UChicago or UPenn?

<p>Hi, I am a high school senior from Indianapolis, Indiana. I've been accepted to UChicago, and Upenn, (among others, but I've ruled them out) but I don't know which one to choose. I'm planning to major in Political Science and I also want to study languages, music (I play F horn in band) and photography. My dilemmas are as follows:</p>

<p>UChicago Pros:
Close to my hometown
Really, really good political science
I love Chicago</p>

<p>UChicago Cons:
Extreme focus on academics
I'm high strung, worried about stress levels
Kind of small
In a bad neighborhood (?)
No one knows this college--name recognition is super low</p>

<p>UPenn Pros:
Ivy League member
Bigger
Distribution requirements, not core demands
More recognized name
Generally more college-y feel--sports, marching band, etc</p>

<p>UPenn cons:
Philly is not as cool as Chicago
Farther from my house
Not as good for polisci (?)</p>

<p>I really don't know as much about Penn as I do about Chicago, but I'm visiting both again this month... if you have any suggestions, I would appreciate your input!</p>

<p>Thanks,
DasherDog</p>

<p>“No one knows this college”</p>

<p>Wait. What. UChicago definitely does have name recognition. I live close to PA than Illinois and I know more about UChicago than UPenn. I’d say UChicago all the way. They are definitely on the rise, and quickly too. US World News Report ranks it #4, right under HYP. Their admissions rates dropped to the single digits this year. The only reason it’s not an Ivy is because it’s not on the East Coast.</p>

<p>I can’t speak to Penn at all, so this is going to come across as a bit lopsided. I wouldn’t worry about the name recognition or the neighborhood too much for UChicago. In the neighborhood, crime happens, especially if you do stupid things (hint: it’s a bad idea to wander around in the middle of the night with iPhone headphones in). During the day, though, it’s vibrant and consistently has people around and about. Also, the university employs a lot of security guards essentially just to stand on street corners at night. They’re friendly people and definitely make late night walks across campus feel much safer.</p>

<p>Academics and stress can be issues. UChicago is hard, and it will not try to pretend to be otherwise. But almost everyone I know is involved in other things that interest them, ranging from the circus and frats to sports and theater. It can be a stressful environment. At the end of the day, though, you get to work around everyone else, be stressed with everyone else, goof off with them, and hopefully be satisfied with what you’ve done.</p>

<p>Size is very much something you should judge for yourself based on visits, so I’ll leave that to you.</p>

<p>Penn students really enjoy Philadelphia, and, in fact, the city life is more accessible than Chicago activities are to UChicago students. Both are excellent schools, but for undergrad, I would go with Penn.</p>

<p>I cannot stress this enough, as someone who had a chance to go to UChicago, but decided to go elsewhere because of random tuition/other stuff (I still like my college, don’t get me wrongg). At the level of UChicago vs. UPenn, you’re going to get a world class education no matter where. Chicago may be a bit better at political science, but if you don’t like uchicago students, it’s going to suck. I fretted over my college decision and even during my college making process I really looked into Uchicago. obviously I didn’t end up going, but from what I gathered from my overnight, I found that the people there are unique and it’s just a different feel. Uchicago also isn’t located in a bad part, i mean a student told me that if you go running, maybe avoid certain areas, but the campus itself is gorgeous. I cannot speak to Penn, I am very sure it is also awesome over there. Philly can be an amazing city. Authentic Philly Cheese steaks are AMAZING.</p>

<p>The main point of this is that there is absolutely no replacement for feel. Your major could possibly change and whatever what matters during college is, yes your education, but I feel like the friends you make will be far more important. </p>

<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>

<p>Actually your Cons for Chicago are more true of Penn. “In a bad neighborhood” - lot’s of armed robbery around Penn. Plus, there are three hospitals at Penn and sirens going all day and night. “name recognition is super low” - To most people Penn is a state university. Of course, most people don’t know too much anyway.</p>

<p>Is Penn’s being bigger a Pro? 10,000 undergrads at Penn. The best thing about Penn is that it’s located near 30th Street station so you can easily get out of Philly and head to NYC or DC.</p>

<p>@rhg3rd…not much of that is true. Name recognition at Penn is fairly high. Although it does not have the name brand of harvard, princeton, or yale it does garner the same respect and responses as the other ivies such as columbia and dartmouth. I think chicago is a terrific school but it has less name recognition than Penn. Any informed people will usually be aware that Penn is an ivy. Chicago, because it is not an ivy, usually has less brand appeal. </p>

<p>Gallup poll tried to find which colleges people on the “street” considered best. They polled random everyday people and found that the only colleges polled people ranked above penn was harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, and MIT…chicago did not garner enough votes to be counted and neither did schools like cal tech, columbia, cornell, brown, or dartmouth. Considering these unranked schools are great, people either know about them but think Penn is better or they recognize the penn name above the others. </p>

<p>as far as crime goes university city, Penn’s hood, is very safe. The penn police are one of the largest college police depts. and they are everywhere at all hours. It feels very safe and i have never had any issue. I have never been to hyde park i hear its nice though. However if you wander too far off uchicagos campus you are in the heart of the south side which is a real rough part of the city. I doubt the crime is any different at the two schools. </p>

<p>How can the best part of penn be that its by a transportation depot so one can leave penn in a hurry?? you are either trolling or just really hate penn, either way your stance seems myopic. Thats like saying the best part about u chicago is that is close enough to Midway airport so you can leave and go far away! lol </p>

<p>to the op, if you havent made a decision yet, I would suggest you choose penn. Cross admits show that about 60% choose penn over chicago when admitted to both. Either way you will receive an amazing education. The deciding factors for someone like me to choose penn over a school like chicago would be the ivy name (i am a sucker for that) and the fact that penn is more international/diverse and just more fun (penn kids study to do well, chicago kids study cause they have nothing else to do).</p>

<p>Knight2011:</p>

<p>I’ve gone to both schools, and I disagree regarding “name recognition.” Of all the top schools, I think UChicago and Penn are two of the more “incognito” schools out there. They are highly respected in certain circles, but virtually unknown in others (e.g. for Penn, once you leave the mid-atlantic). These two schools are also often confused with other schools (Penn State and UIC). </p>

<p>These are both wonderful schools but, of all the top schools, I think “name recognition” is not a salient factor for picking either of these two institutions. Honestly, one would do better going to Duke or Cornell than UChicago or Penn if one is very interested in name recognition. Duke and Cornell are rarely confused with any other school, and are generally more known. There’s always the not-insignificant portion of people who hear Penn and think Penn State, or UChicago and think UIC. Also, outside the mid-atlantic, I imagine many people don’t know Penn is an ivy league school (there really aren’t many people who can name all of the eight ivies anyway).</p>

<p>I don’t think I even knew that either school existed until I was late in my high school years. If I didn’t research top schools, I imagine I’d still never know. I imagine there are many others who feel the same way. Don’t go to either of these schools assuming they will be universally known and respected - they won’t be, and that’s ok. You should go to a school because it’s a great fit.</p>