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I want to know what you think of these two schools, and which one should be considered the Best College in the Midwestern United States. I don't mean who has the higher US NEWS ranking or the lower acceptance rate. Those are not real measures of what a school can offer a student. I want to know who has the better & more approachable faculty, who has the best research opportunties, and who makes the best graduates for professional practice and grad school.

By Metz (Metz) on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 10:46 pm: Edit

UChicago is one of the most respected colleges around, but it is ridiculously hard. There is NO grade inflation whatsoever like many other comparable schools. You can get a great education there (especially for econ), but you should know you'll have to work VERY hard.

By Syders11 (Syders11) on Wednesday, December 03, 2003 - 04:16 pm: Edit

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

By Nitroxideracer (Nitroxideracer) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 01:45 pm: Edit

Hey Syders11, why do you think that WASH U is the best school in the midwest? You can't just write the name of the school and not even try to prove your point. Make a case for it.

By Haon (Haon) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 06:48 pm: Edit

Reputation-wise, UChicago is the most respected school in the midwest. However, UChicago, Northwestern, and even WashU are all of high enough quality (and different enough schools) that it's more important to choose the one that's right for you. Many students who would be happy at UChicago would hate Northwestern and Vice-Versa...

Carleton and Oberlin are two other excellent midwest schools.

By Pimpdaddy (Pimpdaddy) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 08:52 pm: Edit

perhaps an analogy to the ivy league schools would give u a better view of these schools.
chicago = harvard
northwestern = princeton
rice = yale
wash u = penn
I dont see wash u being better than any of the big 3 midwestern schools. Its like Penn, a school on the rise, but with little prestige and reputation compared to the rest. Chicago is by far the most prestigious institution between east and west coast.

By Asknot11 (Asknot11) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 11:30 pm: Edit

You all are forgetting Notre Dame. It isn't prestigious on the coasts from what I hear, but most people in the Midwest consider it better than NW, Wash U, and Chicago.

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Friday, December 05, 2003 - 12:00 am: Edit

Northwestern as Princeton? Jeez....

I'll say Notre Dame is comparable to Dartmouth.
Both are in the middle of nowhere and attract homogenuous, conservative people. But I could be wrong. I heard the party scenes and school spirit are outrageous at both schools.

By Asknot11 (Asknot11) on Friday, December 05, 2003 - 04:39 pm: Edit

You are right on target with ND/Dartmouth. That's why so many people apply to both schools.

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Friday, December 05, 2003 - 08:48 pm: Edit

To tell you the truth, Chicago is more on par with Colubmia than Harvard. Chicago and Columbia both have core curriculums that are hard. Chicago has NO grade inflation.

What other Midwest schools can take Harvard, Brown and Cornell places? Which Midwest schools have no core so that they can be Brown? heh

here's the new list:
Chicago - Columbia
Northwestern - Princeton
Notre Dame - Dartmouth
Rice - Yale
WashU - Penn

By Divingin (Divingin) on Saturday, December 06, 2003 - 08:51 pm: Edit

UCHICAGO all the way baby; greatest number of nobel laureates ... but all that aside, you will work like none other. it's awesome though

By Nitroxideracer (Nitroxideracer) on Saturday, December 06, 2003 - 11:16 pm: Edit

Vanderbilt could be Cornell - both of them have awesome science (natural and social) programs.

I know it's not Ivy League, but the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is similar to MIT. In the US NEWS rankings that we all hate so much ;) Rose-Hulman was ranked teh top engineering school in the country where the highest degree is masters FIVE YEARS IN A ROW! Rose-Hulman is obviously as good as MIT.

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 03:25 am: Edit

New updated list:

Chicago - Columbia
Northwestern - Princeton
Notre Dame - Dartmouth
Rice - Yale
WashU - Penn
Vanderbilt - Cornell

Who will be Harvard and Brown?

By Bmckn (Bmckn) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 04:22 am: Edit

Is UChicago better than UMich for mathematics?

By Pimpdaddy (Pimpdaddy) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 10:41 am: Edit

oops, my analogy list was really on basis of relative prestige, hence chicago=harvard.

