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<p>Well, you do have to take into account that Dartmouth is in the middle of nowhere and Wash U is settled in a relatively large city. And there’s definitely much more to do at Wash U than hiking and whatnot. Plus, there’s tons more research opps at Wash U so I would pick it hands down.</p>
<p>just a question- is wash u. well respected in engineering nationally or wud it b better off going to mich, ucb, or a georgia tech.
dartmouth seems to be more social- have heard rumors tha no one at wash u attends football games- plus dartmouth has ivy prestige that certainly carries over to top firms- weather gos to wash u hands down</p>
<p>i cringed when i saw this thread title.</p>
<p>dartmouth. this shouldn’t even be asked. you’re giving washu more credit than it’s due by even asking, and dartmouth’s reputation is hurt even by the sight of these two schools in the same sentence.</p>
<p>It’s also to keep in mind that perhaps you will choose not to attend medical school.<br>
That is why I suggest Dartmouth which will not only provide you with an excellent education in preparation for medical school but is also strong in a variety of departments – in case you choose to pursue another interest.</p>
<p>i was leaning towards dartmouth more, but they dont have merit scholarships like washu has</p>
<p>^^ because they don’t need them :p</p>
<p>just look at this ranking of preference among cross-admitted students:</p>
<p><a href=“http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=601105[/url]”>http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=601105</a></p>
<p>dartmouth: 10th most preferred school in the country. among columbia and penn.</p>
<p>washu: 65th most preferred school in the country. among connecticut college and southern methodist</p>
<p>An objective, nonvitriolic, comparison of the two would be more helpful to the OP. </p>
<p>There are a lot of majors and future professions that would make Dartmouth a hands-down better choice than WashU, but he has stated that he’s interested in biology and pre-med and those are strength areas at WashU, which has the fourth highest ranked medical school in the country. I’m pretty sure the WashU undergrad program has got some clue as to how to prepare and advise pre-med students to get them ready for MCATs and acceptance to medical schools. In national rankings, WashU is not that far behind Dartmouth and is pretty even when looking at objective measures of quality. Even the most subjective measure, peer assessment, puts them apart by .3 points, so big deal.</p>
<p>OP, WashU and Dartmouth are both good choices for your intended major, so it’s too bad you can’t visit since it comes down to “fit” and how you like the campus, its location, and the people that would be your classmates. I’ve never been to Dartmouth, so I can’t compare the two, but my S visited D and came away with no interest in applying there. (Visited and liked WU and ended up choosing to go there, despite acceptances to Berkeley and (a moment to genuflect) an Ivy League college.) Problem with D, for him, was it was too isolated, too hard to travel to from CA, too far North (and cold) and he didn’t like D’s academic calendar with the required summer session. </p>
<p>Not knowing your “fit” preferences, I don’t know whether WU or D would be the best fit for you ---- but then, none of these other posters know that either, do they? </p>
<p>And the “revealed preference” survey? If you’re inclined to base this important choice on the preferences of a sampling of privileged high school students from a selected number of prep and “top” high schools, then be my guest. Obviously, what this group of people prefer is so much more valid than what you yourself might prefer or what someone unsurveyed, such as my S, might prefer that it’s just case closed. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>And yes, check out the merit scholarships WashU offers. And also the amount of paid undergraduate research available to students in your intended major. You should decide based on what’s right for you.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has an incredibly vibrant campus life. Why do you need a city when there are two movie theaters, 15 restaurants, and a huge social scene with your friends owning the place? If you get bored of formals, dinners, parties, etc (which there is so much of at Dartmouth) you can go sledding, have barbeques, go swimming, etc. Not to mention the fact that 2/3 of Dartmouth students study abroad on Dartmouth led programs and there is so much more community.</p>
<p>Dartmouth wins in every category possible in my opinion.</p>
<p>Well, that’s you. It is quite possible that someone else has a different opinion and would make a different choice.</p>
