Rochester and Case Western comparison

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have visited both University of Rochester and CWRU with a prospective student (even better if you saw them both and have a student who enrolled at one of these schools): Can you tell me about “vibe” differences and similarities? We toured Rochester last week and my DC (current junior) had some reservations after the tour. We are trying to decide whether to make a visit to CWRU at some point since it checks many of DC’s boxes, but I’m a little hesitant if the feeling is a lot like Rochester’s.

While the Rochester campus is attractive, self-contained, and close to downtown (all pluses in DC’s book), it was hard to get a sense of the student body’s personality. We did not see a lot of students walking or studying together. It was a chilly morning and the tour guide took us inside very few buildings (only the library and dorm, not any of the classroom buildings or campus center or athletic spaces). At other schools we have seen indoor spaces where students can sit together to study or chat, but we weren’t able to get a sense of that at Rochester. The tour guide mentioned a competitive vibe among her classmates that had turned her off from her original major and led her to pivot toward something more social-science related than STEM. My DC is already interested in the social sciences but is hoping to avoid a very competitive atmosphere. 

We also didn’t love that the walk from Rochester to any off-campus restaurants, coffee shops etc. would take at least 15-20 minutes. They’re trying hard to promote their “Collegetown” strip of businesses, but it’s not adjacent to campus.

Thanks for any insights if you have enough experience to be able to compare the two schools!

FYI---my now senior at Rochester had Rochester and CWRU as her top choices in April. Rochester is a more balanced school and definately friendly and collaborative. On a nice day, the outdoor space will be filled with students studying/socializing together. When it's not nice weather, most are in the library study rooms--my kid has booked those with 10-15 friends since freshman year---or in a study space in the engineering buildings (my kid is Engineering).

CWRU had a more "nerdy" vibe and definately is much more STEM/engineering/premed focused. Many less social science and humanities majors than at UR. UR "core curriculum" actually encourages kids to explore more areas and focus in depth. So much that many non-stem kids end up with 2-3 minors and/or a double major. Because once you've completed your cluster, you are 50-60% to a minor already.


For my kid, she loved the UR campus each time we visited. Had a ENg tour guide each time (UR has a variety of 3-5 tour guides for each large group and students get to pick which one to follow), specifically in my kid's major (which is smaller--typcially only 30-40 students each year). So it helped my kid to see that kids in her major were smart, social, and not too "nerdy". My kid is a dancer and has been able to continue that all 4 years (along with clustering in Dance) and has an amazing group of friends. Most are going to graduate school (including PHDs, MS, medical and law) next year at Top schools.

CWRU is a great school, but more of a city feel and definately more nerdy. My kid would have been okay there, but UR was a much better fit for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid chose Rochester because she liked the social vibe more there and because of the flexibility of the curriculum. She also liked Case though and I’m sure she would have been happy there as well.

It’s hard to describe the difference but there’s slightly more of an alternative/artsy vibe I think (maybe because of Eastman Conservatory) without it being overall a particularly artsy vibe.

You definately find more "balance" at UR, IMO. Case is a STEM/premed school that is trying to branch out into the humanities, but still working on it. UR has a much better balance---my engineering kid has friends from all majors. At case she felt it would be mostly Engineers and premed students. And the engineering majors are all the type who have been focused on robotics and gaming as their activities. At UR, the students seemed a bit more balanced in their majors and outside interests. As a student there, that has proven true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid visited both, though I went with her to Rochester and my spouse to Case. I think she was leaning toward Rochester at first, but the Case visit changed that, though it may have more to do with what she learned about the programs involved in her particular desired double major. Her impression was that Case was geekier, but not in an overwhelming way, and she seemed to regard the social scene about the same (though she's not a very group-joining person and protests that she wasn't really looking at that). She still thinks either would have been a good fit for her.

Personally, I went to Rochester with no pre-formed opinion and came away favorably impressed. Nice, self-contained campus (except Eastman and medical stuff), though a isolated as others have said. Faculty and staff were very welcoming and seemed interested in talking/helping, which made a pretty stark contrast to the T20s we'd visited earlier in the trip.

