Philovitist

There's nothing wrong with a tentative plan to give you something to work toward and think about.

Alexandre

To answer the OP's question, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago are the top two undergraduate institutions in the Chicago area. If one is willing to venture out a 100-150 miles, the list grows a little, with Notre Dame, UIUC and Wisconsin-Madison, although Chicago and Northwestern still remain the top 2.

collapsingspace

uiuc is a good school but it is not near chicago, as others have stated. IMO, UChicago is a better school than Northwestern, although UChicago is more geared towards the intellectual type

annasdad

U Chicago and Northwestern are the two most highly ranked schools in the Chicago area, but as been proven over and over again, the criteria by which schools are ranked have nothing to do with the quality of education one can obtain or (with a narrow set of exceptions) future career prospects.

tk21769

^ I think it is a misstatement to say that has been "proven" over and over again. I believe it would be more accurate to say that, based on the research annasdad often cites, no strong correlation has been demonstrated between most of those ranking criteria and either the quality of education (as defined by these researchers), or future career prospects, after controlling for variations in student characteristics.

annasdad often cites the work of Pascarella & Terenzini.
A summary of findings by these and other researchers can be found in:
nces.ed.gov/npec/pdf/kuh_team_report.pdf

The focus of much of this research is on levels of student "engagement". Based largely on information self-reported by students, no strong correlation is found between levels of engagement and college selectivity (rank, or prestige). For example, students at highly selective colleges do not necessarily report that they study longer hours or have more after-class discussions with professors than students at not-so-highly selective colleges.

What this research does not seem to examine very well is the quality (versus the quantity) of engagement. Maybe I've overlooked that. It would seem to me that if engagement matters, then the quality of engagement must also matter. With whom do students engage, about what?

Even if we focus only on what is easily measurable, then judging from what the NSSE makes available, there doesn't seem to be enough quantitative data from enough colleges to draw sweeping conclusions about work loads (or other markers of "engagement") at more selective v. less selective schools. So of course no strong correlations have been demonstrated between "engagement" and college selectivity or rank. Nevertheless, if I had to venture an opinion (absent that data), I'd say that typical students at the University of Chicago or Northwestern are likely to be very hard-working and "engaged" (and that the quality of that engagement is quite high in terms of the subject matter, faculty quality, discussion quality, etc.) compared to what is typical at most other Illinois colleges. If I'm correct, then you're still left with the hard problem of defining and estimating the Return on Investment from each of these schools.

bluebayou

Absolutely true, since those two items are unmeasurable. (The education fields has been attempting to measure "quality" for decades, but all to no avail. And of course, future "prospects" is itself a nebulous term, and depends a lot on major.

The top few college student success stories of the past and current generation are college dropouts. So, the self-reported data would indicate, to become a billionaire, go to Harvard and then drop-out!

Sam Lee

UChicago people can think they are better than Northwestern and other peers all they want. It's not that long ago it was ranked like 15th. Let's be honest, do they really think the UChicago today is that much "better" than it was even just 5 or 10 years ago? The only difference I see is the administration have been more obssessed with college rankings in recent years than before and more aggressive in playing the ranking game (meeting with the USN, bombarding people with way more junk mails than other peers, having an army of admission staff, etc).

Also, to say it's simply better without any specification is misleading. While UChicago is pretty good at what they do, it's not as comprehensive. There are no programs in engineering, journalism, education, music performance, or theater at UChicago while Northwestern is among the top in these areas.

dayexday

answer to "best' school in chicago area is "it depends on what you value". There's no straightforward answer.

Sam Lee

^exactly. for example, Blackfinns in DC was packed with NU alums watching the NU vs Michigan game two days ago. we value that experience. OTOH, most of the uchicago folks are probably not into football and hence not missing anything.

goldenboy8784

Tought loss for the Wildcats there Sam! I was rooting for an upset. Soo close...

Hunt

Even if it's true that Chicago is #4 and NU is #12, they ARE on the "same level" by any sensible view of the big picture. They're certainly close enough that personal fit should be the deciding factor for anybody choosing between them.

higgins2013

Look at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, 15-minute subway ride from downtown. Excellent financial aid. Strong science and engineering programs. Not glamorous, but academically much stronger than all the other Chicago-area colleges with exception of University of Chicago and Northwestern. Low profile school, but worth consideration.

Sam Lee

Thanks goldenboy. We lost three games so far and they were all close. NU fans can't have heart disease.

Pizzagirl

kwu and phuriku are both a little "off" socially based on their past posts, so really, their opinions aren't worth taking all that seriously. As Hunt said, these two schools are on the same level by anyone looking at any kind of big picture, and so any choice between the two comes down to personal fit and preference. Of course, the same could be said for any top 20 or so schools. Normal people get that, people who are "off" are the ones who act as though minute distinctions are meaningful.

rjkofnovi

I was rooting for Ohio State to lose too this past weekend. Wish they had played a game. :-)