<p>The Revealed Preference really is worthless - here is why: it samples kids with an average SAT score of 1300 (at least 120 points below median for every top 15 college) at certain top prep/private/magnet schools. These kids were HS seniors several years ago, who didn’t actually gain admission to any colleges at the time of survey. </p>
<p>Of course, I’m still saying Dartmouth all the way. Better in every area, though obviously I’d recommend some visiting. Dartmouth also gives ~20K to people who demonstrate financial aid.</p>
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<p>incorrect, read the methodology.</p>
<p>it’s based on actual matriculation decisions after correcting for financial packages, etc.</p>
<p>els, </p>
<p>The data set is based on students with an average SAT score 100 points below the average for any top 15 school. Of the survey, less than 50% of students were applying to an Ivy league. The sample was only 7% URM. Roughly 50% of the high schools included were private schools, with the entire survey only included students in the 400 high schools the researchers deemed as high achieving.</p>
<p>The students themselves that were surveyed were randomly chosen from the top 10% of their HS class by their guidance counselor and given a preference survey. What they stated on the preference survey did not mean they got into the schools they preferred, though the researchers did look at how the students took into financial considerations after receiving acceptances.</p>
<p>Either way, RP certainly has a private school bias (most likely towards the Northeast), also does not represent URMs very well, and also the average student in the survey is not as strong as the average student at a top 15 school.</p>
<p>Jazzymom, its not just me its almost everyone who considers overall academics, quality of experience, reputation, and loyalty. The RP difference is .4, and once again given the fact that Dartmouth isn’t even a graduate research institution makes the difference even greater. Dartmouth is two levels ahead of WashU.</p>
<p>Slipper: If you’re convinced that your opinion is shared by “almost everyone” there’s really nothing I can say that will make any difference. </p>
<p>You may think the RP survey is something that shows great import, but I don’t. It has as much value as a “what’s your dream college?” thread. It can indicate where popular opinion lies, but says nothing substantive about the quality of education available at those two universities. I repeat, looking at objective measures of quality, not opinion based ones, WashU and Dartmouth are not very far apart at all.</p>
<p>thethoughtprocess,</p>
<p>correct me if i’m mistaking something</p>
<p>page 49: “Using a data set on the college application and matriculation choices of highly meritorious American students, we construct examples of a national revealed preference ranking.”</p>
<p>page 21:“the second questionnaire was administered in May 2000 and asked for information about the student’s admission outcomes… and matriculation decision.”</p>
<p>jazzymom:
</p>
<p>what i did not mean to imply was that these specific rankings were any measurement of academic quality of a school, a disclaimer the researchers involved state themselves.</p>
<p>what i did mean to imply was to what extent washu is unappealing in comparison to dartmouth and hence why they must offer merit aid if they are to remain competitive at this level.</p>
<p>I don’t see why the OP should care whether D is more appealing than WU to a handful of surveyed students. And I don’t see why it should matter whether WashU offers merit aid to some high-scoring students while D doesn’t. Maybe this OP is looking for a college that offers merit aid because without it he or she wouldn’t be able to attend a private college and is looking for a college with high scores in many areas that measure educational quality: endowment, research funding, faculty awards, faculty-student ratio, etc.</p>
<p>a revealed preference survey is in fact very relevant for gaining insight as to which school is more preferred on its own merits to the other.</p>
<p>to insinuate that data regarding which school tends to win in a free market system of choice is of no use to an inquisition as to their desirability and benefits is myopic.</p>
<p>especially when the question posed by the OP is “which school would you pick”</p>
<p>well how about not just my opinion but hundreds of others!</p>
<p>els, yeah but I pointed out that the data set surveyed by RP is much much different than the actual “free market”</p>
<p>Either way I like Dartmouth much more than Wash U</p>
<p>jazzymom: merit aid from schools like washu would be nice so that i wouldnt have to be in debt till i start taking out loans for med school. If i went to schools like dartmouth, im not sure if i would get a lot of financial aid</p>
<p>Jazzymom, I never mentioned RP. Dartmout wins on every important metric in a big way. Recruiting, placement, whatever…Dartmouth hands down is a much better school.</p>