WashU vs. USC vs. Northwestern

flashmountain
Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:05:50 +0000

Based on what you wrote, it’s highly likely that you will fit in better at Wash U (… edit: fit in really well at Wash U), so I echo all of Cuiromind’s comments regarding that aspect.

Our pre-med program (and the attendant life science major fields) is renowned as one of (if not the) best in the country, and you definitely have abundant opportunities to do research and internships at the med school. A couple pre-med friends have spent summers at the NIH and other top med schools. Northwestern would be 2nd here, and USC 3rd, but honestly the distinctions may not be too great as they are all 3 great schools.

Access to a large city: LA and Chicago are definitely larger than St Louis, but I do think that Wash U has the slight edge in terms of getting around from campus -> larger city. It takes you a good 45+ minutes to get from NU’s campus to the Chicago area, so I do think your main point of comparison should be Evanston and not Chicago (b/c realistically you will only be going to Chicago on the rare occasion when you do venture off-campus). LA mass-transit is terrible. St Louis has more than enough to do for 4 years, and you get free metro and free passes as a student when you want to go to the CWE, Clayton, or Downtown areas (or just take the 12 minute walk to the Loop).

Weather: USC wins and NU loses (for most people, but depends if you like snow and the cold). Wash U would be in between. Here, it doesn’t start to get winter-coat weather until after Thanksgiving break, so you really only have 2 weeks of winter weather in the fall semester, 2 more weeks in January after break, and then February. But the weather, overall, is pretty random. Two weeks ago it was 90 and sunny, and last week was in the 60s with light rain.