<p>After recieving my decisions and financial aid packages, I’ve been able to limit my college hunt down to three schools: Tulane, Villanova, and Wisconsin. </p>
<p>Villanova’s the cheapest, but Tulane and Wisconsin would still be affordable. Money’s not a huge issue, because I’m willing to work and go into debt.</p>
<p>I’m really flexible as far as weather, facilities, religious background, and all the intangibles go. </p>
<p>My biggest concern is which one of the three schools has the most prestige, just in terms of an overall undergraduate education, as I’m completely undecided at the moment as to what I’ll major in. From everyone’s experience, which one of these universities has the most name cache?</p>
<p>BTW - Would anyone advise taking a year off? Tulane, Nova, and Wisky were my three safety schools. I had my heart set on Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and WU-STL, but they all rejected me (waitlisted at WU-STL, which is just as good as a rejection). Would I stand a better chance reapplying next year?</p>
<p>First of all, I think you are making a HUGE mistake basing your college of choice on a name. Hopefully more people will see this thread and back me up on it…</p>
<p>as far as reapplying, if history is any indication, next year will be even harder to get accepted to top schools, so I wouldn’t reccomend a gap year. If you want to go there so badly, transfering is probably your best bet. </p>
<p>but to answer your question, i would consider wisconsin the most prestigious of the schools in question, as i believe us world news report has it ranked in the 30s, maybe early 40s. based on the students i know at villanova, the place is kind of overrated, although i’m sure you will hear different opinions. i love umich, so the big ten atmosphere appeals to me. wisconsin has big time sports, a huge party scene, a great college town, and it’s highly respected academically. by the way, i don’t know anything about tulane.</p>
<p>Sorry, I didn’t mean to give the impression that I was solely basing my decision on the school’s name, but it’s definitely a factor that I’ll consider. I’ve actually been to all of these schools, got a list of positives and negatives for each, and now I just want to know which one has the better name reputation, so that I can factor it into the entire equation and make a decision — time’s running out.</p>
<p>What exactly have your friends at Villanova told you about it? I’m curious.</p>
<p>Personally I would choose Wiscy. Madison is cool, they have good sports, and have most everything there(premier academics, athletics, parties, you name it).</p>
<p>Actually, the kids I know at Nova, one in particular whom I have recently spoken to, said it’s challenging and also fun. The negative opinions I have heard are just from local people saying it’s not presitigious enough to justify the huge tuition, and that the alternative (here, PSU) is better academically and socially. That information is biased, and total opinion. </p>
<p>You’re lucky enough to be choosing between great schools. I bet a guidance counselor would tell you to go with feel, and like I said, personally I’d pick Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Villanova has a large commuter population. If you have been to the school, you have seen the train station across Route 30 from the College. Every morning, piles of students disembark rom the trains for Nova, and in the afternoon, the same piles return to their family’s homes or their apartments.</p>
<p>Dorm space is limited (primarily freshman and sophomores) and Philly can be expensive.</p>
<p>Madison is a great town and U of W is an excellent university.</p>
<p>As for name/prestige, I hope you will learn how shallow a thought that is. Look for the school that will challenge you to be the best that is possible.</p>
<p>Tulane could be interesting, what with it being in New Orleans and all…</p>
<p>Wisconsin used to be one of the best school at the turn of the 20th century…</p>
<p>My high school was a 1 minute drive from Villanova. I cannot comment on Villanova itself but the greater Philadelphia area and it surburbs are great for college students (in no small part because there are so many of them, ranging from all-girls schools to liberal arts colleges to research universities and an Ivy to boot). So you’ll definitely meet a broad array of students.</p>