USC vs. UChicago vs. OSU vs. BostonU vs. Dartmouth vs. 15 other colleges/universities

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Hello members of College Confidential! So I have about five days to make a decision about where I want to go to college and I’m getting a little bit nervous. I decided to apply to 27 different schools (bad decision, I know) and I ended up getting into 21 of them with 2 waitlists at Columbia and Washington & Lee, but I’d rather not wait around until July to know where I’m going to college. Right now I have a top five list of schools, USC, UChicago, OSU, Boston U, and Dartmouth, but if you’d like to comment on the other schools I got into (Amherst College, Emory, NYU, Vanderbilt, GWU, UMiami, Colgate, Duke, Occidental, and Vassar), please be my guest! :slight_smile: I have a list of things I would like to have or experience in college but I would be willing to sacrifice any of them if they are a little bit unreasonable.</p>

<ol>
<li>I would like to be at a college with a traditional college campus (lots of greenery, students playing frisbee on the quad, college buildings in one central location, etc.). Being near a city would also be nice (I’m from Las Vegas so I think the transition would be a little bit easier), but I’m sure I could definitely do without it if I was happy at the college campus.</li>
<li>I would also like to be at a school with a good mix of ethnic and economic diversity. For the past 13 years, I have been at elementary, middle, and high schools where I was either the only one or one of the only few African-American students who was at the school not based on athletics, but on academics. I would like to be around other intelligent students of different races, but I would rather not be in a school environment where students tend to segregate themselves off by their respective races. I would also rather not be surrounded by the same homogeneous mix of people (i.e. rich, white students who care more about appearances than actually getting to know the person). I know I will find people like that at any college campus, but if I could get that to a minimum it would be nice.</li>
<li>I still have NO idea what I want to major in or what career I want to go into after college, so I would like to go to a good school that has a lot of different options and possibly good advisors to help me figure it out.</li>
<li>I would like to live on the east coast after college, so I’m thinking that going to a college on the east coast would make it easier. However, my mom and sister both say that it is nearly impossible to get a good job without going to graduate school, so I could simply do my graduate work at an east coast school. Still, I think I would be more content someplace vastly different from Las Vegas.</li>
<li>I would like to have professors that care about how I am doing and that are more willing to teach than simply research. I would rather not be taught by teaching assistants for the larger portion of my college experience.</li>
<li>I didn’t apply for the FAFSA because I was sure my family wouldn’t qualify for financial aid. However, I did get scholarship money from some universities. I got $10000/year from OSU and USC, $15000/year from GWU, and $20000/year from UMiami and BostonU. My mom is able to afford whatever school I want to go to, but I’d rather not completely break her, especially when my sister is going to graduate school next year. Still, I don’t want to pass up great schools like Duke, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Amherst, and UChicago because of money.</li>
<li>I’m also a little bit worried about the social side of college as well. I understand that college is a time for learning and preparing for a career in the future, but I don’t want all my time spent on studying to the point where I can’t truly enjoy my college experience. I know the UChicago phrase “Where fun goes to die.” is a joke but there’s always a little bit of seriousness in every joke. I just don’t want to look back on my college years and wish that I could have gone somewhere else to get a true college experience.</li>
<li>I would really like to have changing seasons and snow and things like that, but they’re not a necessity. </li>
</ol>

<p>Well, I think that’s everything I’d want to ask. Thank you VERY much to whoever took the time to actually sit and read this entire thing. Any input whatsoever is amazing. Have a nice day! :)</p>

2

<p>Many of the schools you listed are complete opposites of each other in terms of location, atmosphere, student body, etc. It would help to know what attracts you to each of those schools.</p>

<p>If you want teachers who care about more than just their research, and if you hope to avoid teaching assistants, you should probably scratch off large schools like OSU.</p>

<p>Also, you pointed out that you would like to be in a place where people of different races interact easily. I’ve read multiple anecdotes that students at Emory tend to segregate themselves. However, I’m not sure how much truth there is to that statement; it would be wise to visit or ask a current student about it.</p>

3

<p>^ Self- segregation, unfortunately, occurs at all colleges. Why? Because people tend to feel more comfortable around similar type of people… and often (not always) similar skin colour goes with similar culture, values, interests etc. At Emory, specifically, the Korean internationals tend to segregate themselves. Other than that, everyone hangs out and gets along just fine.</p>

