<p>Having read some of the posts up there it seems like ND is, in fact, a great school in many ways. However, I would have to disagree on Eplayer007 that ND is "generally considered a better university." I go to a pretty renowned prep school in california called the Cate School, and almost no one in my class this year applied to ND except for one of my friends who applied because her parents are hardcore catholics. Whereas quite a few applied and are actually attending NU this year. That being said, ND along with BC are probably well known as "religiously-affiliated" schools while NU's reputation is more national. This seems to be the general perception of the two schools here in California at least. I didn't apply to ND, but considering the fact that both schools are "top-tier" schools, I am sure the quality of student life and academics are excellent in both schools.</p>
<p>shellzie2006, if you're so confident with your choice, why do you mention in basically every single post that you chose Notre Dame over Dartmouth and Amherst?</p>
<p>From reading the doppleganger of this thread on the ND forum I have come to the following conclusion: ND is better if and only if you are a) Catholic or b) Conservative or c) Looking for a very homogeneous community.</p>
<p>ND is usually considered the best CATHOLIC school, but not a peer institution for Northwestern. Northwestern is considered a peer institution of Duke, Penn, Rice, Vanderbilt, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth. Northwestern is a much stronger school in terms of research. I would also like to see the source of the statistic that said 70% choose ND over NU, but that probably mainly because most people who apply to ND are catholics, so most would be looking for that kind of environment and would choose ND. I do say that ND is known more in the US because of its legendary football program, but I would argue that NU is known more internationally than ND. I have seen numerous World University rankings, like this one: <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/</a> , and NU is usually ranked around 30 or so in the WORLD, but I have never seen Notre Dame on any of the world university rankings.</p>
<p>I don't think ND is usually considered better than Georgetown, nor are all of the schools you listed usually considered "peer institutions".</p>
<p>Actually Duke, Penn, Rice, Vanderbilt, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth are ALL considered better than Georgetown (with the exception of the SFS at Gtown, but that's hardly the entire school). I agreee though, Gtown is definitely considered better than ND.</p>
<p>Would it make much sense for Princeton students to argue that they are better than Yale? No, because they are so close in quality.</p>
<p>As for the peer assessment and US World Rankings, they have always received criticism. Obviously Princeton is better than whatever schools are at the bottom of the list. But how can you say that Northwestern is better than ND simply because they are 14th while ND is 20th? Does alumni giving rate matter that much to your undergraduate experience?</p>
<p>Many of the peer assessors have stated that they can only assess a small number of schools, while US News gives them a bunch of universities that they don't know well at all.</p>
<p>I never applied to NU, but I can say that I'm going to ND because the campus is incredible, and the sense of family is very strong. I turned down UMich and UCLA engineering because even though ND's engineering program is much weaker according to rankings, the university as a whole has an excellent reputation. I won't have a problem finding a job after college as long I don't screw up. I'm sure it's the same at NU.</p>
<p>They're both top 20 schools, and it's about fit. I probably would have gone to Notre Dame if I had the choice of any university in the country. None of us can say that NU or ND is definitely better.</p>
<p>I know they're all considered above Georgetown, perhaps I was unclear. They aren't all considered "peer institutions" with one another. ie Vanderbilt is not Dartmouth's peer institution.</p>
<p>eternity1115: "Northwestern is considered a peer institution of Duke, Penn, Rice, Vanderbilt, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth."</p>
<p>It seems to me that Vanderbilt and Rice would be peer institutions while Penn and Dartmouth would be on a different league. "Leauge" is probably not the best choice of word, but isn't NU considered a peer of UChicago, Duke and, increasingly, WashU? Perhaps, USNews Rankings have played a role in WashU's elevated status, but I've no doubt NU and UChicago are generally considered peer schools.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt was a mistake, I guess I wasnt thinking straight when I put it up with the other schools, but I meant Duke, Penn, Rice, U of Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown, and Cornell are Northwestern's peer institutions.
gd016, I don't think Dartmouth and Penn are in their own different league b/c with Penn, Wharton is the only thing that sets them apart from a lot of schools and NU's econ is one of the top 5 in the country, and with Dartmouth its the same deal in other departments.</p>
<p>I'm confused. NU is better than ND because US News says so, but Gtown is better than ND even though it's ranked lower. At this point is everyone just trying to say Notre Dame is a bad school?</p>
<p>NU over:</p>
<p>Duke
Columbia
JHU
Tufts
George Washington</p>
<p>Waitlisted:
Penn
Amherst College
Emory
Wash U</p>
<p>I only read the first two or three pages.. but for the whole NU v. Duke situation.. one thing I will say seems pretty reasonable is that most of these people are choosing the HPME program over Duke.
