Hello everyone! I’ve posted this discussion a few times in other forums, but with less than 2 weeks to decide, I wanted to hear any last comments about these two universities. To begin, I live near Chicago, Illinois and have lived there nearly my entire life. I plan on majoring in biomedical engineering and attending medical school. One of the biggest factors for me is cost for these two universities as Vanderbilt only costs $2,050 compared to Northwestern’s $7,400. As a result, I was wondering if there was any significant factor that would outweigh the cost between these 2 universities.
Next, how easy would it be to obtain research opportunities / internships at these two colleges? Is the pre-med program at either college better than the other? Also, what is the atmosphere like at both of the universities? I’ve been able to informally visit Northwestern and have heard many great things about it from my friends, but I have yet to do the same with Vanderbilt (I’m not a huge fan on country music though, haha). Lastly, the longest time I’ve spent away from my family was about 2 months; however, I feel that I would be okay with visiting them only on holidays (sorry if that sounds harsh!). Is there any advice for a clueless high school senior regarding this?
If you could answer any of my questions, that would be amazing. Thank you!
First, congratulations on being accepted to two excellent colleges. You’ll probably feel more “at home” at Northwestern; however Vanderbilt is basically inside Nashiville and there are many internship positions available there. Adjusting to a Southern state after living in Illinois for your entire life might be difficult though.
You have to decide if you would prefer an atmosphere you’re used to, or a new one that you may or may not like.
Thank you so much, @1golfer1! Yea, I feel that there will be some adjusting needed if I were to go to Vanderbilt. And, since some of my friends are attending Northwestern as well, I’m also a bit worried that I’ll only hang out with them (which at the moment doesn’t seem too bad).
My kid picked N.U. over vandy and regrets it. Weather too harsh, students too nerdy and overly focused on studies…not much fun. Too many students from both coasts seem unfriendly and ticked they didn’t get into an Ivy.
Moooop, guess what? Half the kids from Class of 2019 applied early decision. They wanted N U, not an Ivy. Maybe your kid regrets their decision, but your generalization of the kids that do attend is completely subjective and not helpful. This student lives in Chicago, I don’t think weather is going to be an issue!
Educated, I guess I missed the memo that put u in.charge of deciding what’s helpful. My bad. I’ll run everything by u in the future.
Just because a kid is from Chicago, it does not mean he is accustomed to or will enjoy multiple mile-long walks per day on a windy lakefront campus. And half were ED? How 'bout the other half?
I agree with educateddarcy. I don’t think Northwestern students have a “Tufts syndrome”. It is regarded on par with the Ivies by most educated people. Only universities that are selective but not as well respected as the Ivy League enroll such students in great numbers. NU, however, is as well respected as the Ivy League, so there aren’t many students who enrol there that wish thyey had gone to an Ivy League.
And mooop, the NU campus does not require multiple mile-long walks daily! LOL! I went to two significantly larger universities (one for grad school and one for undergrad), and I seldom walked more than 20 minutes outdoors in an entire day, even when Ilived off campus. Besides, you make too fine a point about the weather. I grew up in what is quite possibly the warmest city on earth (100+ degrees day or night 6 months/year), and I found those cold Midwestern and Upstate New York winters perfectly manageable, as did most of the students I knew.
To the OP, first look at cost. Vanderbilt is $20k cheaper over four years. That alone is something to consider. If cost is not a concern, then go with your gut. You cannot go wrong with those two amazing universities.
I invite moooop to look at the northwestern cc regular decision postings. Seems to me there were plenty of kids who were desperate to get into NU with Ivy stats. One more thing, whats wrong with the nerds? I married one and am very happy! Being a nerd is a good thing in my book! But honestly, nerd is not in my adult vocabulary.
Just my 2 cents: Don’t let weather effect your college decision? Seems like a no brainer, not like the human body hasn’t yet adapted to withstand the differences in each of the respective regions after living in the other one for an extended time.
Please measure the length of the NU campus. It’s about a mile. Almost all dorms are at one end or other. Most classrooms are at one end or other. In middle are libraries, grad biz school, school of theology, and many other things undergrads don’t use on a daily basis.
Alex, you can drop your upbringing in warm city anecdote on every thread on cc…it still doesn’t make that long walk warmer for anyone . My kid reports snow this morning in Evanson, and many are miserable.
I grew up around Detroit, Boston, Chicago…the concept that people who grow up in such climates just laugh off the cold is ridiculous. They gripe as much as anybody.else…they just know how to drive and dress a little better. But they.get cold like anybody else…
NU is great…but the op wanted some items he could use to inform his choice. The rose-colored glasses view u are giving helps no body.
I looked back at the original post which does not even raise the issue of weather so we are arguing over a baseless point. I hope your son is able to transfer or acclimate to NU.
OTOH, Nashville is a fun town and they call it the capital of country music. I have spent time there and it’s an awesome town. Vandy seems like a fun college. I like their football program too. Please deliberate carefully.
Undergrads don’t use the library?
In any case, when I attended NU, I biked everywhere. I don’t understand why you’d walk when you can bike.
And I agree that weather shouldn’t be a consideration for a serious student.
BTW, if you prefer NU over Vandy, you can ask NU if they would be willing to match Vandy on fin aid.
I visited Northwestern over spring break. Of the ten or so tour guides, I recall about six of them were premed. So I can say it is fairly popular there. However, I cannot testify for Vandy.
It sounds as if the OP may actually be more comfortable staying closer to home from the initial posts, nearer to her family, and perhaps not experience so much of a culture “shock” in this case. Usually I recommend the opposite, that broadening one’s experience is a great thing at this age. But it doesn’t always represent the best fit for a particular student, and here it sounds Evanston and NU’s offerings work well, assuming costs are feasible.
I’d also recommend NU over Vandy, though not significantly so.
. Purple, u really should learn to read better: “daily basis” library use kind of replaced by something called interknot or something like that. Yeah, all those silly people walking are absurd. So much safer to bike in snow, rain, at night, when with friends who are on foot, when drinking.
Most classrooms are not “at one end or other”. They are closer to the center than end. NU’s campus is pretty compact when compared to many other schools. Many public schools are much bigger than NU. Stanford, Harvard, and Cornell are also considerably larger. Buildings at Williams are spread over a larger area. Penn and Vandy are also larger, though not by much. If you complain about walking distances at NU, you would probably complain just about anything. Most people were pretty friendly and almost nobody talked about where he/she applied or got rejected, let alone being “ticked they didn’t get into Ivies”.