<p>I'm looking for a college that is around the same difficulty as University of Chicago. For me Chicago is a 50/50 so other possible 50/50s please.</p>
<p>Requirements:
Has to be in California, East Coast or Illinois, not South.
Private School
Not as rigorous academically
Interested in IR, PolySci, Business, Psychology, Environmental Science, etc.
Cost doesn't really matter</p>
<p>Thanks a lot</p>
<p>Georgetown, maybe?</p>
<p>Not in Illinois, but there are a lot of cross-applicants and cross-admits between UChicago and WashU (St. Louis).</p>
<p>What do you mean by “around the same difficulty” and “not as rigorous academically”?</p>
<p>^^^I would assume around the same difficulty in terms of admissions, but less of the “where fun goes to die” reputation (deserved or not, that’s a whole other issue)</p>
<p>WashU and Georgetown are both good suggestions, especially georgetown for IR. Maybe Northwestern, Hopkins, USC as well? </p>
<p>Are you also looking for schools like UChicago in other ways (size, urban, etc)?</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins has a fiercely competitive, grade conscious student body. Probably wouldn’t be a place for someone who wants to avoid Chicago’s rigor. Chicago’s academics are tough, but the students aren’t that competitive with each other.</p>
<p>^while that is a commonly expressed opinion, it is not one I agree with–particularly in the areas the OP expressed interest in. If you speak to current students, the vast majority would describe Hopkins as challenging and demanding, but not cutthroat. Most students are very cooperative with each other.</p>
<p>Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, Reed, Swarthmore are some intellectual equivalents.</p>
<p>Yes, you’d have to relax your location requirements to get more matches. Some of these are just as rigorous. Most (all?) are smaller.</p>
<p>Georgetown seems like a good call. Maybe Clarement McKenna??</p>
<p>As for others, requirements may indeed need relaxing, not necessarily the location ones, but something. </p>
<p>Most places that have similar admissions profiles also probably have quite demanding academics, differences might be quite difficult to reliably distinguish. Northwestern and Cornell, maybe JHU might otherwise meet the criteria, but from what I know or have heard these schools are no cakewalk either.</p>
<p>Not only don’t four of the LACs in #8 meet the specified location criteria, none of them have undergrad business. Other schools that likewise don’t have undergrad business, but at least meet the location criteria and might fit otherwise, include: Tufts, Vassar, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Haverford. Tufts is rather famous for International Relations. I have not checked these re: your specific interest areas.</p>
<p>Is Notre Dame close enough to Illinois for you? (edit: nearly 2 hrs, not that close I guess)</p>
<p>There is no UG business program in UOC…</p>
<p>How about Boston College? Although it might be a bit step down, but not much. The fun factor is probably better there. Georegtwon is a good suggestion.</p>
<p>In New York, of course there is NYU and Cornell.</p>
<p>Reed and Swarthmore kind of fall into the “where fun comes to die” camp, I think. </p>
<p>On the West Coast: USC, Cal, CMC
East Coast: Penn, Boston College, Georgetown</p>
<p>What’s wrong with Northwestern instead of UofC?</p>
<p>^ Reedies would object; they work very hard, and have a lot of fun on the side. :)</p>
<p>vossron, I gotcha, but I do think Swarthmore and Reed are the two places that share a similar culture to the University of Chicago in that students really accentuate how much work they do. I know several Reedies that took leaves of absence because the workload/atmosphere was just too intense.</p>
<p>Yes, indeed, taking a semester off is quite common at Reed, and is one reason why the four-year graduation rate is low. Grad rates measured in semesters would be better for Reed. Reed is intense, but very fun-loving, too!</p>
<p>Northwestern, Swarthmore, Pomona</p>
<p>Emory is in the South, but it is often considered a very Northern University that just happens to be in the South. It is quite liberal and full of Northerners. Also, ATlanta isn’t exactly your typical Southern city, to be honest it kind of reminds me of L.A.</p>
<p>Anyways, I know a bunch of people here who turned down UChicago for Emory due to its top notch academics, great location (right next to CDC, perfect for pre-med)s, elite business school, and amazing faculty. You also gotta love the campus and five star hotel style dorms.</p>
<p>hey you guys
thanks SOO much for commenting and being so helpful</p>
<p>i’m already thinking of applying to places like georgetown, tufts, penn etc
but i will definitely think about johns hopkins, BC, CMC and possibly emory :)</p>
<p>Rice University
UC Berkeley
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
Cornell
Georgetown
JHU
UVa
College of William & Mary
UNC
Duke</p>