WashU vs. USC vs. Northwestern

Ronaldofan94
Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:56:33 +0000

*I posted this in another board but wanted to post this thread here as well in order to receive more opinions from people who are hopefully the most knowledgeable about my choices.

Now, before I go into any details, I want to thank everyone who at least expressed some interest in helping me decide where to enroll during these upcoming days by checking out this thread. I am the first person in my immediate family to have applied to a four-year university and thus do not have anyone close to ask for any input regarding the college experience and so forth.

I wanted to begin by sharing a few details about myself so as to help judge personal fit at the three universities I have indicated. I consider myself to be a ‘healthy introvert’, someone who does not like to attend large social gatherings and be in large groups too often yet still enjoys hanging out and having meaningful conversations with close friends. That being said, I am usually extremely quiet around people I do not know yet tend to be pretty outgoing around people I am comfortable with. Also, I tend to be heavily pragmatic in the sense that I do not like to waste my time going to parties and the like or even simply talking about anything other than academics and political and ethical issues, things that matter I suppose. I will conclude by saying that despite my own personality and social needs, I can put up with just about anyone as long as said person respects me for the person I am.

Next, I would like to briefly discuss what I am looking for in the college experience. I would like to attend somewhere with a reasonable student size, someplace where I would not simply be a small fish in a large pond, so to speak. Of course, I would also like to attend a university with a diverse student body simply because I enjoy being exposed to different perspectives and learning about different cultures. Given the details in the previous paragraph, I would ideally like to not be pressured into having to go to social events and being extremely outgoing in order to fit in with the student body. Other factors influencing my decision are year-round weather and access to a large city, the latter of which all three universities provide.

Now, regarding academic and financial considerations… I am looking to major in either neuroscience or cognitive science depending on where I attend. I am also going down the pre-med route and thus would like to attend the university with the best advising faculty and medical research, internship, and volunteering opportunities. For practical reasons, I will add that I would possibly consider the university where I have the best chance of maintaining a high GPA if no other factors make or break my decision to attend one of the three universities I listed. Anyway, I would have to pay roughly the same amount of money at each of these universities as each has fully met my demonstrated financial need, though WashU has the edge in this aspect in that its financial aid package did not include any loans whereas those of the other two included roughly $5,000 in government loans, USC’s including an unsubsidized one.

I know I rambled on a bit but I did so in order to provide everyone kind enough to help me out with sufficient information to provide a suitable opinion as to where I should attend. That being said, feel free to ask me for more information if you feel I missed anything. Thanks!



Edit: One thing I forgot to note. I went to visit both USC and WashU this last week and absolutely enjoyed both of the campuses. I had a better feel for USC upon reflecting on both of my visits but I feel this is so because I was with family while at USC yet was by myself while at WashU. Needless to say, I could definitely picture myself being happy at either USC or WashU based on my personal experiences there.

Edit 2: One other thing (lol). Vanderbilt and UT Austin are other possible choices concerning where to attend, though I firmly believe they are not the best options for me in the long run.