Emory [$28k] vs. WashU [$15k] vs. Northwestern [$23k] [parents can pay out of pocket; public policy or political economy, but parents want pre-med or pre-pharm]

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For better community input, please provide the below details about your college offers:

Price at WashU - around 15k
Price at NW - around 23k
Price at Emory - around 28k

My parents have the ability to pay for all three schools out of pocket with the aid given.

This past March, I was blessed to be admitted to all of these schools as a first year student. I’m from Dallas, TX and I’ve lived there my whole life. I’m mainly interested in Political Science (specifically Public Policy or Political Economy), but my parents think I should go a premed or pre-pharmacy route at one of schools since they are so strong in premed/sciences. I’m also interested in Chemistry and Psychology for context. I have great financial aid at all three (money isn’t a major issue), but Emory is the most expensive and WashU is the cheapest (obviously NW in the middle).

I don’t know if this is important, but I have a sister at NW already and I have some relatives and family friends in Atlanta. I have no connection to WashU, but I visit next week and hear the campus is beautiful. Any advice?

I am a domestic student with dual citizenship in Nigeria if that’s even relevant.

I do like city vibes because I’m from Dallas. I don’t really care that much about Greek life or party culture, although it would be nice to have things to do on weekends. I’m kinda laid back but I’ve been a basketball player my whole life and a competitive atmosphere is fine for me. I do care about sports, but more importantly, I care about school spirit (I was a “crazie” at my high school). Uh, I don’t know what else to say, sorry. This is my first post. Ask me questions if you need more information

I like how tight-knit Emory is, but the lack of emphasis on sports kinda struck me as kinda weird. Northwestern quarter system is brutal as hell according to my sister. WashU doesn’t seem like there is much to do outside of classes, but maybe I’m wrong.

I like all three, how do I choose?

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The good news is you can study what you want - and still be pre med. Pre med is not a major…but an intention and a set of classes, etc.

Figure out what’s important to you - comfort of family? Comfort of being with your sister? Or anything else.

All three will be near things but not smack in the city.

WUSTL is in St. Louis, a phenomenal city, with the City Museum, a great zoo, the arch and more.

Both Chicago and St. Louis will be colder than Atlanta.

If you want sports, it’s NU - it’s big 10, etc.

But you don’t like the quarters - then visit WUSTL and decide. All three cities are easy to move from one to the other - i.e. not that far apart - easy flights.

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Given that you’re finding the cost difference to be not that important, this to me seems the easiest to latch onto as a reason to choose Northwestern. Relatives that are grads of Northwestern still support the teams and enjoyed last year watching the men’s basketball team play during March Madness. I also think having a sister there already can be a big plus (or minus depending on your viewpoint).

All this said, I don’t think there’s a bad choice here. Congrats!

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Emory is D3, but sports are not de-emphasized. It’s a very diverse, hard working, kind, loving undergrad population. Go there.

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Do you actually want to be a physician or pharmacist?

Note that pre-med course work can be done alongside any major, although you need to schedule carefully if your major is non-overlapping with pre-med courses like public policy or political economy.

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Emory strikes as being the best match for what you’re looking for. They actually have a major in Public Policy & Analysis, something which neither of the other two have. In addition to majors in political science and economics, your other areas of interest, they also have a major in Philosophy, Politics, & Law, an interdisciplinary view of many of the same issues but from a different perspective.

The City of Atlanta is an interesting place. It is the state capital, so you would have the opportunity to see public policy being made at the state level if you so desire. Atlanta is also home to a number of corporate headquarters, so it provides an opportunity to study the intersection of state government with corporate policy and economics. This is unique among your 3 choices.

Emory does have intercollegiate sports - just not division I like Northwestern. (But Northwestern never wins anyway.) in fact, Emory competes in the same league as Wash U. But if you crave big time sports competition such that division III doesn’t do it for you, there’s always pro sports to root for in Atlanta.

Has Emory offered you the option of studying on the Oxford campus? I would turn down the offer if they have.

Atlanta is an exciting, bustling city, a crossroads of the South. Atlanta is a top university with a diverse student body and is very much a part of the fabric of the city. I wouldn’t hesitate to jump at an opportunity to study there.

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Is being with your sister attractive to you? Yes, quarter system is tough. Please don’t be another Physician that doesn’t want to be a physician. Many do it due to family culture or expectations but why live a life and be unhappy. Either you really want to be one or not and right now it doesn’t seem like you do. Have that talk with your family. Study what your interested in, or you won’t be good at it and acceptance to medical school isn’t Guranteeed either.

You can do intermural sport’s so look that up at all schools. You have access to pro sport’s at all school’s. You have downtown Atlanta and Chicago at the door steps at those two schools. Chicago’s mass transit is amazing and easy.! Busses, The El train, metro train etc. You have to decide if you can handle the quarter system. If you can then NW is a slam dunk.

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I am certainly no expert on this subject, but Atlanta struck me as the most integrated city I have seen, more so than cities in the liberal northeast. If I were a black student (and I don’t know that OP is) I would pay attention to this fact, and the Atlanta culture. .

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It’s a little uncanny that you sort of guessed that. I am a black student and I will definitely take that into consideration.

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Northwestern may be a good fit in other ways, but I would be very reluctant to recommend a college where you were not excited about the basic academic structure.

As another poster noted, Emory and WashU are both in the UAA, a D3 conference sometimes known as the “Egghead Eight” because of the high academic reputations of the members of the league. Spectator sports are not going to be like at a major D1 like Northwestern, but you do have plenty of opportunities to cheer on friends and such who might be on teams. And if you are interested, they both have a lot of club sports you can check out. Some are very competitive, some are more for fun, but any of them can be great ways to meet people.

