because Ivys got the name whereas WUSTL doesn’t though it is a great school, no doubt.</p>
<p>WUSTL doesn’t hold the same name as Ivy’s amongst your peers. Where it matters (workplace, grad school), it def has the prestige.</p>
<p>I will add to my previous post that I just looked up business school rankings and Dartmouth does rank somewhat higher, bust WashU is still in the top 25 AND offers the flexibility between majors and taking interdisciplinary course-loads, whereas I have heard the Ivies are a little annoying for attributes such as those (again hearsay,but that is what I have from which to form the basis of my argument).</p>
<p>Plus, I think students just have such a spectacular college experience at WashU (I am an architecture major), and many say that the business majors have the best time. </p>
<p>The flexibility is the major point though, and you most certainly have that at WashU.</p>
<p>Humboldt - It wasn’t clear if you meant you got 12K from Dartmouth or you would have to pay 12K, although it looks more like the latter. In any case, I cannot say strongly enough that you would be making a HUGE mistake to worry about the Ivy name. A free ride at Wash U vs. significant debt (probably) at other schools? Think of the flexibility that gives you coming out, whether you choose medicine, law, or something else. And Wash U’s track record for people getting into professional school is tremendous, so what could the Ivy name possibly mean? Wash U will get you your goal if you do your part.</p>
<p>I am confused as to how your fin aid could still be pending though, unless you appealed. How do they expect you to make a decision if you don’t have all the information? Oh well, unless you are totally hung up on nameplate issues or have some other fit issues, the kind of offer made to you by Wash U, a top 15 institution, is fabulous. Based on what you have said in your OP, I don’t see how this is even a question. It is a great school, certainly on par with or better than NU.</p>
<p>Sorry, it was not clear. I meant my family needs to pay 12K a year. I appealed for review to all the schools. For me, Dartmouth (I would still consider even if I have to pay 12K), WUSTL (Full-ride, and great pre-med), Northwestern (if I can pay less than 5K, and I prefer living in/near a big city), UC Berkeley (Because it is the number one public,though it is graduate school focused and huge grade deflation)</p>
<p>vandy, Notre Dame, and Emory are great schools but not as much as the schools on my top list (Dartmouth WUSTL Northwestern).</p>
<p>JHU is almost out because they didn’t give any financial aid. Also, even if they offered me a full-ride, WUSTL might be slightly better than JHU except for its recognition to common ppl.</p>
<p>I am also on Harvard waitlist. if I get off from the Harvard Wait-list, would it be better decision to turn down WUSTL?</p>
<p>Honestly, I would choose WashU over an Ivy (as long as fin. aid was the same at both), but now that WashU is a free ride and based on what you stated in the OP, I agree with fallenchemist in that there really should be very little to consider. No offense, but the name recognition is an overstatement considering the people/graduate schools that will want you to enlist with them. Have you visited WashU? If you haven’t I believe the visit will undeniably tip the tables in WashU’s favor. Unless Harvard gave you a full ride off the waitlist, I wouldn’t even think about it. Even if they gave me a full ride, I would still come to WashU.</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong between WashU and Dartmouth under these circumstances. Try to visit and go to the one you like best.</p>
<p>Whoa! Full Ride at Wash U?? Beats all the rest hands down! Fantastic pre med program! Save you $$ for med school if you do decide to go.</p>
<p>I would choose WashU. (But of course I’m biased because I’ve pretty much always wanted to go to WashU.) You have a full ride so why not? But remember it all comes down to what you want. Relying on rankings, name recognition, etc. is not the best way to go about making such an important decision that will impact you for the rest of your life. The fact is that WashU is a highly reputable school that will give you a fantastic education. It looks like you have been admitted into various universities that rival WUSTL’s academics though. Just figure out what your personal preferences are and choose the school that best matches them. I hope you make the choice that’s right for you!</p>
