#Northwestern vs Amherst vs JHU vs UCLA/UC Berkeley/ USC

109 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

granite lodge
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…sorry this is so hard to edit since i can’t see what im writing after i get past a certain point so ill just copy and paste and post here

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Hi! I’m from California and most likely pre law, but considering finance/consulting. I'm in a big dilemma right now - JHU is 20k/yr, Amherst is 28k/year, and Northwestern is 40k (after work study). Over four years, the aid adjusts differently because my brother will be graduating from college. Hopkins would be about 90k after 4 years, Northwestern would be roughly 225k after 4 years, Amherst would be about 131k, USC would be about 120k (merit scholarship), and UCLA/UC berkeley are 90k, but only because I’d be able to graduate early after 2 years. I have roughly 70k in my college fund so it’ll cover a bit but not everything. I'm most likely pre-law and doing International Relations + Economics, but am considering finance/ consulting. Any advice? I would choose Northwestern all things considered but that price is very steep.
Hopkins is very affordable but I’m neither premed nor engineering so I’d feel very out of place there. I also don’t think I’d be happy in Baltimore… I’m not too sure. there’s very little social scene and it’s not what I’d want to get out of college.
With UCLA/ UC Berkeley, I’d be close to home and spend those last two years after graduating networking, getting work experience, etc it would be chill overall but idk if it’s for me. I want at least 3 years of college and I also want to go to a fairly sized school but not one that’s so big that I just feel like number

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With Amherst, it’s about 131k after 4 years. which isn’t bad. and it’s a great school, I just never envisioned myself at a liberal arts college and applied for the hell of it unfortunately. Part of me feels like I worked my ass off for the sake of getting into a school with a lot of laymen prestige so I don’t know if it’s the move even though Amherst is very respected among grad schools and academics just not known to your everyday joe. Very superficial I know but idk I don’t think I’d be happy there

calm lantern
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I think there’s a decent amount of international studies people at Hopkins?

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That’s what I’m going be doing there at least 😂

granite lodge
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Omg really

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@calm lantern Wit

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WAIT

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Come Here.

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R u pre med ?

calm lantern
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No

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Premed sounds like a nightmare imo

granite lodge
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so what r u

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cus i’m not premed or engineering

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and I feel like that’s what JHU is all about 😓

calm lantern
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I’m doing international studies and the DMP program to get a masters in 5 years from their IR grad school (SAIS)

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I want to work in the Foreign Service for the US govt

granite lodge
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what are your plans after grad?

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Ooooh

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Smart

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Would going to jhu for pre law be sound?

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in your opinion

calm lantern
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I honestly don’t know because I know that premed stuff is really competitive but not sure how hard a 4.0 is in humanities classes

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Prelaw is my backup

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I haven’t actually committed yet just so you know but I’m about to

granite lodge
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I hear it’s 1. rly socially dead and 2. very rigorous

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But idk what it’s like for humanities. I feel like there are too few students there on a humanities track to acttually say

calm lantern
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Yeah I have no clue - prelaw isn’t my plan so I’m not as worried about keeping a 4.0 yk

granite lodge
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I do know JHU is veryyy good for IR

calm lantern
granite lodge
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lol same for 2 of them

calm lantern
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And I’m on Cornell’s waitlist and Georgetown waitlist

granite lodge
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R u from cali?

calm lantern
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I was born there but I’ve been in Massachusetts since the end of 9th grade

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So I’m OOS for UCLA

granite lodge
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Ooh okok

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Well

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if you were in my shoes

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what do you think you’d do

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😓

calm lantern
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Personally I want a full like 4 year college vibe so I’d probably go JHU

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But it depends if you like the 2 years

granite lodge
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and to anyone reading pls share your advice - I need as much as I can get

granite lodge
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JHU would be the obvious choice

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but my main 3 concerns with JHU are

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  1. social life/ cutthroatness
  2. quality of program and whether i’ll feel at place since JHU is 90% premed, engineering, etc
  3. Grade deflation 😓😓
calm lantern
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I could be off base but I feel a little bit like everywhere is only as socially dead as you make it

