<p>I think visiting is the best way to get to know them. My sister goes to NU, so I’ve visited there a bit over the year, and I guess I even did the “official” visit thing, since I came with her on her accepted student tour and info sessions. It’s a really nice school, and they didn’t seem that different to me, but that may be because I experienced NU as my sister experiences it, and she doesn’t go to frat parties all the time or anything like that. I would agree though that Northwestern reminded me of Georgetown.</p>
<p>But when I visited UChicago, it just seemed more right and more “me.” Of course, I was only there for a few hours, and I’ve stayed at Northwestern for 2-3 days at a time, so I don’t have as full of a view of UChicago. </p>
<p>They’re both great schools though, so I don’t think comparing them on that basis is going to make the biggest difference. If you can’t visit them, it helps to learn about the school’s culture, and you can make your decision based on that.</p>
<p>lol at Mathgrad, yes all comments by me, amanahill, must be taken with a grain of crack :p</p>
<p>Oh and I still say U of C is wayyyy better than NWU- and I don’t even hate NWU
I just wouldn’t deem it up to UofC’s standards.</p>
<p>But to answer motivated’s question traditionally I would have to say NWU would be better for a premed just because you are more likely to get a higher GPA</p>
<p>but a U of C education will get you through med school because it teaches you how to really learn and know your stuff</p>
<p>U of Chicago is very close to a very bad part of town, while Northwestern is in a very ritzy area. Although they are both along the lake and there’s more to do outside of the school at U of Chicago.</p>
<p>Hyde Park is a mixed-income area where the high end is the likes Barack and Michelle (I walked by his house regularly pre-nomination) and the lower end are grad students and non-teaching University employees. I can’t find data that takes into account Hyde Park’s economic diversity, but I’ve seen estimates that the average household income is something like 40-50k.</p>
<p>For those in the know, it’s not “Hyde Park” that has a rep, but “South Side Chicago” that has a rep, and it’s a rep that (I think) is largely race-motivated and somewhat baseless. There are MANY communities on the South Side of Chicago, some of them safer/more pleasant than ones on the North Side.</p>
<p>It’s funny, though-- I live in a similar situation to Hyde Park at home. I live in a city with a bad reputation-- let’s call it “Rushmore”-- that on one side borders some of the wealthiest and most homogenous towns in the nation and on the other side borders one of the poorest areas in the nation. The parts near the rich border look very rich and are very rich, and the parts near the poor border are not doing so well. But instead of telling people we live in Rushmore (which we do), we tell people we live in “Spring Hill,” a separate name for the rich neighborhood. </p>
<p>It’s gotten to the point where people don’t even realize that Spring Hill IS in Rushmore. For example, I’ve seen people on internet forums who are looking to relocate say things like, “I don’t want to live anywhere near Rushmore, because I hear it’s a bad city, so ideally I’d like to live in Spring Hill.”</p>
<p>Anyway, the whole Hyde Park/ South Side things is quite similar!</p>
<p>My years of anecdotal experience in this community lead me to believe that Chicago and Northwestern tend to match each others’ aid packages. Sometimes one beats out the other slightly.</p>
<p>I visited both…and I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible…UofC took the cake by far. I mean, Evanston was beautiful and so was the campus - I’ll give Northwestern that.</p>
<p>But nothing matched the personality of UofC. Everyone seemed genuine, and down to Earth and just right up my alley. Northwestern was a little more…how do I say it…La dee da. Not to stereotype, but it did seem very preppy, very rich etc etc.</p>
<p>I just knew right away that Northwestern wasn’t the right place for me…which saved me an hour and a half tour <em>Blah</em>! </p>
<p>But I suppose it is different for everyone, so just check 'em both out. Visiting the campus is one of the biggest parts, so make sure you do that!</p>
<p>Sorry if these have already been said, I didn’t look through the whole replies :(</p>