<p>@dcircle</p>
<p>Incorrect, Dartmouth has more prestige on CC, on the east coast, for undergrad (Ivy League effect mostly).</p>
<p>NU has more prestige internationally, and as a graduate school in general.</p>
<p>The</a> New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices</p>
<ol>
<li>Students at the 2 schools are virtually identical in academic strength as a group. 25%-75% from common data sets posted by both schools 2007-8:</li>
</ol>
<p>Dartmouth. . . . . . ACT 29-34 SAT 1330-1550
Northwestern. . . . ACT 30-34 SAT 1350-1520</p>
<p>Note that with 56% of Northwestern students submitting ACT scores and only 15% of Dartmouth students (reflecting regional differences) these overall standardized test numbers are virtually identical.</p>
<ol>
<li>Dartmouth is a school that historically did have a more dedicated alumni base than Northwestern. That has changed with Northwestern's "rising star" moving it from regional to national/international recognition. For the majority of entering freshman Northwestern is their top choice. In fact, for 95% it was one of their top three. Campus spirit and satisfaction with their college experience now rivals any school in the country. Northwestern's prestige has deservedly soared in the past decade. Regarding previous posts about alumni giving rates in US News, I'd remind you this number factors in ALL living alumni, including those who graduated decades ago, and does not reflect Northwestern's meteoric rise.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'll second Hawkette's posts and reiterate what I've already said. These are two great schools with very similar quality student bodies, educational opportunities, and stellar reputations. You need to look beyond these issues at the very significant differences that DO exist: Campus tone, Midwest/East Coast, and Evanston/Chicago vs. Hanover rural. Figure out which feels like a better fit and then let THIS guide you. Don't be waylayed by all the obfuscating boosterism here on CC.</p>
<p>
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dartmouth is stronger and there is general consensus that dartmouth gets the edge in prestige...
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</p>
<p>Where? Whom? When? Please post citations of the research studies, the polls, or whatever other data demonstrates "general consensus."</p>
<p>i am not a student but i did visit last xmas. the details the students told me were that Northwestern is kind of like a school that is very intellectual but still laid back (Stanford's claim to fame). Obviously the sports are superb for such an academically focused school and I think that powers this kind of sentiment. </p>
<p>i imagine that it would be a lot like a typical high school that is into a good social life/athletics except filled with intellectually capable people.</p>
<p>Academically (for undergrads) and reputationally, Dartmouth and Northwestern are peers. Of course, in New England and NYC, Dartmouth will probably carry more weight than NU and in the Midwest, particularly Chicago, NU will carry more weight than Dartmouth. However, in most corners of the US, both schools are equally well regarded. </p>
<p>Socially, both schools have large greek systems. However, the fraternities and sororities at those schools tend to be open to most.</p>
<p>Another similarity between those two schools is the academic and professional aspirations of the student bodies. Both schools are highly pre-professional. A significant percentage of the students at Dartmouth intend on going into Law, Investment Banking, Consulting or Medicine. Add Engineering and Journalism to the mix and you get NU. </p>
<p>Where they varry greatly is in their college atmospheres. Both offer awesome undergraduate settings, but they aren't for everybody. NU is located a quiet and pleasant suburb of the third largest city in the US. If one wishes to escape into an urban jungle, Chicago is a mere 10 miles (20 minute drive or L ride) away. The campus itself is home to 15,000 students and has a very varried feel mixed in with traditional Big 10 school spirit. Dartmouth is located in a pleasant and relatively wealthy tiny little town far from any major city. There is virtually nothing to do off campus. The campus itself is home to fewer than 6,000 students, most of which are undergrads.</p>
<p>i was just referring to the data reported in the nytimes (linked above) that says an overwhelming majority (78%) of high school students admitted to both schools choose dartmouth--this is all comers, from all corners of the country and world</p>
<p>this is my "general consensus" measure of prestige--the quality argument is seperate</p>
<p>dcircle,</p>
<p>Why do you keep exaggerating or lying? The link says "the data are estimated, based on a statistical model that in turn was based on a survey of 3,200 high school seniors at 500 schools across the country", NOT ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD. Dartmouth has poorly ranked graduate programs and it's not gonna have much prestige outside the US because of that. Please don't tell me it has even better prestige than Berkeley outside the US because of this survey. I've never used this survey to say Northwestern has more international prestige than Berkeley because I know that's just not true (I grew up in Asia). Please do us a favor and stop making false claims. </p>
<p>These 3,200 high school seniors are high achieving students that are very much like the CC members that know what the Ivies are and are likely concentrated in the Northeast (despite what they said about seniors "across the country")...etc. In that sense, I'd give the edge to Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Sam Lee, I would love to see how many of those 3,200 students and 500 high schools are located in the Northeast. I am willing to bet over 50% of them, with fewer than 5% in the Midwest.</p>
<p>Here is an objective study where Dartmouth significantly outperforms Northwestern. Sure, they maybe should have used the top 10 schools instead of top 5 in each discipline and should have continued measuring this over more than one year, but it is doubtful that the results would have really been much different. </p>
