Northwestern University Top Questions

Your professors always teach the class, and there are so many opportunities to get to know them. Many of my journalism professors are really strong mentors and always willing to help (and stay up really late responding to emails). My professors in my non-journalism classes have also been really accessible and almost always passionate about what they teach. Students definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class, but it certainly doesn't feel pretentious or overbearingly academic. I think Medill is pretty competitive, but I choose for it to be that way by being in extracurriculars or surrounding myself with peers who are as crazy about journalism as I am. It can definitely feel pre-professional at times, but the distribution requirements also allow you to just learn for the sake of learning. One of my favourite classes here was about 70s feminism, and I took another class on International Development where we had the chance to have dinner with awesome speakers from the field every week. Journalism classes are very intimate and you really get to know your class and professor. The professors are always willing to take extra time talking about your articles/multimedia packages and do everything they can to help you publish or pushing yourself to go after the story you want.

Classes are challenging but always taught by a professor.

Northwestern is known for having top-notch academics, and while it varies greatly from major to major, that is generally quite accurate. Academics are the first priority here. It is not unusual AT ALL to talk about GPA, exam grades, pulling all-nighters to study, and the insanity that is Midterm week. Granted, each major and/or School within the university functions differently. I am a history major, so in larger lectures, professors do not know my name unless I actively pursue them in office hours. In smaller classes such as language classes, the professor absolutely knows your name, and you probably refer to them by their first name. For many liberal arts classes with larger lectures, discussion sections are common and required. In these sections, there is more open participation and dialogue. My favorite classes are smaller, more specific, high-level classes. Larger lectures are great to glean a basis of a subject, but as you take upper-level courses the material is more interesting, the classes is smaller, and there is much more dialogue between professors and students. My favorite course thus far was a small, seminar-style course on populism in Latin America in the 20th century, because it was so specific and so applicable to my studies. Students constantly talk about course work outside of the classroom, and competition is definitely present.

Let's just say that college is nothing like high school when it comes to academics. There are various and tons of different classes for different majors and fields of study. You have intro classes that people usually take to fulfill distribution requirements that have up to 200 students while there are higher level classes that have only 20 students. Class participation is key and professors are bound to know you if you make an effort to ask questions and really learn. Competition is high but not too many people show it. I have had classes that were ridiculously easy but I have also had classes that kept me up for hours on end, days on days, weeks on weeks. The NU academic requirement is bulky but definitely attainable and satisfying once achieved!

The coursework is just decent, which was a huge disappointment given the reputation. Classes are usually too large for discussion. Professors are not well-trained or adept at instruction. Most liberal arts majors are poorly structured and class offerings are chaotic and piecemeal. If you want to get the most out of your education, I'd try to find a program that offers entirely small classes where you can get individual feedback and guidance. Look for programs that have been designed based on years of exhaustive research, like the hard sciences or mathematics. You have to be assertive and demand that professors conduct research with you, otherwise they probably won't.

Competitive, quarter system is really challenging and fast-paced.

just wanted to add that the School of Education and Social Policy also requires a practicum for students majoring in its school (majors include education, social policy, learning and organizational change, counseling and psych services) - journalism, engineering, and theater are not the only majors that give you a quarter of real hands-on experience.

Academics here are hard, but they won't make you suicidal. I will ask one question that has never been sufficiently answered: NU is on the quarter system, along with schools like Stanford and the University of Chicago. These other schools, however, have a regular course load of three classes each quarter; NU has a norm of four. Why is this?! Why do NU students have to take more classes to graduate than kids who get degrees from Stanford? I don't get it, and taking four a term definitely adds to stress levels here.

Pre-med classes were created to weed out the weak students and so emphasis was not put on understanding the material but on tricking the students. I wish I hadn't had to waste so much time studying for these classes and upping my science gpa and could have spent more time on interesting classes that would expand my intellectual horizons. I'm a Spanish major, and the dept sucks. I only stuck with it b/c of my love for the language. They are revamping it, so hopefully it will be better--too late for me though :( Students are super competitive--thumbs down. Northwestern education is geared towards getting a job after college, not towards learning for the sake of learning. If it were the latter, I feel like I would be a much more well-rounded individual. Alas, it is the contrary.

It is hard because there are a lot of smarties here. The student body is not only smart, but hard working. Noone ever looks down on you when you decide to spend the entire day at the library. Engineering at any school is not the most flexible major, thus my classes, especially freshman year, are the same as every other engineering student. NU has an engineering class of about 300 a year, thus in every one of my classes I know tons of people and usually recognize 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the people. I was going to go to U of I for engineeirng...according to US News is a better engineering school, but does US News factor in the thousands of kids each year in engineering. Engineering is a difficult major and the reason I have been exceling in it is because of the small classes and team working orientated atmosphere of NU Engineering.