<p>hey, i got into both of them and slipped into a hard quandary.. i'm asking you guys for an honest comparison (although one cannot precisely compare the two schools as i applied for economics at NU and business studies (olin) at wustl). I know that NU's economics department is very strong but so is olin...
maybe its not the academics that make the cut - so, hows the school spirit, the weather (i like to have seasons :)), the students, the towns(cities), the college buildings (dorms), the athmosphere and so on..
i know everyone has one's own experiences.. but i would really appreciate it if you gave me your opinion...</p>
<p>btw i'm an intl from germany and i did not have a chance to visit any of them.. so please don't blame me for those stupid questions.</p>
<p>Thanx!!!!</p>
<p>PS: I'm gonna post this on the WUSTL board as well :)</p>
<p>both are very good and fun schools, congrats! personally, id go with northwestern. although the weather is colder it has a great collegetown, evanston, and is right near chicago too!</p>
<p>Depends if you like to do undergrad-b or econ. I don't know enough about the econ/business field to comment on the pros and cons of each. Though I probably compare apples to oranges, I think NU's econ is more respected than Olin if there's a recruiter looking for econ/business majors. NU's econ is always in top-10. When I was there, big consulting firms like Anderson/Goldman Sachs recruited engineering majors, let alone econ. Lots of big (and small) firms recruit there because of its reputation. Olin is ranked like 14th or something but since most schools don't have biz undergrad programs, it's easy to rank higher among small number of schools and there's a bigger gap between it and those in top-5 than it looks. If all the b-schools had undergrad programs, Olin would be bumped much further down. When I was there, Olin was pretty easy and my friends in that school seemed to enjoy the easy life. There's even an easier calculus sequence for biz-majors even though my calculus wasn't particularly difficult. </p>
<p>I went to WashU as a freshman but finished at NU and I personally don't believe there's much difference in friendliness. NU's particular strength in pre-professional programs probably makes the student body a bit more career-oriented but the difference is pretty marginal. WashU does have all the dorms located in one place and that probably makes it feel more cohesive and intimate. Its housing is also guaranteed for 4 years but I personally like changes and I thought it was fun to live off-campus just for that. So that wasn't an issue for me.</p>