<p>Mother --</p>
<p>When you’re dealing with the top 15 or 20 universities, it’s safe to say you’ll get an excellent education and excellent job or graduate school prospects at any. The differences just aren’t that great (except, arguably for HYPSM – and even then, I’m not positive).</p>
<p>So, I think it comes down to intangibles, programs and educational philosophy.</p>
<p>My D is currently a sophomore. FWIW, she chose NU over Cornell, Wash U, Michigan and a few others. </p>
<p>Intangibles – from the moment she set foot on campus, she fell in love with it. It was one of the very few schools that we called “smiley” schools, meaning she was smiling ear to ear when she visited.</p>
<p>Program – she was applying for Engineering – it’s a very highly ranked E school. Others may have been a spot or two higher, but not enough to make any practical difference.</p>
<p>Philosophy – at Engineering, NU emphasized a hands on approach that work with teams. They also have Engineering First program – which exposes students to a broad range of engineering concepts early on. It also has a strong internship program. All of these resonated with her and were major selling points.</p>
<p>The rest – she is very happy there – loves it. Intellectual environment – it’s great (but I think this is the case at any peer school).</p>