<p>Title basically says it all...</p>
<p>Of particular interest: any overlaps with Columbia?</p>
<p>I applied to UChicago, Brown, Amherst, Williams, and Princeton. In all honesty, I would have only been interested in Brown and UChicago. I got in to UChicago and Williams, waitlisted at Amherst, and rejected by Princeton and Brown. I chose UChicago over Williams because UChicago seemed academically intense, I could feel the “life of the mind,” the kids seemed down to Earth and super smart. At Williams, the kids seem smart, but a ton of them seemed smug, and it definitely felt more “preprofessional.” Williams is also in the absolute middle of no where.</p>
<p>Hmmm I am from the Class of 2014, but back in my day I applied to:
Harvard, Yale, Cornell, UPenn Wharton, UMich, NYU, Northwestern, SUNY Buffalo.
Got into NYU and UMich, but way too expensive plus I had already gotten into UChicago so they were out of consideration.
Got into SUNY Buffalo as well. Waitlisted at Northwestern and Wharton, rejected at Harvard, Yale, and Cornell.
Out of all the schools I got into, UChicago was the most highly regarded and offered the most money. It was an easy choice.</p>
<p>Son is class of 2017 and got into 11 schools. The final 3 were Swarthmore, Vanderbilt, and UChicago. After extended, overnight visits at all 3, UChicago felt the best. To boil it down quickly, Swarthmore was Chicago without the urban and graduate school buzz. Vanderbilt just didn’t feel as right intellectually. It helped that my son clicked with everyone he met at UChicago. Swarthmore and Vanderbilt are both great, great places. Aid ended up about the same at all 3 places. UChicago just felt more right for my son. If you are a prospective 2018 calculator, I wish you the best of luck.</p>
<p>I ended only applying to Chicago and Umich, I had 8+ other apps ready, but when the EA decision came through I was done. I loved the campus, clicked with everyone I met there, loved the academic intensity and the core, and the school is incredible in the field I wanted to major in: math. Class of 2016, and I have no regrets so far.</p>
<p>I applied to a whole bunch of schools. Ultimately, I had to choose between Dartmouth and UChicago. I chose UChicago because
A. They gave me better aid.
B. I’m interested in science research and there are so many opportunities in UChicago.
C. UChicago is more academically challenging
D. Chicago food is awesome. Well, the city is awesome.</p>
<p>Once upon a time my crossover schools were mid-size universities attached to large cities. I was also considering:</p>
<p>-Hopkins (good program for one of my intended majors)
-Northwestern (ditto)
-Tufts (because I couldn’t find something not to like about it)
- in state honors college safety</p>
<p>I felt lukewarm about those schools relative to how I felt about Chicago, got in EA, finances worked out, laid down my deposit the next day. (But back then it was mailed in.)</p>
<p>In retrospect, I didn’t do my college search “the right way,” but I also didn’t agonize over it anywhere nearly as one may think based on my post history. Knowing what I know now about myself, my college list would probably look like the following:</p>
<p>Colleges with distinct programs within my prospective majors and intellectual communities:
Carleton
Bryn Mawr
Smith College
MIT
UC Berkeley</p>
<p>Colleges with intellectual communities, without distinctive programs in my majors of interest:
Reed
Swarthmore (though that has changed a bit, I think, based on some of their more recent faculty hires, they’ve become stronger towards areas of interest for me)
Brown</p>
<p>Colleges with a “what the hey” factor, that I probably should have given a bit of a closer look to:
Emory
Duke
Wesleyan</p>
<p>Oh, and why?</p>
<p>-Midsize and in a major metro area, but in its own neighborhood
-house system
- common core
- students who were attracted to the school because of its reputation for hard work
- A bunch of my former classmates from high school went to a lot of different schools, a lot of very good schools, and I liked the ones who went to Chicago a lot more than the ones who went to other similarly competitive schools.</p>
<p>Final decision was between JHU (engineering 5-Yr BS/MS), Chicago, LSE, Berkeley for econ. Dinged at Oxford, Wharton, Yale. </p>
<p>My thinking as an 18 year old was limited to I should go to a good school and choose a marketable major. Basically narrowed it down to JHU and Chicago, and then it became a pre-med vs. Economics PhD/MBA/JD thing. The fact that medical school placement is so cruddy at good schools (that is, a lot of kids who go to ivies end up in med school at jumbo state schools) turned me off to the whole notion of doing premed despite some allure to being at Hopkins. </p>
<p>Don’t regret that decision, but in hindsight I would have taken LSE (three year degree) over Chicago. Having gone to a good prep school, the core was at best dilettantish and at worst a waste of time (I had like 11? 12? AP 5’s plus a couple of 4’s). I should note that I had no clue a core as such existed until I got the course guide in the mail over the summer and realized it was not just some random distribution requirements. True, I got to graduate from Chicago in three years, but still, I there was a year of fluff (and accordingly, stuff I wished I had learned like programming). </p>
<p>At the time it was not a big deal, but in I cannot believe from an adult perspective I spent time and energy studying doing humanities, Japanese arts history, physics (again), biology topical courses, etc.</p>
<p>Warning: long post ahead, cliffnotes at bottom.</p>
<p>I am going to attend UChicago in the fall. I applied to all the ivies and a few other top schools. I only got flat-out rejected by Harvard, Princeton, and Brown, but was waitlisted at 6 schools, notably Yale, Columbia, and Stanford. I’m almost sure I would’ve jumped ship if I got off the waitlist at Yale or Stanford, but with Columbia I didn’t seriously pursue the waitlist (not sending in a supplemental essay even though they strongly encouraged it) because I wasn’t as sure.</p>