<p>WashU’s finaid is great isn’t it (got full ride too)? I never thought attending a school of such caliber would be a financial reality for me, but WUSTL gave me the best offer I could ever have asked for (would’ve been really dumb to turn it down). It’s the truth when they say that they’re committed to making the expenses affordable - at least in my case anyway.</p>
<p>While there are definitely appealing reasons to go to each one of those schools,</p>
<p>given your current situation, I think you would be quite remiss to pass up Wash U. </p>
<p>WUSTL: great name, great pre-med (probably best premed program in country), great opportunities for research, great degree of flexibility to switch majors and double major, great dorms, great food, and FULL RIDE</p>
<p>I wish my college decision equation yielded such a clear winner. I struggled before I made the ultimate decision to come to WUSTL, but since being here I’ve never looked back. If my choices were as clear cut as yours, OMG it would take 4 seconds to decide :)</p>
<p>Ivy League (especially Dartmouth)? and what if Northwestern comes up with Full-ride?</p>
<p>No one can tell you that answer Humboldt. How could anyone know where you would fit better and be happier, especially between NU or Wash U? They are of similar quality, size, ranking… Chicago is obviously a bigger city with more going on, but there is only so much time to take advantage of all that anyway. Do you like NU’s trimester system? That is a real difference between the two schools. That’s IF NU offers you full ride. I would have to think that is unlikely at this stage, but they better tell you soon either way.</p>
<p>As far as Dartmouth, you seem pretty hung up on the Ivy League nameplate. I don’t mean that as an insult to you, although I think it is way overblown. But truly, if it is that important to you, then you might always regret not doing it. And obviously it is a great school, you or your family would just be about $50,000 poorer for your needing that Ivy League degree to brag about later. All these things are factors no one can answer for you.</p>
<p>^
Very insightful, fallenchemist. I would like to know a lot more about Dartmouth, WUSTL, and NU (hoping to get full-ride).</p>
<p>the line is thin between these schools
go where the money is (if it matters) or where you’re happiest.</p>
<p>But for premed, JHU and Wustl are up there.</p>
<p>How good is Dartmouth’s Pre-Med Program (I assume Wharton is not the best place for Pre-Med/Pre-Law students)? I also think Dartmouth and Wharton are about the same in business field (Tuck Vs Wharton: BTW, Tuck is #1 right now, Wharton #3). Dartmouth is like a LAC of Ivy (undergraduate focused and the smallest ivy league school) and it is truly amazing school. I know WUSTL and JHU are amazing in Pre-Med. I heard JHU’s really bad cut throat, and only the best of the best group of students do well with top medical schools placement. How’s Wash.U.'s Pre-Med and Business (or Economics) Program???
I am not too sure whether companies like Goldman Sachs will respect Wash.U.'s brand name when they see someone from Dartmouth and Princeton. I can see in medical science field Wash.U. is one of the very best (they have alot of world class (i.e. Nobel prize winners) professors and researchers in medical science field).</p>
<p>I think how “good” Dartmouth’s pre-med program is vs. WUSTL’s Nobel-winning research is a moot question. Both schools are held in very high regard, so in the end getting into med school will come down to college GPA, science GPA and MCAT scores. I think a question to consider is, at which school are you more likely to succeed at? I suspect Dartmouth has an advantage due its small size and intense focus on undergrad education.</p>
<p>Congratulations – to have Dartmouth and WUSTL putting up significant funds means they are bidding for your attendance. That’s quite an achievement.</p>
<p>Completely agree with JusDisDad. I can tell from the tone of your posts, Humboldt, that you would be happiest at Dartmouth. It absolutely won’t hurt your chance for med school if you do well there, and you obviously like the idea of going there. Which I totally get, btw. I agree with your assessment that Dartmouth is the most LAC like of the Ivy’s, with Brown being next I think. I encouraged my D to apply to Dartmouth for that very reason, but she decided it wasn’t for her, which is fine of course. But it really sounds to me like Dartmouth makes the most sense for you.</p>