<p>Hi, I need help making my decision! I want to hear good things from each school, and I don't want there to be focus on the bad parts. </p>
<p>Currently undecided. Possibly going premed.</p>
<p>BUMP! - Also, I enjoy social outings but do not drink. I do not plan on rushing. I enjoy smaller classes but still like school spirit. GOOD FOOD is important to me. I also really want nice dorm life. I’ve been doing my research and have made my pros & cons list, but some people have looked at my list and have argued with the things on the lists. I’m just looking for more feedback and information about what I’m looking for.</p>
<p>Personal opinion - no contest Northwestern. More laid back student body, nicer environment, overall better experience all around.</p>
<p>I agree with slipper1234. I think Northwestern is a fantastic school. Northwestern was my ideal school, but I wasn’t accepted to the school I wanted. Even so, it hurt to tell them no. It’s a beautiful campus next to a major city, the students are smart/quirky/curious, the academics are amazing…</p>
<p>I’d vote for Hopkins for better weather, greater emphasis on undergraduate research, and less emphasis on frats/sororities. But honestly, you have 2 great choices. You can’t go wrong like some other posters might lead you to believe. It’s definitely not a “no contest”.</p>
<p>Chicago beats Baltimore foodwise on anything except crabs. Evanston is a great community with ready access to Chicago and the campus sits on beautiful lakefront property.</p>
<p>It’s difficult because people often hear those two choices and instantly say “Obviously, Northwestern, right?” But I want to hear less about the people there and more about the campus itself. </p>
<p>Is Chicago as resourceful for pre-med students as they say it is?
Is dorm life good (I spent a night with a freshman, and the Bob dorm was honestly quite dirty)?
Is the campus safe (I’ve been told about high crime rates)?
How is the social scene for someone who doesn’t drink?</p>
<p>I felt the immediate click with Johns Hopkins on campus, but people telling me how wonderful Northwestern is has made me want to know if Northwestern could be the school for me… maybe I just haven’t heard the best parts yet.</p>
<p>^Forget about the dorms for a moment, and compare the people you met. Could you get along with them at NU? </p>
<p>People will provide you guidance on here but it needs to be your decision. Others who didn’t go to either NU or JHU shouldn’t tell you which to pick. It’s also dubious to say one school provides you a “better” experience when they couldn’t have attended and compared both schools. I would try to reach out to more alumni from either school or students you might know that go to either school. In the end, you’ll make friends regardless of where you go. Whether you have a good time is as much a function of yourself as the people you surround yourself with. If these people telling you to go to NU are JHU alum or students, then by all means choose NU.</p>
<p>Great choices! I vote Johns Hopkins- great pre med advising, second to none research opportunities, highly regarded, extremely smart and motivated students, it is, indeed, safe, beautiful campus…</p>
<p>lol…I can’t believe they put you in Bobb. You are correct, it is a dump. But so are some dorms at most schools.</p>
<p>Is the campus safe (I’ve been told about high crime rates)? Downtown Evanston and the campus areas are very safe.</p>
<p>How is the social scene for someone who doesn’t drink? If you want to drink, drink. If you don’t want to, don’t. Just say no. No one will force you or shun you if you don’t. I knew lots of non-drinkers at NU.</p>
<p>They are very similar schools in many ways. The deal breaker is the atmospheres of the schools, all other things equal. You are in a warmer climate in Baltimore and the city is right there, wheras Evanston is a bit more removed from Chicago, though the train makes it very accessible. I believe there is more the student ghetto community at Hopkins, as the dorms are pretty much only for freshman and nearly all the kids go into apartments after the first year. </p>
<p>I would just flip a coin if truly undecided and the costs are the same. You aren’t going to lose either way. Congratulations on having such a great win-win choice.</p>
<p>^If you change freshman to sophomore-Then I agree with the above. All Hopkins undergraduates (except for the handfull who live with their parents within commuting distance) are required to live in university housing for two years. With the plethera of relatively cheap apartments near campus, most upperclassman move off campus for their junior and senior years.</p>
<p>I’d vote for Hopkins–simply because I went there (as did both my children) and it was a life-changing experience. I received a first-rate education–from both my professors and peers—, managed to have a good time despite the workload, and I wouldn’t have exchanged it for anything. That’s not to say anything negative about Northwestern, which is also a great school. </p>
<p>But while Northwestern has a great women’s lacrosse team, they don’t play men’s lacrosse at the Division I level. That would decide it for me :)</p>
<p>One other thing. If you live in New England (as I do) and tell people you go (or went) to Northwestern, most will confuse it with Northeastern (which, until recently, was not held in particularly high esteem in Boston). It’s stupid, I know, but its true. New Englanders’ are only barely aware of the mid-west.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I’ve spent much of my life explaining why it’s Johns Hopkins and not John Hopkins.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you all for the really great feedback!</p>
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<p>Chicago is more accessible to NU students than Balt is to JHU students and frankly, there is no comparison when it comes to cities (if that is impt.).</p>
<p>Northwestern is a lot more fun than Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>^Again, someone who doesn’t attend either school. Are you pulling the comparison out of thin air?</p>
<p>“Chicago is more accessible to NU students than Balt is to JHU students and frankly, there is no comparison when it comes to cities (if that is impt.)”</p>
<p>Define accessible. Because Baltimore, especially the rich/artsy parts, are located adjacent to campus. The bar/clubbing district is a 10 minute shuttle ride away. To reach Chicago downtown during the day, it would take an hour (including traffic) via the shuttle. The amount of restaurants in Baltimore doesn’t compare with Chicago. But there are some great ones within driving distance further south. Also consider the schedules. Some people prefer the less frenetic paced semester system to the quarter system. You do have the ability to make more courses of interest in the quarter system, however.</p>
<p>bonanza,</p>
<p>NE must have a lot more rednecks than I thought even though I went there for HS and none of the people I encountered confused Northwestern with Northeastern. Granted, rednecks and I wouldn’t have gotten along if I met any since I was there as an international student.</p>
<p>I lived in California and I am now in DC. I have NEVER met a person confusing Northwestern with Northeastern, NOT EVEN ONCE! I don’t know if many people actually confuse Columbia University with Columbia College in Chicago or Penn with Penn State; I didn’t go to Columbia nor Penn and it’s not like I am going to do a survey and ask people about that. Interestingly, people who claim to experience this kind of confusion are usually outsiders. Go figure!</p>
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<p>More accessible in the sense that NU students, if they don’t have their own car (or a friend w/ a car), can take the shuttle or the L to Chicago.</p>
<p>Driving to downtown Chicago during the day (during non-rush hour times) takes 40-45 minutes, not an hour, and unless one wants to visit the museums or do some ritzy shopping on Michigan Avenue, most of the time students end up at other parts of Chicago which take 10-25 minutes by car.</p>
<p>Also, the “places to go” in Balt comprise the area of one Chicago neighborhood (say Lincoln Park); there’s simply so much more to do and see in Chicago that it’s not even a contest.</p>