Competitive non-ivy schools

College Search & Lists
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<p>I have a few schools in mind, but I don’t know how competitive they are. I want to do pre-med, but I am currently undecided for my major. However, I’m leaning towards a major in chemistry or fine arts. I definitely want to be in a competitive atmosphere, but I don’t want it to get to the point of cheating, destroying work, etc. Can you guys comment on the competition level at any of the following schools?</p>

<p>Emory
University of Southern California
Tulane
University of Miami
Rochester
UNC Chapel Hill
U Michigan
NYU
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>BUMPPPPP… please help!</p>

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<p>Have you considered U of California Irvine, lots cheaper than USC and has good rep for premed.</p>

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<p>No I actually haven’t. How is it like over there?</p>

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<p>Emory, USC, UNC, UMich, NYU and Car Mellon are all in the same vicinity of each other in terms of level of students attracted. Rochester I would say is then next, followed by Miami and then Tulane.</p>

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<p>@wayneandgarth Would you say that Tulane is the least competitive and Emory the most?</p>

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<p>I would say Tulane is the least but I wouldn’t say Emory the most. I listed those six most competitive in the same order you gave for no other reason. So, I’d still put those six in the same category. No sense trying to put them in an exact category. Some of it depends on the major you are looking at. </p>

<p>For undergrad chem from your list, you should put UNC, Umich, CMU and actually Rochester in about the same category of top departments.</p>

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<p>UC Irvine won’t be cheap if you are not a resident of California.</p>

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<p>wayneandgarth’s comments seem to about selectivity, not about classroom competitiveness. There may be a correlation between selectivity and competitiveness, but I doubt it is very consistent from major to major, course to course, or even year to year.</p>

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<p>Holy Cross has a great pre-med program.</p>

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<p>Nope - those are the top programs in Chem that he listed.</p>

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<p>Usnews use to have a list of the top most selective schools in the country. Not sure if they still do.</p>

<p>I do know that the three schools my kids attended were on the list: Colgate, Cornell and
Bucknell.</p>

<p>Check out the list.</p>

<p>The military academies also had very high rankings for selectivity as well as the usual. The Ivy’s, Stanford, MIT and the other “pot of Ivy’s” such as Williams, Amherst, etc.</p>

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<p>What are we really talking about here?

  1. Classroom competition for good grades?
  2. Academic quality of programs in specific majors?
  3. Admissions selectivity?</p>

<p>There are likely to be correlations among these 3, but they are all different.
There is plenty of public information about #3, which is indicated by average test scores, average GPAs, and admit rates. It’s much harder to compare #1 and #2 directly across different schools and majors. To compare academic strength of 9 different chemistry programs, about the best one can do is consult graduate program rankings (which may not reflect significant factors such as average undergraduate class size) or compare the online course catalogs and faculty bios.</p>

<p>Pre-med is likely to be “competitive” (in the first sense) at many schools.</p>