As of right now, these are my top 3 colleges that I want to attend. I wanted to get some of your opinions on which one you would pick and why. Currently, I think I want to study engineering, but I also want whichever school I attend to have a variety of majors within the math and science world, just in case I change my mind. Here are the pros and cons so far that I have found for each of these three schools:
Northwestern
Pros:
Beautiful campus
Prestigious
Good engineering program, even has the Industrial Engineering major
Close to a major urban city
Division 1 athletics (not a huge deal, though)
Cons:
COLD! Coming from Arizona, that’s a big deal.
Have heard that the dorms and food are subpar
Have also heard that the students can be kind of clique-y. Thoughts?
Not interested in Greek life, don’t know how prevalent it is
Wash U
Pros:
Also has a beautiful campus
Have only heard positive things about the dorms and food in South 40
Have also heard that the students are intellectually-driven and chill
Highly ranked as well
Better weather than Northwestern?
Cons:
Don’t really like the location of St. Louis. I hate baseball, and there’s no NBA team
Not as wide of a variety of engineering programs as the other two
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know if the school name extends to regions outside of the Midwest.
Also pretty cold
Rice
Pros:
Great engineering program, and CAAM sounds very interesting
Dorms are nice
Have heard that the students are welcoming and friendly
Close to another major urban city (good opportunities)
Better winters
Highly ranked
Cons:
Campus, to me, is not as pretty as the other two
Humid and sticky during the warmer months
When I looked at Naviance, Rice was the least accepting of students from my HS of these three
What do you guys on CC think? Do you have any comments/thoughts/advice you’d like to share? I want to apply ED to one of these to boost my chances, but I’m not sure which.
Go Northwestern! Northwestern is an unbelievable school, I have quite a few friends that attend. The cold is not as scary as you think it’ll be – of course, I grew up in Chicago so i might be biased, but it’s not that bad! It’ll only start to get truly cold in Chicago in October, and it’ll warm up by March (usually. Chicago is known for being a bit moody with her weather patterns). Nothing beats Chicago in the spring/summer – it is the most beautiful and exciting city I’ve ever been to. You’ll never run out of things to do. I have heard the dorms and food are alright, actually. My friends have also said they’ve made friends of all different types at NU, however they’re in sororities so their experience might be different. The Greek life at NU as opposed to other state schools is apparently never really “in your face” so I don’t think you’d have to worry about it.
Social life for non-Greeks at NU probably better for females than males because they can get in frat parties much more easily. It’s really only that Winter quarter at NU that is brutally cold, & with proper clothing lots of folks from warm states survive. But it does sound like Rice is best fit (u probably won’be there for most of sticky summer). Have you considered Vanderbilt, u. of Miami & USC?
If you are considering engineering Rice and NU would be my choices. Of the two, I prefer Rice, mostly because of the more intimate environment, smaller class sizes, and better economic climate in Texas.
All are expensive schools. Can you afford all three?
Rice as you probably know has zero greek life, it pretty much writes the book on creating a welcoming environment for students. And it is much more focused on undergrads than comparable schools.
@moooop I have considered Vanderbilt and Miami, however I don’t think I am applying to those two for various reasons. I am definitely applying to USC. Why do you think Rice is the better fit?
@TooOld4School Yes, my family can afford all three. I know my college choice is a personal decision, but both my college counselor, my English teacher, and my parents have recommended Northwestern over Rice. Would you have any idea why there is a preference, at least for me, for Northwestern over Rice? The reason being, I want to apply ED to one school. I think I have crossed off Wash U, so right now it is between Rice and NU. Although the acceptance rate on Google for Rice is higher than that of NU, historically Rice has not accepted many students from my school, while NU has. Is there a strategy to applying ED, like should I apply early to the school with the lower acceptance rate in order to boost my chances? I know these two are both reach schools, but my counselor said that I have a shot at being accepted into at least one of them. If you want, you can take a look at my stats which are on my profile maybe 2 or 3 threads back.
@moooop It’s funny how different these threads can be. I read someone on the Wash U forum say that the dorms at Rice feel like they were built by a bathroom tile repairman After thinking about it some more, though, I realized that I kind of want a change from my warm weather. I have also read some more student reviews of each school, and currently Wash U is where I think I’m going to be applying ED. Thanks for all the help!
