Northwestern v. UNCCH v. UMDCP v. Tulane v. Fordham

Hi all,

I am a new member on CC and I will be attending one of thee five universities above in the fall. I have done lots of research and calculated financial stuff, but I am a bit of an indecisive person and am really struggling to narrow things down for myself! Some context:

I am planning on double majoring in some variation of political science and journalism /communications and I know that all of the schools above have amazing or at least pretty good programs for these fields. I haven’t visited UNC or Northwestern yet, but I will be soon, and based on my visits of the other three and virtual campus tours of those two I feel like I like the social / physical environment of all five!

  In terms of finances, i am instate at University of Maryland and got a partial  scholarship so it would be very cheap, but Fordham and Tulane both gave me decent sized merit scholarship so those would be pretty accessible. UNC and Northwestern (Northwestern more so than UNC) are a bit of a financial stretch, but my family might be able to make it work without taking out too many loans and my parents are potentially willing to do this. Essentially my only question is: to those of you who have attended / have children or friends who have attended or have any other means of forming a personal perception about these schools what are your thoughts about which one I should potentially attend? I understand that ultimately I will have to make a decision for myself, but as part of that process I'd like to hear what other people with more direct experience with these schools have to say!  I will be posting this in the thread for each school!

Thank you so much :)) !!