Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn has prestige Northwestern doesn't have, but the two campuses could not be more different. I'd assume your child prefers one or the other!

Maybe it's because I'm on the West Coast, but I struggle to see how "Penn has prestige Northwestern doesn't have".

Penn is an Ivy League school. Maybe it shouldn't matter, but it does.

+1000

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn is an Ivy. We can't trust rankings these days with all the manipulation going on, but we can trust the ivy brand. You know you will get a great education, networking, ROI, at all Ivies.

It’s honestly the other way. The top non ivies tend to be extra exceptional since they succeed on their own and build a brand instead of riding the coattails of Harvard.

True . Don’t trust the bottom 4 ivies . Low and lying.

I went to NU and I can't speak to whether Penn doesn't have these things, but some stuff I liked:

I was able to dabble in some interests.totally outside of my major. I was not a music or theater major but I was able to do some music classes and sing in an ensemble and did some theater tech, which actually got me some paying sound gig jobs. I was a high stress STEM major and having these classes helped me de-stress a lot.

NU all the classes are taught by full professors and it was actually encouraged and to get into a lab to start doing undergrad research. The professors were very supportive of undergrad research. I also got trained in class on a pretty wide range of analytical equipment.

The games were free to attend with a student ID so you could just get up on Saturday and decide to go watch a football game.

Bad: winter quarter. It's cold, it's a short quarter so you constantly have midterms, it's dark by the time you get out of lab or class.

Penn is full of midwits acting up…

Penn ~ Northwestern.

I went to Penn in the 1980s and first hated it, then loved it. It's not the school for everyone. Recently visited with my HS kid and found Philadelphia vastly nicer than when I was an undergrad. The campus has expanded and the surrounding area is much improved. Rittenhouse Square etc are really lovely areas. I don't know Northwestern well but it's a possibility on my kid's list as well.

But if I were helping my kid pick which school to use their ED gamble, I'd go for the school that gives you the biggest bang for your buck. This data is 2 years old now, but if it's right, Northwestern has a 23% acceptance rate in ED vs. 6% in RD. The same numbers for Penn are 14% and 4%. Northwestern is a a better bet.

https://lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/c027e52d-3365-44d0-8774-c476dcd7243d/page/p_92z1mm9d7c

My kid would pick northwestern because of location.

Anonymous wrote:I'm from Evanston.

Northwestern and Penn are more similar than you think, but Northwestern will have a more "well rounded" vibe due to Big 10 sports. There's lots of jocks running around that campus and they have a beach. However, Northwestern is a quarter system school, which can make the environment feel more stressful than peer schools.

Penn has a much more "east coast vibe" and a preponderance of prep school/boarding school students that give the school a more elitist feel than Northwestern. That school is teeming with Andover/Exeter/Choate/Lawrenceville/Horace Mann kids.

I am familiar with both universities and have been for many decades.

While the post above is reasonably accurate, Northwestern doesn't seem to have "lots of jocks running around", but NU does have a gym/workout facilities which offer spectacular views of Lake Michigan. Breathtaking views actually.

Penn is an Ivy League school and the students are brilliant, hard-working, and motivated to the same degree as are Northwestern University students.

The two major differences between these top 10 universities, location and suicide rate/attempts, both favor Northwestern University. Suicide attempts and students' mental health is a very serious concern at U Penn. Very serious. Northwestern's location is the best of both world's when compared to Penn's location as NU is in an affluent, safe suburban location with easy access to one of the greatest cities in the country. Chicago is under-rated and under-appreciated for what it offers.

However, for students interested in nursing or in business, U Penn is tough to beat despite its fairly dangerous location.

With respect to prestige, U Penn wins in the Northeast USA, but elsewhere these schools are equal in prestige in my estimation.

Both schools are academically demanding and most students engage in self-imposed stressful demands for excellence. But, it is easier to relax in Evanston than in Penn's Philly location due to NU's location in a safer and more calming setting (on the shores of Lake Michigan). If visiting Evanston, try to visit Northwestern's Chicago campus (medical school & law school) in order to appreciate the upscale environment offered by Chicago's North Shore area.

I'm from Evanston.

Northwestern and Penn are more similar than you think, but Northwestern will have a more "well rounded" vibe due to Big 10 sports. There's lots of jocks running around that campus and they have a beach. However, Northwestern is a quarter system school, which can make the environment feel more stressful than peer schools.

Penn has a much more "east coast vibe" and a preponderance of prep school/boarding school students that give the school a more elitist feel than Northwestern. That school is teeming with Andover/Exeter/Choate/Lawrenceville/Horace Mann kids.

Northwestern is on the quarter system,
that is not ideal for all students.
The division of arts and sciences vs school of
Engineering is a bit odd, ie mathematics on one side applied mathematics on the other.
Consider your DC’s major before deciding

Northwestern is a FAR BETTER, MORE RESPECTED university than Penn. I have long fought to have Northwestern replace Penn in Ivy League......then...Trump comes along. If the way that idiot speaks, thinks and carries himself isn't evidence enough that #1 their standards were so low they let him in and gave him a degree or #2 they let him "buy" a degree at their institution

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the Philly burbs and dated a guy at Penn (Wharton). Have several friends with kids there now. Visited Northwestern a month ago with DS who is a junior.

I’d choose Northwestern. The kids seem more down to earth, nerdy but fun and most importantly, collaborative. Penn is a really entitled place… snobby kids, cutthroat, entitled, brutal.

I actually prefer Philly to Chicago but Evanston is quite pretty.

Did you have a choice to choose Northwestern over Penn?

Anonymous wrote:Penn has a top 3 med school, top 3 mba program, #4 ranked law school. Top undergraduate business school. Currently ranked #6 national university. USNWR.

The only comparable universities are Harvard and Stanford with such broad strengths.

Penn is broadly strong in ways that Northwestern isn't.

So many posters so focused on rankings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn has prestige Northwestern doesn't have, but the two campuses could not be more different. I'd assume your child prefers one or the other!

Maybe it's because I'm on the West Coast, but I struggle to see how "Penn has prestige Northwestern doesn't have".

Penn is an Ivy League school. Maybe it shouldn't matter, but it does.