Answer depends on who you ask.

Notre Dame is super Catholic, no Greek Life. Awful downtrodden location.

Northwestern is super Jewish, Jewish students control Greek Life and selective student orgs. Evanston is a decent location.

Chicago has always been super Jewy & now Indian/Asian. Awful violent location.

Most smart rich Midwest families seriously even don’t bother with private. The top 10% kids at flagship Big Ten universities turned down or didn’t bother with private colleges.

Madison (UWisc) and Ann Arbor (UMich) are best college towns in the Midwest.

Anonymous wrote:

Notre Dame actually has plenty of liberals among its ranks:

https://ndsmcobserver.com/2016/11/nd-votes-mock-election/

Why is this surprising? Catholics have a tradition of being committed to social justice and liberal thinking.

Plus, the current Pope was about Build bridges Not Walls before the election.

Growing up in the Midwest I’d agree for a lot of people the answer is Notre Dame. But for a lot of other people it would be Northwestern and for people who are themselves highly educated UChi.

I went to Northwestern but got in to UChi. I really struggled to decide and a lot of people in my life thought I was crazy for even feeling conflicted. But not my more sophisticated mentors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not Catholic but for undergrad I really think it’s Notre Dame. In my experience, Northwestern undergrad really does not have high name or status recognition. And even the rich in the Midwest have no idea what Univ of Chicago is.

Northwestern doesn’t have get the name & status recognition you’d assume it warrants.* Obviously it’s a great college but it doesn’t pop off the page or impress random people like people would think.

Notre Dame always nets a good reaction. It’s legit Harvard/Stanford tier to most of the Midwest.

NP. Yes, ND is a recognizable and respected name, and it’s probably as much or more prestigious than Northwestern in that part of the country No way is it considered on par with Harvard and Stanford. Not even close. And I was born and raised in Indiana.

Notre Dame actually has plenty of liberals among its ranks:

https://ndsmcobserver.com/2016/11/nd-votes-mock-election/

Why is this surprising? Catholics have a tradition of being committed to social justice and liberal thinking.

Anonymous wrote:I’m not Catholic but for undergrad I really think it’s Notre Dame. In my experience, Northwestern undergrad really does not have high name or status recognition. And even the rich in the Midwest have no idea what Univ of Chicago is.

Huh? NU doesn't have high name or status recognition? Is your "experience" in coal mining? Of course it has both, thus the 40,000+ applicants every year.

So many ludicrous comments on this thread.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Notre Dame always nets a good reaction. It’s legit Harvard/Stanford tier to most of the Midwest.

That's just crazy talk. You must be drunk.

Actually, it's not crazy talk at all. Where are you from?

Notre Dame actually has plenty of liberals among its ranks:

https://ndsmcobserver.com/2016/11/nd-votes-mock-election/

Anonymous wrote:
Notre Dame always nets a good reaction. It’s legit Harvard/Stanford tier to most of the Midwest.

That's just crazy talk. You must be drunk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago, Wash U, Northwestern and Notre Dame are all prestigious.

I grew up in the Midwest, and no one would rank ND in the same class as UChicago and Northwestern.

It's interesting, though. Discussions about where to apply here on DCUM always include UChicago and UMich. Northwestern is barely mentioned...and Wash U and ND almost never. Not sure what that means...

But I would pick UChicago and UMich overall. UIUC for engineering only. Purdue for engineering, but lower than the other three.

Grinnell and Carleton for LACs.

It means ND is a Catholic school so only Catholics rank it high. It's like saying BYU is the best in the mid-west/Utah area. Yes, it's a premier destination for those in the faith but not so much for others.

This is such complete BS. There is no comparison between BYU and ND, just as there is no comparison between Catholics and Mormons in the US. There are more than 20 self-identified Catholics in this country per Mormon -- Catholicism is by far the largest single religion in the US and has a very diverse membership. Unlike BYU, ND is also by every quantifiable measure, one of the elite undergraduate institutions in this country. Its endowment, admissions statistics, and geographical distribution of its students are top 10-15 -- its endowment is larger than Chicago, Cornell, Duke and Wash U. MIT isn't attractive to most non-STEM students. Does that mean that MIT isn't a "premiere institution?"

I smell bigotry . . .

+1 A lot of the ND bashing here is likely based in anti-Catholicism. Just as the U Chicago crowd is claim anti-intellectualism. Both are great schools as is Northwestern.

But to trash a school like ND is clearly an attack on Catholicism. Yes, a good amount of people who attend ND are Catholic. For those who may not be aware, the university was established in the 1800's so that Catholics, who were facing significant discrimination when applying to elite universities. Now that UND is clearly amongst the most elite schools in the nation, anti-Catholics love to continue to bash it.

My DS attends a Catholic high school. I believe there is still a lot of anti-religion and anti-conservatism happening in the elite schools. Consequently, to be admitted to one of these schools from my son's conservative Catholic is a leap, even though he has very high stats and ECs. Well the feeling is mutual, because he prefers to not be surrounded with a liberal and politically correct student body. That is why he his first choice is ND.

Kid at TJ, who is looking at LACs, so that’s my lens for viewing prestige:

National Universities: Chicago by a long shot, then NW, Wash U, Notre Dame (not a very Catholic crowd), in that order

Engineering: Michigan by a hair over Illinois, then Purdue and CWRU (about tied)

LACS (for kids tend to be looking at science PhD program placement, med school, research): Carleton (but almost no applicants, because no merit aid and donut hole kids), Grinnell, Oberlin (All three are close). Also Macalaster (if it counts as Midwest???)

Plus a bonus: LAC that I think gets overlooked here and at TJ: Kenyon, especially if you have a kid who is a writer. Not as good in science, but harder to get into.

What size school do you want and what do you want to study are huge.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dad's entire side of the family went to UChicago. I went to Illinois. I would say that probably the "most prestigious" would be Northwestern, but I would be sure to point out that I don't think that "most prestigious" means "best education." Just "snobbiest."

Kids all over country legit shoo ins for Ivies go to Notre Dame.

+1 My DS has the stats and EC's for any ivy, but his #1 choice is ND. He likes the culture of the school and the rigor is strong enough that he will be challenged.

univ. of Chicago, of course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Notre Dame? Northwestern? Michigan?


I grew up in the Midwest and went to Northwestern and have never actually seen the University of Chicago campus, but, clearly, the University of Chicago.

I'm sure that Notre Dame is a great university, and it might rank higher than I think it does in all sorts of ratings, but it wouldn't have occurred to me till I saw this post to think of Notre Dame as being in the same class as these other schools.

I think of the University of Chicago as being for extreme intellectuals, Northwestern as a school for bright people who to be corporate executives, Michigan as a fine all-purpose school, and Notre Dame as a school with great sports teams and great parties.



You know nothing about Notre Dame. Plenty of kids who get into Northwestern wouldn't get into Notre Dame. (And vice versa, at that level of admissions)
But yes, Chicago is the correct answer.

Completely inaccurate. ND is very hard to get into.

And has disappointing parties

Probably driven by no fraterities/sororities and only single gender dorms with visitation hours.

Anonymous wrote:I’m not Catholic but for undergrad I really think it’s Notre Dame. In my experience, Northwestern undergrad really does not have high name or status recognition. And even the rich in the Midwest have no idea what Univ of Chicago is.

Northwestern doesn’t have get the name & status recognition you’d assume it warrants.* Obviously it’s a great college but it doesn’t pop off the page or impress random people like people would think.

Notre Dame always nets a good reaction. It’s legit Harvard/Stanford tier to most of the Midwest.