<p>I just found out that I've been accepted to both -- both for their journalism majors, and now I cannot decide between the two. I know that academically, NU is ranked quite high, and their journalism department is one of the nation's best. However, I am coming from Hawaii and my parents detest the idea of me living in Illinois, plus they think I'll barely survive the cold weather. I have never visited NU, and the chances of me being able to are slim to near impossible. USC also has good journalism studies, and my gut tells me that I'll enjoy California and the whole USC scene more. Nonetheless, I'm excited that I was accepted to NU, and think that it may be the wiser choice for my future. </p>
<p>Think about where you may want to work in the future also. </p>
<p>LA is a tough place to live if you don't make good money. You have to feed the car and the rent is very high. The traffic is irritating but you have to put up with it because you have to drive everywhere. It's very spread out and there's little sense of community. I live in LA and I know for sure I will get out of here sometime. My roomate is thinking of the same thing. One of my best friends moved from Chicago, which is <em>very</em> different from LA, last year is moving back in June. I came here for the weather and have realized it's been overrated.</p>
<p>Forgive me, Sam Lee, but I can't follow your post. I can't tell if you are praising or trashing Chicago and what do you mean when you say you came here for the weather (LA or Evanston) and its' been overrated? Overrated in what way?</p>
<p>I grew up in LA and went to NU. Unless my career unexpectedly takes me elsewhere, Chicago is where I hope to raise my family. I love it here (am doing a PhD in Chicago, in fact) and wouldn't ever consider moving back to LA.</p>
<p>I am not in Chicago/Evanston. I live in LA now. I haven't left because I am currently stuck with my current job because of immgration stuff. The weather is overrated in the sense that people seem to pay $$$ for it because I don't see LA being better in most other things. Many people are struggling with the high cost of living. The rent is very high; the housing market is crazy and out of reach for those making less than 120K or whatever. The house (tiny by US standard) down the street went from 590K 3 years ago to an asking price of 1.4 million couple weeks ago (my roomate and I felt like crap after we learned that cos we looked at that place and thought it was not worth it 3 years ago)! There's bad traffic all too frequently and our 6am or 9pm traffic is more jamed than rush-hour traffic in many other places but you can't avoid them as your mobility would be very limited without driving. Expense on vehicle also adds up with all the required driving and gas price going up. The city is pretty ugly without much character unless you think mini malls have much of it. While some buildings have beautiful architecture, they aren't coherent with the ones next to them and as a whole, it's pretty random. I have friends sharing the same sentiment. But when I said I might move back to Chicago, some would only say it's too cold to them, as if the weather is the only thing that keeps them away from Chicago (hence keeping them stay).</p>
<p>I'm having a tough time with these schools as well. For me, it's between USC with a full tuition scholarship, Northwestern, and Duke. I might be stupid for not immediately taking USC, but I want to have the best chance as a premed and I'm sure NU or Duke have more medical/research opportunities and better med school acceptance rates. Unfortunately, they're probably more competitive and tough to do well in, but I should challenge myself right? Another thing is that I kind of looked forward to experience something besides CA and can't imagine a cooler place than Chicago. Of course, I prefer LA to Duke's Durham location, but its prestige is much higher...</p>