UChicago vs. Duke vs. Penn vs. WashU vs. Rice vs. NW

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>Hey, please help me decide which seems like the best fit for me. I know that I should visit these schools, but the truth is that I can't visit * all * of these schools. Anyways, please tell me which seems like the best fit for me and why. Also, if any of these schools seems completely wrong for me, please let me know as well. Here is what I'm looking for:</p>

<p>** Strong Pre-Medical Program: ** great advising programs that can show me places for internships, research, etc.; great science classes/teachers that can really prepare me well for the MCAT's</p>

<p>** Competitive, but Not * Too * Competitive: ** i would definitely like to have super bright people around me that can push me to my best, but i don't want people to be cutthroat; somewhat laid-back atmosphere where people help each other out; i don't want grade inflation necessarily, but i don't want a school where there is tons of grade * deflation *</p>

<p>** Nice Surrounding City: ** i know that i won't leave campus every single weekend and go out, but i want the possibility to go out to a great city... it doesn't have to be a * big * city, but i want to be surrounded with numerous opportunities to experience things like sports, great restaurants, and maybe even a museum or a broadway show every once in a while</p>

<p>** Pretty Good Social Life: ** i'll be honest... i'm not the biggest party man. however, i really like hanging out with friends, but i don't want to have to go to hardcore parties every weekend in order to have fun. i'd like to have social places where i can simply relax and chill with friends</p>

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<p>From this description, Penn is the best for you. It has great pre-professional programs, a great social scene, and nice surrounding city. Chicago is very competitive and socially talented. Duke isn’t by a good city area. </p>

<p>Northwestern is another option, but is very competitive for pre-med.
This is my opinion. Most people will bias to the schools they like. I don’t like Penn, but your description matches this school best.</p>

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<p>You know what? Any of those schools would be fine. You aren’t looking for unusual things, you are looking for exactly what lots of other students are looking for. And because of that all of the colleges more or less cater to those tastes, and students with those tastes make up a sizable portion of the student body at many of them.</p>

<p>That said, a few comments:</p>

<p>Science classes and teachers aren’t there to prepare you for the MCATs anywhere. They’re there to teach you science; MCAT preparation is on you. Of the five schools, I think pre-meds have the hardest time at Chicago, because they are catered to less. The college has something of an anti-pre-professional tone, unlike the other four. But that’s a shade of difference, not a sharp contrast. There are plenty of pre-meds at Chicago.</p>

<p>Cut-throat competition won’t be a big problem at any of the colleges, but it’s a little the flip side of the catering to pre-meds issue. The more there’s a culture of pre-professionalism, the more people feel they are in competition with each other. That’s just how it is. None of those schools has a reputation for excessive competitiveness, but Chicago would probably win this category.</p>

<p>Ummm, Broadway is in New York (well, there’s one in Nashville, too; you didn’t ask about Vanderbilt but you could have). You can get to Broadway shows from Penn pretty easily (two hours on the bus, 75 minutes on the train), but not from anywhere else. They all have touring shows, except maybe Durham. Museums – Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, St. Louis, [huge chasm of a gap], Raleigh-Durham. </p>

<p>In general, Chicago is the coolest city of the ones you mentioned, but also by far the most expensive and least student-oriented. Northwestern is more convenient to the fun parts of Chicago than the University of Chicago is, but neither is right there in the way that NYU or Columbia (or, almost, Penn) is. Philadelphia has a nice balance of big-city and cheapness. I imagine Houston does, too, but I think it’s a lot more spread out, which means a lot less accessible if you don’t have a car. St. Louis, I don’t know enough.</p>

<p>Your social life is going to reflect you a lot more than any institution. Penn and Duke are very fratty, Northwestern and WashU somewhat less so, Chicago a little, and Rice has no fraternities (and a residential college system that is almost as beloved as Harvard’s or Yale’s).</p>

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<p>Perhaps search CC for threads about pre-med at each of the aforementioned schools?</p>

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<p>Try to narrow down the choices and then make a couple of visits. Visiting Chicago allows you to evaluate 2 of the schools on your list so definitely do that.</p>

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<p>I would say NU is your best bet. It seems to meet all your criteria. However, all of those schools would be great given your interests.</p>

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<p>Get admitted to all of these schools before you start asking yourself about hypotheticals.</p>

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<p>thanks everyone. as for “broadway,” i didn’t mean New York necessarily. i just meant cool shows and stuff. and yeah i know that i can’t choose until i get accepted, but i’m trying to narrow down my list to see if i want to ED anywhere because i’m a junior. but anyways, thanks for the help. i really appreciate it.</p>

