Northwestern’s peer schools

[Anonymous]

Trying to understand this better. Having now toured and read, it seemed to be academically and reputationally a notch or two above WashU, Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt and Tufts. I mention these as comparisons as they are mid size “good” schools. Would it then be a peer school of Duke? Lower Ivies? Academically similar to the best SLACs such as Williams or Amherst?

[Anonymous]

OP - we aren’t looking at Michigan, UCLA, or any state schools, just fyi. So very grateful if the responses keep that in mind and it doesn’t go off the rails like many DCUM threads can do.

[Anonymous]

What is the point of this thread? The schools you list are all peer schools. And?

[Anonymous]

We looked at Northwestern, and Vanderbilt, Michigan and UNC were also targets on our kids list, and we considered them peer schools.

[Anonymous]

All the ones you listed are peer schools. Rice too, and Michigan. Same group of kids. Pointless to parse "reputational notches" as it's the same type of kid/school. Huge overlap with Tufts at our school: mainstream kids with a variety of interests. Tufts' location gives it a leg up (we're east coast).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trying to understand this better. Having now toured and read, it seemed to be academically and reputationally a notch or two above WashU, Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt and Tufts. I mention these as comparisons as they are mid size “good” schools. Would it then be a peer school of Duke? Lower Ivies? Academically similar to the best SLACs such as Williams or Amherst?

What did you read? And how can a tour shape that narrative?
Northwestern considers WashU, Emory, Vanderbilt peers
https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-does-your-college-think-its-peers-are?sra=true

[Anonymous]

Us news peer reputation score
NU- 4.4
Vandy- 4.3
Emory, Rice- 4.2
WashU- 4.1
Tufts-3.8

So it seems like Tufts and if you're being strict WashU aren't peers. The others are.

[Anonymous]

OP - you lost me at “lower ivies”. WTF??

Northwestern alum here and people at NU don’t talk or think like that so doesn’t sound like a good fit for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the ones you listed are peer schools. Rice too, and Michigan. Same group of kids. Pointless to parse "reputational notches" as it's the same type of kid/school. Huge overlap with Tufts at our school: mainstream kids with a variety of interests. Tufts' location gives it a leg up (we're east coast).

Absolutely not - potentially unpopular opinion, but Northwestern, like Duke, does not need to rely on ED2. My opinion is that any school needing ED2 to gin up its selectivity is not truly selective. Northwestern is a peer of Duke, Cornell, and other similar schools that don't need ED2, which frankly just preys on applicants' vulnerability after ED1 to hover up smart, nervous kids. And I say that as someone whose kid is applying to a school with ED2 this upcoming cycle. But it is just facts that all these ED2 schools would be MUCH less selective in the RD round if ED2 didn't exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the ones you listed are peer schools. Rice too, and Michigan. Same group of kids. Pointless to parse "reputational notches" as it's the same type of kid/school. Huge overlap with Tufts at our school: mainstream kids with a variety of interests. Tufts' location gives it a leg up (we're east coast).

Absolutely not - potentially unpopular opinion, but Northwestern, like Duke, does not need to rely on ED2. My opinion is that any school needing ED2 to gin up its selectivity is not truly selective. Northwestern is a peer of Duke, Cornell, and other similar schools that don't need ED2, which frankly just preys on applicants' vulnerability after ED1 to hover up smart, nervous kids. And I say that as someone whose kid is applying to a school with ED2 this upcoming cycle. But it is just facts that all these ED2 schools would be MUCH less selective in the RD round if ED2 didn't exist.

Weird to label universities that offer ED2 as predatory on nervous kids. (How is it different from ED1?) It's the parents who create the unnecessary pressure and try to game the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - you lost me at “lower ivies”. WTF??

Northwestern alum here and people at NU don’t talk or think like that so doesn’t sound like a good fit for you.

To be fair, northwestern wasn’t a very hard admit til about 10-15 years ago. So maybe they do talk like this now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trying to understand this better. Having now toured and read, it seemed to be academically and reputationally a notch or two above WashU, Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt and Tufts. I mention these as comparisons as they are mid size “good” schools. Would it then be a peer school of Duke? Lower Ivies? Academically similar to the best SLACs such as Williams or Amherst?

Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Columbia, Chicago, and Penn are peer schools.

[Anonymous]

Are you hoping for bragging rights if your kid goes to northwestern and friend’s kid “only” goes to Wash U or Emory? Bc otherwise what is the point of this? Find the school(s) that have robust course selection in areas your kid wants to study, good living situation for your kid (will vary by kid), etc etc. Determining which school is 2-3 ranks higher or lower by arbitrary measures is a fool’s errand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trying to understand this better. Having now toured and read, it seemed to be academically and reputationally a notch or two above WashU, Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt and Tufts. I mention these as comparisons as they are mid size “good” schools. Would it then be a peer school of Duke? Lower Ivies? Academically similar to the best SLACs such as Williams or Amherst?

Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Columbia, Chicago, and Penn are peer schools.

Reasonable list.

Still not sure why this matters though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - you lost me at “lower ivies”. WTF??

Northwestern alum here and people at NU don’t talk or think like that so doesn’t sound like a good fit for you.

I also went to NU and am seconding this. I just don't understand why anyone would care this much.

What your kid does at school matters way more than some minutiae in rankings.