<p>I went to UT-Austin straight out of high school and cared little for rankings until I graduated two years ago. </p>
<p>Anyways, </p>
<p>PASSION: Obviously NU. Little debt, incorporates all of my interests, good school. </p>
<p>BUT</p>
<p>How could I pass up an Ivy? The networking, everything that comes with an IVY, alumni connections, social prestige, etc. </p>
<p>It’s also in a field that seems much more lucrative, or at least seemed to me before I was corrected in here. I would’ve figured a practical, technical degree in Applied Geoscience would’ve been killer, especially coming from Penn. </p>
<p>The point of this whole thread is asking if NU is worth passing up Penn for? </p>
<p>They’re peers right? So that means that I should be good if I choose NU and pass up Penn?</p>
<p>I really didn’t want to do this but… @Texas, what kind of answer do you want? You say you don’t know what the pros and cons are but you are saying all the obvious pros and cons in your answers. Other than those, who would know for sure? Only God… If you seriously don’t know that, then I think you shouldn’t even bother going to either school. You should learn to think logically and sort your thoughts first. People are giving you great advices but you keep asking “how could I give up the ivy name”. You keep repeating the same question because I think you don’t want to give up the ivy name but you know that it’s not right. Just go to Penn and pursue your career that way. There is no right or wrong answer here so you should just make up your mind, and don’t tell me you don’t know the pros and cons of either choice…</p>
<p>If I actually knew the exact amount a Geoscience degree could offer after graduation, I would go to Penn. But I don’t, so that leaves me with a bit of room to cling on to the Penn name. </p>
<p>I would rush to NU in a heartbeat if I knew the answer to the above question and it wasn’t to my liking, i.e. not a wise investment.</p>
<p>I think what everyone here is saying is that there is no ‘clear’ answer (and even if we thought there were, remember, we’re only a bunch of strangers who don’t know you). Also, no matter what you choose, there’s no guarantee as to what your future will hold.</p>
<p>Fortunately, for you, you have a choice between two excellent schools that offer different opportunities.</p>
<p>Penn’s name means little in environmental fields. They are not ranked highly in enviromental engineering, geology…etc. They don’t have a big program with many alums in the field so the connection/network isn’t there either. To think that you can get a job easily with a diploma from Penn is naive. I guess the kind of people that care about environment are not really the elitist type anyway; also, they want people that can get their hands dirty -collect soil/groundwater samples for example. The last thing they want are people that have entitlement issues that aren’t willing to do dirty work. </p>
<p>I don’t know how far you are into penn’s program. If you haven’t started, I’d re-evaluate as you could be heading a dangerous path financially. I’d look into NU program more carefully or think about going back to UT and see what much cheaper options they have.</p>
<p>I chose NU over UPenn (and some other Ivys) for a Ph.D. in Marketing. The only differential “ivy” prestige you’ll get will be from people who know nothing of graduate programs.</p>
<p>Also, the networking will be highly dependent on your field. If Penn isn’t known for environmental, then you won’t get those networking opportunities anyway.</p>
<p>If you can see yourself doing either, follow the money. Taking large amounts of debt for an unfunded program is a big risk.</p>
<p>If I read the Penn materials correctly, this program is in LPS. That’s the continuing education division. It’s full of moneymaking programs. But no employers recruit those students or graduates; you’d be on your own to find opportunities.</p>
<p>You keep asking the question and we keep telling you: NU and Penn are peer schools. Given that, you should focus on your specific interest. You keep thinking that there is some magical Ivy dust that is relevant here. There isn’t.</p>
<p>I’m not positive that there isn’t “Ivy Dust” or at least “Ivy Lint” to some extent. If you’re east coast centric, there is a kind of aura (deserved or not) around the Ivy League schools and the so-called ‘old boy/girl network’. While I personally believe in the ‘aura’, the degree to which it will be a factor later in life (or even whether it exists) is extremely debatable – 'nuff said on that point, none of us really need to rehash that issue in detail – at best, it’s one of many factors to consider in choosing a school, not the only factor. I know that many view this as a ‘tiebreaker’.</p>
<p>In this thread, OP is looking at two different programs, both at excellent schools with excellent reputations, I would think that the primary question is ‘what do I want to do with the rest of my life?’ It’s only after you answer that question do you even get to the question of whether School A is better than School B in terms of reputation.</p>
<p>But we’re not talking about investment banking where opportunities are closed unless you’re at a handful of schools. We’re talking about a field in which any Ivy Dust is pretty meaningless.</p>
<p>This is my own, personal opinion: If I were you, I would go with UPenn.
However, my answer is biased. If you have any doubt about NU, please choose the other school and allow space for those on NU’s wait list :)</p>
<p>You never know what the future will hold, no matter what you study. </p>
<p>However, I think we fundamentally agree that studying what you want to study is much more important than real or imaginary differences in prestige between two excellent schools.</p>
<p>I checked with the program. Government agencies and NGOs are the big recruiters with this program. Second are environmental consulting firms. The program has an “amazing” relationship with the EPA from what former students say.</p>