Just to note, at most schools you're not limited to where the tour guide takes you! Even on the Sunday we arrived were able to wander around unlocked academic buildings at Rochester. Some schools lock things down more these days, especially in big cities and/or on weekends, but in my experience most still don't (and even at those I'll tailgate absent explicit signage).

When we did admitted students visit at UR, there was no official engineering program that day (and we had to move onto Case visit later that week). So I posted to parents FB page and asked for students who would be willing to give a tour. Got multiple responses within a few hours. Ended up with a female BME major who was in their 5th year on the Take 5 program studying linguistics, while she took the MCATS and applied to medical school. She happily met us and spent over an hour showing us around and answering my daughters questions. Then shockingly (I seriously could not have planned this better if I had tried), my kid asked about Extra curriculars and found out our volunteer guide was a dancer (just like my kid who did competitive dance) and we then had another 15 mins while she showed us the dance facilities and introduced my daughter to dance teachers. my kid went away with contact info for the leaders of all the dance groups on campus as well. Helped my kid see that yes, she would fit in perfectly at UR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in a nearby suburb and know lots of kids at University of Rochester. Some are pre-med, some not. We’ve never once heard it described as “competitive.”

It is not competitive, very collaborative school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have visited both University of Rochester and CWRU with a prospective student (even better if you saw them both and have a student who enrolled at one of these schools): Can you tell me about “vibe” differences and similarities? We toured Rochester last week and my DC (current junior) had some reservations after the tour. We are trying to decide whether to make a visit to CWRU at some point since it checks many of DC’s boxes, but I’m a little hesitant if the feeling is a lot like Rochester’s.

While the Rochester campus is attractive, self-contained, and close to downtown (all pluses in DC’s book), it was hard to get a sense of the student body’s personality. We did not see a lot of students walking or studying together. It was a chilly morning and the tour guide took us inside very few buildings (only the library and dorm, not any of the classroom buildings or campus center or athletic spaces). At other schools we have seen indoor spaces where students can sit together to study or chat, but we weren’t able to get a sense of that at Rochester. The tour guide mentioned a competitive vibe among her classmates that had turned her off from her original major and led her to pivot toward something more social-science related than STEM. My DC is already interested in the social sciences but is hoping to avoid a very competitive atmosphere. 

We also didn’t love that the walk from Rochester to any off-campus restaurants, coffee shops etc. would take at least 15-20 minutes. They’re trying hard to promote their “Collegetown” strip of businesses, but it’s not adjacent to campus.

Thanks for any insights if you have enough experience to be able to compare the two schools!

FYI---my now senior at Rochester had Rochester and CWRU as her top choices in April. Rochester is a more balanced school and definately friendly and collaborative. On a nice day, the outdoor space will be filled with students studying/socializing together. When it's not nice weather, most are in the library study rooms--my kid has booked those with 10-15 friends since freshman year---or in a study space in the engineering buildings (my kid is Engineering).

CWRU had a more "nerdy" vibe and definately is much more STEM/engineering/premed focused. Many less social science and humanities majors than at UR. UR "core curriculum" actually encourages kids to explore more areas and focus in depth. So much that many non-stem kids end up with 2-3 minors and/or a double major. Because once you've completed your cluster, you are 50-60% to a minor already.


For my kid, she loved the UR campus each time we visited. Had a ENg tour guide each time (UR has a variety of 3-5 tour guides for each large group and students get to pick which one to follow), specifically in my kid's major (which is smaller--typcially only 30-40 students each year). So it helped my kid to see that kids in her major were smart, social, and not too "nerdy". My kid is a dancer and has been able to continue that all 4 years (along with clustering in Dance) and has an amazing group of friends. Most are going to graduate school (including PHDs, MS, medical and law) next year at Top schools.

CWRU is a great school, but more of a city feel and definately more nerdy. My kid would have been okay there, but UR was a much better fit for them.

NP whose kid will also be visiting both schools this summer, thank you for this! Mine is not sure he's STEM so Case may be less of a good fit. Can I ask what other schools your daughter liked when she was looking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have visited both University of Rochester and CWRU with a prospective student (even better if you saw them both and have a student who enrolled at one of these schools): Can you tell me about “vibe” differences and similarities? We toured Rochester last week and my DC (current junior) had some reservations after the tour. We are trying to decide whether to make a visit to CWRU at some point since it checks many of DC’s boxes, but I’m a little hesitant if the feeling is a lot like Rochester’s.

