Emory University

Emory University is a private institution that was founded in 1836. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 7,836, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 630 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Emory University's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 21. Its tuition and fees are $45,008 (2014-15).

Emory University is located in the suburb of Druid Hills near downtown Atlanta. First- and second-year students are required to live on campus, but a majority of students choose to remain on campus for all four years. The Student Programming Council organizes events and performances throughout the year and has brought entertainers and musicians such as Tracy Morgan, Sean Kingston and Guster to campus in past years. A popular organization among students is Volunteer Emory, which oversees community service activities. The Emory Eagles have nearly 20 NCAA Division III varsity teams and are well known for their successful swimming and diving team. In addition to varsity athletics, all students are required to take two courses in physical education. There is a thriving Greek community at Emory with a number of fraternity and sorority chapters.

Emory is divided into nine schools and colleges, four of which serve undergraduates and graduates. Emory’s graduate programs include the highly ranked Goizueta Business School, School of Law, School of Medicine, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Rollins School of Public Health. "Dooley’s Week," a tradition that takes place every year, is named for Dooley, a skeleton and "Lord of Misrule" who remains steeped in Emory legend. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, physician and CNN chief health correspondent Sanjay Gupta and activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu have all taught at Emory.

Emory University is known for demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate education in the arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research. Emory encourages students to become fully engaged in the classroom and beyond and to create their own learning experiences, with top faculty committed to teaching and fostering undergraduate research in the sciences and humanities.

We have a diverse student body from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and over 100 countries/ territories. Our students and faculty enjoy affiliations with and access to some of the most revered institutions in the world, including Yerkes National Primate Research Center, The Carter Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Our student-athletes are among the best in NCAA Division III sports, having recently won championships in Swimming & Diving and Tennis. Nationally competitive awards and honors recognizing Emory students include the Fullbright Fellowship, Goldwater Scholarship, Luce Scholar, Marshall Scholarship, National Science Foundation Fellowship, NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, and Rhodes Scholarship.

At Emory, students have four primary options for their undergraduate education. Entering freshmen can apply to Emory College, which offers a liberal arts education within the heart of a major research university. Students also can apply to Oxford College where they spend the first two years on Emory's original campus 38 miles east of Atlanta, transferring in their junior year to the Atlanta campus. Oxford and Emory College students can apply for junior year admission to the renowned Goizueta Business School to earn a bachelor of business administration. They can apply also to the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, one of the nation's top private nursing schools. As Emory College juniors, students can choose from 71 majors, including 15 interdisciplinary programs, and from more than 57 minors.

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University of California--Berkeley

University of California--Berkeley is a public institution that was founded in 1868. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 25,951, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 1,232 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. University of California--Berkeley's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 20. Its in-state tuition and fees are $13,844 (2014-15); out-of-state tuition and fees are $25,064 (2014-15).

The University of California—Berkeley, often referred to as Cal, is situated overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Berkeley guarantees two years of housing for incoming freshmen in a number of residence halls throughout campus. There are more than 1,200 student organizations on campus, ranging from political groups to a hang gliding club and everything in between. Berkeley also has a thriving Greek life with more than 55 fraternity and sorority chapters. The California Golden Bears, Berkeley’s athletic teams, compete in the Pac-12 Conference and are known for their traditional arch rivalry with Stanford.

Berkeley is comprised of 14 schools and colleges, including a number of graduate and professional schools such as the School of Optometry, Graduate School of Journalism and College of Environmental Design. Other graduate programs are the highly ranked Haas School of Business, Graduate School of Education, College of Engineering, School of Law, School of Social Welfare, School of Public Health and Goldman School of Public Policy. Berkeley is well known as a hub of liberal student activity: the Free Speech Movement—a 1964 student protest at Berkeley in response to the administration’s attempt to remove student political groups from campus—gained widespread national attention. Distinguished alumni include former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, Olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley and actor John Cho of the "Harold and Kumar" films. Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project during WWII to develop the atomic bomb, was a physicist and professor at Berkeley.

