<p>any opinion on this? and i plan to major in physics / economics</p>
<p>i have been racking my brain for the same answer. </p>
<p>i will be pre-med...and i'm assuming nu will be a little less competitive than wash u since there is a huge pre-med population at wash u...any opinion on this too?</p>
<p>wow, to have to choose between washu and northwestern is a fantasy of mine. Maybe it will be a reality in a week or two, when i hear from nu. probably not though.</p>
<p>maharani-- as far as i know, the premed population of NU is just as huge (and ruthless) as that of any other schools, including Wash U and Princeton. </p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>i would vote NU , first its the more established ,prestigious of the two.. second chicago is a nicer city with more oppurtunities than st louis and also the NU campus looks beautiful...especially the lake lol...
tiffny, im also interested in economics/physics , for the moment hesitating in between NU and Umich.. where else are u considering?</p>
<p>disclaimer: i got in to NU and waitlisted at washu ... but im not angry at wash u and biased ;-)</p>
<p>I think that you have to consider a few things before you make such a complicated decision. Let me add that my son had to choose between Northwestern and Washington University, and he chose Wash U. He is very happy there. On his dorm floor he is surrounded by pre-med students, and now he is considering going into chemistry or medicine. He says that the kids he has met there are really nice. Mind you, my son spent 5 weeks at the Northwwestern Music Institute, and he loved it there. I was sure that he would pick NU.</p>
<p>Why my son chose Washington University over Northwestern:
1. Wash U is NOT a Big Ten School. Therefore more resources go towards students rather than sports (my son is not into sports)
2. He didn't like the idea of the quarter system at NU.
3. When he visited Washu he really liked the kids that he met there.
4. Did not want to major in music (NU has a great music school)
5. Wash U has better food on campus than NU (very important)
6. The dorms are better at Wash U (he lived in a dark closet at NU for five weeks)
7. Thought that Wash U's campus was easier to get around on than NU's campus.</p>
<p>Goodluck on your decision...Someone told my son that picking between Northwestern and Washington University is like picking between steak or lobster. Northwestern might have name power, but I'm not sure if it is actually that much better than Wash U.</p>
<p>"i would vote NU , first its the more established ,prestigious of the two"</p>
<p>Maybe, but they are still both tied at #11 on the USNews rankings.</p>
<p>i would use the rankings as a reference.. take a look at other posts to see how wash u screws around with admissions to manipulate the rankings...</p>
<p>And other schools don't do that? Yeah right.</p>
<p>they all do but wash u is notorious for it ... go find a reject in all the washu decision threads... you can also take a look at what big firms recruit at either of the two .. i found a few finance ones that come to NU.. and my wash u interview guy (who i must say was the nicest interview i had both as an interviewer and a person) said they got mostly st louis firms no big east coast ones..</p>
<p>My perspective, I think that Wash U is a great school but there is no doubt in my mind that Northwestern is the more prestigious of the two b/c of the simple fact that NW has been known for such a longer time and has basically been considered a fantastic school since its inception while Wash U has just recently rised to the spotlight and has played some notorius games with their admissions to raise their ranking.</p>
<p>missmolly- i didn't know wash u had better food! you're right that is VERY important... hehe</p>
<p>steak and lobster..good analogy..i'll keep it in mind</p>
<p>thanks for the input plushenko i'll keep that in mind too</p>
<p>Struggling with the same decision myself (luckily I'm a junior, so I still have some time...). For a while I thought I really wanted to go to WashU (after visiting this summer), but I visited NW last weekend and now I'm conflicted =P</p>
<p>Personally, one of the main worries I have about NW is the weather. I really want to play intramural sports in college (baseball, football, table tennis...hopefully I'll have time) and Chicago seems to be too cold for a lot of outdoor activity about 8 months per year. St. Louis, on the other hand, is generally milder. I also like WashU's slightly more suburban campus.</p>
<p>BTW, for those of you considering premed, my NW tour guide said that 50% of each incoming NW class declares premed, but within a few years about half of them change their minds.</p>
<p>The premed statement is the same for the Wash U freshmen as well.</p>
<p>I do know of many top companies that come to Wash U. The company my father works for Accenture, a top consulting firm and many others I believe come to campus. Also if you want to work somewhere you can track the company, firm or whatever down and reach out to them.</p>
<p>really, jimmyeatworld? wow, thanks for the info...i completely didn't know that...my bro is a wash u pre-med and i read all these wash u student newspaper articles on how the pre-med program is so crazy over there cuz wash u has to weed so many people out...and i just assumed nu wouldn't be that bad because it's more well-known for its communications, journalism, and theater programs</p>
<p>Yeah, no problem. I'm really happy I had the opportunity to go on the tour this weekend and am glad to share the info.</p>
<p>Another interesting stat from NW: the national acceptance rate for graduate-level med schools is around 30%. Those who do their undergrad at NW have a 70% chance of acceptance to their top choice med school. The representatives of Northwestern that I talked to seemed really proud of this fact.</p>
<p>So yeah, although there's not a specific premed major, I would say NW has an extremely strong premed program.</p>
<p>When I was choosing a school my final decision came down to WashU and NU too... It's really hard to choose, because so much seems the same about them, but I chose WashU, mostly for the same reasons that missmolly wrote. When I visited (multiple times, I live in St. Louis) I felt so comfortable there.</p>
<p>BUT one thing that made a huge difference in my decision was the housing process. WashU guarantees housing for all freshmen and anyone who lived in WashU housing the year before. (Granted, you might not get the spot you want, but its still something.) This is definitely not the case at Northwestern - housing is extremely hard to get (my friend couldn't get a spot her soph year, had to move off campus), and end up buying/selling their lottery numbers. A lot of people move off their Junior/Senior year anyway, but its really really nice to know you're guaranteed a spot if you want it. Oh and WashU's campus is just as pretty if not prettier than NU's :)</p>
<p>PPL, how can you possibly compare Northwestern to Wash U (it's like comparing apples to oranges) First of all, Northwestern is a member of the Big 10, which is a major plus compared to Wash U's division 3 sports. Also, Northwestern has been considered a prestigious and great school for the last 50-60 years if not more to my knowledge while Wash U, 15 years ago was not even heard of. One school has a rich history of greatness while the other has been like "self-made" in a matter of years b/c of games with admissions policies and such that have caused Wash U to rise in the rankings. Why don't you guys take a look at the Wall Street top feeder school where they rank the top schools with the # of kids at the top grad schools divided by the total # of all students. NW is at like 20 while Wash U is at like 45. This shows you something more about Wash U's reputation b/c it clearly doesn't get its grads in the best grad progams like NW. This is not to say that NW is superior to Wash U in every aspect but I think that to say Wash U and NW are similar in prestige and academics is absolutely rediculous. Thats my $.02</p>
<p>wow...</p>
<p>all i can say is how can you go to a college based purely on its ranking? you're going to get a great education at all of the top schools... and if you're going to look at rankings, at least compare in your own department.<br>
It seems like so many boards are talking about washu's rise in the rankings... how until recently it was "unknown" (to people on the coasts). But if now employers have heard of it, and it has a good rep, then what's the point? I've read many posts of students attending Harvard, which I'd consider the most prestigous, and they didn't feel that their education was really that much better than other high ranked schools. So who says the prestige equates to a great education? Maybe it just means good sports. </p>
<p>you can be at a top school and absolutely hate your time there and learn nothing because you don't like the department setup, the types of courses, the student body, activities, etc etc etc. For some people the sports are important... some people couldn't care less.</p>
<p>laurezer,
....good points</p>