Vanderbilt vs. Northwestern

<p>Like the title suggests, which one do you like more and why? I'm going into engineering, but I'm taking everything into account. Thanks so much!</p>

<p>I applied to Northwestern ED but got rejected, then I got into Vanderbilt in RD so I love both schools. Both are very similar actually in terms of social scene and the academics, overally. Except that Northwestern has an obvious dominance over Vandy in terms of engineering. Vanderbilt is a top class instutition and I don’t think that Vanderbilt engineering is less prestigious than Northwestern’s, but if you look at the rankings, Northwestern is somewhere around the top 20 in engineering in the US while Vanderbilt is about the 38th. Also in ARWU the world ranking, Northwestern ranks 20th in the engineering category in the world (though i still did not get how that is possible :)) Also note that the education of Vandy is more liberal-arts oriented. I don’t know about you but Chicago and Nashville are like compeletely different to me. But I love Vandy too. You should visit both if you have the chance</p>

<p>party/social scene at both schools is VERY different. I’ve spent a good amount of my weekends down at NU partying with the athletes and the few students who do go out on a Friday night. The vast majority of students at NU stay in on weekends…studying. I was somewhat appalled when I first figured this out as it wasn’t like this at Vandy. At Vandy the students going out to staying in ratio was MUCH more balanced.
Also, VU has nicer dorms and better weather. And NU starts veryyyy late (mid/end of september) and you get back mid-june. OH and NU is kind of/not really into their sports teams. Football games get a decent turn out and basketball is on the rise but still not popular. At the NU/Syracuse football game the Syracuse students wayyy out numbered the NU fans. Just my experiences :)</p>

<p>I got into Northwestern RD and am still waiting to hear from Vanderbilt (it should be here Monday). I visited Vanderbilt over the summer and absolutely LOVED it but I have yet to visit Northwestern. If I get into vandy too and by some miracle get enough $ I would love to go there. Anyway I’m wondering what my chances of being admitted to Vandy are if I’ve already gotten into Northwestern, especially since aykut got rejected ED from Northwestern but got accepted to Vanderbilt. Also, how would you compare VU and NU in terms of programs for Biological sciences?</p>