<p>In terms of global prestige, Berkeley far outshines the other two in the maths and sciences.</p>
<p>^that may be true. i came from hong kong but i didn’t leave after graduation; i got my first job in the US and i still live here. i never worry about what the people in beijing think about the schools i went. chances are the first job you apply to isn’t gonna be overseas. by the time you work overseas, you should be at the point where it’s your job performance/experience carries you, not where you went for undergrad. as far as applying for foreign grad schools goes, i am positive that brown/northwestern undergrads do just as well (last year, two northwestern grads won the gates cambridge scholarship which requires admission to cambridge university first). to me, this “global” prestige thing is the last thing one needs to look at unless he/she is a foreign student and may go back home after graduation.</p>
<p>I would choose Brown easily. Cal is a huge public school, while Brown is like a liberal arts school with good social life. Also, domestically, Brown is the most prestigious school on your list and the most selective.</p>
<p>wow… that’s a great choice to have to wrestle with.</p>
<p>They are equally demanding in the competition for grades, with perhaps Brown being the most relaxed.</p>
<p>Prestige is slightly in the favor of Brown undergraduate, and Berkeley as a “graduate research Institution”, being in the top 2-3 research universities in the world. Northwestern in in the middle on both counts.</p>
<p>Weather absolutely sucks in Chicago from October through March.
Berkeley is ruthless in winnowing down the potential med school applicant pool, so freshman and sophomore science classes see a large failure rate (>20%)</p>
<p>As to sports, Berkeley and Northwestern are both big time programs, about in the middle of their respective conferences. Ivy league sports are sort of like intense intramural. Quaint is the word.</p>
<p>My vote is Brown. If your family makes less than $180,000 per year, I’ll bet it will be much cheaper than NU and about the same or cheaper than Berkeley because of the movement toward eliminating loans in the Ivy League. You’ll get a lot more personal attention than you would at Berkeley. You’ll be more relaxed than you would be at Northwestern.</p>
<p>extrasauce… I guess I would like to know more about how NU became your dream school. If from actual contact with the school and its students, I think you may have your answer.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’ll find many who will agree that in terms of prestige, NU equals Berkeley (science, mostly based on graduate programs), or Brown overall. Why do you list it as equal? Not that it is a big point, as when three schools are this closely bunched in terms of prestige, I don’t think you can lose – but I am curious why you perceive NU to be equal in prestige of, especially, Brown.</p>
<p>Cal and Brown are on the semester system while Northwestern is on quarters…something to consider.</p>
<p>Cal has much more prestige in science and engineering programs than NU or Brown, if that’s what you’re interested in.</p>
<p>If you want to major in social sciences or humanities and get away from the Bay Area, I’d choose Brown over Northwestern.</p>
<p>Oh god, DunninLA, lets please avoid another NU vs. Berkeley argument. The last one was unproductive enough as it was. Basically, I’m content with the assessment that the three of them will render basically identical academic experiences in terms of quality. There are definitely differences, but those are obvious. What seems more relevant are the out of classroom aspects, since the three schools are VERY VERY different.</p>
<p>And basically their prestige will be relative in different parts of the country. They’re in three distinct regions. In the Midwest, NU is going to trump Brown (and probably Berkeley). In the NE, Brown will trump the other two, etc. </p>
<p>In my entirely slanted and biased opinion, I’d go with Northwestern, because I adore my alma mater and believe it offers the best experience in the country. But then thats me, just like UCBChem and dunninLA’s opinions favor their UC. Follow your gut- you can’t go wrong.</p>
<p>And UCB, seriously, social sciences the OBVIOUS choice is NU.</p>
<p>
Very true.</p>
<p>OP has a difficult decision to make…but he/she won’t go wrong with any choice.</p>
<p>What do you know about social sciences and humanities as a “ChemEGrad”? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>^ Haha…I said Brown just to spite you, Sam. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Cal has bigtime sports by any definition.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ahhh, Chem 112A/B, 120A/B, and 104…brings back memories…;)</p>
<p>^ I’m in chem120 right now…it’s pretty rough, haha.</p>
<p>Anyway, if you’re into the sciences you can’t go wrong with Cal. Then again, NU is a pretty great school. Does Brown even have science majors? =P</p>
<p>thank you again everyone for the continued informative posts. Now that the thread has died down a bit I’d like to respond to a few of the comments.</p>
<p>First off, I’d like to say that the aid package awarded to me by NU will closely match that of Berkeley’s tuition. The difference is noticable, but for the sake of the argument (as difficult as this is to ignore), let’s try and ignore tuition. </p>
