<p>upenn
yale
columbia
stanford
princeton
brown
duke
umich
cornell
nyu
uchicago
northwestern</p>
<p>currently looking at these schools. possibly majoring in econs or business.
so which would u apply to and why? not just looking at the academics, but also the overall college experience that's worth my money. feel free to suggest any not on the list. thankyou.</p>
<p>Looking entirely from my most likely biased perspective ONLY looking at econ/business programs (group 1 is best):</p>
<p>Group 1:
Penn
Stanford
Princeton
UChicago</p>
<p>Group 2:
Duke
Northwestern
Columbia
NYU
Mich</p>
<p>Group 3:
Yale
Brown
Cornell</p>
<p>Beyond that I think we are mostly looking at personal preferences (eg location, size of student body, etc)</p>
<p>All these schools are excellent. You really cannot go wrong. I will divide them up into groups, but please keep in mind that very little separates each group. </p>
<p>Economics:
Group I:
Princeton University
University of Chicago</p>
<p>Group II:
Northwestern University
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University</p>
<p>Group III:
Columbia University
University of Michigan</p>
<p>Group IV:
Brown University
Cornell University
Duke University
New York University</p>
<p>BUSINESS (only four of the schools above have undergraduate Business programs):
Group I:
University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>Group II:
University of Michigan
New York University</p>
<p>Group III:
Cornell University</p>
<p>well.... can anyone give me their views on college life at these schools. their programs are all not badd, but now its all based on the life and city. would prefer more urban or even suburban type environments and im realy not tt keen on going to a sch in e rural areas.</p>
<p>Overall college experience-Duke and Stanford.</p>
<p>Depends on what one wants don't you think? I personally did not like Duke's slightly conservative, not-too-international atmosphere and Stanford's country-club feel. I actually prefered Brown and Michigan in terms of overall atmosphere. Obviously, all the schools on Manko's list are awesome, but they are all very different.</p>
<p>Yo-- you need matches & safeties.</p>
<p>college life upenn and umich are best i would say followed by stanford</p>
<p>hmmm. how about e college life at otehr schools. esp. chicago, yale and cornell, which im really interested in.
is six too many schools to apply to, considering that i'm an international applicant and im also applying to some schs in canada as well.
oh, and how useful is an undergrad degree in economics in terms of career prospectives? what would i be able to do with a major in economics?</p>
<p>College life is what you make of it. Some schools have a more "collegiate" atmosphere than others, but at the end of the day, it is what you make of your own time that matters. As far as what you can do with an Econ degree...well, from the schools you are considering above, just about anything.</p>
<p>umm... ive heard chicago is pretty much the most boring college ever but im sure you can find fun in the city</p>
<p>Chicago is not normal "college life." I suggest driving to Barnes and Noble and reading the major college guidebooks (Princeton Review, Fiske, etc.) they might not be on target, but they are pretty close. For a person who wants a semi-urban experience at a top school with a strong community and social life (which means you don't want to trade community for sky scrapers but would like a Chipotle nearby) I would personally rank the list as follows. Please don't get upset (chicago alums), I am only ranking on social life + access to a decent sized city.</p>
<p>brown - Great community in a awesome part of Providence that is dominated by college students</p>
<p>stanford - Similar but less urban feeling</p>
<p>upenn - Not in the best part of Philly, a little big, very active social scene</p>
<p>yale - Mostly cohesive community but New Haven is the pits.<br>
princeton - Preppy vibe, a little rural, awesome community
northwestern - A little big, Evanston is nice
duke - Durham isn't exactly a great city, Duke is a bubble, but one with an active social scene</p>
<p>umich - Nice campus, Ann Arbor is active with bars, very big so less personal</p>
<p>columbia - Not much of an on campus social scene, mostly at bars, least community focused Ivy but you have NYC</p>
<p>cornell - Similar to Michigan but smaller</p>
<p>nyu - ZERO community, big, buildings next to office building, good part of NYC, personally I wouldn't pass up a true college experience for it though</p>
<p>uchicago - VERY academic, social life exists but nothing like the other top schools, not the best part of Chicago but the campus is beautiful</p>
<p>My own quality of life ratings would be as follows:</p>
<p>Brown *****
Michigan *****
Stanford *****</p>
<p>Cornell ****
Duke ****
Penn ****</p>
<p>Chicago ***
Columbia ***
NYU ***
Northwestern ***
Princeton ***
Yale ***</p>
<p>Just a word about NYU - my brother is in Stern and regrets it not having its own campus. Sure, it's in the city, but a school like Columbia is in the city and has its own campus with quads.</p>
<p>Overall, the schools I would recommend for the full college experience:</p>
<p>UPenn
U Mich
Duke
Northwestern
Stanford</p>
<p>I was at UNC-CH a couple weeks ago and met two NYU transfers. their comment was "NYU isn't college." NYU is is big school spread in a huge city with no street of purely college bars, no strong frat scene, and no room for house parties seems. For people who will do anything to be in NYC its a great option, but I think for the normal high school student there are far better and more fulfilling options.</p>
<p>Overall, the schools I would recommend for the full college experience:</p>
<p>UPenn
U Mich
Duke
Northwestern
Stanford</p>
<p>Out of those I would only go to duke/mich/or northwestern. The kids at the others are going to be geeks or snotty. Not be rude, but if you go to Stanford, don't exactly expect there to be supermodels walking across campus, or real frat parties. It's going to be a bunch of nerds trying to look cool by downing an expensive wine. if you want the "full college experience" go to a decent state school like UNC</p>
<p>That isn't true, parties at Stanford are pretty good. Princeton and Brown have pretty active social scenes as well...Cornell has a good weekend social scene, but a fair percentage are not a part of that scene unlike other schools where the majority are.</p>
<p>yeah right. If you're a geek, maybe. If you're honestly going to compare an IVy league school scence to a normal school scence, you're hilarious.</p>
<p>manko, you're going about this 100% backwards. You've got a list of top schools and now you're trying to choose among them. This is a recipe for disappointment for 2 reasons. </p>
<p>First of all these schools are incredibly difficult to get into. You're wasting time debating schools that are unlikely to accept you even if you apply instead of focusing on matches and safeties that are much more likely. Think of top schools like this as a lottery ticket; nice to dream about, and of course you can't win if you don't play, but not something to build a future around expecting to come true.</p>
<p>Second, you have a list and no means to choose; NOW you get around to asking what they're like. Students who love their college generally follow a different approach. They begin by asking what they want in college -- location, size, academic challenge, type of kids it attracts, distance from home, and dozens of other factors. They build a picture in their minds of what a good fit looks like for them. THEN they go about choosing schools that match.</p>
<p>I have partied at UNC, Stanford, Brown, Princeton, Michigan. Yeah UNC and Michigan might be more active than any Ivy on your average weekday, but the weekend parties at many Ivies are more than solid (especially Penn, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale). I have spent alot of time at UCLA as well, and I found Stanford's social scene to be more active at least the weekend I was there - no joke.</p>