Northwestern University Top Questions

the best thing about NU is the beautiful campus, Evanston, and the connections you can make with professors and other students. people social network a lot!

When I tell people I go to Northwestern - they usually don't even know where it is or WHAT it is. It makes me really upset, because this is supposed to be the 13th best school in the country, yet no one seems to know. I haven't really figured out WHY this is yet... but I wish someone would tell me!!!

Northwestern has a place for everyone, you just have to go in search of it. The opportunities aren't going to come right to your door. If you want to be part of a group or committee, etc you have to go seek out the opportunities. If you don't, your life at Northwestern will be completely driven by schoolwork, which is less than desirable.

The best thing about Northwestern is that everyone cares about succeeding. No one gives you crap about staying in for the night to do work, but since everyone works hard, everyone plays hard, too. There's also a lot of amazing research opportunities in every major field and ton of extracurriculars, but the extracurriculars tend to be more academic or philanthropic, so if you want social, you might want to go Greek. You also meet the most unique and amazing people-students come from all over the world and your best friend might end being completely different from you culturally, ethnicity wise, religious, and politically. One thing I'd change about Northwestern is the teaching/faculty. I felt like my adviser knew nothing about me after four years and gave me totally useless guidance. The professors can totally suck. Northwestern is a research institution, so a lot of the profs teach because they have to, not because they want to, and they're not good at it. Which doesn't bode well for your GPA. There's not nearly enough school pride, either. And the dorms are gross.

Best thing: the best of all worlds. urban city (chicago), cute college town (evanston), strong academics (6 great undergrad schools), but strong social scene (greek life, extracurricular life, urban life, etc) benefits of school spirit with the Big 10, but also benefits of the prestige of a private institution. you get a pretty intense winter, but fall and spring are beautiful. lake michigan is a plus too. one thing i'd change: evanston residents can take themselves waaaay too seriously. both students and residents just need to chill out and look at each other as humans, and not as stereotypes, and we'd have a happier medium going on. School pride is admirable for being a private small institution in the big 10. there are definitely a lot of ppl happy and proud to be here.

PERFECT COLLEGE TOWN!!! Evanston is a great little city, and if you get bored there you are either a quick train or bus ride into Chi-town. The campus is beautiful and downtown Evanston has good shopping and a ton of delicious restaurants, with a wide range of prices for each.

The best thing about Northwestern is that it has a perfect blend of everything. It is a prestigious academic institution where you can receive an awesome education and best of all, it is close to a big city, Chicago. Furthermore, if you are interested in law or medicine, Northwestern's Law School and Medical School are all conveniantly located in Chicago. If you can't find anything fun to do during the weekends in Evanston (the city in which Northwestern undergrad campus is located), you just need to hop on a bus or the El (subway) for an hour and go to downtown Chicago. You can find good places to eat, drink, party, or sight-see. I honestly wouldn't change anything about Northwestern except the weather. Too bad the administrators have no control over that though. I absolutely love Northwestern...it has probably given me the best 4 years of my LiFE. My school is just right. There are arond 7,000-8,000 undergraduates. When I tell people from the Midwest that I am from Northwestern, they usually react in a positive manner with "Oh! That's a good school." However, if I tell people from California (where I'm originally from) that I go to Northwestern, they usually think I go to school somewhere in Oregon or Washington. More people know of Northwestern in the Midwest and the East Coast. Back when I was a freshman or sophomore, I spent the bulk of my time studying in CORE (the study area in the library). During junior and senior year, I spent a lot of my time in the Multicultural Center because I was heavily involved in extracurricular activities that benefitted the minority community. Evanston is a very conservative college town. If you ever decide to live off-campus, try and make sure your neighbors are fellow Northwestern students so that you can be as loud as you want at night. The last thing you want is to have unfriendly neighbors that will call the cops on you when you want to have a night of fun. Northwestern's administration is generally very helpful. However, when I was applying for an unpaid internship during the summer between sophomore and junior year, certain individuals within the school administration WOULD NOT help me by signing a form that allowed me to work the internship because they said it posed a "liability." I was extremely frustrated because I felt the administration was just looking out for their own interests instead of helping out me, a regular student. Instead, I turned to my professors who willingly signed the form on my behalf. The biggest recent controversy on campus would probably have to be an article written by Rob Jackman which stated that minority greeks inherently create racial segregation on campus. After this article was published, the minority greek community at Northwestern was outraged and held a "UNITY" protest throughout campus that showed the purpose of such minority organizations. At Northwestern, there is a fair amount of school pride. Not everyone will say they LOVE Northwestern, but I believe most students genuinely pride the fact that they go to Northwestern. The one unusual thing I noticed about Northwestern is the crappy weather. You will definitely learn to appreciate good weather when you go to this school because from December through February, you will wish you attended a nice, sunny school in California. One experience I will always remember about Northwestern is New Student Week during freshman year. It is probably one of the most fun weeks in your life because everything is a novelty. You meet new people, you experience life away from home, and the school basically caters to you during this week through lots of student-oriented events such as "Fling at the Field," a dance party for all freshman held at the Field Museum in downtown Chicago. It was loads of fun. The most frequent student complaints is probably the never-ending cycle of midterms and finals because of the quarter system. You don't really get a nice, long break (besides Winter Break) to really relax. Another complaint is that there is no real central gathering place for students. The Student Center (called Norris) doesn't really serve as a quad where students hang out because it is too far from everything else on campus.

-Best thing- Football/basketball games + beach on campus + good academics -Good size -Most people recognize NU as a great school -College town -Little school pride compare to state schools, but alot for a private

it's too small. i hate seeing the same people I saw at a party last night the next day. I like being able to do whatever I want without the fear that I am going to have to deal with the consequences for four years or more. Parents are impressed when i tell them that i go to Northwestern, kids are somewhat impressed, but it does not evoke the same reaction as, say Harvard, or say, University of Southern California, which are schools that many kids here had the option of going to, but chose not to. Evanston sucks as a college town. Everything closes early except for Burger King, which is just straight up shit food unless you're a pothead, in which case, it's "DELICIOUS DUDE!!!!" There is quite a bit of school pride, even though our sports teams are not very good, which I was impressed about. I really like school pride, but I did not want to sacrifice academics for school pride, and I think i made the right choice in that respect.

I don't know, I like it./Money!/Just right./Some ask where it is, some are just damn impressed./Probably the dorm, but then it's winter right now. :(/"What college town?" Evanston dislikes us./Admin seems fine./The Medill guy making up his quotes./Some school pride. We got to football games./People say there is to make themselves feel good./Rush./People always complain - and it's usually illigetamate. This is a good school.