<p>Can you give me your opinion on each school and how it compares to the others listed. Can you rate them in terms of prestige, academicsm strength in premed and neuroscience as well as spanish and more humanities based studies, cutthroat versus laid back, student body, diversity, and opportunities for internships and research, as well as the cities nearby. is any school just a plain better/worse choice and which woul be better to get into a more prestigious med school in general. What makes each school unique?</p>
<p>I realize I am being superficial, but humor me :)</p>
<p>they’re all fantastic schools for premed, but i think you’re most likely going to enjoy college life and thrive as a premed student at either Northwestern or Rice, as these are really wonderful schools with superb student bodies, amazing campuses and great facilities and a career guidance office that’s only next to none. </p>
<p>JHU is quite amazing as well for premed, but it has this reputation for being cutthroat. It does have the best med school in your list, however.</p>
<p>You guys are spreading myth about Johns Hopkins. Your first semester grades at JHU are covered, meaning Satisfy/unsatify only and this helps you transit from high school to college. I am not aware the other schools on your list are doing this. It is one of the best pre-med programs in the country. It is not more cut-throad or stressful than any other top schools. Go and check the JHU board out.</p>
<p>Northwestern is on the quarter system and Rice is laid back. Tufts is laid back. Tufts and Northwestern are close to a big city, close to big cities (though Tufts is closer to its big city than Northwestern is to Chicago), and are well known for pred-med. All are very prestigious. I would argue that Tufts and JHU probably are the ones better known for pre-med (my opinion, no way a fact), but you really can’t go wrong with any of them (seriously, they are all excellent schools). JHU and Tufts are both well known for their internationalism. Tufts has the whole IR thing going for them, so as a result, they have a good language programs/spanish, etc… JHU I think offers the same deal as Tufts–strong IR results in strong languages and the obvious pre-med track is excellent. All are good. Visit them and find out what fits.</p>
<p>This choice is ALL about personal fit and preference. And whether they accept you of course. Don’t be silly about “prestige” – any of these schools will have more than enough prestige for your needs.</p>
<p>I agree with other posters. Those four universities are roughly equal in the “prestige” department. I would go for personal fit…assuming cost of attendance is the same.</p>
<p>Definitely all great schools, but I’d agree that Tufts and JHU are more well-known for their pre-med than NW or Rice. I don’t know much about the other schools’ tracks, but Tufts offers an early-admission program to the Tufts medical school. You take your intro bio/chem/orgo classes right away and then you can apply to Tufts med school at the end of your sophomore year. If you get in, you’re guaranteed a place in the school once you graduate, which relieves a lot of stress junior/senior years. Plus, as I’m sure you know, good med schools are impossible to get into, so this is a huge plus (admission for the early program is less cutthroat than regular med admissions).</p>
<p>Also, Tufts has a great cognitive/brain science major, as well as biopsych and regular biology, but not a straight-up neuroscience major. Strong internationalism and great language programs, just like JHU and Northwestern. Definitely a laid-back environment - students are competitive with themselves but not with others.</p>
<p>Rice is a great place for premeds. The Texas medical center (the largest med center in the WORLD) is right across the street and lots and lots of people get internships over there (and on campus too). Since rice is fairly small, internships are easy to get if you show initiative. Rice is not just near a city, it’s IN Houston with shopping, museums, restaurants, a park, and a zoo all easy walks from campus. Since there’s no “premed major” it’s common for premeds to double major in both something sciencey and something humanities. Also, the weather is amazing, the students (even premeds) are overall happy, and the residential college system is just great. All four schools are basically academically equal, a decision would just depend on personal preference.</p>
<p>You mentioned humanities. I think that Rice is the weakest in the humanities, but probably the best in the pure sciences.
The kids at Rice love it there. Seriously, according to posters here, social/atmosphere of Rice is the best of any top school.
Northwestern is probably the best “total package”. A great pre-med track, great econ/humanities. Hell, a great engineering school if that’s what’s for you, idk.</p>
<p>I would definitely name Tufts the top of these for Pre-med. Also, though, keep in mind where you want to attend Med School. For example, Tufts has an incredible med school. If you are considering it, Tufts for undergraduate will give you a huge leg up. </p>
<p>Johns Hopkins has excellent reviews for pre-med as well, but I’ve heard about a terrible “cutthroat” attitude among students there. Who knows if this is true…</p>
<p>Prestige: Northwestern >= JHU > Rice >> Tufts (This is what US News come up with, but I think with the exception of JHU and NW the differences are fairly clear)</p>
<p>Academic strength in premed and neuroscience: I think JHU is the best. Lots of premed research opportunities and advising, great neuroscience. </p>
<p>cutthroat versus laid back: Tufts is probably the best in this respect. </p>
<p>opportunities for internships: Northwestern > JHU > Rice >> Tufts</p>
<p>research: JHU is very good, I don’t know anything about research opportunities at the other schools.</p>
<p>Actually, I beg to differ. Tufts is small enough that there are plenty of research and internship opportunities. There are TONS of hospitals in and around the Boston area - Mass Gen, Boston Med Center, Tufts Med Center, etc. </p>
<p>Tufts, along with the other 3 schools, is in/near a major city, which provides plenty of job and internship opportunities, so the claim that they offer drastically fewer internships is completely false.</p>
<p>I think with medicine, it is about equal. But the OP specified general info too, like humanities. With humanities, I’m not sure which one would have the best opportunities. On one hand, Tufts is competing wiht like 30 other colleges for less internships than there are in Chicago. But I have no stats on the number of internships or the accessibility of them on Boston vs Baltimore vs Houston vs Chicago.</p>
<p>ellopoppet,
A great IR program doesn’t necessarily translate to a great spanish program, just like it doesn’t translate to highly ranked Asian history, African studies, European history, or poli sci…etc. For example, Northwestern’s poli sci is ranked higher than JHU/Tufts and its African history is ranked #1.</p>
I’m surprised you haven’t heard of Northwestern HPME and Rice/Baylor. They are more known than Tufts’ program, and unlike Tufts, they admit at the freshman level.</p>
Although humanities are rather unpopular with students there (accounting for a little over 10% of all majors), Hopkins is nevertheless the strongest in the humanities, followed closely by Northwestern. Rice and Tufts are more mediocre in the humanities, though both are more than adequate for anyone’s purposes, and I doubt most would notice a difference at the undergraduate level. </p>
<p>
While undoubtedly true, one wonders if the Houston weather lends itself to somewhat more happy pre-meds than chilly Chicago weather. If the coursework is going to be the same, one might as well do it somewhere nice. </p>
<p>(This is why many Duke pre-meds choose to do organic chem and bio at the marine lab in the summer…why not do it at the beach?)</p>
<p>Sorry, I might not have been clear in my wording, but I don’t think I said that it does. Tufts has a great IR program. Tufts also has great language programs, Spanish included. Related? No. Both true? Yes.</p>
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<p>I’m on the east coast, so Northwestern and Rice especially are rarely discussed/looked at by anyone near me (I went to a so-so public school that didn’t send many kids to top schools). I know that both are excellent schools, I just don’t know much about them since I didn’t consider them in my college search. Tufts and JHU are just more naturally brought up, that’s all.</p>