By Nitroxideracer (Nitroxideracer) on Monday, December 08, 2003 - 01:21 pm: Edit

I have a couple requested changes. I erred when I claimed that Vandy is similar to Cornell. It's not. Vandy is in downtown Nashville, whereas Ithaca is in middle-of-nowhere upstate New York. More importantly, Cornell is known for having some of the world's best science, engineering, and research programs, while Vandy is known more for having a solid liberal arts base (they don't call it a Core), along with fantastic education, pre-med, drama, and music programs. Therefore, Vanderbilt is very similar to Columbia (liberal arts being important).

I do have a school in mind that is deathly similar to Cornell: Case Western Reserve University. This is one of the top engineering schools in America, comparable to Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and CalTech. They are also extremely well-known for churing out some of the best pre-meds in the country, with a world-renowned program in biomedical engineering.

So this is what our 'Midwestern Ivy League' looks like:

Chicago: Harvard
Northwestern: Princeton
Rice: Yale
Wash U: Penn
Notre Dame: Dartmouth
Vanderbilt: Columbia
Case Western Reserve: Cornell

We seem to be missing one for Brown. I'm not certain which school would be considered 'the social Midwestern Ivy', and has a similarly structured curriculum. So if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to add your comments.

By Momx4 (Momx4) on Monday, December 08, 2003 - 04:42 pm: Edit

Brown is inimitable. I think Grinnell comes closest in that it has no core curriculum, the students tend to be liberal and quirky, and they learn for learning's sake. But Grinnell is much smaller than Brown, is in the middle of cornfields, and hard to get to while Brown is in a bigger city and easily accessible to several larger cities.

By Nitroxideracer (Nitroxideracer) on Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 10:45 am: Edit

As much as we love the underappreciated LACs, I doubt Grinnel could really be a Midwestern Ivy because it is an LAC. Brown is a major research institute with about a half dozen grad schools to boot. Meanwhile, Grinnell is pretty mcuh all undergrad, which is nice for some, but like you said, Brown is inimitable.

By Momx4 (Momx4) on Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 11:09 am: Edit

True. I don't know much about U of Michigan, but I know that a number of students in our high school who didn't get into Brown had UMich as their second choice and/or safety.

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 11:43 am: Edit

The only reason why I cannot picture Chicago and Harvard together is because: Chicago has a core curriculum, no grade inflation and in the heart of Chicago. The only school that comes directly close to that is Columbia.


Then again, GRADUATE-SCHOOL-WISE, I would pick Chicago and Harvard together in a heartbeat. Too bad, I can't say the same for undergrad.

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 09:41 am: Edit

bump

By Bobmcc (Bobmcc) on Thursday, December 11, 2003 - 03:56 am: Edit

talking colleges..NOT universities? as you specifically mentioned "approachable faculty" (not grad students)..in no particular order
oh..
Grinnell
Carleton
Macalester
U of Chicago
Earlham
Kenyon
Oberlin

Harvard still has a rep for grade inflation? my. Two harvard kids transferred to W&M their Jn year while i was there ~ 1970. They were tres shocked..had gotten all "A"s in boston & found themselves getting Cs at W&M their first semester. Being, essentially, smart kids they did fine their 2nd semester in Va, but had to adjust to the possibility of ..oh reading 20-40 books for one poli-sci class in a semester. (That teacher WAS an outlier for required reserve reading)

By Kyle (Kyle) on Thursday, December 11, 2003 - 06:38 pm: Edit

I would say Chicago is the most prestigious school in the Midwest, although Washington U and Northwestern have much lower acceptance rates. This is probably because only serious scholars would apply to Chicago -- similar to how only ultra-qualified applicants even bother to apply to Cal Tech.

In looking at the West coast, I'd say Stanford, Caltech, and UC Berkeley have the best reputations, followed by some of the Claremont schools. Opinions?

By Gameguy56 (Gameguy56) on Sunday, February 08, 2004 - 03:28 pm: Edit

I don't know about Vanderbilt being considerd a midwestern school.

Vanderbilt is in Tenneesee, the south, which is simelar to the midwest due to the fact that its a laid back section of the country where many kids go to regional universities.

However, that's not to say that the south has no good universities, on the contrary, the south can Have its own "Ivy League"

1. Duke
2. Virginia
3. Davidson
4. Emory
5. North Carolina-Chapel HIll
6. Vanderbilt
7. Wake Forest
8. William And Mary