I found out recently I have been accepted to the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania (College of Arts and Science), and the choice is tough. I am primarily looking at the following factors to make my decision:
Prestige: I want a school whose name carries weight wherever you take it. I am a tad concerned that UChicago's reputation puts it in a niche, and that people would think less of it than Ivy League schools like Penn. One is more intellectual (and more highly ranked), and the other is traditional and clean-cut in its excellence.
Culture: I am not super social, but am social nonetheless, so I can see myself at either Penn or Chicago. I also relate to both Penn's "pre-professional" ambition and Chicago's "life of the mind"-fueled nerdiness, so this is a toss-up.
Academics: I am concerned that Chicago's reputation for grade deflation will make it difficult to succeed academically, though it also has higher-ranked Political Science and Economics programs than does Penn.
If anyone has any thoughts, comments, or feedback, I would love your input. Crowd-sourcing important life decisions has never been easier.
You'll hear this a thousand times over but prestige isn't a great way to choose a university. That being said, Penn is about as prestigious as it gets. Being part of the Ivy League really elevates Penn's brand and name recognition. It also confers certain networking benefits on its grads that don't exist to the same degree outside of it. Additionally, fears that Penn will be confused with Penn State are largely unfounded in my experience. On the rare occasion when someone has confused the two with me, I've simply corrected them. But 99/100 times, people know exactly what I mean when I say I went to Penn. Among professionals, Penn's reputation is second to none. In fact, as I've mentioned many times on these boards today, some super elite Wall Street firms will only recruit at Penn, Yale, Stanford, Harvard and Princeton because of Wharton's sterling reputation (http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-that-story-about-wall-street-hiring-based-on-college-ivy-league-schools-with-prestige-everyones-talking-about-2011-6). And because of Penn's One University Policy, all Penn undergrads have access to the same recruiters and career services resources. I speak from personal experience in saying that students from the College and students from Engineering absolutely get jobs with these firms among the many others to which they apply. In terms of prestige, you're at the top of the pile with Penn. But again, that's not a great reason to choose to go to school somewhere.
When i first matriculated at Penn I was also somewhere in the middle of super-social and pretty nerdy and I think you'll find that is true of most Penn kids. Penn has a more pre-professional vibe than it's peers for sure, but it certainly doesn't lack intellectual quirkiness. Penn is really a 'choose your own adventure' when it comes to how much you want to buy into the pre-professional nature of the school versus the more academic/intellectual side. There are clubs like the Philomathean Society which you might love and many others similar to it that socialize through a more intellectual lens (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philomathean_Society). What's great about Penn is that the outrageous party culture is there if you ever want to try it but so is the more urbane, city experience of going to school in a mecca of art, architecture, history, and food. But I won't sugarcoat it, Penn is definitely the Social Ivy in every sense of the term. Students take their relationships with one another just as seriously as they take class. Students are committed to having a good time whenever possible-- but what that means exactly will depend on the student. It doesn't always mean an insane party; sometimes it just means hanging with friends and chatting about life.
Penn's poli sci and econ departments are pretty great even if they aren't quite as highly rated at the graduate level as Chicago's. I wouldn't necessarily worry about the graduate departmental rankings TOO much. That being said, great grad departments do attract top notch faculty and at Penn those faculty members are always teaching undergrads. Thanks to the One University Policy, you will have access to all of penn's undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. That means you can take classes and do research with all star professors even if they are in the graduate division of the school of arts and sciences or the law school, or the school of government or any other one of Penn's schools or institutes.
In general, I don’t think you can go wrong in choosing either Penn or Chicago. Both are outstanding schools and will position you well for whatever future you pursue. I can tell you that I chose Penn over Chicago because I felt it had world class academics, a nicer campus, better access to the city in which it was located (UChicago is pretty far from the center of Chicago), a supportive and social school community, and yes I was drawn to that Ivy League status (though, full disclosure, I was not as interested in Chicago as I was primarily considering Penn, Yale and Columbia and thus I know a little bit less about Chicago than the others) Good luck! I’m happy to answer any questions you have about Penn or the specific approach i took in choosing Penn over Chicago.
No time to do a Penn vs Chicago comparison right now, but I at least wanted to say that this point is totally not true. Anyone who matters (employers, grad school admissions) will put Chicago on the same level as Penn/Ivies, and above some other Ivies in certain areas like PolSci and Econ.
Not to say you should choose Chicago over Penn, but this particular point should not be a concern.
I’m in (somewhat of) the same position right now. For me, UChicago and the Jefferson Scholarship at UVA are my top two choices but I’m also definitely considering Penn. I think it really does come down to what you want personally and what sort of atmosphere you enjoy. I LOVE Chicago’s attitude towards learning, and, oddly enough, its social atmosphere as well. Although I consider myself a pretty social person, I would much rather engage in interesting discussions with a close group of friends and play boardgames late into the night and whatnot than go to a ton of parties. However, I’m also caught up on the whole “prestige” thing. I think Chicago’s a wonderful school, but its definitely underrated/unknown in a good portion of the public population. It doesn’t bother me as much personally, but I know that my parents really care, and I would feel bad about paying a significant sum of money for a less “prestigious” university.
On the other hand, just a personal observation: I feel like Chicago’s on the way up and Penn & the other Ivies have reached a sort of stagnant state. Chicago’s current marketing is superb (the welcome packages certainly imbued a warm and fuzzy feeling) and its national recognition is rising. This year’s acceptance rates haven’t been released yet, but I’ve heard from adcoms that it’s around 7.5% (10% EA and 3%RD, a record low). The admissions counselors seem a lot more receptive and welcoming, and there’s a much greater sense of community on the Chicago FB group than the Penn one (take that as you will). And I respect UChicago for what it looks for in its students. I truly think that the admissions process is a lot less formulaic than it is at other top-5 institutions.
Are you going to UChicago’s overnight and/or Quaker days? I think that may help a lot.
@theleenbean I think you would find that a healthy majority of the social life at Penn is exactly what you are describing as ideal. Greek life is a very loud, very accessible minority. The vast majority of socializing is in the college houses and with small groups of friends. It’s going downtown to a BYO and enjoying a glass of wine with dinner. It’s heading to the PMA or the Barnes Collection. It’s enjoying one of the numerous pop-up park restaurants and impromptu concerts. The huge ‘animal house’ parties are always there and they’re always an option. They are the events that grab headlines and get a disproportionate amount of attention. But they don’t necessarily reflect the average student’s experience. Just something to consider. Again, I think Penn and Chicago are both wonderful options. You genuinely can’t go wrong with either. But I wouldn’t write Penn off because of your impression of the social scene because I can promise you that the lived experience is far more nuanced than it’s made out to be in popular culture.