UChic v Northwestern

College Search & Selection
41

<p>It's unbelievable how Chicago students continue to characterize UChicago as "intellectual" while generalizing NU, referring to quotes used above, as a "Rah-Rah college experience" and "SUPER CHARGED state U." I guess these UChicago v. Northwestern threads are bound to end up this way.</p>

<p>Clearly you have no clue what Northwestern is like. NU has a student-faculty ratio of 7:1 and over 75% of the classes have less than 20 students, considerably lower than that of a "SUPER CHARGED state U." Please, being in the Big 10 league doesn't make a school a state school. UChicago used to be in it too.</p>

<p>For those who keep on cateogorizing NU as a "pre-professional" school, here are some figures: of the 1,952 students who enrolled two years ago, yes, 368 enrolled in engineering, 169 in journalism, and 109 in music. However, 1,056 chose NU enrolled in the college of arts and sciences. Clearly over half chose NU for a liberal arts education. NU's not an all-out "pre-professional" school; it is undoubtedly a school with great pre-professional programs and hundreds of aspriring journalists, engineers, and musicians of the future, but the majority choose NU for a liberal arts education, for the education of the "intellect" which UChicago students almost exclusively claim as theirs and theirs only.</p>

<p>davnasca, UChicago is an awesome school, and clearly you "adore University of Chicago," but that's no reason for you to make such generalizations about NU. A SUPER CHARGED state U? Please. NU has approximately 7,700 undergrads; a state school, for example, like UIUC has 32,000.
And I don't know how you would measure "intellect," Chicago students keep on mentioning their intellect, but since there is no realistic way of measuring intellect, let me just mention the fact that NU has an average SAT range of 1320-1500 and ACT range of 29-33 while UChicago's range is 1320-1530 and 28-33, as indicated on the collegeboard. UChicago beats NU by 30 points on the SAT but NU beats Chicago on the ACT; I hope this isn't the "intellect" you're referring to.</p>

<p>And davnasca, I'd like to see this list you mentioned in your post about academic experience for Undergrads just for reference.</p>

42

<p>well said gd016. i'm still a junior in the process of reasearching for schools, but seriously i think UChic people need to quit that tactic of saying "oh we've got an intellectual atmosphere, NU's just pre-professional." I'm probably gonna apply to both schools so I've seen all three threads on UChic v. Northwestern, and I'm leaning slightly towards NU. but they're both topnotch schools comparable to the Ivies. i think some of the UChic posters just need to quit the "we're intellectual" act and accept the fact that UChic DOES have peer schools, for starters, Northwestern.</p>

43

<p>Other private uni's definetely on the same academic level, or better, include:</p>

<ul>
<li>Northwestern (ouch), all the Ivies, Stanford, Duke, MIT - at the very least</li>
</ul>

<p>Chicago might be the most "intellectual" out of all of these - not sure what "intellectual" means, in my eyes the definition could vary from "intelligent" to "anti-social"</p>

44

<p>Sam:</p>

<p>"New option gives incoming freshmen in the undergrad engineering program a slot in at business grad school, too." Can you elaborate? This sounds confusing - is it a 5 year BS/MBA or a guaranteed admit to Kellogg?</p>

<p>And since when did pre-professional become a negative?</p>

45

<p>Yes, they used to have a combined BS/MBA program, very much like HPME or combined engineering/law program at NU, except it's even harder to get in; they probably accepted less than 5 people per year. The ones in the program would have completed 6 quarters of co-op upon graduation and then worked for another year and a half before going to Kellogg. During my time at NU, I'd only met one person in it and she turned down Stanford for it.</p>

46

<p>
[quote]
Keep in mind that UChicago is ranked as #1 for academic experience for Undergrads, and NU isn't even on the list.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>keep in mind uchicago was not even on the list last year, and three years ago northwestern was #1. That is a princeton review "ranking" that is completely aribtrary and COMPLETELY re-made each year</p>

47

<p>also, in regard to people who are describing uchicago as "intellectual" they are not claiming uchicago students are smarter. I actually think this is a very accurate description, uchicago is filled with "intellectual" types, whose primary concerns and interest revolve around mental pursuits; they follow a "life of the mind."</p>

<p>to think of it in a stereotypical way:</p>

<p>uchicago students congregate in a quiet coffee shop and contribute profound assertions concerning significant topics, and carry on conversations that are both stimulating and edifying for all involved.</p>

<p>northwestern students surprise you at times with how ridiculously insightful they can be, but they do this while you are out sitting at a booth in a bar finishing your second pitcher. A friend you have known for the past month will all of a sudden break out with an offhand statement about the dissolution of international unity.</p>

<p>think about it that way.</p>

48

<p>^^^Hehe! It's true about Princeton Review, elsijfdl--and pretty ridiculous, isn't it?? There's no rhyme or reason to it's 'academic experience' rankings. Because people like the above poster seem to take the ranking seriously--no offense meant to that poster--it almost does a disservice to people researching colleges.</p>

<p>Frankly, the PR's most reliable rankings are along the lines of 'Reefer Madness,' and 'Students most nostalgic for Reagan.' In other words, PR's lists are silly, but their individual college profiles are usually informative. (BTW: under PR's 'schools to consider' categories for both UChicago and N'western, the other institution is listed.)</p>

49

<p>Actually, reefer madness is off significantly...one year, Lehigh was tops for hard liqour and beer, the next year its out of the top 20 for both of those, but tops for weed...makes no sense because campus culture cannot change that significantly in one year.</p>

<p>Then again, none of the PR rankings make sense and they change all the time, so topics like "Intellectualism" are even less a solid gauge to academics than "reefer madness" is to how many kids do drugs.</p>

50

<p>By stating N'Western was like a SUPER CHARGED state U, I meant in the atmosphere and preprofessionalism was simaler to a State U. Sorry if that offended anyone, I defiantly respect NU. </p>

<p>And also sorry about the list. I was just stating what the list said and didn't know that PR was so unreliable. </p>

<p>But seriously, the OPs top choice is Columbia. UChicago and Columbia are about as similar as they come.</p>

<p>I do think we have something all Chicago and NU fans can agree upon... they are worlds apart (in atmosphere... not academics or prestige) and they each appeal to a different type of student.</p>

51

<p>rankings are about the same, hovering around #10 from year to year </p>

<p>they both have their strong departments (nu's medill, chicago's econ)</p>

<p>it's basically personal preference--NU is more "normal", chicago is a little bit quirky.</p>