Top 20 Colleges

Marsden
Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:19:09 +0000

I wouldn’t sweat it. I think Northwestern has the cold weather and Virginia has more partying. I don’t like either of those too much! But both are excellent schools and for me, I’d consider what part of the country I wanted to end up in. Quite true that both have national reputations but Virginia is more east-coast and NU more midwest, in terms of alumni networks, name recognition in the big cities, etc etc.

If money isn’t a factor, I’d probably go Northwestern because I’m a bit of a ratings wh0re. Northwestern isn’t ranked (considerably) higher by accident. Virginia is limited by being a state school. Even though only 7% of its budget is provided by the Commonwealth, the General Assembly still sets policy and the most damaging policies it sets require 2/3 of admitted students to be in-state and a certain proportion to be admitted from community colleges.

The pros and cons of these policies may be debated forever but the net effect diminishes the quality of the student body. And yes, I’m a graduate, counseling you to go elsewhere! If you were comparing with Berkeley or Michigan for undergraduate, I’d say Virginia in a minute. But Northwestern seems stronger to me.