<p>Frankly, It is because Dartmouth is an ivy league school, whereas WUSTL is not. I have not heard of WUSTL when I grow up. That’s one of the reason why I am hesitating to go to WUSTL. Again, I want to know what schools are having higher average GPA than other schools on my list, Dartmouth, Wharton, WUSTL, Northwestern?</p>
<p>Good Lord, Humboldt, truly that (GPA) is no way to pick a school. Just go to Dartmouth and work hard, you will be fine. And yes, I know it is because Dartmouth is Ivy and Wash U is not. That is why I am telling you to go there, because obviously that is very important to you. And that’s OK. The whole theme of my posts is that you should go where you fit best (finances aside) and for you, it is clear you have to go the Ivy route for your own psychological well being. So quit agonizing over it and just tell Dartmouth you are coming. Wharton is way too specific, btw. You will enjoy the broader curriculum more.</p>
<p>You say you are planning on transferring to Stanford this year, so I am going to assume you did not get admitted this year, correct? If that is so, I would still not make the mistake of thinking you will be able to transfer so you need to choose the school this year that you think you will be happiest at for all 4 years.
Even though my D is turning down WashU, it was still in her final 3 schools to decide on.
There is no guarantee, either, that you will get into medical school anywhere regardless of your undergraduate school just because you are “premed”. So are many thousands of other high school seniors.
Go where you can get a great undergrad education for the least amount of money-WashU</p>
<p>hope4freeride - Where did you get that about Stanford? Did I miss something?</p>
<p>I did not apply to Stanford this year. I am going to apply there (I know it is a crap shot, but why not?) as a transfer student next spring though. That would be stupid if I go to a school just because of money and/or prestige. I want to consider EVERYTHING.</p>
<p>Some of the best advice anyone could receive on this board is “follow the money,” which many of the prior posters have urged you to consider. Even if your parents could afford it, the Ivy tag is an extra 50 thousand dollars. That is around the median household income for an entire year. Is putting your parents and/or yourself in that kind of debt worth the ego massage? If we were comparing Darmouth to an unranked no-name school in the middle of nowhere, then I could see a compelling argument. However, WashU is a well respected school, especially for your field. Save the dough for grad school.</p>
<p>I am a very ambitious guy. I know Wash.U. is amazing but I have never imagined it as my Alma Mater. In fact, I always imagined myself going to Harvard (whether it is undergraduate or graduate school). I heard of some rumor that big companies are not hiring many Wash.U. business student than those from Dartmouth, Wharton, and Harvard (they have amazing alumni connection in the business field, including Wall Street.</p>
<p>Concerning its endowment rate and academic quality, I am very confident that Wash.U. will become even more prestigious. In my opinion, I will soon ranked top 10 in a near future.</p>
<p>I want to find my career interest during my years at college. It will probably be Medicine or Business (or combination of both). As I said before, in medical science field, Wash.U. is one of the very best. I heard Olin Business School is good but not the best (top 10), though.</p>
<p>I know tons of Dartmouth graduates who lead many major companies like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Washington Mutual. For example, Henry Paulson, 74th United States Treasury Secretary, previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs. It was succeed by Timothy Geithner, who is also a Dartmouth graduate. Lots of employers visit other campuses too. Also, according to Wall Street Journal, Dartmouth alumni earn higher salary than any other schools in the United States.</p>
<p>I think I don’t just want to be a doctor or businessman. I want to do something more than that; Perhaps, I want to do both (please correct me if you think I am wrong). I want to make a positive influence to the world.</p>
<p>You say that you’re not primarily concerned with prestige, but it certainly sounds like you are. You are worried because you didn’t know about it when you grow up (unless you’re worried about children looking down on your college choice, not a big deal). You imagined yourself going to Harvard…I don’t understand what the relevance of that is. So you wanted to go to a school you knew was prestigious as a kid, probably alone with 80% of the people on CC. I don’t know where the rumor came from about big companies not hiring WU grads. I might be wrong, but I’m guessing that you read it somewhere on these boards. I don’t think that is a very reliable source of information. </p>
<p>I don’t understand your concern about which companies are run by alumni. You realize those people went to Dartmouth a long time ago. Just because they are successful doesn’t mean it was simply because of their Dartmouth education. A lot of successful people went to Dartmouth. A lot of successful people went to Wash U. A lot of successful people went to state universities. None of that is relevant. Pick the school you think would fit you best instead of basing your decisions on rankings and statistics that don’t really mean much once you get into top 25 schools. They are all good.</p>
<p>That being said, I think you should go to Dartmouth. It sounds like it would be difficult for you to have people not know how good Wash U is. It’s not a bad thing (I don’t care about going to an Ivy or not, and it still annoyed me sometimes). I don’t think it’s a good thing to place so much importance in how future job earnings, job placement, and alumni connections are ranked or perceived by others. But that’s a personal opinion. I decided not to go to Harvard because I thought Wash U was the perfect place for me. Yes, people would have recognized the quality of my school much more if I had gone to Harvard, but that really doesn’t matter enough to base decisions on it.</p>
<p>^ Did you turn down Harvard or did not apply there?</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=Humboldt]
I think I don’t just want to be a doctor or businessman. I want to do something more than that
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well guess what Humboldt? You are NOT going to BECOME more than just a toolish cog in the machine when your attitude to education is, “What beaten path or college will lead me from point A to point B?” First, grow up in college and then figure out what YOU want to do from there.</p>