4

<p>I think Dartmouth or USC sound best for you.</p>

5

<p>Dartmouth, Duke, Chicago, and Amherst are easily the best schools on this list. I wouldn’t even consider OSU, its not even close to as good as the others on your list. I’d also easily rule out BU. You got into some of the best schools in the country, why not go to one of them? Turning down a Dartmouth or Amherst to go to OSU or BU would be a tragedy if money isn’t an issue. Of the four I personally like Dartmouth the most - people there love it and its a great time socially (much more than Chicago).</p>

6

<p>I hesitate to recommend that a person spend $80,000 more for Dartmouth or Amherst over Miami in this economic environment…</p>

<p>My choice would be either Dartmouth or Amherst… are you able to apply for financial aid at this late date (sorry I know zero about FA), or if not, for next year and the following two? If so, I’d recommend Dartmouth/Amherst equallly, and Miami if not.</p>

7

<p>27 schools and they are all over the map. Literally and figuratively. Since you have no clear preferences for size, geographic setting, climate, intellectual atmosphere, or major, I suggest you just pick the one with the lowest out-of-pocket cost.</p>

<p>In case you don’t like that advice, try to analyze the distinctive features of your top 5. Chicago and Dartmouth are the two most selective. I’d eliminate Chicago because there is more than a little seriousness in the “Where fun goes to die” phrase. Dartmouth offers something closer to what I think you mean by a “true college experience.” But are you o.k. with the “animal house” reputation? (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/825174-dartmouths-offensive-behavior-dartmouth-harvard-squash-game.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/825174-dartmouths-offensive-behavior-dartmouth-harvard-squash-game.html&lt;/a&gt;). If you have reservations, but want another very selective school with some similar characteristics (New England location, small, old, prestigious), then reach into your bench and go with Amherst.</p>

<p>Otherwise, of the remaining 3 among your top 5, USC probably is the strongest academically, has the best weather, and is one of the schools that gave you scholarship money. If you don’t care about the money, and want an even more selective school with some similar characteristics (warm weather, big sports scene), then reach back past your top 5 and go with Duke.</p>

<p>Another approach is to divide your original 27 into several subsets (which is what you should have done last fall, not in the last week of April). There are at least 4 relatively coherent sets among them. LACs (Amherst, Colgate, Vassar, Occidental); Northern, urban universities (Chicago, NYU, GWU, BU); Warm-weather universities (Duke, USC, Vanderbilt, Emory, UMiami) overlapping with Sports Powerhouse universities (Duke, USC, OSU …) etc. Once you get these sets organized, choose which set best represents the features most important to you. Then rank schools within that one set (just go with US News rankings). Eliminate any with strong negatives. Then go with the highest ranking of the remaining schools.</p>

8

<p>^tk21769 has created a very good way to arrange the colleges for you there. (althou tbh this process should’ve been done BEFORE you applied)
Out of each of the subsets, based on your requirements and what little I know of these colleges, here’s how I would rank them:
LACs: Amherst, Vassar, Colgate, Occidental
Northeast: Dartmouth, NYU, Chicago, BU (scholarship), GWU (scholarship)
Southern/West coast: Duke, USC (scholarship), Emory, Vanderbilt, UMiami</p>

<p>Of course, that’s just my personal opinion. please do some serious research in what little time you have left.
and, no offence, just cross OSU off your list.</p>

9

<p>Agree with OSU. Its not even close to the others. Personally you have some amazing choices in Dartmouth, Amherst, Duke. I would be focused on those.</p>

10

<p>P.S. Not sure why Oregon State University – Oklahoma St. University – is on your list…</p>

11

<p>^^ Gotta love CC snobs…</p>

12

<p>UCB, you missed the humor in that… OP wrote OSU, but didn’t say which one…</p>

13

<p>I’ve actually read all your points and realized that tOSU would be one of your BEST options!!</p>

<p>32nd Annual African American Heritage Festival (Huge Deal on campus!!)
[African</a> American Heritage Festival](<a href=“http://heritagefestival.osu.edu/]African”>http://heritagefestival.osu.edu/)</p>

<p>The newly renovated Thompson Library (I call it The Vault!)
[Flickr</a> Photo Download: Thompson Library](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/hartman271/4285915437/sizes/l/]Flickr”>All sizes | Thompson Library | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)</p>

<p>*Also check out RPAC (student gymnasium) & New Ohio Union!! lol</p>

<p>Oval for freesby with Mirror lake adjacent to it
[Flickr</a> Photo Download: The Oval](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/supertoph/3882916255/sizes/l/]Flickr”>All sizes | The Oval | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)
[Flickr</a> Photo Download: Mirror lake](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/robinzeggs/75028732/sizes/l/]Flickr”>All sizes | Mirror lake | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)</p>

