<p>I'm at the very end of my college list, and my final school is going to be among these three. I need some help deciding. </p>
<p>I want to major in Biology, but I want a school with a diverse curriculum and not one with just a science focus. I want to be able to take a Humanities course, and not feel that the school is obviously lacking. I may want to enter medical school, but I'm not sure yet (so, I'm looking for a good medical school acceptance rate). Also, the option to double major or major/minor is a plus. As for size, I don't want an undergraduate population that is less than 800ish. </p>
<p>Also, I know that all of them are prestigious and selective, but could someone rank how selective they are between themselves?</p>
<p>Personal anecdotes are welcome and greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Upenn is the most selective out of the three, it has a very high percentage of students ranked about top 10% among its entering freshman class. It is highly competitive just as JHU and UVa as well, just that Upenn is an Ivy, its very hard to get in.</p>
<p>Just for perspective</p>
<p>JHU: 4500
UPenn: 9700
UVa: 15000</p>
<p>UPenn and Hopkins both have really good bio/premed programs as I am sure you know. UVa is a very respectable school as well. Either way, you will go far no matter which school you attend.</p>
<p>My son was trying to decide between Hopkins and Penn (he visited UVa but decided it was too large for him). I have a friend who is a well-known professor at Penn who sat down with my son to discuss his options. After learning that my son was interested in international studies, he told him, quite frankly, that Hopkins was stronger in that field tahn Penn although he was sure he would do fine at Penn. He went to Hopkins, did well, got a great job and now is working on his Ph.D. </p>
<p>I would say that Hopkins is generally thought to be stronger than Penn in biology--although it may not make a huge difference as an undergraduate.</p>
<p>UVa is a different experience than either Penn or Hopkins. It is significantly larger, and as a public university is required to have a large proportion of its students from Virginia. It is clearly among the best publics (right behind Cal Berkeley), but, IMHO, is appropropriately ranked behind Penn and Hopkins.</p>
<p>Hopkins (SAIS) wins at graduate international studies over Penn, which has no such school. But SAIS is in Washington DC, not on the Baltimore campus. Oops!</p>
<p>I can also assure you that Penn international studies/relations majors do very well in the fields of diplomacy, academia, intelligence, business, etc. IR and IS are both very rigorous programs at Penn. IS has to be applied for when you apply to Penn, and IR has a rigorous set of course and GPA requirements to be admitted and requires a year-long thesis.</p>