<p>both are good schools obviously. but which school is better for premed?</p>
<p>northwestern…</p>
<p>Which is better for econ?</p>
<p>Every time I visit my HS friend at Northwestern, everyone asks where I go to school. The response I get from everyone there is “I wish I got into Penn”</p>
<p>Penn is definitely better for premed. Ignore the previous post.</p>
<p>My daughter also had to decide between Northwestern and Penn. She chose Penn, which had deferred her for early decision but accepted her RD. I know she would have been happy at Northwestern, had Penn not come through.</p>
<p>sorry, but can i get some reasons for why one schools is better than the other?</p>
<p>I attended both (UPENN undergrad and NU grad) and would say they have more similarities than differences. I would agree Penn has the edge for pre-med. However, Evanston/Chicago has the edge over West Philly in terms of location. I would recommend you overnight at both and make your decision based on fit and feel. I also think you should think about where you want to be geographically (both in terms of 4 years for college and for after college) as NU has a stronger rep in the Midwest and Upenn has a stronger rep out East.</p>
<p>i will be completely honest. my goal after undergrad is getting in a top medical school (Harvard, Johns Hopkins, WashU). yea, i know, big dream. i was wondering which school places its students better in these top medical schools.</p>
<p>I think Wall Street Journal ranked Penn very slightly higher than Northwestern as a “top feeder school”. That ranking, however, did not break that down between law, business, and med schools.</p>
<p>Responding to the inquiry about economics, economics is definitely stronger at Penn if you are accepted to Wharton. If not, between economics at NU and economics in Penn Arts & Sciences, I suppose it’s a toss-up.</p>
<p>Penn is an Ivy League school.</p>
<p>nah. economics at wharton is better, but if not, nu is better for econ. now can anone answer my question 3 posts above?</p>
<p>You can get into a top med school from UPenn or Northwestern. You might as well go to UPenn since it’s higher ranked and Ivy League.</p>
<p>I would say def go to penn. you would also have more opportunities for internships and stuff. esp because it’s so close to nyc</p>
<p>yea but evanston to chicago is 30 mins. philly to nyc is 1.5 hours.
just playing devil’s advocate here. i still can’t decide. does anyone else have opinions on this upenn vs nu premed matter?</p>
<p>Penn’s medical school is on campus. Northwestern’s is in downtown Chicago.</p>
<p>^ Not to mention that Penn’s hospital and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia–both ranked among the best in the country–are right there on Penn’s campus. Plus the Nursing School, Vet School, and Dental School, which are also highly ranked and do a lot of leading-edge research that affects and involves human medical research, are right there on campus, as is the internationally renowned Wistar Institute. And Penn’s bioengineering and nanotechnology programs are already top-10 and on the ascendancy.</p>
<p>In fact, the medical research complex right there on the Penn campus is unparalleled on any other undergraduate campus in the country, and Penn is second only to Johns Hopkins in the amount of NIH research funding it receives. It’s quite an exhilirating–and highly accessible–envirionment for a pre-med undergraduate.</p>
<p>Penn’s medical complex is beastly. Lots of undergrads to research there, which I’m sure helps them get into medical school.</p>
<p>All in all, it’s not really disputed that Penn is generally considered better than Northwestern, though they both rock.</p>
<p>Northwestern is amazing. Just happens that Penn is even more amazing ;)</p>
<p>I think there has been a lot of useful info posted on this thread, but there’s one point that I disagree with quite vehemently: Do NOT go to UPenn instead of NU because UPenn is an ivy. I’ve posted on this topic many times before, but when choosing between roughly equivalent schools (i.e. Stanford vs. Yale, Duke vs. Dartmouth. NU vs. UPenn), one school’s ivy status should NOT SERVE as the tiebreaker. </p>
<p>I say this because, when comparing roughly equivalent schools, your actual PERFORMANCE at the school will matter the most. Also, generally, you’ll perform better where you are happier. So, I don’t think Yale grads with equivalent resumes to Stanford grads do a ton better just because Yale is in the ivy league. Same goes for NU and UPenn. </p>
<p>In the case of NU vs. UPenn, there are many, many other factors that should play into your decision before you consider the sort of lackluster importance of one school being an ivy. Both schools are great for pre-med, but there are some factors to consider here. Northwestern operates on a trimester system, and this often leads to a feeling of “constantly working” for the pre-med population. You’re never far from midterms or exams in a trimester system. At the same time, I know that in the semester system, sometimes undergrads don’t work hard early because midterms/exams seem so far off, and that leads to even more stress at the end. Do you function better under consistent time pressure, or are you good with managing your own time when the exams aren’t looming? </p>
<p>Also, location can be a bigger factor than you think. As I’ve said before, I think Philly is kind of an underwhelming city… sort of gritty, not particularly friendly, and it doesn’t offer all that Chicago does. At the same time, Chicago winters are ROUGH, and I know (from attending the Univ of Chicago) that students find the winters tough to get through, especially if they’re not used to it. Are you ok with long, tough winters in a great midwestern city? Would you rather be in a grittier city, but one with a milder climate and easy access to NYC and DC? </p>
<p>All of these factors I discussed should play into your decision. The ivy status really shouldn’t be a priority at ALL when deciding between roughly equivalent schools. With equivalent schools, your happiness and performance should matter the most. Also, don’t necessarily think “oh I could be happy anywhere,” because generally, no matter how easy-going the student, the real answer can be much more nuanced than that.</p>