<p>I am a potential Economics/political science major. I'm looking for a school with a great focus for undergraduate students, lots of tradition, happy kids, and am potentially thinking of going Greek. I understand that NU historically has better placements into BBs and is more prestigious, but I also know that Vanderbilt is rising in the ranks and becoming more selective and placing more students. What would be the difference between the two? I won't be able to visit (international student) so I need your input. NU is a lot better known in my country, but I live Vanderbilt's balance as well. Thinking of applying ED, so could anyone comment on the difference between these two schools in terms of campus life, academics, prestige.</p>
<p>You described both schools regarding lots of tradition, smart, happy kids, Greek life and a focus on undergrads. Chicago is an amazing city: friendly, great public transportation, lots to do, the school is in a great area. I don’t know much about Nashville. However, Vanderbilt has a big sports following, therefore lots of that traditional rah rah spirit. You really can’t go wrong at either school. </p>
<p>Can anyone comment on how Vanderbilt’s Econ program has improved? Or its public policy/political science program?</p>
<p>IMO Vanderbilt’s strength is in its undergraduate focus and quality of life. If you’re looking for the highest ranked and most prestigious individual programs, Northwestern might be better for you. </p>
<p>VU and NU are peer U’s and ranked in the top 1 percent in most areas. If you want to see what students are saying about their schools look up the Princeton Review of the Best 378 Universities. THE STUDENTS SAY…
Happiest students VU # 8, NU not ranked
Best run school, VU # 18, NU not ranked
Lots of Greek, VU #5, NU not ranked
Great college city, VU # 19, NU not ranked
Quality of life score (scale 60-100) VU scored a 98 one of the highest, NU was at 69 one of the lower scores
Academic rating, VU 92, NU 85
Financial aid rating, VU 98, NU 92</p>
<p>The best way to find out which campus is a better fit/has your needs for you is to talk to an admissions counselor about your concerns. Also see if you can find a virtual campus tour on the school website and check youvisit.com (northwestern does not have a tour on the site but Vandy does)</p>
<p>As an international student… would you be able to handle the freezing temperature in Chicago. Maybe that is something to consider. </p>
<p>One has to take Princeton Review’s ranking with a huge grain of salt.</p>
<p>Quality of life depends on weather. But if you are want to work in the BB, pretty much only Chicago and New York would fit. Both have colder weather. I also know that quality of life in PR definitely doesn’t mean walkability. Though a lot smaller (compared to Chicago), Nashville is spread out (you’d need a car to not feel limited or stuck) while Evanston/Chicago is a lot more walkable.</p>
<p>I don’t know what qualifies as “great college city”. There are very few people that would prefer Nashville over Chicago. But most of the ones that are in Nashville are quite happy with small towns or small cities; they probably tend to be happier and easily contented. But I came from Hong Kong; choices, diversity, and worldliness are important to me so Nashville would never fit me. </p>
<p>You clearly have never lived in Nashville!</p>
<p><a href=“Where to go in Nashville: | Time”>http://time.com/13819/the-souths-red-hot-town/</a></p>
<p>One should take ANY ranking system with a grain of salt as they are all limited by their methodology. The neat thing about the Princeton Review is their rankings/ratings are based on current students input on their school and not input from a bunch of 60 year old bald tenured guys in a bow ties. The thread asked about campus life and the happiness of students.
The Princeton Review “quality of life” score is based on student input from 10 areas: overall happiness, friendliness of fellow students, interaction of different types on students on campus, interaction of students with the greater community, food, dorms, safety, beauty, location of campus, ease of getting around the campus, and ease in working with administration.
Quality of Life scores of top U’s: Current students say…
Rice 99
Wash StL 99
Dartmouth 99
Vandy 98
Stanford 97
Brown 97
Davidson 97
Pomona 97
Emory 96
Yale 95
Tufts 95
BU 95
GWU 95
Columbia 94
UNC 93
UPENN 92
Michigan 92
Wisconsin 92
Chicago 91
Princeton 90
Wake Forest 90
Boston col 90
Swarthmore 89
UVA 87
NYU 87
JHU 83
Cal Tech 83
UCLA 82
USC 81
CMU 80
Georgetown 79
Williams 79
MIT 77
Duke 73
Cornell 71
Notre Dame 71
Harvard 70
Cal-B 69
Northwestern 69</p>
<p>Until you actually know how representative the samples are and how they conduct the surveys, you really have no idea how reliable those data are. We also don’t know how the scores are generated. You got GWU, a school with virtually no campus, at 95 while Notre Dame, Harvard, and Duke at low 70s. </p>
<p>Pancaked,
You can easily find that kind of articles written for places like Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Charlotte, etc. They paint the places as something they are not. If I never visited Nashville, I would never imagine that “downtown strip” in the picture is only 2 blocks. I could easily be fooled by the picture. Like I said, for those who are not big city persons, Nashville is just fine. But most international students, like me, come from major international cities and OP may just be one of them. </p>
<p>I come from a very large city, but I would prefer to be away from major metropolitan cities in the US as an undergraduate. I would instead like to live in them after graduation, while working. My main concern for Vandy is that most alums tend to stay in the Nashville area after graduation. If I were to attend Vanderbilt, would I have trouble finding jobs in cities such as New York, Boston, or Chicago? I’m pretty sure I want to remain in the East after graduation.</p>
<p>@ChaChaanTeng , the “downtown strip” is more like 7 blocks, stretching from 1st to 7th – and that’s just Broadway. Both adjacent streets also have plenty of nightlife and Nashville culture. </p>
<p>I certainly agree that there are bigger cities in the US-- in fact, there are 24 bigger cities, by population, and many more that are more densely populated than Nashville. I’m sure some people prefer that, you are correct. However it’s pretty baseless to claim “very few people that would prefer Nashville over Chicago” and that people here are “happy with small towns or small cities.” Considering the location of most prestigious colleges, and really just US colleges in general, Nashville is one of the larger college towns out there.</p>
<p>And Evanston is not Chicago. There is a lot more going on within walking distance from Vanderbilt than within walking distance from Northwestern. </p>
<p>Would anyone please address my concerns of most people staying in Nashville after graduation, and the availability of jobs in larger, East coast cities? </p>
<p>SoCalDad2,</p>
<p>Please do a virtual walk on Google and you’ll see Evanston is more compact and urban than Nashville. Just because Evanston is not in Chicago (they share the border however) doesn’t mean it’s less urban. In fact, downtown Evanston, which is right outside of NU campus, has a walk score of 98. Think Cambridge, Berkeley, Pasadena, etc. Then you do have Chicago downtown being just subway away.</p>
<p>dream510,
You will have a much easier time to land a job in Chicago or NYC if you attend schools there. So if you go to a school in city A and want to get a job in city B, your best hope is through on-campus recruiting. But the number of these employers is fairly limited. This limitation is compounded by the fact that you are an international; most companies, except tech firms in Silicon Valley, do not “sponsor” these days. </p>
<p>@ChaChaanTeng I am a US citizen. How does that change things?</p>
<p>I would appreciate your opinion, @Pancaked</p>