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Rice University

Rice University is a private institution that was founded in 1912. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 3,965, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 285 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Rice University's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 19. Its tuition and fees are $40,566 (2014-15).

Rice University, located in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, offers a dynamic student life in the nation’s fourth-largest city. The Rice Coffeehouse, Valhalla Pub and Willy’s Pub are all student-run institutions offering on-campus food and drink. Before stepping foot on campus, all students are assigned to one of 11 residential colleges, of which they remain members even if they decide to move off campus. The residential colleges provide housing, dining, and academic and social events. The Rice Owls boast 14 varsity NCAA Division I athletic teams and are well known for their strong baseball program. Students receive free tickets to all varsity athletic events.

Rice is comprised of eight schools, including the School of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Wiess School of Natural Sciences. Its graduate schools include the highly ranked Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business and George R. Brown School of Engineering. Rice also has a well-regarded School of Architecture and the Shepherd School of Music. Rice is home to the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan think tank, which offers coursework, internships and lectures. When a private detective found Rice’s stolen owl mascot at rival school Texas A&M in 1917, he sent a coded message back to Rice students letting them know that "Sammy" was OK, thus bestowing a name on the school’s mascot.

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to pathbreaking research, unsurpassed teaching and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this mission by cultivating a diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders across the spectrum of human endeavor. Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, undergraduate education has remained at the center of Rice University's mission since its founding in 1912. Our students have unparalleled opportunities to learn from distinguished faculty through classroom interaction and research collaboration. Rice combines the advantages of a liberal arts college with the resources and facilities of a premier research university. Some of the important engineering and science developments include Rice being the first university in the nation with a department wholly dedicated to space science; Rice researchers joining Dr. Michael Debakey and his Baylor College of Medicine team to produce the first artificial heart; and Rice professors Robert Curl and Richard Smalley and British chemist Sir Harold Kroto receiving the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of buckyballs, which introduced the new field of nanotechnology. In addition to engineering, Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. The distinctive residential college system enhances the Rice experience by allowing students to flourish as individuals in a community of their peers. Rice boasts a 6:1 undergraduate student-faculty ratio, a median class size of 14, an endowment of $4.84 billion and numerous opportunities for undergraduates to conduct primary research. Rice practices need-blind admission, meets 100 percent of students' demonstrated need and is consistently heralded as one of the best values in higher education. Rice is surrounded by the Texas Medical Center, the Museum District, Hermann Park, Rice Village and great restaurants, and is a short light-rail ride away from theater, symphony, ballet, opera and major league sports.

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Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a private institution that was founded in 1873. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,835, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 333 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Vanderbilt University's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 16. Its tuition and fees are $43,838 (2014-15).

Vanderbilt University offers a wide range of student activities. Located in Nashville, or Music City, there are plenty of off-campus options for dining, shopping, music and entertainment. On campus, Greek organizations play a big role in social life, with approximately 40 percent of students affiliated with Greek life. All undergraduate students at Vanderbilt are required to live on campus, and freshmen live together in The Commons, which has six LEED certified green dorms. The Commodores, named for Vanderbilt founder "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, have teams in the NCAA Division I Southeastern Conference. About 35 percent of students take advantage of Vanderbilt’s study abroad programs, which are offered in more than 35 countries.

Vanderbilt is comprised of 10 schools and colleges covering disciplines from the humanities to music to engineering. Among its graduate programs are the top-ranked Peabody College of Education and Human Development, which also offers undergraduate programs, and the highly ranked Owen Graduate School of Management, School of Engineering, Law School, School of Medicine and School of Nursing. Vanderbilt is also well known for its undergraduate Blair School of Music, and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center is ranked one of the best in the nation. Former chairman and CEO of Time Inc. Ann Moore, NFL quarterback Jay Cutler and novelist James Patterson all received degrees from Vanderbilt.

