<p>I thoroughly hate this versus threads but here I am doing one. Before you say this thread is "discussed to death", I can assure you, I read them all/they're far too outdated. Anyways, I'm at that awkward stage where I don't qualify for fee waivers but don't have the resources to apply to 10+ schools so I'm trying to cut my list down.</p>
<p>All the threads discussing USC/NU all ended up talking about prestige and job placement, but I don't care at all about that because I'm going to end up at med/grad school anyway, so it's all irrelevant. I want the "real" college experience. I LOVE football (hence these two schools), complete extrovert, I enjoy parties, theatre productions and arts scene (I'm an avid dancer) and I'm not opposed to greek life. Academics are my first priority, but regardless, I'm going to have a great education no matter the school or where I end up attending. I would just like to hear your opinions/thoughts/advice on the matter. Thanks a million!!</p>
<p>(I'm also going to post this in the NU forum, so you might see it twice)</p>
<p>If you’re serious about med school, a large research university (either USC or Northwestern) may be the last place you want to go for undergrad. For undergrad, you’re probably better off going to a small liberal arts college along the lines of Williams or Pomona or Occidental… something like that. If you just need to do a BS in Biology then those schools are usually the best bet, because you’ll get smaller classes and less to worry about in terms of the huge overall structure of the school. Just go through the rankings of top med schools and see where they’re getting the majority of their undergrads from… it isn’t necessarily going to be large universities, no matter how prestigious or highly ranked they are.</p>
<p>Beyond that, either one of those schools - USC or Northwestern - is going to be an excellent overall experience. I came to USC from the Chicago suburbs and have a ton of friends (and a cousin) who went to Northwestern and loved it. I’m more of an egghead and much preferred the University of Chicago, but that’s just me. Ironically, I also got the annoying elitist vibe about Northwestern that many people get about USC, which has gone away in my experience with the school. But both schools are very similar in overall culture, although USC is known for its much more professional / practical focus (think business degree rather than econ, film production degree rather than English, practitioners rather than researchers, etc.) than Northwestern. Evanston is definitely a cool college town, although USC is much more in the middle of everything, whereas with Northwestern you’d still have to hop the train into the Loop, but its immediate environs are, ahem, much better than USC’s.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Easy answer, based on the question: the only word you capitalized was “LOVE” to modify “football.” You should attend USC, unless you don’t mind NU’s penchant for losing. And you’ll be happier in the sunshine than the humidity of Illinois. I agree with your statement that you’ll attend med school regardless of the school. Best wishes.</p>