<p>My final decision really came down to UChicago, Wharton, Dartmouth, and Williams. While I was certain I would be going to Wharton after Ivy day, the other schools really started to jockey for the lead. After a few gut wrenching days, UChicago got the lead. After visiting the above four, UChicago was the semi-tough choice.</p>
<p>It is definitely funny to think about choosing between Wharton and UC, considering that both are on the opposite ends of the theoretical vs practical spectrum. I liked the idea of Wharton because, well, I like the idea of making a bunch of money and I thought business/wall-street would be the way to go. However, I’m very much of an intellectual type and I found it hard to grapple with the idea of just giving up all other types of academic enrichment: I definitely like math and lit plus other areas. While in theory Wharton says “Business and More”, the reality is you take 4-5 classes a semester; so even though 40% of classes are outside of Wharton, that only comes out to a couple classes a semester. I realized this would be okay for someone who had one interest separate from business (someone like Elon Musk who went to Wharton and also got a degree in physics), but it would be a harder fit for someone like me who didn’t know which one field I would pick to double major in without adequately exploring all the disciplines in a college setting. Also, I’m not sure about going into investment banking or the other types of business that Wharton acts as a feeder for, and going there would have been a big commitment.</p>
<p>A couple other things about Wharton was that the students I met didn’t impress me. It’s obviously completely unfair to judge someone off of a few minute encounter, but I didn’t see myself in the people I talked to. Maybe an unfair observation, but the people who go to Wharton seemed like the people who are happy life/business isn’t a meritocracy.</p>
<p>(One side note is that UChicago was very accommodating for me visiting outside of the the admitted students days [including an overnight visit] but Wharton/UPenn was a much more impersonal experience and wouldn’t let me stay overnight)</p>
<p>Dartmouth definitely took my heart for a few days. At the end of my visit there, I felt like it was truly a tossup between there and UChicago. But only a week later, on 4/27, I committed to UChicago. The rationale that formed in my mind was that Dartmouth allured me with the kind of guy I wished I was-- confident, sociable, party hard, and women easy–when I was truly more of a UChicago type–intellectual with some introverted tendencies. As well, I didn’t like the idea of having to go through with the whole frat rushing; I wouldn’t dismiss Dartmouth out of hand just because of the strong frat scene, but when I had alternatives “frats” ultimately became the one word reason I would give people as to why I didn’t go there.</p>
<p>Williams never really took seed in my heart, but sometimes I question whether I should have considered it more. A big drawback for Williams is that I visited it very late in the decision process, doing an overnight around 4/21. As well, it was really hard to connect with my host who was tired, busy, and an entirely different personality type than I am. The class I sat in on was nondescript other than being incredibly small (just under 10 students). In theory it was Dartmouth without the frats, but it was late in the month, my mind was fatigued from the whole process, and I had basically decided on UChicago already.</p>
<p>(Another consideration for Dartmouth and Williams is that I wanted a place easy to commute to from California and that has a whole city to enjoy over four years, not an insular town that I might find old after a couple years)</p>
<p>UChicago was the first school I visited, and it did all it needed to become the frontrunner. While incredibly shallow in retrospect, I was concerned on the quality of women based off of all the self-deprecating jokes. All it took was a few hours on campus to realize that this should not be a concern. The classes were solid, but what made an impression was that everyone took interest in me, even students outside of the admissions-office/PSAC bubble. I felt at home at the house table. Interestingly, UChicago was the only school that, on my trip, brought me to a frat party. The funny thing is that the admissions office almost encourages it, or certainly doesn’t dispel it, perhaps as an effort to eliminate the “Where fun goes to die” notion many hold going in. </p>
<p>Separate and apart from the good visit, just the fundamental characteristics of UChicago suit me very well. For one, the Core is great for me to get the proper classroom exposure to many fields before I make a decision: I get to take 24 classes before I have to make a choice about a major. As well, UChicago is top notch for econ and math, which are my top two interests, and good in lit from what I hear. The reputed workload is daunting, but ultimately it might be for the better considering I tend to do my best work in classes that up the workload and slack-off in classes that don’t push me.</p>
<p>Calculator5 (OP), I don’t have an extended take on Columbia because I never visited or invested much time into it, but if you want some extra perspective on Wharton, Dartmouth, or Williams, I could provide some, although this post contains most of my thought processes.</p>
<p>TL;DR UChicago over Williams, Wharton and Dartmouth
Wharton: too preprofessional, not enough time to explore other areas
Dartmouth: frats and location, but good visit
Williams: meh visit and location
UChicago: good visit, girls not a problem, great in math and econ, Core is good, workload for the best</p>