<p>And I don’t want tools like you at my school. So go to WashU, or I hope to dear God you get off the Harvard waitlist so that I don’t have to witness more toolish students like you who think they know it all when in reality, they don’t know ****. Typical high schoolers…</p>
<p>Come on, jrrrmph. You can point out to Humboldt that you think he is being naive or whatever, but be nice, or at least more constructive. How would you like it if I said it was rude people like you that think they know it all and are condescending to others that make people not want to go to your school? Of course you wouldn’t care, but hopefully you get the point. You ask Humboldt to grow up in college. When are you going to start?</p>
<p>Yeah, that was way too harsh. Sorry for him, Humboldt.</p>
<p>tough love hurts. Let me try to be smoother: Humboldt, you are clearly academically gifted, but the tone of your posts would lead most readers to believe that you may suffer from a common ailment seen on these boards — it’s called craniosacral inversion. There will come a day when school is over and the rankings of your alma maters will not be so important. That day is called your first day of work. If you are still plagued with CSI at that time the amount of your student debt will become very important to you as your tenure at that job will be short. You’re obviously a smart guy. Worry less about which incredibly great school you go to and more about curing your disease.</p>
<p>OK, that is a somewhat gentler way of telling someone they have their head in a dark place, but that still could have been left out and the constructive parts at the end would stand out more.</p>
<p>What everyone is trying to tell you, Humboldt, but you just don’t want to believe it, is that you really have to pick a school that will help you mature, help you find your calling, and leave you feeling you made the best decision possible given that no one has a crystal ball. In that regard, based on your posts, I would clearly say Dartmouth or Wash U, and given that I still think you would regret not having the Ivy name associated with yours, you should go with Dartmouth. You will sleep better tonight if you just make that decision and move on.</p>
<p>Thank you people. I have not visited any of the campuses except for Stanford and UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>I did a lot of researches. I realized that Wash.U. is even more an amazing school that I thought. I am also thinking of NYU BA/DDS (7 year Doctor of Dental Science) Program. How do you think of going to NYU? I prefer living in a matropolitan area like NYC than rural, but always schools quality matters much more than where it is located (For example, Dartmouth is in rural area but it would not be a big problem).</p>
<p>On my list,</p>
<p>Most likely:
Dartmouth (D-Plan, Undergrad focus)
Wash.U. No doubt that it is one of the premiere academic higher education institutions in the United States. I heard that TAs teach some of the big lecture at Wash.U., True?
Northwestern Not enough information at this moment.
Notre Dame
UC Berkeley UCLA (As a californian, they are always good options and UCLA is in one of my favorate locations, Los Angels)-grade deflation is a minus, though.
NYU DDS Program (scholarship (not free though) location and I can be a dentist!)</p>
<p>Maybe:
Fordham (Free and location, NYC, but NYU seems a better school)
Harvey Mudd (At this moment, I’d say Berkeley though+expensive+grade deflation)
Vandy and Emory
JHU (No financial aid makes me turn down JHU)</p>
<p>I am not sure what is wrong with being ambitious and asking for advice on CC. BTW, albeit it is not even worth to argue with someone silly, I am not like studying machine high schooler. In fact, I am a high school graduate who did some incredible things for his age. Perhaps, that’s one of the reason I got into many great school. I am an unique, different, and motivated person.</p>
<p>How many forums is this post in? WUSTL is the best choice for pre-med. The feel of the campus is entirely up to you. Have you even visited any of them? Is money an issue for you? If money is an issue, that just makes WUSTL the only choice for you.</p>
<p>Money is somewhat an issue for me. I really want to visit the campuses but I could not afford it. I am going to visit some of the campuses soon though.</p>
<p>Humboldt: I was just at the Multicultural Weekend and from what I heard all classes are taught by professors.</p>
<p>Well Humboldt, first of all if you are going to visit you better get to it. You do know May 1 is the deadline, I am sure. That leaves you what, 10 days? Doesn’t make much sense. I mean just walking onto a campus doesn’t tell you much. You should have stayed overnight, gone to classes, lived the life for at least a day and a night, preferably 2.</p>
<p>Second, there is nothing wrong with being ambitious or asking for advice on CC. Obviously we are only too willing to give it (even if it is free advice and you get what you pay for, lol). The problem is you seem to have this huge quantity and diversity of choices that you haven’t narrowed down at all. And they seem to keep changing, or at least new ones seem to pop up. It makes you appear either completely indecisive or that you have done no culling of the list yourself. Look at what you just posted and think what you would think if someone else posted that. There is no way on earth to comment on something like that meaningfully. It is one thing when you are deciding between 2 or 3 schools, but after that there are way to many variables and way too many unknowns about you to make this forum useful at all. That is why you are generating the comments you are. That, and the fact that statements like “…I am not like studying machine high schooler. In fact, I am a high school graduate who did some incredible things for his age. Perhaps, that’s one of the reason I got into many great school. I am an unique, different, and motivated person.” just sound bizarre. There are a few grammatical errors in it for someone so smart (“I got into many great school” and “an unique”) and the rest is constructed clumsily. I am not trying to get on you as some others have. I am just pointing out why they have, and why your post is ridiculous.</p>
<p>Frankly I now doubt this is real. For one, someone as presumably smart as you would have had at least Wash U offer to pay for their trip so it would not have cost you a dime. Wash U is famous for that. But if you are for real, then figure out what you want and narrow it down.</p>
<p>alphast0rm - That is very nearly the case. There are a few lecture sessions of intro classes in a few subjects that are taught by non-tenure track faculty or by advanced grad students. They are pretty limited though. There was something about this in another thread. I think it crept into the “101 reasons to attend Wash U” thread.</p>