<p>My son is in at WashU and U Chicago. wants to study physics and biol. Not engineering, maybe pre-med. Not sure he wants to go to med school.
Nerdy, but quite social, plays lacrosse, well liked.</p>
<p>His sister is at WashU (soph) which he has seen several times. To UChicago for info session/tour only.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on academics, social scene, campus "vibe"</p>
<p>I’ll be making this same decision, so I’d like to hear some input. I’m completely undecided, leaning towards econ/philosophy or chem.</p>
<p>Aardvark-
With a daughter who recently graduated from WUSTL and a son who is a first-year at U of C, I have a great deal of affection for both institutions. My D was very happy at WashU, and my S has been extremely happy with his experience at Chicago. However, I don’t think either would have been nearly as satisfied at one another’s school. I’d caricaturize the contrast as being best captured by the differences in the student populations: U of Chicago’s is social, but more focused on the intellectual side of things, while WashU’s is highly intelligent and academically focused, but more involved with the social/social action side of things.</p>
<p>With regard to academics, I think the differences in quality at the undergraduate level are small enough as to be unimportant. At the graduate level, I know from someone very much in the know that physics at Chicago is considered top-notch; physics at WashU is well-regarded, but not nearly to the same degree. (I don’t have any particular knowledge about any of the other subjects.)</p>
<p>You might want to look at these threads from last year:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago-2012/485376-u-chicago-vs-wash-u.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago-2012/485376-u-chicago-vs-wash-u.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/485387-u-chicago-vs-wash-u.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/485387-u-chicago-vs-wash-u.html</a></p>