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Like there will be at a minimum a couple of people you’ll be great friends with out of the 1500 so you just gotta go find them

granite lodge
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Like there are def schools with more of a socially upbeat and involved culture

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like schools with a lot of spirit

granite lodge
hardy palm
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if you're prelaw amherst has the best law school placements by far

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if you think like this you won't like it there

image.png
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but that would be solely a you problem

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also, "laymen prestige" depends totally on the people you're talking to. walk around the upper east side in an amherst hoodie and see what happens

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similarly, a school like northwestern is only known by the average person because of sports

twin seal
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Id say amherst honestly out of the three

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it would be easier to maintain a higher gpa because of grade inflation, has much better career advising and pre law outcomes then your other options, and the network for finance is much better then jhu (amherst is a finance target, jhu is semi target and youd have to work harder to get your foot in the door). Also the education at amherst will be better in terms of faculty relationships and mentorship

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i wouldnt choose northwestern just because of cost

granite lodge
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I know in the long term that’s what matters but idk. it would be so nice to have that university experience - it is what it is tho. I should be grateful

twin seal
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amherst does better for prelaw then both schools but finaid should really be the deciding factor between northwestern and amherst at this rate. Also plentyyyyy of people choose amherst over NU its pretty commin tbh. They are obviously very comparable schools, the reason why i think people hype northwestern up over amherst so much tho is cause most highschoolers dont know what amherst is (their advice is pointless basically lol). Amherst is better for grad school usually also just because its higher ranked on the LAC list.

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If laymen prestige is important to u then u should go with northwestern, but im not sure the cost is worth it for random people just to know whrre u go, i wouldnt recommend jhu though the outcomes in banking and law at amherst and northwestern are significantly better, i think amherst has a much better ubdergraduate education experience then both of the other two schools by a significant margin (specifically jhu, northwestern is more undergraduate tailored but still is graduate school focused)

granite lodge
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Thank you so much for all the advice btw

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if you do i’d love to learn more! I literally know nothing abt what it’s like there lol

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how is it? are you really happy there?

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oh sorry i misunderstood you haven’t attended yet

twin seal
granite lodge
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that’s like the biggest thing

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bc i know amherst is awesome

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and super affordable

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and so so so supportive

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and has the same exact outcomes

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😓

hardy palm
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theres a freshman here who literally got into yale lmao

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girl in my grade got into mit

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but if you're superficial you'll never enjoy it here and it'll be purely your problem

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(ive seen people like this before)

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come to be a mammoth day, it'll likely help you understand things better

granite lodge
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okok

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thank youuuu

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I appreciate it

pallid thorn
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if you can afford it, northwestern is the best out of your list for finance/consulting, easily. Top MBB and consulting firm feeder (regardless of location), very solid in other finance careers as well. JHU and UCLA I would not recommend for business

twin seal
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northwestern is a target for chicago mbb and u might be able to break into nyc

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but it has a much easier time for recruiting in chicago

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jhu is a target for mckinsey in the dc region

pallid thorn
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my understanding is that if you wish to explore and potentially pivot to other fields, northwestern provides the best outcomes across all fields (i.e. engineering, cs, performing arts), and you sacrifice nothing in terms of finance recruitment if you go there, and likely gain an advantage.

twin seal
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I agree that northwestern has strong placements, i dotn agree that it would provide substantially stronger outcomes compared to amherst at all however knowing that its also a target school. I have friends at both schools and outcomes are largely the same and ive seen more amherst people in nyc then northwestern

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also amherst is a liberal arts school so pivoting is much easier there then NU, u have to apply to transfer into each individual college at NU and some like journalism are very competitive to do so from other internal colleges

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For example if your at the college of arts and sciences its very hard to transfer into the engineering school and not by any means a guarantee

rancid geyser
pallid thorn
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I think with the exception of the music school

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Where u have to audition

twin seal
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Well if op wants to do music or do classes he woukdnt have to apply for anything at amherst and could just do it

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but i see your point

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At cornell and penn i know its difficult

brave forge
rancid geyser