Hi everyone! I was accepted into Northwestern, UCB, and Barnard, and I’m having a hard time deciding which to choose. For context, I’m from California and want to study journalism and economics. I listed a couple pros and cons below, but I could use some advice!
Northwestern: Best for journalism, good econ, best in terms of “ranking” (although not many people from California - at least that I’ve talked to - know of it), cold but close to Chicago, costs a lot (I can afford it though)
UCB: Best for econ, not great for liberal arts, close to home (maybe too close??), cheaper than the other two, definitely well-known
Barnard: Best location (NYC!), access to twice as much (Barnard and Columbia), lots of on-campus support, costs a lot, not as good in the programs I’d like
If you got accepted into NU’s journalism school (Medill), I would take that. If you’re in their A&S school, them it’s a tougher call, maybe UCB because of the price.
Northwestern is on the quarter system, with an academic year split into three 10-week quarters instead of the usual two 15-week semesters.
For introductory economics, UCB and Barnard have one semester of combined micro/macro. Northwestern has two quarters of introductory courses.
How much math do you want in your economics? All require single variable calculus and introductory statistics, but UCB offers an optional intermediate economics and econometrics course series that uses multivariable calculus and linear algebra. (More math is better if you want to go on to PhD study in economics, which also expects more advanced math and statistics course work as well.)
Beyond the core intermediate microeconomics, intermediate macroeconomics, and econometrics courses, economics majors take upper level economics electives. You may want to check the catalog and schedule offerings at each school to see which one has upper level electives most interesting to you.
UCB requires a 3.0 college GPA in the frosh/soph prerequisites to enter the economics major.
Thanks for the advice! I was accepted into Medill, which is the main reason I’m seriously considering Northwestern. I also do want a strong econ program that incorporates a good amount of math, though - I’ve taken through multivariable calc as of senior year and want to keep taking math courses in college.
Based on your academic interests, Northwestern University seems to be the strongest choice.
Because you were admitted to Medill, you can easily double major in economics. If you are strong–very strong–at math, then Northwestern has one or two programs in conjunction with Kellogg (a graduate school of business) designed for those who want to pursue a combination of math & economics & finance, and, almost assuredly, their pick of internships. Tremendous mentoring, but the program(s) is quite rigorous.
While NU is the academic powerhouse among your three options, Barnard College is intriguing due to location–although not as good as Northwestern’s lakefront upscale suburban location in my opinion–and connection with Columbia.
At Northwestern, Kellogg offers two undergraduate certificate programs. The core courses are graduate level courses with plenty of math taught by Kellogg professors. There’s also a MS Kellogg program only available to NU undergrads to apply.
@merc81
USN ranks Northwestern number 7 in econ with a peer assessment score of 4.9 out of 5.0. The ranking in your link ranked Barnard #13 among liberal arts colleges two years ago and now it’s #5. I don’t see how any school can change that much in two years. To collect data, the site relies on volunteers registering with it. I don’t think schools should be ranked based on whether faculty register with the site. I noticed that Brown’s economic department has less than 40 faculty but somehow has 55 “authors”. I am not sure how that is possible. By the way, no prospective PhD candidate would follow the ranking in your link and choose Brown over Northwestern. https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/authentic-ranking-of-top-15-departments/page/7 https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/phd-at-brown-vs-northwestern-vs-berkeley-haas
UCB for Econ. Use the $ you save to either subsidize your living expenses during your first two years working as a journalists right out of school (most reporters do NOT have journalism degrees) or to get a Master’s in journalism at Columbia.
I personally think this is between UBC for its lower cost and Northwesten for its strong econ program with the possibility of pairing it with MMSS or Kellogg cert (or both). I’d consider Medill only if you feel strongly about becoming a journalist.
Columbia’s econ department is terrific. There’s no reason why at Barnard you can’t take classes there as they share campuses (Barnard is one of CU’s four undergrad colleges.)
I personally would take NYC over Chicago any day. That lakefront is mighty windy and cold during the winters, which are long there. Barnard’s back yard is Riverside Park, a gorgeous park that goes along the Hudson River–an estuary-- for miles It’s pretty all four seasons, with wildlife, and NYC winters are surprisingly mild because it’s in the ocean. While Chicago is no slouch when it comes to culture and job opportunities, nothing compares with NYC’s offerings. Nothing. And Barnard is on a subway line that makes it easy and cheap to get to the rest of the city. CU provides free and reduced-price tickets to virtually every type of performance and the CU/Barnard ID card allows you free entrance to many attractions such as museums–the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can literally walk on Sunday mornings through Central Park to the Met and just look around for about 20 minutes then duck out again–for free.
@Dustyfeathers
NU has great performing arts programs with more performances than CU in both quantity and quality. Metropoltican Museum of Art is not free for students. It costs $12 bucks. Even NYC subway has no student discount (OTOH, one way ticket costs 75 cents for students in Chicago). Barnard is technically not CU’s undergrad college though one can argue it practically is. I don’t know what it means when it comes to sense of belonging or school spirit. Does Barnard students identify themselves more with Barnard, especially for those who want to pass off to others as Columbia students? With all that NYC has to offer, it also means more spending if you want to enjoy those offerings. It’s fine to live in Manhattan if you have a nice paying job or got plenty of allowances from parents. What does it mean to someone on a student budget? Can one keep up with his/her friends to enjoy the nights out?
