#Dartmouth vs. Northwestern

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

lime garden
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Schools: Dartmouth College, Northwestern University
Intended major: Japanese Language and Chemistry
Similarities: Quarter system (love this aspect)
Financial aid is very similar (only 300 dollars off from each other, my best two offers)

Dartmouth
School 1 Pros:
-D-plan
-Smaller community
-Rassias method
-Closer to my family on the East Coast
-Liberal arts which would be good for Japanese

School 1 Cons:
-Kind of in the middle of nowhere
-Worried about access to research opportunities and activities outside of the college
-Frat culture

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Northwestern
School 2 Pros:
-Big city (preferred)
-More opportunities outside of the college
-More connections/Larger alumni network
-Slightly ranked higher than Dartmouth nationally, much higher or global rankings
-Better for chemistry and other STEM fields

School 2 Cons:
-Worried I might get lost in the crowd due to the size of the school.
-Have not heard much about Northwestern’s language programs, Dartmouth’s is bigger I believe

Tiebreaking considerations:
-What are the language learning programs (particularly Japanese of course) like?
-How easy/hard is it to get research opportunities?
-I might want to do premed in addition to Chemistry

Addendum:
-I don’t particular have a preference in weather/color
-Would prefer a big city
-I want to find a place where I can work on projects I’m passionate in

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Both have quarter systems

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It’s ok lol

carmine oak
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Have you triedd the coin toss method

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It works every time

lime garden
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Just luck? Or is there something else to it

carmine oak
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Assign each school half of the coin then toss a coin in the air. The school you want to attend more is the one you'll want the coin to land on. If it lands on the other school and you're disappointed, then you know you deep down prefer the first school. If you're happy with the outcome then it's the school for you.

lime garden
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Time to use a virtual coin

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I felt a little more gut instinct toward Dartmouth and when I got it I didn’t feel disappointed

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But still there’s some part of me getting hung up on the rankings

carmine oak
lime garden
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Nationally it’s 9 vs 13

carmine oak
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USNews right

lime garden
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The world rankings are about 100 off

carmine oak
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For me I'll be honest I definitely value rankings a lot too

lime garden
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Yeah it’s hard to shake them off

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I know that with the world rankings it’s largely based off of total research output instead of teaching (which puts Dartmouth at a disadvantage)

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I feel I’d be happier at Dartmouth, but more “successful” or “practical” at NU due to the connections and location

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I don’t think I value USN particularly, just the concept of going to a “better” school according to “objective” measures. I checked a lot I’m pretty sure Dartmouth is a bit lower on all

carmine oak
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Yeah but also he did say he wanted the coin to land on Dartmouth which is sorta interesting

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So definitely there's a small part of his brain rooting for Dartie

lime garden
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NU iirc

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Honestly I’m like 60% Dartmouth and 40% NU

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Both have a lot of aspects I was looking for, and financial aid isn’t that different

carmine oak
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By the way I searched up the yield rates just out of curiosity

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Dartmouth yield is quite a bit higher

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Just some food for thought:

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So it seems like despite being ranked lower, students prefer to attend it in higher numbers

lime garden
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Yeah

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That and the people who go there pretty much always say they love it

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(Most alumni donations after all)

carmine oak
lime garden
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I think I need to remove the part if me that’s stressing over one rank of difference between them

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I honestly think I’d enjoy Dartmouth more (if I can handle be in the middle of nowhere 🥶)

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Yeah but it feels like it’s a conflict of practicality vs enjoyment if that makes sense