<p>joker: it is natural for any ambitious h.s. student to wonder about their future success at college level. I am confident that a smart and gifted student like you are capable of pulling a high gpa at NU, given that you put in the work and you study the material and the subject that is of interest to you. Out of about 15 h.s. friends I have at NU, none of them told me that they received a lower grade than they felt they deserved. Not to mention, they all said they are very happy to be at NU bc of academic and social settings that NU provides to the students. Besides, I am not a NU student, I go to Cornell but happen to know quite a lot about NU since I have many friends there and I was a prospective NU student last year.</p>
<p>WNeckid, what sports do you watch? Beer pong? Cause other than last year, ND usually fields a good football team, and their basketball team was about the same as vandy this year...and vandy had one of the best years in school history. vandy baseball is better...but year in and year ND is all around better in sports. this coming from a guy who LOVES to hate Notre Dame.</p>
<p>patless, what made you choose Cornell over Northwestern. BTw, I greatly appreciate your posts.</p>
<p>joker - I was choosing btwn Cornell, NU, and Duke last yr. I visited all the campuses and I liked each one, they all had their unique traits. But, I liked Cornell's campus the most, since it was so big and so awesome. Plus, there is a great chance that i will be working overseas after college, so i thought that going to Cornell over the other two was a good choice bc it has much more international recognition than the other two. Also, my parents really wanted me to go to Cornell since it was an ivy, they thought that it wasn't worth spending 50k on schools that they hadn't heard of. (my parents aren't really very knowledgeable about Duke and NU bc they aren't from U.S.)</p>
<p>Thank you for your explanation patlees, it reassures me if I choose NU. More input is invited.</p>
<p>Econ is very popular at NU and many of my fellow peers from Hong Kong majored in it. I didn't know their grades but they all got offers from good firms while only on student visa; so they must be getting pretty good grades. Of the five people I know, 3 got consulting jobs in boston, nyc, and wash dc after graduation; one worked for a hedge fund firm in nyc and another one worked for Goldman Sachs (hong kong office). Four of them double-majored and the one that didn't graduated in 3 years.</p>
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Also, I have heard that everyone studies 24/7: no social life whatsoever, which is concerning.
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<p>I don't know where the OP got his/her info. from but this is counter to what most think of NU's social scene (much less, what it is in actuality).</p>
<p>NU is a big enough school where you have a wide-range of social activities to pick from.</p>
<p>Some people only party on the weekends, some people party from Wed nite to Sunday and some people party nearly every nite of the week.</p>
<p>Go to Northwestern or Vanderbilt. I have two friends that go to Vandy that aren't exactly the biggest partyers but they seem to have a good time. Northwestern and Vandy academics I'd say are equal in rigor so it comes down to fit.</p>
<p>I'd say northwestern. The academics are better, the proximity to chicago is better than south bend or nashville, it's more prest. Also, in terms of sports, ND football is awful so dont let that persuade u. I think Northwestern and Vandy had more wins this year then ND in football, and Vandy basketball is probably better or at worst equal to ND. Northwestern basketball kinda blows though.</p>
<p>Thejoker, Northwestern is tough, but it does not grade-deflate. Study hard and you will do well. Furthermore, you will have time for fun. NU is not a party school, but it has a very strong social element. I know this is cliche, but most NU students I have known were the "work hard, play hard" types. In that regard, I would say NU is similar to Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke and Penn.</p>
<p>The Economics department at NU is seriously good (top 10 nationally). In terms of quality, I would compare it to Columbia and Penn. Notre Dame and Vanderbilt have solid Econ departments, but nowhere nearly as good as NU's. Also, thanks to its central location and its top ranked Business school, it attracts all the major IBs and MCs. The same can be said of Vanderbilt and Notre Dame, but the the recruitment activity is much heavier at Northwestern thanks to its proximity to Chicago and Kellogg.</p>
<p>Finally, Northwestern is ideally located, on the lake and 20 minutes away from one of America's funnest and trendiest cities.</p>
<p>This may be of interest to you if you are interested in iBanking:</p>
<p>NU/Kellogg offers two certificate programs for undergraduates - Financial Economics and Managerial Analytics (<a href="http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/certificate/%5B/url%5D">http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/certificate/</a>)</p>
<p>After Stanford and Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame have the best combinations of academic excellence, great social life and exciting/nationally competitive athletic life in the country. I think that for students seeking the best balanced undergraduate experiences in the country, these schools are the absolute best choices.</p>
<p>Choosing between Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame is statistically difficult. All three attract terrific student bodies and each has outstanding undergraduate reputations (although I would argue that Vanderbilt and Notre Dame are greatly underrated by academics). For whatever you want to do or where you want to go-Wall Street, management consulting, top grad schools, other top employers-all can get you effectively prepared and positioned and then it is up to you. I wouldn't get too hung up on the classroom differences among these three as they are just not that large. Probably the biggest difference is the strength that each will give you post-graduation in their home regions where each is highly, highly respected. </p>
<p>What I would focus on is what happens out of the classroom and what appeals to you. Consider the nature of your prospective non-academic undergraduate experience with attention to matters like city, setting, sports scene (to watch and to play), diversity of social life, weather, etc. The differences are sometimes significant. But above all, realize that there are tons of very satisfied students at each of these colleges and there is not a bad choice among them. Good luck!</p>
<p>Hawkette, I completely agree with you =)</p>