<p>The clear choice for me in terms of academics, opportunities and location would be Brandeis. </p>
<p>GWU is not an academic peer of Brandeis-and is not comparable in prestige, especially among people who count. .If you haven’t seen the recent rankings of some of Brandeis’ strongest majors, the article linked below may be interesting to you–several you are interested in are among the top departments in the country. Others are excellent as well. Remember that at Brandeis doctoral students and undergrads work side-by-side with the same professors. So this ranking of doctoral programs is very relevant to potential undergrads. Here’s the link: </p>
<p>[Brandeis</a> doctoral programs rate high in national survey | BrandeisNOW](<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2010/november/nationalresearchcouncil.htm]Brandeis”>Brandeis doctoral programs rate high in national survey | BrandeisNOW)</p>
<p>As another poster in a similar string pointed out, Brandeis is much smaller than GW and more nurturing–in many ways more like a liberal arts college than the top-tier research university it is. Brandeis students are more intellectual and academic as a group (that’s not to say that you can’t find intellectual students at GW–you certainly can but they are a minority). It also has a real campus, as opposed to a collection of buildings in Foggy Bottom.</p>
<p>Brandeis students have excellent rates of acceptance at top law, medical and other graduate schools. As an interesting example from elsewhere on this site, a list of colleges with the highest placement ratios at Harvard Law School in 2006 puts Brandeis in the top twenty. See:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/662310-ranking-undergrad-highest-acceptance-rates-law-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/662310-ranking-undergrad-highest-acceptance-rates-law-school.html</a></p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>