<p>i go to a small private school in the south. so i've never been to chicago, or the midwest for that matter.</p>
<p>so would ppl who have experience with either/both of the schools please give me some insight? i've found similar threads, but they seem too specific to certain situations. i don't really know what i want to study in college. so broad answers would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Same area, similar ranking....</p>
<p>which one is harder to get into?</p>
<p>which one has more prestige?</p>
<p>which one has better academics?</p>
<p>which one has a better campus life?</p>
<p>which would YOU say is a better school in general, overall??</p>
<p>The trick with comparing Northwestern and U Chicago starts not with the colleges, but with you as they tend to attract different types of students. You might find people more able to assist you if you provided a little more detail on what you like, how you learn, your social interests, any athletic interests, etc.</p>
<p>If you are a junior or younger, (unless you are applying EA or ED) I would also suggest a visit to both in January or February so you can really see what everyone means when they talk about the weather. It is different and has important ramifications on the type of undergraduate experience you will have.</p>
<p>One last comment on prestige-don't worry about it. They both have it in spades.</p>
<p>I agree with hawkette; they're both fantastic schools, but quite different. The basic Princeton Review / Fiske Guide type of college guide books can actually be pretty helpful in distinguishing between the two. But having a sister at Northwestern and a best friend at U of C, I can try and answer your questions!</p>
<p>which one is harder to get into? -- Northwestern is slightly more difficult to get into in terms of pure statistics.</p>
<p>which one has more prestige? -- They are both at a similar level of prestige. Their prestige value also varies among programs. Northwestern's journalism, drama, and engineering programs are incredible, and U of C is world-renowned for its mathematics and economics. Both offer great programs in almost everything.</p>
<p>which one has better academics? -- Again, they are both incredible, and there really can't be a distinction made between the two.</p>
<p>which one has a better campus life? -- It depends on what kind of person you are. About 30% of Northwestern students pledge a fraternity or sorority, and social life often revolves around that. Northwestern students also live in a slightly quieter suburb of Chicago, Evanston, and take the "L" train into the city when they want to venture out. U of C students are known for their more quirky, academic natures, and often stay in more than the typical Northwestern student. U of C is in a very urban location in Hyde Park, Chicago, a somewhat-dodgy neighborhood of the city. But it is also great for super-urban types that don't mind the CHicago rush.</p>
<p>which would YOU say is a better school in general, overall?? -- Neither. They're both fabulous options, and you should definitely visit. I spent one night at Northwestern and the next night at U Chicago, and I have never had such diametrically opposed college experiences in my life, but both were great.</p>
<p>I agree with Sunnydaler. University of Chicago is a more quantitative school which attracts a different type of student (in terms of interests) than Northwestern. Both are exceptional -- U of C is definitely more urban.</p>
<p>sunnydaler, I love your descriptions. Both are great schools. Personally I'm going to UChicago due to its superiority over basically any other program in the country.</p>
<p>Northwestern is tremendous for journalism though. Stephen Colbert ftw.</p>
<p>Edit: After this year, it seems that both will be practically even in gaining admission. It's true, even until last year UChicago was easier to get into although both had numerically equivalent student bodies. After this year ,not so much.</p>
<p>Both are "academic Ivies" in my opinion. One plane trip to Chicago will allow you to visit both schools. Chicago is, along with Swarthmore, Princeton & Yale, the best all around undergraduate education in the country for the serious student with superb intellectual abilities. Northwestern University is more similiar to Cornell University & to the University of Pennsylvania in the sense that the undergraduate programs offer substantial pre-professional offerings. Northwestern University is well known for journalism, acting/drama, the one of a kind SESP, engineering. Journalism, acting/drama & SESP (by default) are the best programs in the nation. Northwestern University & the Univ. of Chicago students tend to be highly intelligent, hardworking & goal oriented. The Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences at Northwestern offers an outstanding liberal arts education to students who are typically in the top 10% of their class and score above 1450/1600 on the SAT I while demonstrating significant involvement in ECs. Two great universities with very different campus cultures.(Sorry if this sounds like an advertisement for these schools as that is not my intention. I get excited about Chicago & Northwestern because they are--at the very least--Ivy academic equivalents with substantial endowments where a superior student actually has a very good chance for admission; 25% chance at Northwestern and 30% chance at Chicago.)</p>
