<p>i have narrowed my ed choices down to these two schools, and really want a couple opinions. i think both are on par, if not very close, in academics, but the main things I'm thinking about are:</p>
<p>social life -- is vandy TOO southern (not that being southern is a bad thing)? in other words, is southern culture suffocatingly dominant/are most of the people there very southern? (ps I'm from the nyc area) does northwestern not have many cool (aka not incredibly geeky) guys/attractive girls? is there a big party scene at northwestern? </p>
<p>internships -- will going to vandy put me at a disadvantage if i want to get an internship/job in NYC?</p>
<p>weather -- will the northwestern winters be completely unbearable if the nyc winters are already uncomfortable?</p>
<p>greek life -- is the hazing brutal at vandy (as one would expect at a southern school)?</p>
<p>Your questions would be better answered by visiting the schools yourself. Can you do that? Although I have to say that some of your questions are pretty off-putting- like whether the girls/guys at NU are too ‘incredibly geeky’ for you . Other questions are personal, like weather. THe weather at NU is colder than New York City, a bit (although the city can get really dismal in the winter), but it’s also more dry and the air is lighter and less polluted. So it depends on what bothers you. As for the "suffocatingly dominant’ southern life–if you dislike southern culture, I don’t understand why you’d go to a southern school. I’d suggest you re-think why you’re applying to these colleges ED.</p>
<p>Northwestern students are not geeky on average. If they are, they are geeky in an endearing way. There’s no way the admissions office would accept bookworms who do nothing but study and refuse to participate in campus life. The standard for extracurricular involvement is set pretty high, so you’re bound to find a lot of sociable types. You don’t have to be the best at socializing as long as you make an effort to get to know other people. </p>
<p>The winters are probably about the same. A common perception is that the winters in Chicago are worse than the Northeast but I don’t find that to be true.</p>
<p>Yes, going to Vandy will put you at a disadvantage for the top consulting firms. For some reason, Vandy is not as much of a national target. Econ is better at Northwestern. Also, the powerful Kellogg alumni base at a lot firms helps.</p>
<p>This is completely false. Out of the three top consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, BCG), two actively recruit Vanderbilt students on their websites. In fact, Bain and BCG were both started by Vanderbilt alums.</p>
Well, they all actively recruit NU students. Also, according to the link you provided, looks like almost every Vandy grad is in the Dallas office, whereas NU grads are in Chicago, NYC, and DC.</p>
<p>The student body at NU was probably more academically inclined a while back when NU was more selective. But Vandy’s test score and HS class-rank for its freshmen class have jumped by a lot in the past few years and these days, Vandy has the same test scores as NU and Ivies like Dartmouth/Penn. Its student body is just as serious about academics.</p>
<p>I’m fine with academically inclined – in fact i am academically inclined myself. by nerdy i meant more artsy/“out there” (like the eclectic theater types)</p>
<p>The artsy types are gonna be more in the music and theater programs. Only about 1/10 of the student body are in these programs. Also, regardless of what stereotype you have for typical theater kids, keep in mind NU music/theater programs are not tyical programs that mostly admit students based on musical/theatrical talents alone. The admits have very good grades; in that sense, they are probably more well-rounded than you may think or what you might have seen in your HS.</p>
I did a search on LinkedIn for current Associate Consultants at Bain from Northwestern and Vandy and they both have 12. All from Vandy were in Dallas and all from NU were in Chicago from the brief look I took.</p>
<p>Just in comparison though, Stanford has 43 (pretty much in every office imaginable), Harvard has 52, Yale has 23, Duke has 26, Princeton has 19, Dartmouth has 20, and Penn has 35. These seem to be the only schools along with MIT that are truly nationally recruited.</p>
<p>Since HYP is out of reach, I would recommend the OP check out Dartmouth or Penn if he/she is committed to the idea of working at a company in NYC.</p>
<p>Lots of Vandy grads work in NYC – when I went for job interviews nearly everyone was familiar with it and it was a positive. Vanderbilt and Northwestern are both “semi-targets” for investment banking, but you will be fine with either school at the vast majority of companies. Just go with the place that is the better fit for you.</p>
<p>goldenboy - how are you searching on Linkedin? I can’t seem to separate undergrads from grads (so, for example, when I search for Dartmouth, I see both Tuck grads and college grads). </p>
<p>That aside, meh - go to the college you think you’ll enjoy. You’ll be prepared to succeed at any of these schools.</p>
<p>To give you a concrete example of what Sam Lee is talking about, I have a son who is a theatre major at NU. He’s also in a fraternity and is usually in the front row of the student section at the football games. Doesn’t sound very “out there” to me.
The winters in Evanston can be tough because of the wind off the lake. The wind is the killer, and I believe it is colder than the NYC area.
My kids saw Vandy and did feel it was too southern, whatever that implies. They just didn’t care for it. On the other hand, my niece, from the same NYC area, recently graduated from Vandy and absolutely loved it. You have to figure this out for yourself. Are you planning to ED to one of these schools sight unseen?</p>
<p>Vanderbilt plays in the SEC – we play lots of great teams every year (and went to a bowl game last year). We have better tailgates, nicer weather, and hotter girls. And for basketball, Northwestern has never even made it to March Madness.</p>
<p>Time - We posted a link about how Vandy backed out of their football contract -
basketball is a different topic. And as far as your “better tailgates, nicer weather and hotter girls” - that’s all subjective. Paying a fee to back out of a contract is not. Backing out of a contract and paying a fee after having lost 2 games in a row to an opponent - also not subjective. </p>
<p>All that aside, I like Vandy, they were my son’s #1 backup plan, and one of his HS friends is going there now. I wish you and the Commodore’s teams good luck - when they are not playing NU.</p>
<p>The football link was mostly a joke and then you got all so serious. I was in Nashville for less than a week and I was so bored already with the little town. The last thing you want to do is to start some serious comparison.</p>
<p>I can’t attest to the tailgates, however I don’t like the weather here in SC (I much prefer being cold to being warm), and I found most of the girls to be too fake-looking and snobby when I visited Vanderbilt. Maybe their “hotter” in the conventional sense, but from what I’ve heard and seen I wouldn’t like most of them. So I’d say that’s all just personal opinion.</p>
<p>As for sports, I think basketball’s boring, and you’re what 2-4 in Football while the Wildcats are 6-1, I believe. I’d much prefer a great football team to a great basketball team. It’s all personal preference for the most part (except Northwestern’s ranked higher than Vanderbilt academically, so there’s that too).</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is more selective and has higher test scores than Northwestern – the schools are peers and a prospective student should choose on fit</p>