<p>Aside from CalTech, that doesn't really fit into this type of study with 37% going on to get a PhD, I had long considered these to be the top 12 schools long before this study was ever published.</p>
<p>Gellino, that study does not speak to the percentage of students who apply to graduate professional programs. I doubt many of Northwestern's Education and Journalism majors end up in Medical or Law School. Same with Cornell's Hotel Management and Agriculture majors or with Michigan's Nursing, Music, Kinesiology and Pharmacy majors. the study also has a major East Coast bias, with 11 of the 15 programs belonging to the East Coast. One cannot interpret the results of that survey linearly.</p>
<p>Northwestern has never ranked higher than Dartmouth even ONCE in any undergraduate focused ranking.</p>
<p>They are both peer schools academically. Do you want to spend 4 college years near Chicago, the 5th best city in the world only behind NYC, Paris, London and Tokyo, or in tiny Hanover, NH?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Gellino, that study does not speak to the percentage of students who apply to graduate professional programs. I doubt many of Northwestern's Education and Journalism majors end up in Medical or Law School. Same with Cornell's Hotel Management and Agriculture majors or with Michigan's Nursing, Music, Kinesiology and Pharmacy majors. the study also has a major East Coast bias, with 11 of the 15 programs belonging to the East Coast. One cannot interpret the results of that survey linearly.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How much of the class at UMichigan, Northwestern or Cornell are in those more obscure majors? Taking Cornell, that I'm more familar with, there's no way more than 1,000 of 3,565 (which seems high to me) of the class are in hotel management or CALS (some of whom will end up pursuing an MBA eventually). However, even throwing out 1,000 of the class out of the calculation, Cornell is still not going to come out better than around where Haverford or Bowdoin comes out ~ 4% of the class. </p>
<p>Most of the top grad schools are on the East coast. If anything gets shafted in this study, it's the West coast; not the Midwest. Do you really think this survey is going to come out materially different if for MBA programs Stanford, Kellogg, Columbia, UMichigan, Darden are also used and for JD programs, Stanford, NYU, Cal/Berkeley, UVA, UMichigan are also used. I certainly doubt the results would change very much.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do you want to spend 4 college years near Chicago, the 5th best city in the world only behind NYC, Paris, London and Tokyo, or in tiny Hanover, NH?
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</p>
<p>Aside from population, size, crime stats, etc, there's no objective way to rank cities as far as desirability. I doubt too many people are going to rank Chicago the 5th best city in the world on any measure and would much rather be concerned about what is going on on-campus and interacting with your peers than what cities are somewhat nearby, which seems borderline meaningless to me unless it relates to getting to the school. I would imagine anyone attending Northwestern is going to spend 95+% of their time in Evanston not Chicago.</p>
<p>Yeah i never understand this. Or another way to view hanover would be that it has 4500 awesome, engaging, incredibly smart people hanging out in a beautiful place with a vibrant social life. </p>
<p>Dartmouth is more selective, its students place better into top graduate programs according to every published study I have seen, has a more loyal alumni base, and based on recruiting lists does better into placing into elite business. I don't think there is a significant difference, and for certain majors (theater, journalism, etc) I would say NU is the better choice. But Dartmouth (like Columbia, Penn, Duke) has a slight advantage in my experience.</p>
<p>I interned at Morgan Stanley last year and I can tell you that Northwestern was definitely represented well in my SA class. Harvard had by far the most most interns, then Wharton and Duke each had a bunch and then Northwestern, Dartmouth, Columbia and UMich Ross each had a few. Every other school had one other intern I think.</p>
<p>My friend who goes to Northwestern definitely takes advantage of the resources of the city. He goes downtown every other week and uses student discounts to see world-class operas, eat at great restaurants, visit museums or even just relax in Navy Pier/Milennium Park/etc. If you have a fake ID, then you can enjoy the nightlife, bars, and clubs in Chicago as well.</p>
<p>What does Hanover have besides skiing and mountains?:rolleyes:</p>
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Dartmouth has poorly ranked graduate programs and it's not gonna have much prestige outside the US because of that.
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<h1>1 Dartmouth Tuck School of Business</h1>
<p>Lurker, not sure what study finds Tuck to be the #1 business school, but, in general, Northwestern's Kellogg school consistently ranks higher than Tuck.</p>
<p>This has gotten silly. 2 great schools that attract kids who want different things. My NYC kid wanted no part of Chicago although the business program at NU was very attractive to him and is happy as can be rock climbing at Dartmouth, anxiously awaiting snow so he can ski on the college owned hill daily. My niece is at UChicago and can't imagine living without the music and restaurant scenes.</p>
<p>Dartmouth's social life on campus is easily among the top couple of Ivies and overall top 5 among the top 20-25 in terms of campus activity. It has a beautiful environment to boot - like a summer camp in the summer and a ski resort in the winter. I guess between snowball fights, awesome parties, formals, campus events, etc there wasn't much more at least for me, to be desired. 4500 smart people together seem to come up with some pretty awesome ways to have fun.</p>