<p>Check out the National Research Council Rankings, Chicago trumps Northwestern in every field except the first one listed. Also, this is completely subjective, but having read these threads the responses from the Chicago students are much better written. Totally subjective I know, but the Chicago students seem very very impressive.</p>
<p>The data supporting the survey results cited in post #7 are 15 years old. (The 1995 report utilizes data from a 1993 survey.) There is no accurate method to compare Chicago to Northwestern other than, maybe, in the humanities/liberal arts, as the two universities offer very different areas of study. For example, Chicago does not offer an SESP equivalent, engineering or have a school of communications or a journalism school. And I don't think that Chicago has a music school either. Thus, only one of the six schools at Northwestern has a counterpart at Chicago--the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, and using the NRC survey based on data from 15 years ago is laughable at best and somewhat pathetic. The NRC rankings are widely viewed as irrelevant and very,very outdated.</p>
<p>I'm sorry icy, I've never met a single person that views the NRC rankings as "irrelevant". As a matter of fact, most educated people I've met would prefer them over USNWR and most others.</p>
<p>NRC ranking is 13 years old and is based on pre-1995 data; that means the data are more than 13 years old. I bet none of the assistant profs in your department was at UCLA 13-20 years ago. Probably most of associate profs weren't at UCLA either. The methodology may be better than US News but when it's so old, I'd take 2008 USN any day for graduate ranking. I am pretty sure NU has a better <em>graduate</em> chemistry program these days.</p>
<p>I also don't see how "Chicago trumps Northwestern in every field" when Chicago doesn't even offer any of the engineering fields listed. You didn't need to exaggerate.</p>
<p>If NRC is so accurate, then schools like Brown, Dartmouth, WashU, and Rice must be significantly worse than UChicago too.</p>
<p>which one is harder to get into? -- about equal, though they have different standards (i.e. they look for different things). Chicago seems more subjective--essays and such.</p>
<p>which one has more prestige? -- general population? Northwestern. Academic circles? Chicago. (For evidence on that, see the # Nobel Laureates affiliated with each--that's a good indication. And the peer review scores for Chicago and Northwestern are 4.6 and 4.3, respectively.)</p>
<p>which one has better academics? -- neither, really. Chicago doesn't have engineering and has more of an intellectual approach to its curriculum. Northwestern is rigorous, too.</p>
<p>which one has a better campus life? -- they're both about equal, though some NU students like to think that the nerds at Chicago don't have a life. :p</p>
<p>which would YOU say is a better school in general, overall? -- I wouldn't say one is better than the other--just different. Personally, I'd choose Chicago over Northwestern easily, but NU is a great school too.</p>
<p>Chicago kids do have lives:) In fact, from a parent's view, the school is very actively encouraging students to 'do things'. OWeek starts with newbies getting used to the city as well as the campus. Every Saturday the students have to leave their house to find dinner for themselves. There are tickets to tons of cultural things offered at amazingly low prices. Houses do offbeat and fun field trips and there's many, many opportunities to do community service. There's also a gorgeous new gym, and an arts center on the way.</p>
<p>My son regularly goes into the city to see movies, opera, theatre and concerts. On campus he fences, does martial arts, is involved in interhouse gov. And yes, he parties.</p>
<p>Chicago IS quirky and unusual, but the students tend to be witty and up for anything. They 'have' lives.</p>
<p>
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If I were to pick between the two, I'd go for UChicago. Seems interesting.
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<p>I doubt you'd actually do that given the fact you are at Penn; that school is more pre-professional than NU and its student body is way more "finance-oriented" career-wise. It's probably even more different from UChicago.</p>
<p>I'd say yes on the surface but no when one looks closer and deeper. NU is "pre-professional" in a more diverse way. It has many aspiring musicians, performing-artists, TV-producers, screen-writers, teachers, and journalists and if I remember correctly, 12% or so went straight to banking/finance whereas at Penn, that figure is 30+%.</p>