All these schools are in or near what I would consider to be fun cities for college. St Louis is obviously the smallest, but it is one of those cities that has a ton of history, and WashU has a great location near a lot of historic neighborhoods and across from Forest Park. I agree there can be a lot of de facto segregation, although all these schools are themselves pretty diverse.

I also agree you should not go to med school if you don’t actually want to be a doctor, and the fact is even at a “good for med school” college like these, most people who start as premeds will end up doing something else. In part that is because there are a gazillion OTHER health industry professions you could consider, including public policy positions related to the health industry, many of which have a much shorter and less expensive entry path.

And then of course some former premeds end up doing something completely unrelated. In fact, part of why these sorts of (quite wealthy) private colleges are considered so desirable is precisely that no matter what you end up wanting to do, they will have ample resources, academic and otherwise, to support you.

Of course I know dealing with parents can be a challenge sometimes (or so my kids tell me). But it is your life. So at a minimum, even if you start off with premed as one option, I would make a point of using their curriculum structure to explore some other stuff too. And hopefully your parents come around on the idea you should be figuring out what actually makes sense for you, not trying to conform to some preconceived notion. That is seriously not the point of colleges like these.

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Measures of segregation do vary, and Atlanta scores more segregated on some measures but less segregated on other measures. However, for comparison, St. Louis and (especially) Chicago tend to top the list of more segregated cities in nearly all measures.

Well, you did say the following, so some people might guess that your ancestry is likely that of ethnic groups who would be seen as “Black” in the US.

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My experience visiting Atlanta is that restaurant patrons are both Black and White, sometimes 50% each, and that, for example, hotel senior management was Black, not just the cleaning staff. This is markedly different from other cities I have visited, or live near.

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My company is there - minorities are prevalent - but where minorities live and where the other employees live - sometimes match but typically don’t. The “white” employees head North - Roswell, Alpharetta, Cumming, whereas minority employees might go North East (Johns Creek, Duluth) or North West (Marietta, Kennesaw). Few seem to go to Buckhead - but that might be age based.

I’m sure there are racial demographics available on line by city.

Of course, Emory is closer to downtown - a few miles away.

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Certainly no place is even close to perfect. However I expect the St. Louis milieu would feel very different to Atlanta’s.

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To me political science sounds like a major that is likely to lead to law school.

Of the students who start off thinking “premed”, the large majority end up doing something else. Fortunately there are a lot of forms of “something else” that are available.

To me it sounds reasonable to start off taking some premed classes and some political science classes and some general education classes, and just see what you think after a year in university. Some universities will not even let you pick a major until the end of your freshman year (although which classes you take freshman year may give some hint towards some majors which might be more likely).

The path to earning a medical doctorate (MD) is a very long path that requires a lot of determination and a lot of effort (and a lot of expense) over an extended period of time. Once you get your MD you still have residency to get through. To me this does not seem like an appropriate path for someone who starts the entire thing being somewhat uncertain or ambivalent. To me this seems like a path for someone who is very sure that they want to do it.

I do not think that I would want to be a pharmacist.

Fortunately there are lots of other paths that are possible, and any good university (including all of the ones that you are considering) can help you figure this out.

I got my bachelor’s degree at a university that is on the semester system, and my master’s degree at a university that is on the quarter system. With the quarter system, the end of the quarter comes up faster than you are expecting. You better not be behind when this happens. With the quarter system you are better off if you always stay ahead in all of your classes. For a university as academically strong and demanding as Northwestern, this probably implies spending some time on weekends doing homework, maybe even some Saturday afternoons – but this is a good idea anyway for premed students and for students at any highly ranked university. I liked the quarter system. You get to take more classes in a year and classes do not drag on for quite as long. However, this might be because I was older (getting a master’s degree) and was mature enough and determined enough to make the effort to always stay ahead in all of my class work.

Compared to high school, Northwestern may be brutal just on its own. This can also be true of some universities that are on the semester system, such as MIT. I do not know if I would blame “brutality” on the quarter system.

The winters in Chicago will be quite different compared to what you are used to. People generally do get used to it, more or less. Atlanta will barely have winters (by my standards, I live in the northeast). St Louis will be somewhere in the middle.

Except that the three schools that you are considering are very strong for quite a few other majors as well.

This is consistent with my reaction when I visited the campus. I had a great visit, but it was quite a few years ago.

There is no bad choice here. Finding the best fit for you is important, but is not easy. Of course no university is perfect, and you are choosing from among three VERY good schools.

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You can go onto citydata.com to look up the population variables of each city. Discussing specific ethnicities seems uncomfortable, not to mention that not only is it not relevant to you as a college student who will be living on or near any of your campuses, but some of the information shared here is simply not accurate.

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second this. The quarter system seems to make it practical for students to double major, which I think suits your needs and your parents’ suggestion.

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Guess I’m going to third this. I had quarter system as a freshman. I was able to take some courses I wouldn’t have had time for otherwise. It actually allowed me to graduate sooner. I personally was happy to have to suffer through some hard classes for a shorter period of time than otherwise (LOL). It takes some planning–stay on top of your classes–there isn’t time to “bring up a grade”–you’ve basically got a mid-term and a final.

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Also, you can’t get sick. If you get the flu or mono (or COVID) you’re done :sob: better take a medical I and redo the whole thing.
Speaking as someone who got all of these plus chicken pox in college (that one kept me out of class for 3 weeks :neutral_face:). Lots of germs and viruses going around.

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how do you feel about the academic programs at all three schools? i might recommend browsing some club social media accounts at each schools and see if that gives you a sense of the diversity + social life as well

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