While the Rochester campus is attractive, self-contained, and close to downtown (all pluses in DC’s book), it was hard to get a sense of the student body’s personality. We did not see a lot of students walking or studying together. It was a chilly morning and the tour guide took us inside very few buildings (only the library and dorm, not any of the classroom buildings or campus center or athletic spaces). At other schools we have seen indoor spaces where students can sit together to study or chat, but we weren’t able to get a sense of that at Rochester. The tour guide mentioned a competitive vibe among her classmates that had turned her off from her original major and led her to pivot toward something more social-science related than STEM. My DC is already interested in the social sciences but is hoping to avoid a very competitive atmosphere. 

We also didn’t love that the walk from Rochester to any off-campus restaurants, coffee shops etc. would take at least 15-20 minutes. They’re trying hard to promote their “Collegetown” strip of businesses, but it’s not adjacent to campus.

Thanks for any insights if you have enough experience to be able to compare the two schools!

FYI---my now senior at Rochester had Rochester and CWRU as her top choices in April. Rochester is a more balanced school and definately friendly and collaborative. On a nice day, the outdoor space will be filled with students studying/socializing together. When it's not nice weather, most are in the library study rooms--my kid has booked those with 10-15 friends since freshman year---or in a study space in the engineering buildings (my kid is Engineering).

CWRU had a more "nerdy" vibe and definately is much more STEM/engineering/premed focused. Many less social science and humanities majors than at UR. UR "core curriculum" actually encourages kids to explore more areas and focus in depth. So much that many non-stem kids end up with 2-3 minors and/or a double major. Because once you've completed your cluster, you are 50-60% to a minor already.


For my kid, she loved the UR campus each time we visited. Had a ENg tour guide each time (UR has a variety of 3-5 tour guides for each large group and students get to pick which one to follow), specifically in my kid's major (which is smaller--typcially only 30-40 students each year). So it helped my kid to see that kids in her major were smart, social, and not too "nerdy". My kid is a dancer and has been able to continue that all 4 years (along with clustering in Dance) and has an amazing group of friends. Most are going to graduate school (including PHDs, MS, medical and law) next year at Top schools.

CWRU is a great school, but more of a city feel and definately more nerdy. My kid would have been okay there, but UR was a much better fit for them.

NP whose kid will also be visiting both schools this summer, thank you for this! Mine is not sure he's STEM so Case may be less of a good fit. Can I ask what other schools your daughter liked when she was looking?

Northwestern (who wouldn't), Tufts, WPI

But Rochester was the school for each and every visit I saw a different attitude with my kid. Just got the feeling they really liked what they saw. Campus is beautiful, ivy feel with the red brick buildings (all are required to be like that), contained campus yet close to everything a city has to offer. Rochester is surprisingly good city (we were not prepared for that). So I knew from that first visit that they would likely end up at Rochester.

The cluster system is really what sold my kid as well. Outside of the engineering curriculum she took dance and psychology and that was it. No required History or literature courses. Rochester lets you learn "history" and writing with subjects that interest you. You get to delve deeper into them and actually learn. My engineering kid was never into robotics or stuff like that....so very smart kid but also very social and you'd never know they were an engineer until you talk to them.

They are now heading to grad school at an even "better school" (higher ranked), as are most of their friends.

[Anonymous]

How woke are these two schools?

[Anonymous]

DJT lovah?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How woke are these two schools?

Crawl back under your rock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have visited both University of Rochester and CWRU with a prospective student (even better if you saw them both and have a student who enrolled at one of these schools): Can you tell me about “vibe” differences and similarities? We toured Rochester last week and my DC (current junior) had some reservations after the tour. We are trying to decide whether to make a visit to CWRU at some point since it checks many of DC’s boxes, but I’m a little hesitant if the feeling is a lot like Rochester’s.