@MurphyBrown Thanks, that was helpful. A comprehensive list of my stats are on my profile, maybe 2 or 3 threads back. Here are the statistics of acceptances through Naviance from my high school from each of these three universities. I do go to a competitive top 10 high school, in case that would skew anything:
Northwestern: 23/88
WUSTL: 31/125
Rice: 18/82
I have not visited any colleges yet, but am planning to visit NU and Wash U in October.
Do you have preference as far as the city goes? Chicago is very urban and walkable with great public transit. Houston is very spread out and you need a car to get around. St. Louis is somewhere in between. Chicago feels the most metropolitan, like the less dense version of NYC. Even Evanston is very walkable with a pretty compact/urban downtown. Houston is basically a cluster of suburbs, kinda like the less dense version of Los Angeles.
A bit of anecdotal info - I am a Wash U grad (but now the mother of a rising senior, so it’s been a while) but your list of pros for Wash U certainly fit with my own experience there. Though I was not an engineering major I had many friends who were. I absolutely loved Wash U and the people there (students, faculty, etc). Also, as someone who grew up in the Midwest and visited relatives in various midwest locations frequently, I can say that St. Louis definitely gets a real winter, but winter there is MUCH milder than Chicago (less snow, less wind, fewer super low temperatures). I really liked St. Louis and Wash U’s location within the city - you will get a better sense when you visit. Try to get to the Delmar Loop area north of campus to get a better sense of the surrounding area. I haven’t been back in a very long time, though. Good luck on your visits and on you college apps!
@classicalsaxmom Thanks! In your experience, how prevalent were frats and sororities on campus? Would you be able to have a fine social experience without joining?
@Ariz0na my experience from -ahem- 25+ years ago was that it was fine to be Greek and it was fine to avoid the Greek system completely. I had no desire to go Greek so I didn’t, I think I stepped in to one frat party during my 4 years and immediately left. Not my thing. It didn’t hamper my social life one bit. I was very active and involved in many activities. I had both Greek and non Greek friends (more of the latter probably, but the fact that I can’t remember tells me it wasn’t a big deal). I wouldn’t say that Greek life dominated in any way back then but it was there if you wanted it. Back then, anyway, there was a frat row, but sororities did not have houses. I am not sure if that has changed.
@Ariz0na – Our student is a sophomore at Wash U and loves it. Grew up in a large Eastern city – now loves St. Louis – and is a baseball (sorry) and huge hockey fan, so having the Cardinals and Blues there keeps student in the loop (even though they are not student’s favorites). One of their criteria for picking a school was having major league sports in town. Really likes the ease of getting around St. Louis and the different neighborhoods – can rent a car if needed but several friends have cars and likes the light rail – so transportation without having a car has not been an issue. Wanted to join a Greek organization based on recommendations of older friends and is very happy – but has a ton of other non-Greek friends – including several suite mates. Very active in non-Greek activities including interscholastic club sports, tutoring, church activities and research. From what we have heard, the Greek life is definitely not “in your face” and has a number of pluses – including social and philanthropic. Our student surprised us by “going Greek” but in our case, we think it was a good decision. Does not do a lot socially with the Greeks, but it is there if you want it – actually does more with other friends not in Greek life. Loves Forest Park and all of the activities that can be done there. Was so excited to get back to school this week. I definitely encourage you to visit all three - they are great schools - in fact, I grew up in Evanston just down the street from Northwestern. Best of luck to you!
From a rep perspective, Northwestern has the slight edge. Northwestern is also ranked ahead of both Rice and Wash U in Engineering. Wash U has maybe the best dorms and food and Rice has happy students, but Northwestern has the slight academic edge – top-10 and -20 programs nearly across the board. Chicago is a great city.
I like both Rice and Washington U, I do. If you are strongly drawn to one of them, by all means run and don’t look back. But Northwestern is just a little bit better all-around and in Eng.
It is super easy to take classes and transfer between schools and majors at Northwestern, which I took advantage of to try out the McCormick School of Engineering and then transfer in. Don’t know what the case is at the other universities listed is though.
It is certainly possible to have a full and fulfilling social life without participating in a fraternity or sorority at Northwestern.
If you get proper clothing, you should be able to survive, and maybe even enjoy, the bitter cold winters.
Students can be clique-y, but it ain’t too hard to break out from that cliqueiness and meet and befriend new people.
