Please Help! Deciding between NU and University of Chicago

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I'm deciding between these two colleges from an academic perspective because socially, I'm pretty flexible.</p>

<p>So I am thinking about studying something within the sciences/economics/engineering, though I am not completely set on what I will end up doing.</p>

<p>So my two choices are either enrolling McCormick School of Engineering, as a Murphy Institute Scholar, or Attending the University of Chicago. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any input on either of these schools?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Northwestern: Campus looks very dull and gloomy. However, it’s in a nice little town, very close to Chicago.</p>

<p>UChicago: Campus is beautiful, slightly in the ghettos, but still very close to Chicago. Academically, you’ll probably find better students and teachers at Chicago, ESPECIALLY if you want to study economics. Their physics department is very good too. </p>

<p>Northwestern is in the Big 10 conference though, but i’ve heard rumors about the campus feeling segregated.</p>

<p>U of Chicago for sure dude, although I would consider the money you’d be receiving (if any) from either college. If U of Chicago is offering money while NU is offering way more, I’d say go NU but if not, definitely U of Chicago, especially for economics.</p>

<p>I would ignore everything Black’s Law just said if I were you. I know people who go to U. Chicago, and I have been there several times. It is probably the worst place I could possibly imagine.</p>

<p>Chicago and Northwestern are so close in prestige that academics don’t really matter that much. They are both elite schools, employers who read your resume will think you are sexy either way. If I were you, I would choose Northwestern in a heart beat. Chicago’s student body is really nerdy and anti-social. Northwestern’s student body is social. I have several friends who go to Northwestern, all of them love it, I can’t say the same about Chicago. Based on the happiness of my friends, I’ve heard better things about Northwestern. You’ll do the best in an environment that suits you best. </p>

<p>So you like economics? So do a lot of people, it’s pretty popular major. A lot of people change majors once they enroll. No matter how sure you are that ecomoics is your thing, don’t think that you won’t change if something more interesting comes your way. Don’t pick Chicago just because they have a top graduate program in the subject.</p>

<p>Both are the same in Academics, U of Chicago is alot more anti social and nerdy. NU has a better social scene and also great academics. Plus it’s right by the lake and not in the ghetto!</p>

<p>Not a UChicago fan. It’s like a guy wearing a beautiful suit with torn underwear. </p>

<p>If your idea is a bunch of buildings that would look great in an Indy Jones movie UChicago fits the mode. But what has that school done over the last 40 years but live off the former glory of Milton Friedman? </p>

<p>A bunch of schools have great professors, great facilities but they also have a whole lot more to offer. Bottom line is that UChicago is not value-added and should have sunk out of the top 30 schools years ago. </p>

<p>Northwestern, all the way.</p>

<p>“Northwestern: Campus looks very dull and gloomy”</p>

<p>Uh, did you visit in the dead of winter? Do you think UChicago’s campus looks any different in the winter?</p>

<p>NU’s campus is really gorgeous due to its location right by the lake (have you ever walked out on the lakefill?), quaint suburban setting and tons of foliage in the fall and spring.</p>

<p>^Another vote for NU simply because UChicago has no engineering.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t use “dull and gloomy” to describe the sleek exterior of Ford Design building!</p>

<p>In science, Northwestern’s chemistry is arguably stronger than Chicago’s. NU’s econ is still a top-10 program. So it’s not like you’d just go wrong with NU academically even if you don’t go into engineering. NU also has a top-5 industrial engg and management sciences program that is very popular among the hybrid engineering-econ type.</p>

<p>^^^ “dull and gloomy”</p>

<p>Don’t approach the campus from the north. Always approach it from the south heading northbound, and occasionally glance to the right at Lake Michigan. Now NU is “breathtaking” and “parklike!”</p>

<p>:) Quite true Gadad.</p>

<p>But I would suggest that the only road that matters out of Evanston is the one heading south. ;)</p>

<p>“A bunch of schools have great professors, great facilities but they also have a whole lot more to offer. Bottom line is that UChicago is not value-added and should have sunk out of the top 30 schools years ago.” </p>

<p>This is one of the most idiotic statements I’ve seen on here. On what are you basing this genius observation? UChicago offers what might be the best undergraduate education in the country, possibly only bested by Reed. Now whether the campus is beautiful or not is another story. I personally found it very beautiful, but I’m sure that is partly because I cared ore about what was going on inside the buildings then outside. But again, UChicago is an AMAZINGLY intellectual environment, has great professors in a huge slew of disciplines, and a brilliant student body. What more do you want?</p>

<p>The Chicago bashing is simply ignorance or some kind of grudge. U of Chicago is a tremendous institution and on par with HYPS in my opinion. Over the past couple of years, I have had two students who chose Chicago over NU and I have never had a student do so the other way around. </p>

<p>NU is a great place as well, but it is not quite Chicago with the exception of a few specific areas.</p>

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<p>What you call bashing, I call an opinion. If someone posted that they would be paying X at UNC - Chapel Hill or X + 20,000 at UChicago, you would be the first person to say go to Chapel Hill. Well, Chapel Hill is 30th on the last USN&WR rankings. And you know and I know that if that same student did well in either school they would be going to the same grad school. So (like I asked) what’s the UCHI value-added? If bashing is saying that a school is out of the top 30 … boo-hoo. </p>

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<p>What part of value-added didn’t you understand? And please don’t tell us about its “huge slew of disciplines.” It’s a groan house pumping kids out into graduate programs. Period.</p>

<p>i don’t get what “value-added” means.
personally, i like u chicago’s surrounding area of hyde park a lot better than evanston. you should go to northwestern if you enjoy being surrounded by lily white suburb.</p>

<p>“… pumping kids out into graduate programs.”</p>

<p>What loftier praise could an academic school want? :)</p>

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<p>vociferous,
I’ve seen quite a few CC members that chose NU over Chicago and vice versa. There’s bashing from both sides and it doesn’t seem like any of the bashers go to either schools. But it’d help if you don’t do the same.</p>

<p>NU is better than Chicago in more than just a “few specific areas”. There are 9 engineering disciplines at NU. Chemistry, music, communication science & disorder, film, education, psychology, theater, journalism are also either ranked higher or better known. These are more than “a few specific areas”. You don’t call anything more than 10 as “few”. Granted, UChicago doesn’t have many of those fields and admittedly, it’s stronger in most liberal arts fields. But please don’t use words like “few specific areas” or “exception” to paint a wrong picture.</p>

<p>10 out of 41 is a few.</p>

<p>Northwestern beats Chicago in engineering, journalism, communications, and theater. Northwestern is a great school overall, but for hard core academics, Chicago rules. It’s one of the world’s great collections of academic talent, with a faculty easily on a par with HYPS. Main downside to Chicago, IMO, is its location. Hyde Park is a nice urban neighborhood but it’s a bit of an island, with some pretty dicey neighborhoods to the west and south. Chicago can look like a pretty bleak place to U of C students who are a bit cut off from the really vibrant parts of the city, mostly on the North Side and more easily accessed from Evanston.</p>

<p>If one is a hard-core academic, none of the reasons given for not liking UChicago apply. One school is not better than the other; they are just quite different. Choose the one that fits you best, based on all available info, including what is posted here.</p>

<p>if you want engineering, why the HELL did you apply to Chicago?</p>