While the Rochester campus is attractive, self-contained, and close to downtown (all pluses in DC’s book), it was hard to get a sense of the student body’s personality. We did not see a lot of students walking or studying together. It was a chilly morning and the tour guide took us inside very few buildings (only the library and dorm, not any of the classroom buildings or campus center or athletic spaces). At other schools we have seen indoor spaces where students can sit together to study or chat, but we weren’t able to get a sense of that at Rochester. The tour guide mentioned a competitive vibe among her classmates that had turned her off from her original major and led her to pivot toward something more social-science related than STEM. My DC is already interested in the social sciences but is hoping to avoid a very competitive atmosphere. 

We also didn’t love that the walk from Rochester to any off-campus restaurants, coffee shops etc. would take at least 15-20 minutes. They’re trying hard to promote their “Collegetown” strip of businesses, but it’s not adjacent to campus.

Thanks for any insights if you have enough experience to be able to compare the two schools!

FYI---my now senior at Rochester had Rochester and CWRU as her top choices in April. Rochester is a more balanced school and definately friendly and collaborative. On a nice day, the outdoor space will be filled with students studying/socializing together. When it's not nice weather, most are in the library study rooms--my kid has booked those with 10-15 friends since freshman year---or in a study space in the engineering buildings (my kid is Engineering).

CWRU had a more "nerdy" vibe and definately is much more STEM/engineering/premed focused. Many less social science and humanities majors than at UR. UR "core curriculum" actually encourages kids to explore more areas and focus in depth. So much that many non-stem kids end up with 2-3 minors and/or a double major. Because once you've completed your cluster, you are 50-60% to a minor already.


For my kid, she loved the UR campus each time we visited. Had a ENg tour guide each time (UR has a variety of 3-5 tour guides for each large group and students get to pick which one to follow), specifically in my kid's major (which is smaller--typcially only 30-40 students each year). So it helped my kid to see that kids in her major were smart, social, and not too "nerdy". My kid is a dancer and has been able to continue that all 4 years (along with clustering in Dance) and has an amazing group of friends. Most are going to graduate school (including PHDs, MS, medical and law) next year at Top schools.

CWRU is a great school, but more of a city feel and definately more nerdy. My kid would have been okay there, but UR was a much better fit for them.

NP whose kid will also be visiting both schools this summer, thank you for this! Mine is not sure he's STEM so Case may be less of a good fit. Can I ask what other schools your daughter liked when she was looking?

Northwestern (who wouldn't), Tufts, WPI

But Rochester was the school for each and every visit I saw a different attitude with my kid. Just got the feeling they really liked what they saw. Campus is beautiful, ivy feel with the red brick buildings (all are required to be like that), contained campus yet close to everything a city has to offer. Rochester is surprisingly good city (we were not prepared for that). So I knew from that first visit that they would likely end up at Rochester.

The cluster system is really what sold my kid as well. Outside of the engineering curriculum she took dance and psychology and that was it. No required History or literature courses. Rochester lets you learn "history" and writing with subjects that interest you. You get to delve deeper into them and actually learn. My engineering kid was never into robotics or stuff like that....so very smart kid but also very social and you'd never know they were an engineer until you talk to them.

They are now heading to grad school at an even "better school" (higher ranked), as are most of their friends.

PP who asked about other schools and thanks for this great response! Northwestern and Tufts are also on my DS's list. It's hard to find schools with a U Rochester-like profile (especially with similar admissions accessibility). So glad your kid has had a wonderful experience and congrats on the impending graduation!

[Anonymous]

My Rochester student also had Case and Tufts on their list as well as CMU and Wake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have visited both University of Rochester and CWRU with a prospective student (even better if you saw them both and have a student who enrolled at one of these schools): Can you tell me about “vibe” differences and similarities? We toured Rochester last week and my DC (current junior) had some reservations after the tour. We are trying to decide whether to make a visit to CWRU at some point since it checks many of DC’s boxes, but I’m a little hesitant if the feeling is a lot like Rochester’s.

While the Rochester campus is attractive, self-contained, and close to downtown (all pluses in DC’s book), it was hard to get a sense of the student body’s personality. We did not see a lot of students walking or studying together. It was a chilly morning and the tour guide took us inside very few buildings (only the library and dorm, not any of the classroom buildings or campus center or athletic spaces). At other schools we have seen indoor spaces where students can sit together to study or chat, but we weren’t able to get a sense of that at Rochester. The tour guide mentioned a competitive vibe among her classmates that had turned her off from her original major and led her to pivot toward something more social-science related than STEM. My DC is already interested in the social sciences but is hoping to avoid a very competitive atmosphere. 