<p>On a quick note, I believe that I would like a science track, and for that I know that nothing can really touch Berkeley’s scientific resources and education. In fact, I’ve even head that Brown’s biology department is second to none. Of course NU is no slouch in the science either. However, I would not describe myself as your typical science student: I didn’t thrive in the large lab classes in high school. Rather, I discovered my passion and love for science in a series of science based Elective classes, which had less then 15 students in them. Whether that is a product of todays high school curriculum’s and setup, I do not know. However, that leads me to believe that for me to truly excel in the science world, I need close, intimate settings, which I don’t believe can truly be handed to me until my junior and senior years at a public university like Berkeley. Few facts blew me away more then the 7:1 student to teacher ratio at NU. </p>
<p>One of the best advice that has been loveingly pounded into me by CC members is that I should “choose the school which I feel best at,” especially in a situation as this one where all the choices are so closely matched, and I truly cannot go wrong. DunninLA, in responce to your question on how NU became my dream school, I can only hope to reflect upon the impact of my recent (this past summer) visit to the campus. </p>
<p>It was a beautiful, clear, and brisk day in Chicago (rare for the school year, I know), and my mother had just driven from Ohio after seeing a few small colleges down there. After an awsome lunch (French dipped something, was amazing…note: love of school nearly directly correlates with pre-campus-tour lunch) my mom and took a brisk “el” ride to campus. I was immidiatelly blown away, as I was at Brown and Cal. However, the moment which I really fell in love with the school was meeting a friend of a freshmen who I know. He was a rising sophmore, and he was at the campus over the summer working in for a proffessor in a lab as a payed intern. The work they were doing involved inducing death in cells through a natural process which I believe is something called apoptosis. It sounded incredibely cool and interesting, and he was doing that hands on work starting his freshmen year! He then told me how his fraternity, which he loved, especially the active social life, had done really well in a campus wide flag football tournament. I immidietelly knew that was the college kid I wanted to be. In turn, this reflected upon the college which molded this kid into what he had become in one short year. He, and NU (at that time), seemed like the perfect, rounded package deal. That is the moment (along with lots of research and such), and continues to be, why NU is my dream school. I apologize for the mildly lame antedote, but I couldn’t think how to describe my feelings any other way.</p>
<p>In conclusion, I would have to say that NU gives me the “package” deal I so yearn for: top notch prestige and academics, an active social life, a new experience away from home, Big 10 sports, and one of the greatest campus/locations in the country.</p>
<p>My only final question is, am I giving up a signifigant amount of prestige, academics, or anything else (of course in comparasin to Berkely and Brown) for that matter in order to recieve this percieved “package” I believe I will get at NU? </p>
<p>I am sure many of you will say that the “package” I am after is attainable at Berkeley and Brown, I must note that the campus, new experience (i.e. outta Cali’), social life, and “bigger” sports do not fit as well into Brown and Berkeley as well as they do at NU, at least in my opinion. I would love comments on that opinion as well.</p>
<p>Thank you again for your continued comments and thoughts throughout this process. Sorry for the spelling and grammatical errors.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, and if anyone says you are they’re lying.</p>
<p>extrasauce,</p>
<p>Other than your friend’s experience, the following links also reflect how supportive NU is for undergrad research:
[Undergraduate</a> Research Symposium, Info for Students, Office of the Provost, Northwestern University<a href=“check%20out%20the%202007%20program,%20there%20were%20almost%2020%20bio-related%20research%20presented”>/url</a>.
[url=<a href=“http://www.caurs.com/awards.html]Chicago”>http://www.caurs.com/awards.html]Chicago</a> Area Undergraduate Research Symposium (CAURS)](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/provost/students/research_symposium/]Undergraduate”>http://www.northwestern.edu/provost/students/research_symposium/)</p>
<p>Since it doesn’t seem to be a big difference in money, go to Northwestern, since that’s obviously where you want to go.</p>
<p>If you were comparing in-state tuition at Berkeley with full-freight at Northwestern, I’d say something different.</p>
<p>Worldwide, Berkeley is MUCH more prestigious than Northwestern. But that really doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Though Northwestern is obviously strongest in the midwest, it, like your other two choices, is known nationwide as an excellent institution.</p>
<p>Aww, it seems like you’ve decided on Northwestern. How exciting! We’re looking forward to your presence here this fall.</p>
<p>One note on prestige: it varies by region of the country. On the East Coast, the most prestigious of these schools (in my opinion) is Brown. On the West Coast, I’m sure it’s different. Nationwide average prestige is probably more equal.
One other note: Brown’s open curriculum makes it relatively easy to double major there.</p>