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<p>? I can’t see Northwestern being more convenient to the fun parts of Chicago. I’ve been rolling that around in my brain…by helicopter, by canoe? No, from Northwestern you always have an extra CTA transfer and more time. Driving, Evanston is not convenient to the expressways at all. Even if you had a Rogers Park apt while studying at Northwestern, it would not be more convenient to the the fun parts of Chicago.</p>

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<p>Cottonwood… Oh come on! It’s a 20 minute cab ride from Rogers Park to Rush Street. And now you might even get lucky and get a ride in the Cash Cab - Chicago!</p>

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<p>(add Columbia to your list, :D)</p>

<p>I think though, for your last three bullet points, any of those schools will do just fine. There are little points of distinction (f.x I personally think Rice-Houston is better suited to your “city” than WashU-St.Louis), but otherwise I would just look at the campus atmosphere. With that being said, Chicago might be a bit behind the others on the first bullet point (Pre-med).</p>

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<p>OK, I’ll admit that it’s been 20+ years since the last time I was in Evanston, and I’ve never tried to go anywhere from there on public transportation. I do have lots of experience travelling around the city on buses and els starting in Hyde Park, and it is hard for me to imagine that Northwestern would be equally inconvenient, but maybe it is.</p>

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<p>JHS, thanks. From a person that remembers cold waits switching trains at the Evanston border.</p>

<p>nugraddad ? From Howard Street or Devon? Anyway, a cab ride from Hyde Park to Rush St would be faster. A camel from Hyde Park might be faster. A Wildcat might be faster than a Maroon, hard to say.</p>

<p>Sapling is in that dorm where the bus to downtown stops right in front, maybe skewing my view.</p>

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<ol>
<li><p>For sheer frigid urban unpleasantness, I’ll put standing out in the middle of the Dan Ryan Expressway, or standing out in the middle of Garfield Avenue over the Dan Ryan Expressway, up against any Evanston-Rogers Park border crossing. The Garfield El stop, useful as it is to UChicago students, has to be one of the least beautiful places on Earth. It pretty much approaches Absolute Zero on any scale of feng shui.</p></li>
<li><p>One or the other of my kids has lived right by the 6 bus and the Metra for years, and that makes a huge difference in how easy it is to go into the Loop, or even further north. But that’s not indicative of the experience of the 95% of first years who live in the dorms on campus.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>I’m a junior as well, and I live in Houston, visited WashU, UChic, and NU a month ago, and I plan to visit Duke this summer.
As far as city life goes for each, Houston is very spread out, but always has events. From an outdoor skating rink to the Alley Theater to several museums and such, there’s always something to do. Plus, we have a basketball, a hockey, a football, and a baseball team down here, so there’s always sporting events to go to. I’ve never visited Rice so I don’t know much about the campus :stuck_out_tongue: it’s far to close to home for me.</p>

<p>I had decided I wouldn’t like WashU, but once I visited it, I changed my mind. The campus is really clean and pretty. It’s all on one block of land, generally, so you wouldn’t have to cross any streets from the dorms to the classes. There’s a nice bridge on campus that leads to a road filled with eateries. From a restaurant that only serves macaroni to a diner that makes 10 different flavors of root beer to three different Vietnamese restaurants all owned by the same person, this street always has something to offer. The campus is right next to the zoo, which is free, and not far from downtown. I loved how the campus was quaint and isolated but surrounded by so much. It really has a lot to offer.</p>

<p>Chicago :slight_smile:
First off, this city in general is one of my favorites, just because it’s a major, bustling city on the shores of a lake (which means beaches), but still has distinct seasons and snow (we don’t see much of that down here in Houston :P). Although the L seems to be a little sketchy, all of the times I’ve ridden on it I’ve felt safe and fine. Hey, it gets you from point A to point B. Again, Chicago, like STLouis and Houston, has museums, shows, night life, etc. In addition, it does have beaches and beautiful weather</p>

<p>UChicago is split up in blocks so it gives the city feel. I personally liked this campus the best. I loved the architecture and gargoyles and all. </p>

<p>I don’t have much interest in NU, but my brother goes there. My brother is in a fraternity (he lives in the frat house, actually), and needless to say, he definitely has his share of parties. He didn’t party much in high school, but I guess it just depends who you surround yourself with. NU is out in Evanston, and it’s the food capital of the shoreline or something like that. SO MUCH FOOD there! </p>

<p>Duke - I’m visiting there this summer, but I have family that lives near Durham. It’s definitely not as urban-esque as the rest, but it’s not totally isolated. It’s a few hours from the Atlantic coast and beaches. </p>

<p>As for Penn, I haven’t been up that way, sorry :P</p>

<p>Hey but I am also hoping to go down a premed track as well. It’s pretty tough wherever you go. </p>

<p>Hope that helps some :)</p>