WashU or NU

<p>Accepted to both Wash and NU. Neither of them has scholarship. Which one should I choose? I'd like to study medicine after undergrad. Any input will be appreciated.</p>

<p>I think you should visit both. Off the top of my head, I’d say NU is more well-respected, but WashU probably has a little bit nicer facilities (at least dorms and food). I’d visit both and see where you fit best.</p>

<p>Both are excellent schools.</p>

<p>Students from each get into Medical School.</p>

<p>Where you go to school has no bearing on your ability to get in to Medical school other than in so far as it influences your MCAT scores.</p>

<p>My two sons go to these schools. They’re actually very different. PM me if you want some specifics.</p>

<p>What are you looking for in a school? What are your interests, passions? Agree that medicine is not going to be a factor here.</p>

<p>Limabeans, I’d love to hear your specifics publicly.</p>

<p>Thanks, I will do more website search to compare the two.</p>

<p>limabeans, I’d like a little more info, and I’m sure others would too, if you don’t mind sharing publicly. NU and WUSTL, from my experience, occupy similar positions in the midwest hierarchy, so some help differentiating them would be really appreciated.</p>

<p>Limabeans, I’d be very interested as well. My son has been admitted to both and would be interested to learn more. He is interested in majoring in Economics. He is also considering GWU and W&M. He likes the NU band program.</p>

<p>Because of the increased popularity of CC (where WashU doesn’t get the respect it deserves), WashU’s reputation is now tarnished. In elite circles, you will encounter MANY MANY people who hold WashU in disdain because they or their children were waitlisted but got into higher-ranked schools. It’s too bad because it’s such a great institution. Deserved or not, NU is much more widely respected, if that matters to you. It has top programs across the board (law, economics, business, music, education, medicine, communications, engineering, etc.) whereas WashU’s strengths are limited to fewer areas.</p>

<p>^Absolutely incorrect. In academic circles these schools are equally respected. In medicine, WashU holds the edge.</p>

<p>I can’t even tell you how many times I heard when I was deciding between WashU and NU (among others), people’s instant reaction was “Wow, awesome schools to choose from…isn’t WashU that school that waitlists everybody? So and so had XYZ amazing stats and was waitlisted because they were overqualified.” It’s really too bad. However, if you can get past that (and you should), WashU is excellent. I visited and everything about the school was well-managed and well-maintained. I was very impressed. It does attract A LOT of pre-meds aiming for top med schools, which could be a good or bad thing (excellent company or too much competition?). That said, NU has its share of pre-meds as well.</p>

<p>

There is a reason why WashU attracts a lot of pre-meds aiming for top med schools: for medical school placement rates, undergraduate research opportunities, and respect in the medical profession, few schools rival WashU. Graduate adcoms and medical colleagues will not care about any wait-list conspiracy theories that have been tossed around by a few uninformed CCers.</p>

<p>WashU and NU are phenomenal schools, but for pre-med, I would choose WashU (for the aforementioned reasons).</p>

<p>Ultimately, your med school admission will depend on your GPA, MCAT score, and extracurriculars. That said, NU has an excellent pre-med program. Check out the following:</p>

<p>Pre-Med Advising:
[Premed</a> Advising: University Academic Advising Center - Northwestern University](<a href=“Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University”>Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University)</p>

<p>Clinical Experiences:
[Clinical</a> Experience/Service: University Academic Advising Center - Northwestern University](<a href=“Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University”>Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University)</p>

<p>Research Opportunities:
[Research:</a> University Academic Advising Center - Northwestern University](<a href=“Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University”>Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University)</p>

<p>Campus/Community Involvement
[Campus/Community</a> Involvement: University Academic Advising Center - Northwestern University](<a href=“Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University”>Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University)</p>

<p>Early Admission programs for high-achieving NU students:
[Early</a> Admission to Medical Schools Programs: University Academic Advising Center - Northwestern University](<a href=“Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University”>Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University)</p>

<p>Fellowship Opportunities:
[After</a> Graduation: University Academic Advising Center - Northwestern University](<a href=“Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University”>Page Not Found: Health Professions Advising (HPA) - Northwestern University)</p>

<p>Visit and decide based on where you feel you’ll be happiest because that can have a huge impact on your performance.</p>

<p>NU and WashU - two of my favorite schools in the country. Both are fabulous, so I regard it as a win-win situation.
Some clear differences: Evanston/Chicago are considerably more desirable than St. Louis, which has much less to offer. WashU’s campus architecture is beautiful (although a few people seem not to like it), while NU’s is eclectic - which in NU’s case means a combination of nice churches and ugly science buildings, among others, so WashU wins on that front. NU is on beachfront property, and it’s pretty darn cool to be right on Lake Michigan. WashU is Div III in sports; NU is Div I, Big 10. It’s a lot of fun to be part of a conference like the Big 10. Both schools have Greek life, but the frats and sororities at NU are residential, while I don’t think they are at Wash U (they are more like clubs). (You can choose to avoid Greek life at both schools and be perfectly fine, but my impression is that it’s very good-natured and a lot of fun at NU.)
The academics at both schools are first rate, so you’re in good shape either way, but several friends of mine in academia (not affiliated with either school) think that NU’s academics might be marginally stronger in general.</p>

<p>

Well, several friends of mine in academia (not affiliated with either school) would disagree.:)</p>

<p>“Graduate adcoms and medical colleagues will not care about any wait-list conspiracy theories that have been tossed around by a few uninformed CCers.”</p>

<p>Absolutely true. But they will also not care that an undergraduate applying to medical school is doing so from a college affiliated with a well ranked medical school. One could apply from Rice, a great institution with NO medical school and be at absolutely no disadvantage whatsoever when applying. I get tired of trying to debunk the misinformation promoted by certain universities and their boosters in this regard. To argue that “few schools rival WashU” for “pre-med” (an ugly way to describe four years of college) is the sort of statement emblematic of which I speak. ALL quality undergraduate institutions are rivals, rivals absolutely on equal footing to med school adcoms.</p>

<p>As far as academics at the two schools are concerned, I (and my “friends”) will acknowledge strong programs at both schools. But at Northwestern they are across the board, many absolutely top national standouts (chemistry, economics, journalism, sociology, communications, music, theater, education, material science, nanotechnology, business, law, et al). Wash U still has some weaknesses in need of shoring up in its academic disciplines, most notably in engineering.</p>

<p>

This is certainly true at the graduate level, particularly in economics, law, and business; I don’t think anyone would dispute that. However, for overall undergraduate education (engineering, business, the sciences, etc.) IMO the respective strengths of NU and WashU balance out. It is not easy to make the case for one being “generally” better than the other at the undergraduate level.</p>

<p>Thanks for all aspects of information presented here. It make more difficult to choose after Cornell is added to the list. All of them are so great and they have their own strength and weakness. I will visit WahsU next week and will make a decision later. Best luck to everyone and appreciated your input.</p>