If I was completely set on med school and applied for NU's HPME program.. I would have probably chose that over Duke too.</p>
<p>actually Coola, the majority of them are not HPME. The HPME kids say HMPE when they choose. Don't tute your own horns.</p>
<p>Coola, people don't need HPME to choose NU over Duke. Sorry, Duke isn't HYPS.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people choose NU over Duke because of location/atmosphere... The schools are pretty similar as far as prestige and academics (with slight variations depending on the program), but they have a completely different feel once you walk on the campus. At this level, fit seems like a good predictor of how happy you'll be in the next four years... Which is probably why people choose ND over NU; it just depends on what you're looking to get out of college. It seems helpful to try and look beyond prestige; I know two people who went to Princeton, hated it, and ended up transferring to state schools where they're much happier... It just depends!</p>
<p>I agree with incidentally. Once two schools are at the level of, say, Duke and NU it comes down to "fit" and "preference." I'm not in HPME, in fact, I'm an econ major, but I chose NU over Duke because of its location and campus setting, and student body. Besides NU also has the slight edge in a lot different areas, one of which includes economics according to the NRC rankings (google it). Duke certainly isn't HYPS; HPME wouldn't be the only reason to choose NU over duke. It depends on preference.</p>
<p>I know that the topic now is NU vs. Duke... but I'd just like to say something:</p>
<p>You Northwestern people sound like whining schoolboy *****es.</p>
<p>You say that your school is better/equal to Duke somehow and then talk about how much better than Notre Dame it is. If you're going to say the #14 school is equal to Duke (#8,?), don't automatically rule out the fact that the #20 school is as good as the #14 school.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that Notre Dame is more nationally renowned than Northwestern could ever dream of being. This is mostly due to football, ya, I'll give you scrubs that so you can sleep at night. Maybe you guys have a little bit higher academic reputation, but don't tell me you automatically get a better education at NU than ND. </p>
<p>I don't give a flying **** about what kind of "core school" it is; the fact of the matter is that at Notre Dame; you get the most unique collegiate experience of any school and get pretty much the ultimate combination of academics and big-time athletics (other than Duke).</p>
<p>Northwestern and Notre Dame are virtually identical. If NU was so much better 70% of people who got into both wouldn't choose ND...</p>
<p>If you guys are jealous that ND has a good football team, then fine, but listening to you ***** about how great your school is compared to Duke and ND has basically sealed my deal.</p>
<p>GO IRISH.</p>
<p>you've been on this forum for less than half a month and you know everything. way to come up with some facts instead of opinions. o wait, there arent any facts. just a bunch of ranting and a few curses. what an intellectual.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>USNEWS Rankings don't matter at this level (6th to 20th). Fit is so much more important. That said, Northwestern and Notre Dame are NOT identical in terms of environment, however you choose to interpret the word. </p></li>
<li><p>Just because ND is "unique" doesn't make it good for everyone. For example, Deep Springs is unique, yet we don't see it being swamped with thousands of apps.</p></li>
<li><p>To my fellow NU mafia, I absolutely love the school spirit. But all this chump is saying is that ND has better football than NU. I'll give him that. Unfortunately, ND isn't even up there with the big football schools. What's it now, the 9th straight bowl game loss? ND doesn't deserve to be at bowl games in its current state. The defense was absolutely embarassing all year, and the four QB hopefuls were mediocre in the Blue-Gold game. If football is the only thing you can hold over NU, it's certainly not much to shout about.</p></li>
</ol>