<p>Hey everyone - I posted this over at the Notre Dame forum, but I just wanted to post this over here to get a balanced opinion. You may think I'm crazy, but here goes... I am desperately trying to decide whether I will be attending Notre Dame or Yale in the fall. I am from the Midwest, and have visited both campuses. Both the kids and academics at Yale seemed awesome, but I couldn't help but get the feeling that there was just something missing. On the other hand, when I visited Notre Dame this summer I just got this feeling that I would love it there. How much better academically and reputation-wise is Yale than Notre Dame? Anything else anyone wants to add to make the decision-making process easier is welcome...</p>
<p>Yale has a much better reputation, academically and reputation wise. Looking at the available statistics, classes at Yale are significantly smaller, students are significantly more intelligent and creative, a much larger (20 times more) number of alumni at Yale go onto the top graduate schools or become leaders in their fields, and the departments at Yale are more highly regarded in virtually every area of study, in particular, the areas you've said you are interested in.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, here's a list of the top 100 universities in the world. Yale is #3 in the world. Notre Dame doesn't make the top 100.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/</a></p>
<p>Another ranking (SJTU) has Notre Dame ranked somewhere near 250th, far below places like the University of Connecticut, University of Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Commonwealth University.</p>
<p>Giggidy, if you felt a gut level connection at ND, go with it. Both are great schools but what you are feeling at Notre Dame is the "good fit".<br>
Trust that and don't look back. </p>
<p>Everything in the above post may be true, but your fit will be a far bigger factor in your happiness and success than the stats will be. Trust yourself.</p>
<p>It also depends how long you visited for. If you spent 3 days there, you probably have a good idea of what the school is like. If you were just there for 1 or 2 days, and didn't really see what the weekends were like, you might be basing your decision on a very limited perspective. If that's true, you might even want to visit again -- it's a very small price to pay for what is a huge decision for you.</p>
<p>Reputation also depends on where you think you may end up living, and what you wind up doing. If it's in the northeast, or in academia, medicine, etc., a Yale degree will definitely mean more. Elsewhere in the country (and particularly in Catholic circles), Notre Dame's name may carry more clout.</p>
<p>I see that where I live: when I say my D is at Yale, people are impressed, but it doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot to them. My best friend's son is at Penn State, and he already has major alumni connections for jobs in this area when he graduates, since so many Penn State alums live here and the network is huge.</p>
<p>I would say definitely go to Notre Dame. It's an excellent school, so you can't go wrong with it. Plus, if you really got a good feeling about ND, there should be no question about going there, do it! But you really can't go wrong with either one, but from what you've said, I think that you would be perfectly happy at ND, which is what you should do.</p>
<p>That MSNBC ranking is the dumbest ranking I have ever seen. Right, UCSF is better than Columbia, Penn, and Duke. And it is only one place under Oxford. What idiocy.</p>
<p>I don't think so. UCSF is one of the world's leading research institutions for medical science. It's highly likely that a lot of the recent biological research you may have heard about was conducted there.</p>
<p>the msnbc ranking is obviously for grad schools--which is why ND doesn't show up, but it doesn't have great grad schools. it should be blatantly obvious that ugrad means nothing in that ranking if UCSF is showing up there...as UCSF has no undergraduate school.</p>
<p>I take personal offense to the statement that Yale's students are "significantly more intelligent" than ND's students. Yale's students are intelligent. ND's students are intelligent. We're not comparing Ohio University and Harvard here. We're looking at two top 20 schools with comparably intelligent and motivated students. Yale loses students to ND just as ND loses students to Yale. It's unfair (and blatantly wrong) to deem Yale's student body so academically superior.</p>
<p>look at the methology, the rankings are strticlty global and not academic.</p>
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I don't think so. UCSF is one of the world's leading research institutions for medical science. It's highly likely that a lot of the recent biological research you may have heard about was conducted there.
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<p>Yes, but basing rankings on the gross number of scholarly articles that come out of a particular institution is wrong. You have to take the size of the institution and number of faculty into account as well.</p>
<p>Putsch, ND students are certainly bright. But consider measures such as the percentage of entering students who are National Merit Scholarship Corporation-sponsored National Merit Scholars. These are the cream of the cream of graduating American high school students each year -- the top 2,500 or so nationwide. Furthermore, students in the Midwest find it slightly easier to win such recognition, which gives an advantage to Notre Dame (over HYP, which draw a proportionally greater fraction students from the East Coast).</p>
<p>% of freshman class who were NMSC sponsored NM Scholars, 2005 (selected schools)</p>
<p>Yale 18%
Harvard 18%
Princeton 16%
MIT 12%
Stanford 12%
Duke, Dartmouth 7%
Penn, Brown, Columbia 4%
Notre Dame 2%</p>
<p>its true that Yale has a better reputation but what do you want to major in? i mean Yale is a perfect place and has an amaaaazing campus- i would go to Yale- but it majors in like math and law but im not sure what the Notre Dam majors in but you could check out the internet. anyhow so its basically up to you but ppl are right Yale does concentrate more on smaller classes smaller number of students and a good aducation and graduation to get out there and find the best job but ND is also very stict and concerened about the students... gd luck anyway hope you go where you want! oh and btw has anyone got any advice on SSAT's? im trying to apply for Exeter Boarding school you might know it Exeter and Andover? well ya im from the english system and im clueless about the american one any advice?</p>
<p>I took the SSAT. I got into Exeter (chose not to go) and I got a 93% percentile without studying. If ur proficient in basic arithmetic and english skills you should be fine on the test. I remember it being relatively easy.</p>
<p>PosterX, you don't know anything about Notre Dame aside from what a few statistics say. NM Scholars are more likely to pick a name over a school where the students actually have some passion about the place. I am an NM Scholar and I chose a school I fell in love with. Please stop trolling!</p>
<p>go to yale. Nd is for wierd people</p>
<p>"I am an NM Scholar and I chose a school I fell in love with." </p>
<p>I would say the same thing about almost every other NM Scholar I have ever met. They are a very rare breed, at least the NMSC-sponsored ones are (many are sponsored by schools, corporations, etc., those don't count in my analysis since they aren't nearly as indicative of overall excellence... they do not represent the top 2,500 graduating seniors across the U.S.). </p>
<p>I am merely pointing out the facts - NMSC-sponsored NM scholars is <em>the</em> figure commonly used by the Chronicle of Higher Education to compare the academic excellence of thousands of freshman classes across the country every year. Not surprisingly, more than 1/3 of scholars go to HYPM or Caltech.</p>
<p>Another NMSC-sponsored NM scholar here who chose Notre Dame...over an Ivy League school...and hasn't regretted it at all. </p>
<p>I know it's hard for people on the outside to understand what Notre Dame is about. I used to be a prestige-whore myself and almost went elsewhere because of it. You can get a spectacular education at either school, but there is something about Notre Dame that just can't be found anywhere else.</p>
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Nd is for wierd people
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<p>Please qualify what you mean.</p>