Need help deciding between MIT, Princeton, UPenn, UCLA, UCB, USC, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern

[ucbalumnus]

@tk21769

A small, rich, super selective school like Princeton in general does a better job than a big state university (UCLA, UCB) at allocating the best resources to the best college students. Schools at or near the bottom of that list (Princeton, Duke) will tend to give you more intimate, undergraduate-focused learning environments (with smaller classes, easier access to top faculty, better advising, less bureaucracy) than a big state university.

Be careful about assuming that all classes will be small at places like Princeton.

For example, Princeton’s general chemistry course CHM 202 has 166 students this semester, and the organic chemistry courses CHM 304 and 304B have 108 and 98 students.

http://registrar.princeton.edu/course-offerings/search_results.xml?submit=Search&term=1154&coursetitle=&instructor=&distr_area=&level=&cat_number=&subject=CHM&sort=SYN_PS_PU_ROXEN_SOC_VW.SUBJECT%2C+SYN_PS_PU_ROXEN_SOC_VW.CATALOG_NBR%2CSYN_PS_PU_ROXEN_SOC_VW.CLASS_SECTION%2CSYN_PS_PU_ROXEN_SOC_VW.CLASS_MTG_NBR

For comparison, UCLA’s general chemistry course CHEM 20B has classes of 129 and 311, and the honors course CHEM 20BH has 13. Its organic chemistry course CHEM 30B has 212.

http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/detselect.aspx?termsel=15W&subareasel=CHEM&idxcrs=0020B+++
http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/detselect.aspx?termsel=15W&subareasel=CHEM&idxcrs=0020BH++
http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/detselect.aspx?termsel=15W&subareasel=CHEM&idxcrs=0030B+++

So, while Princeton classes in general and organic chemistry are smaller than those at UCLA (except the honors course and the morning regular section), they are probably not small enough to be “intimate”.

The class sizes for general and organic chemistry at Duke appear to be smaller, but still probably not small enough to be “intimate”.

http://soc.siss.duke.edu/psp/CSSOC01/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/DU_SELFSERVICE.DU_SRCH_SUBJ_STAFF.GBL?PORTALPARAM_PTCNAV=DU_SRCH_SUBJ_STAFF&EOPP.SCNode=HRMS&EOPP.SCPortal=EMPLOYEE&EOPP.SCName=DU_PUBLIC_SCHEDULECATALOG_VIE&EOPP.SCLabel=&EOPP.SCPTcname=DU_SC_SP_PUBLIC_SCHEDULECATAL&FolderPath=PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT.PORTAL_BASE_DATA.CO_NAVIGATION_COLLECTIONS.DU_PUBLIC_SCHEDULECATALOG_VIE.DU_S200901121424114840540787&IsFolder=false