<p>I've narrowed down my ED choices between these two schools. I wanted your guys' input on what which school is better (I'm posting this on both forums to get a full look) and which would be a better fit. I thought I'd state what I liked and disliked about each school:</p>
<p>WashU - When I visited it, I loved it (although the weather was great and it was the first school I saw).
Good:
How easy it can be to double, or even triple major.
The amount of advising that you have as an undergrad.
The focus on undergraduate and undergraduate research.
The academic freedom (no required courses, once you get into the school you can transfer to any college).
The student environment.
Food and Dorms!
Great pre-med.
Small classes for the most part.</p>
<p>Bad:
St. Louis weather :(
Slightly worse academics in the fields I am interested in (Comp Sci, Ancient History, Economics, Poli Sci)
Not need blind.</p>
<p>Penn - When i visited it I really liked it, but I didn't fall in love with the school.
Good:
Amazing campus.
Strong academics in the fields I am interested in.
Ivy League.
Double legacy.
Maybe having sectors of knowledge (7 in total) will make me a more rounded student.
Food options seemed good.
Great pre-med.
I love Philadelphia.
Very generous with financial aid.</p>
<p>Okay:
Student environment. Have heard conflict reports on the competitiveness between students. Can anyone shed some light on this?
Decent Dorms.
Slightly larger class sizes.</p>
<p>Bad:
Student environment may be too competitive.
Harder to double major.
Less academic freedom.
Hard to change between college if I change what I want to pursue.</p>
<p>What are your guys' thoughts, and if anything I said was wrong can you please correct me.</p>
<p>It’s not hard to double major at Penn. I know plenty of people who have done it. I also wouldn’t say there is less academic freedom. The requirements are for the most part flexible and easy to fulfill.</p>
<p>Unless you want to transfer to Wharton (it doesn’t sound like you will) switching majors is not hard. Even switching to engineering is not hard if you have the required courses (I know several students who have done this).</p>
<p>@Poeme What would you say the student environment is like? Cut throat, competitive against the class but not against each other, friendly, etc…?</p>
<p>Well every school is going to have some cutthroat people (a lot of the premeds are cutthroat everywhere to be honest), but the students at Penn are for the most part okay in that regard. In my science major, people didn’t compete with each other and I often would check homework with my friends. Even in majors where people tend to be more competitive, there are always cool down to earth people you can find. The student population is big enough that there is quite a wide range of personalities.</p>
<p>When people say Penn is stressful and competitve, it has more to do with internal pressure people put on themselves. People all hold themselves to very high standards here, which was the case in my major. People weren’t asking other people how they did in classes but were instead stressing out about their own performance.</p>
<p>To me, it depends on what matters to the student, and their fit with the school. </p>
<p>DD visited both schools, and was admitted to both schools. In my experience, students at both schools seem to really like their schools more than most college students and both schools do a better job than most at allowing students to maintain a social life. </p>
<p>Both schools have nice campuses, but she liked Wash U’s campus better, and they had one of the best student presentations of all of our many campus visits. </p>
<p>Penn is a more research intensive University and there are more opportunities to become involved in research. Wash U marketed this as a positive and says that its professors are more focussed on teaching. Which matters more depends on the student.</p>
<p>Penn has very strong internship and career placement office. Penn computer science majors had over 2 job offers per student last year and over 90% of them had a job offer by graduation. The average salary was about $70,000. Significantly higher than most other schools. You can check that with Career Services. I do not know how well Wash U does at placement, but I don’t think that they are as strong as Penn.</p>
<p>As far as location, Philadelphia is nice and gives you an hour and 15 minute train ride to NYC. That is hard to beat if you like cities. However, some students may prefer to be in the midwest. </p>
<p>Finally, ED applicants to Penn have about a 25% success rate compared to about 30% at Wash U. Penn has a very low RD rate, and Wash U’s RD rate is significantly higher than Penn’s. So if you want to apply to Penn, you are well served to apply ED.</p>
<p>If you want to improve your chances to be accepted to Wash U, you should show strong interest in the school. I think both school care about that, but Wash U seems to care more.</p>
<p>I’m not quite sure of the basis of your “okay” and “bad” lists for Penn. I know several current Penn students and I don’t see even a hint of the academic competitiveness you mention. There is certainly competition, sometimes intense, for extracurricular activities, such as chorus, student government, athletics, etc. Penn undergraduates are often multi-talented so that’s not a surprise. It’s no different at other similar universities.</p>
<p>What is striking about many Penn students is their level of confidence, and often their sense and drive toward specific careers. And by that I don’t mean generic careers but specifics regarding the careers – industry, location and role. While Penn does not have the course flexibility of universities such as Brown, major requirements do not fill the schedule. There is opportunity to take courses outside the major. By getting credit for AP courses (make sure you score 5s) you open up additional course slots. Many students double major.</p>
<p>Penn is much better known by business leaders in certain parts of the country than Washington U. This is certainly the case in Northern California and the Northeast, both important locations of dynamic new industries.</p>
<p>As a double legacy you would have good chances ED at Penn. For regular decision the acceptance rate is approaching 7%.</p>