Comprised of four undergraduate schools and six graduate programs, Vanderbilt University offers students a world-class liberal arts education that includes both a high level of intellectual engagement and myriad extracurricular and research opportunities. Vanderbilt students -- who hail from across the country and the world -- speak often about maintaining an excellent balance between academic challenge and campus involvement. With 350+ student-led organizations, mirroring the diverse array of opinions and backgrounds represented at Vanderbilt, campus is always buzzing with activity. From Greek life to religious organizations and everything in between, there is never a shortage of opportunities to get involved. Designed to foster a sense of community for first-year students making the transition to college, The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons offers a living-learning residential experience, and has often been cited as a key source of friendship and camaraderie among our students, who keep in touch well after that crucial freshman year. Seven of The Ingram Commons buildings have been LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, making it one of the largest collections of LEED-certified buildings planned on a single campus in the Southeastern United States. Moreover, Vanderbilt Visions enhances The Ingram Commons by facilitating conversations about the college experience among first-year students, peer mentors, and faculty advisers. Vanderbilt's study abroad program offers more than 100 direct-credit programs in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, China, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, and Spain, among others. Service is also important to Vanderbilt students, who engage with the local and global community through a large number of volunteer programs and organizations such as Alternative Spring Break, which was founded at Vanderbilt and has since become a staple at many other universities. Well-known speakers and musical acts always draw a crowd on campus through the popular Rites of Spring festival, which takes place on Alumni Lawn, as well as IMPACT, Commodore Quake and other events conceived of and executed almost entirely by students. Indeed, Vanderbilt's location in Midtown Nashville, in the heart of Music City, provides something for everyone: a rich supply of music from every conceivable genre, and an abundance of restaurants, theaters, shops, museums, and coffee shops, all within walking distance of campus. Outside Nashville, the state of Tennessee is home to the Great Smoky Mountains and state parks featuring beautiful lakes and prime hiking trails. Regarding financial aid, Vanderbilt practices a need-blind policy for all U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens, and promises to meet 100% of demonstrated need for all admitted students. Students' need-based aid includes a combination of grant monies and federal work-study funding and does not include loans. Additionally, the university offers merit aid to approximately 3% of applying students. The three signature merit programs -- the Ingram Scholarship Program, Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship Program, and Chancellor's Scholarship Program -- require a separate application and each award includes full tuition plus a summer stipend. 

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University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame is a private institution that was founded in 1842. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 8,477, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 1,250 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. University of Notre Dame's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 16. Its tuition and fees are $46,237 (2014-15).

Notre Dame is located in South Bend, Ind., just 100 miles outside of Chicago. Only freshmen are required to live on campus, but most students choose to remain on campus in one of the 29 single-sex residence halls. The halls serve as the centers of social life at Notre Dame, as there is no Greek life on campus. Legends, an on-campus restaurant and pub, is a popular spot for watching sporting events. The Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" boast more than 25 varsity NCAA Division I athletic teams and are well known for their consistently strong football program. Over half of students study abroad for at least one semester.

Notre Dame is divided into eight schools and colleges, the largest of which is the College of Arts and Letters. Notre Dame’s graduate and professional programs include the highly ranked Mendoza College of Business and Law School in addition to a well-regarded School of Architecture, which offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Notable alumni include former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, talk-show host Regis Philbin and Hall of Fame football player Joe Montana. The 1993 film "Rudy," ranked one of the top 25 sports movies of the past 25 years by ESPN, was filmed on Notre Dame’s campus and depicts the true story of Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, who overcame many obstacles to play football at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame offers undergraduate students an educational experience that is second to none in quality and, at the same time, distinctly Catholic. Faith informs learning at Notre Dame, and the University's students are urged to turn their learning to the service of others. The community life of the highly residential campus is distinctive, but Notre Dame also ranks in the top 10 in the percentage of its students who study abroad. Its graduation rate is among the top 5 in the country and its alumni are celebrated for their loyalty.

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