<p>In terms of campus, prestige, weather, location, education, social life, and overall campus vibe, how do these schools compare. Thank you.</p>
<p>These are pretty different colleges. UCLA and UChicago have the best reputations–UCLA moreso with the general public and UChicago with grad schools and those in academia.</p>
<p>The only feature I can think of that all 4 (or even any 3 of them) share is an urban setting. Other than that, you could just about have picked 4 at random from the US News top 40 lists.</p>
<p>well what sorts of things should I look at when making a decision between the schools?</p>
<p>Do you want super big, medium university, or LAC’s would be a good question to answer. IMHO Chicago is your best choice. My older daughter graduated from there and continues to say that the name recognition worldwide has really helped her.</p>
<p>what about Macalester and Trinity? Would anybody chose them over UCLA? To any extent are they “better schools”? I understand that they are significantly smaller and obviously very different.</p>
<p>I really don’t know where to start to make this decision</p>
<p>UCLA is going to have much better lay prestige than Macalester and Trin simply because UCLA is a large research university wheras Macalester and Trinity are small liberal arts schools. In terms of deciding between them, it really depends on what you want out of the college experience. UCLA is really different from the other two. Personally, I would be inclined to choose Trinity, but that’s because of my personal preference. </p>
<p>At Trinity or Macalester, you’ll have more small classes and will be more likely to have personal interaction with your professor. Conversely, there will probably be less research going on there (but undergrads will get the research opportunities that do exist). Sports will be less important as both schools are DIII. </p>
<p>I’d also like to add that academically, Chicago is the superior school in this set of four. If you are choosing solely on that factor, Chicago is the clear winner. </p>
<p>If you’re asking this question at this point in the year, I assume you’re a junior. Why are you limited to these four schools?</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply. For clarification I am a senior. I am admitted already into UCLA. Macalester, UChicago, and Trinity are schools I have been waitlisted at. I have been already admitted off the waiting list into Macalester, and am still waiting to hear back from the other two schools. The choice may not be out of all of them. I may have to choose between UCLA and Macalester, for example. And to that choice I think I would choose UCLA, but I have no reasoning as to why. Which is why I know I need help here</p>
<p>Hmmm can’t offer a whole lot of help there. I don’t know anything about Macalester specifically, just the qualities of a small school (I do know more about Trinity though). </p>
<p>I don’t really know how to help someone who isn’t sure if they would like a small school or a large school. I think it’s the kind of thing that you just know. In class, are you a participator or do you prefer to just listen? How do you feel about sports?</p>