Williams vs. Swat vs. Chicago vs. Northwestern MMSS

Ephman
Sun, 10 Apr 2011 13:32:06 +0000

I don’t know much about Northwestern. And I’d agree with those who encourage you to if, at all possible, visit. I am certainly well acquainted with both UChicago, which is a great place for graduate studies but which isn’t known as the place “fun comes to die” for no reason, and of course Williams. I’d say Swarthmore is kind of a liberal arts version of UChicago … very intellectual and great academics, but a bit more of a stressed out population than Williams. Williams of those three I think provides the best balance of academic excellence, job / grad school placement, and a really fun undergraduate experience.

If you want a super-intense, super-intellectual liberal arts experience with an extremely small student body, Swarthmore is a good choice. If you want the same thing in a university setting, then UChicago. If you want a more well-rounded liberal arts school with a big focus on social life, the arts, sports, and the outdoors, I’d say Williams. I think Northwestern is a fairly different experience, being a big ten school and so on. Settings are very different too – Williams has by far the most natural beauty around the school, but is also by far the most rural. I think there is the most going on on campus, but fewer off-campus options. UChicago and Swarthmore are both more of a suburban feel and very close to cities (UChicago is technically in a city, but really, there isn’t much going on in Hyde Park, and getting to downtown Chicago takes around 30-40 minutes usually).

One good thing – all of those schools have KILLER econ programs, so you really can’t go wrong, academically. All place students in the very best econ and math grad schools …