<p>Lastly, taken from Ohio State’s Subforum by Poster - BLDESQ
04-21-2010, 08:27 AM </p>

<p>"I am a double IVY alum- undergrad and law but if I can attest to the fact that the “prestige” factor attended to the Ivies is much overrated. We just finished the college application process with my DS and we were so wowed by the range of opportunities, quality of facilities, friendliness/spirit at OSU, that my DS will be in Columbus next September. </p>

<p>While I had a great law school experience at an Ivy League school, my undergrad experience with the exception of 3 professors was unremarkable. I wish in retrospect I had attended a school like OSU and was not crippled with the the “superiority complex” syndrome that attendance at an Ivy appears to encourage.</p>

<p>The bottom line which the college admissions process, rankings, etc gloss over is that there are many factors that contribute to a good education. Look at the range of course offerings, programs of study OSU offers compared to Brown- there is no comparison!"</p>

<p>Go Bucks!! :)</p>

14

<p>

No, I didn’t…I just wasn’t amused.</p>

15

<p>Sparkeye OSU is a nice school but you aren’t going to get close to the amount of resources, quality of other students, and overall access to opportunities. Your college experience at an Ivy is very different. I don’t think you can even come close to putting OSU among these. That quote seems like one from a cynical alum who probably is too far removed from the amazing resources put into an ivy education today.</p>

16

<p>Chicago, Amherst and Dartmouth stand out as does USC and Miami given the scholarship money. </p>

<p>I would opt for Chicago, because it is in a cosmopolitan city and its academic “rigor” is overstated. The fun does not go to die there, it is a great place and students have plenty of fun. Chicago is also a great city with a significant African American population, but students at Chicago do interact across cultural lines. </p>

<p>If you decide to save a little money USC and Miami are actually fine choices, but if your parents can afford it, I wouldn’t pass on Chicago, Dartmouth or Amherst.</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>If by “fun” you mean the trappings of the traditional American college experience (intercollegiate sports rivalries, cheer leading, fraternity hazings and black-balling, cotillions, etc.) then yes it does. More precisely speaking, it goes there to get murdered.</p>

<p>Football was banned at Chicago for decades. For most of its history, there were no sororities. A legend arose to explain why, but for all practical purposes, they were banned too. In place of these activities, Chicago students for years developed their own traditions of poking fun at college traditions. Second City humor, the Kazoo Marching Band, the Lascivious Costume Ball, the college “fight song” (“X-squared, Y-squared, H2SO4 … Thucydides, Themistocles, the Peloponnesian War …”) were all part of it.</p>

<p>More recently, Chicago students developed a new, more positive tradition that has nothing to do with poking fun at other people’s traditions. It’s called “Scav Hunt”. Scav Hunt strikes me as celebrating the shared discovery of arcane knowledge. So I suppose it’s a metaphor for what Chicago people think a university really is all about. Or simply a different take on “fun”. [University</a> of Chicago Scavenger Hunt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago_Scavenger_Hunt]University”>University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>A good (not ironclad) argument can be made that, academically, Chicago is the best school on the OP’s list. Maybe Amherst has a better English department, or Duke has a better Environmental Science program. Still, for breadth and depth of excellence across the arts and sciences, combined with its distinct academic culture, Chicago is a stand-out (definitely among the top 3 or 4 on that list). Nevertheless, to be content there (not necessarily “happy”), you really have to appreciate and want what it has to offer and be willing to let go of what it doesn’t.</p>

18

<p>I just wanted to thank everyone who has responded to this thread. All of your input has been helpful for my decision making. I also wanted to let you guys know that I have narrowed down my college list down to nine schools (BU, Amherst, Duke, Emory, USC, Dartmouth, UChicago, and Vanderbilt). And 000ace000, I now realize that I shouldn’t have applied to so many school and I should have made a criterion before, but it doesn’t really make a difference now.</p>

19

<p>you’re choosing between two schools: USC or Duke</p>

<p>frisbee: stay south
work: USC mafia and lessor known but just as strong the Duke mafia (these schools take care of their own)
college life, greek life, and fun: usc or duke
east coast work: Duke wins over USC</p>

<p>the other two that can’t be ignored are UChicago and Dart: Freezing and less social but top academic institutions.</p>

<p>Steven Sample (USC president who is retiring) built USC over the past 18 years using the Duke “how to build a world class university” game plan, raise billions from alum then buy smart students, buy great professors, build world class facilities, and have a winning football or basketball team. it worked!</p>

20

<p>Based on what I’ve read, I would recommend Duke or Dartmouth, to a lesser degree Amherst. Go with USC if you want to stay on the west coast.</p>