Northwestern vs UCLA
Northwestern vs UCLA
Hey guys, I was recently accepted into Northwestern as a transfer from Community College the day I was planning on committing to UCLA. I'm now at a loss and have no real idea what to do. UCLA is defintely more reputable for my major, mathematics (ranks on misc. lists: 13, 17, 7, 9), whereas NU has no real association with it (ranks on same lists: 105, 28, not in top 50, 51-100). On the other hand NU is an overall "better" school, with likely better connections, and they're giving me a full ride other than for housing, making it a couple thousand dollars cheaper than UCLA. On the other hand UCLA is an hour from home for me so I wouldn't have to go without seeing family or my girlfriend for too long, and I have a ton of friends either at UCLA or transferring with me. I've also been to UCLA a ton of times to visit friends, and I absolutely love the campus. The food is amazing, I love the dorms, and the architecture is awe-inspiring. Westwood is amazing too and I would love to live there. NU is an awesome opportunity, but being unable to tour in person due to COVID makes it a riskier option than the school I already know I love. I'm so torn and at this point it feels like I should just flip a coin.
UCLA: Friends, close to home, faaaar more transfer friendly, amazing food (lol), better for my major (Terrance Tao!!!), already bought merch and have a roommate if I were to go, familiarity
NU: Prestige, cheaper, great opportunity to get out of where I've lived forever and experience somewhere new, better overall school, full ride at a top 10 University; how can i turn that down???
Whether it's advice about how to choose for myself, or what you would choose, any sort of advice helps. Thank you guys so much.
Posted May 21, 2020, 9:20 PM UTC
based on your description it seems like you would enjoy UCLA more!