<p>Hi,
So I have narrowed down my list of schools to apply ED next fall to the following:
Yale, UPenn, Duke, Northwestern and WashU
I know these are all top-tier schools, but I feel like I have as good of a chance as the bulk of accepted applicants, but my biggest problem is that I want to make sure I will get some kind of "social life" experience in my time at college. There's a lot of emphasis in larger universities on lots of partying, and I'm wondering if anyone could help me ascertain which of these schools will offer me the best balance of rigorous academics (I want to be pre-med) but also has the best resemblance of a traditional party-scene.
Also, I know most people will say that Yale has the least partying of all the schools, so I was also interested if people could give me their opinions as to whether the difference in academic prestige between Yale and the other schools is worth the sacrifice of partying. My cousin who goes to Yale told me that she was pleasantly surprised by how often she "went out," and was glad she had applied ED to Yale instead of UPenn.
Also in general, if anyone has an opinion as to which of these will offer the best pre-med track, while also allowing for exploration of other academic fields (that's pretty important to me too, since I'm not 100% sure about pre-med) that would be great.
Thanks!</p>
<p>please reply! Thanks!!!</p>
<p>ED is only appropriate if you have a clear first choice that you can make the matriculation decision for without comparing financial aid offers. It looks like you do not have a clear first choice.</p>
<p>Yale has EA (but restricted in that you agree not to apply to most other private schools’ early admissions programs), not ED: <a href=“Single Choice Early Action for First-Year Applicants | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions”>Single Choice Early Action for First-Year Applicants | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions;
<p>There is partying at virtually all colleges, and each of those colleges will have party cultures. Furthermore, while each school has a varying social life, your social life is more dependent upon you and the people you hang out with than with the school as a whole. I know undergrads at my current university (similar to the ones you named) who party a lot and I know some who party never.</p>
<p>You’re comparing schools that have miniscule if any differences between them in academic prestige and reputation. None of them is objectively “better” than any of the others when it comes to the best pre-med track; they will ALL adequately prepare you for pre-med if you are willing to do the work and take the classes. As far as I know, they all have general education requirements that are quite similar to each other, but also all have a variety of majors and departments in which you can take interesting classes. They’re all relatively similar in size (Yale and Duke are smaller than Northwestern, Wash U, and Penn, but they’re in that same “medium-sized” range). Honestly, the academics don’t differ too much - it’s not like you’ll be “settling” if you choose Duke or WUSTL over Yale or Penn - so really, you should choose based upon the environment you want to be in.</p>
<p>Duke, out of all of the schools you listed, has the best reputation as far as partying/social life goes. It’s important to note though that their social life is heavily influenced by Greek life - 1/3 of the young men and nearly half of the young women join a Greek-lettered organization at Duke. So consider if that’s something that you want or not. You don’t have to be Greek to go to fraternity parties, of course.</p>
<p>Personally, if I was concerned with a school that had a good mix of academics and a robust social life (which I was when I was applying, too), Duke would be my first choice, followed perhaps by Washington University in St. Louis.</p>
<p>BUT - as was already stated - you don’t have a clear first choice. Therefore applying ED is not a good idea for you. If you have to choose between 5 schools, ED wasn’t designed for you.</p>
<p>On the other hand, juillet and ucb, the student has another 8 months to figure out an ED. She’s asking for our help in trying to figure out if something like social life or pre-med rigor could help her determine her ED. Clearly, these two criteria are not, in your estimations, going to separate one school from another too much. She cannot really experience those criteria without spending an awful lot of time on each campus, but some people here might be able to help her learn more about these criteria at several of these.</p>
<p>Where are the u/gs at these schools who can speak about the party scene at their schools? Probably studying for midterms in Chem II or Orgo II.</p>
<p>I think my point, jkeil911, is that if she needs to figure out an ED then she shouldn’t apply for ED in the first place- because ED is for students who have a very clear first choice that they want to attend above all others. Perhaps in the next 8 months as she learns more about the schools one will rise above the others as the one she really, really wants to attend, and then she should certainly avail herself of the opportunity to apply ED.</p>
<p>But I’m wary about a student trying to decide between 5 schools she really likes for the purpose of choosing one to apply ED to, especially when the utility of doing so is in question and when she could take 1 year and 3 months to decide, and will have more information: she’ll have 1) actually gotten into some of these schools - they all have acceptance rates under 20%, so it’s a crapshoot even for qualified students; 2) gotten financial aid packages in hand; and perhaps 3) had the opportunity to visit, stay overnight, meet some students, eat the food, etc.</p>
<p>There seems to be a growing trend of students posting here asking for which school to apply ED to in order to get the admissions boost, but are unsure of their actual first choice schools. This will likely lead to ED regret or dilemma later (as evidenced by those who post here asking if they can delay the matriculation decision until they see their RD results).</p>
<p>good points to keep in mind, juillet and ucb. I think the OP has the time to find those human contacts that can ignite a superior interest in one school above all others and appreciate the OP’s not waiting til October to ask us which school to ED.</p>
<p>^exactly jkeil, so is there anyone out there who is enrolled and/or has graduate from any of these schools that can give me some advice on this dilemma? Thanks!</p>
<p>UPENN UPENN UPENN they have some insane parties and they are also one of the best schools in the country</p>
<p>Back before there were books, I attended some crazy parties at Penn and nearby Drexel (there seemed to be some overlap in party planning back then), and I’d heard that Dukies can get a bit out of line from time to time, but I cannot help you with the others. From what I hear from colleagues at Penn and Duke that party spirit hasn’t changed.</p>