We also didn’t love that the walk from Rochester to any off-campus restaurants, coffee shops etc. would take at least 15-20 minutes. They’re trying hard to promote their “Collegetown” strip of businesses, but it’s not adjacent to campus.

Thanks for any insights if you have enough experience to be able to compare the two schools!

FYI---my now senior at Rochester had Rochester and CWRU as her top choices in April. Rochester is a more balanced school and definately friendly and collaborative. On a nice day, the outdoor space will be filled with students studying/socializing together. When it's not nice weather, most are in the library study rooms--my kid has booked those with 10-15 friends since freshman year---or in a study space in the engineering buildings (my kid is Engineering).

CWRU had a more "nerdy" vibe and definately is much more STEM/engineering/premed focused. Many less social science and humanities majors than at UR. UR "core curriculum" actually encourages kids to explore more areas and focus in depth. So much that many non-stem kids end up with 2-3 minors and/or a double major. Because once you've completed your cluster, you are 50-60% to a minor already.


For my kid, she loved the UR campus each time we visited. Had a ENg tour guide each time (UR has a variety of 3-5 tour guides for each large group and students get to pick which one to follow), specifically in my kid's major (which is smaller--typcially only 30-40 students each year). So it helped my kid to see that kids in her major were smart, social, and not too "nerdy". My kid is a dancer and has been able to continue that all 4 years (along with clustering in Dance) and has an amazing group of friends. Most are going to graduate school (including PHDs, MS, medical and law) next year at Top schools.

CWRU is a great school, but more of a city feel and definately more nerdy. My kid would have been okay there, but UR was a much better fit for them.

NP whose kid will also be visiting both schools this summer, thank you for this! Mine is not sure he's STEM so Case may be less of a good fit. Can I ask what other schools your daughter liked when she was looking?

Northwestern (who wouldn't), Tufts, WPI

But Rochester was the school for each and every visit I saw a different attitude with my kid. Just got the feeling they really liked what they saw. Campus is beautiful, ivy feel with the red brick buildings (all are required to be like that), contained campus yet close to everything a city has to offer. Rochester is surprisingly good city (we were not prepared for that). So I knew from that first visit that they would likely end up at Rochester.

The cluster system is really what sold my kid as well. Outside of the engineering curriculum she took dance and psychology and that was it. No required History or literature courses. Rochester lets you learn "history" and writing with subjects that interest you. You get to delve deeper into them and actually learn. My engineering kid was never into robotics or stuff like that....so very smart kid but also very social and you'd never know they were an engineer until you talk to them.

They are now heading to grad school at an even "better school" (higher ranked), as are most of their friends.

PP who asked about other schools and thanks for this great response! Northwestern and Tufts are also on my DS's list. It's hard to find schools with a U Rochester-like profile (especially with similar admissions accessibility). So glad your kid has had a wonderful experience and congrats on the impending graduation!

Good luck to your kid and their choices!

IMO, I'm actually glad my kid didn't get into Northwestern (I love the school, went there myself and it's great---I think it's a pressure cooker and my kid actually was a better fit at Rochester---being able to dance her way thru college and get credit for it, and take only classes she wanted to take outside engineering is a great way to do college).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How woke are these two schools?

Crawl back under your rock.

It is a fair question; many prospective parents and kids want to know. And as someone form the Rochester area - it certainly has become more woke over the past decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How woke are these two schools?

Crawl back under your rock.

It is a fair question; many prospective parents and kids want to know. And as someone form the Rochester area - it certainly has become more woke over the past decade.

The city of Rochester is progressive, as is the neighboring suburb of Brighton. Both areas have always been this way.

But there is nothing woke about the westside suburbs.

If a kid at U of R can’t find enough DJT supportrs on campus, they’re just a short uber ride away from finding true “red-state New Yorkers” in Gates, Greece, and Hilton. Lots of in-wine folk in the westside diners, sports bars, and day-to-day shopping areas. Not my jam, but to each their own.

[Anonymous]

Un-woke. Not in-wine. (Ugh. Autocorrect.)