<p>diaosi</p>
<p>To be honest, you’ve listed five excellent schools.</p>
<p>Let’s look their ACT ranges (all data pulled from Common Data Sets)</p>
<p>Emory – 25%ile ACT = 30; 75%ile ACT = 33
Vanderbilt 25%ile ACT = 31; 75%ile ACT = 34
Northwestern 25%ile ACT = 31; 75%ile ACT = 34
Georgetown 25%ile ACT =29; 75%ile ACT = 33
Notre Dame 25%ile ACT = 32; 75%ile ACT =34.</p>
<p>Your NMS pool probably comes from those in the 75th and higher numbers.</p>
<p>The bottom line – as far as intellegence of student body, the differences in these 5 schools are not significant.</p>
<p>As far as strengths of each of these schools – all are top schools with excellent reputations – </p>
<p>Among these – your decision should probably be based on Cost, Strength of Program in what you want to study; regional issues (i.e., a school like Emory MAY have a stronger reputation in the South than in other regions – though it is excellent anywhere); and intangibles (i.e., which school feels most like home to you).</p>