Is Northwestern the ideal school?

[Anonymous]

I really wonder about some of you people who call a school like Northwestern "quirky"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious to hear people's firsthand experiences there. It seems to check all the boxes for a classic college experience:

1. Greek life and football
2. Excellent academics across the board
3. Strong arts programs and a thriving school newspaper
4. Prime location outside, but not right in, a major city (best of both worlds)

Are there any down sides to this school? It sounds almost too good to be true.

My kid goes there-we all love it. Evanston is awesome although, yes it can be chilly. Definitely visit!

DP here. Can you recommend a casual restaurant in Evanston for our upcoming visit? We are planning to stay for one night at the Hilton Garden Inn.

The Spanish tapas place is really good. There are some good Italian places too. Or just got to Lou malnatis for deep dish

[Anonymous]

In my opinion, Rice was the ideal school.

[Anonymous]

My kid fell in love and did ED. They really love it.

But I will agree that the quarter system is crazy kntese for STEM classes and there is major grade deflation in some of those classes which can make for a bit of a stressful feel. The vibe of the school is definitely “do more!” Which carries over to academics, social stuff and extracurriculars. My kid is crazy busy but loves that.

I thought the campus was gorgeous. So many teees and the lake and the amazing varied architecture. My kid goes into Chicago occasionally for shopping or festivals or concerts. I would guess kids from urban areas who are more used to metro systems probably make more addcabtafe of that.

the winters are cold. Like “mom, I can’t get ride my bike to class because the gears and lock are frozen shut” cold.

I haven’t noticed any real rich kid vibe. For that, go to Brown. There are a lot of foreign billionaires who send their kids to brown for whatever reason. My kid rparticupates in a few extracurricular programs and making sure peol from Al economic backgrounds can participate in things like travel competitions is a big priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The student body is heavily quirky. My very smart but mainstream, outgoing kids (jr and sr) toured and didn't see their people at all. This was the same report given by many of their friends when they also visited.

Your mileage may vary and every kid is different so do your research in person! We really wanted to like it---we liked many things but ultimately my kids gave it a strong veto.

I toured this spring and the kids we saw on campus looked totally typical, mainstream, and non quirky. We had visited U Chicago the previous day and that had a much quirkier look, for the boys anyway.

[Anonymous]

Greek life and football is a big downside for my kid, although she's thinking about applying anyway due to its strengths in some departments that interest her.

I'll say as a professor at a different school that the quarter system is a big drawback in my mind--really hard to get in depth on anything.

[Anonymous]

Another perspective on the quarter system- in addition to an incredibly fast pace, you can feel like you are constantly studying for exams.

Also the lack of alignment with other college campus schedules can make it hard to coordinate time off with family (if they are at traditional semester programs).

Finally, the study abroad options are limited to other schools that are on the quarter system.

None of these are deal-breakers if you love the school, but may be reason to really ponder how deep the love is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious to hear people's firsthand experiences there. It seems to check all the boxes for a classic college experience:

1. Greek life and football
2. Excellent academics across the board
3. Strong arts programs and a thriving school newspaper
4. Prime location outside, but not right in, a major city (best of both worlds)

Are there any down sides to this school? It sounds almost too good to be true.

This is like going to the doctor and asking for the absolute best medicine, "ideal medicine" without regard for what is ailing the patient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe if you’re rich. The kids I know who went were UMC and felt out of place. Lots of big money, expensive private school, daddy buys me every luxury and convenience kind of money. Not like daddy pays my rent. Like daddy picks me up in a private plane and spent $100,000 on my dressage horse kind of money .

LOL ! The above is pure BS.

Or maybe you're conflating NU with Duke.

Northwestern University does have wealthy students, but wealth is not flaunted or obvious.

Easy to get to Chicago. The campus setting is spectacular, but there really is no center quad. Divided between North side of campus which is mostly engineering & STEM and South campus which is artsy & liberal arts.

Couple of beaches & free sailboats for student use. Spectacular gym placement overlooking Lake Michigan.

Greek life is available if desired, but does not overwhelm the campus social scene.

Fairly low key, very brainy, and accepting.

The campus does make most "Most Beautiful College Campuses" lists, but the architecture is not as cohesive as that found on many small school campuses.

NU students are brilliant, hard-working, ambitious, non-judgmental, & friendly.

To the poster who cried the career office circa 2010, that was during a very tough job market which followed the national real estate market collapse.

Easy access to both US coasts as well as to the largest city in the Midwest (Chicago).

Not BS. It was my nieces’s roommate experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe if you’re rich. The kids I know who went were UMC and felt out of place. Lots of big money, expensive private school, daddy buys me every luxury and convenience kind of money. Not like daddy pays my rent. Like daddy picks me up in a private plane and spent $100,000 on my dressage horse kind of money .

This is comical.
NU is pretty middle class, I think they admit a lot from in-state public high schools.
One can say WashU, Duke, Vandy are rich kid's school, but NU is a notch or two below. Duke's dining has sushi (I think you have to pay for it) for students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious to hear people's firsthand experiences there. It seems to check all the boxes for a classic college experience:

1. Greek life and football
2. Excellent academics across the board
3. Strong arts programs and a thriving school newspaper
4. Prime location outside, but not right in, a major city (best of both worlds)

Are there any down sides to this school? It sounds almost too good to be true.

lol are you trolling?

[Anonymous]

Wasn't for my kid. Turned is down this cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious to hear people's firsthand experiences there. It seems to check all the boxes for a classic college experience:

1. Greek life and football
2. Excellent academics across the board
3. Strong arts programs and a thriving school newspaper
4. Prime location outside, but not right in, a major city (best of both worlds)

Are there any down sides to this school? It sounds almost too good to be true.

The weather is severe and awful.

They game the selectivity rate by overly focusing on ED (forced binding applications) to fill majority of slots so their yield rate goes up and application rate goes down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious to hear people's firsthand experiences there. It seems to check all the boxes for a classic college experience:

1. Greek life and football
2. Excellent academics across the board
3. Strong arts programs and a thriving school newspaper
4. Prime location outside, but not right in, a major city (best of both worlds)

Are there any down sides to this school? It sounds almost too good to be true.

The weather is severe and awful.

They game the selectivity rate by overly focusing on ED (forced binding applications) to fill majority of slots so their yield rate goes up and application rate goes down.

Odd selection of factors. I graduated from a North Shore high school and virtually no one matriculated at NU. Perhaps understandable given it was too close to home and Univ of Illinois is a far better deal. The other thing is that a significant major is communications, not all that rigorous. It shares that feature with UNC Chapel Hill. But yes an excellent school. My best friend did go to Medill and is indeed the best writer I know. The school attracts talent.

The football program is rarely competitive and in today's Power 4 and NIL landscape they like won't be competitive in the future. Illinois is a not a particularly fertile football recruiting ground and the four and five stars get taken by Notre Dame, Michigan and Ohio State. Not much excitement with NU football. They have the smallest participation in the Big Ten in male sports and they have a few great women's programs, in particular lacrosse. Not a school to go to follow Power 4 sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious to hear people's firsthand experiences there. It seems to check all the boxes for a classic college experience:

1. Greek life and football
2. Excellent academics across the board
3. Strong arts programs and a thriving school newspaper
4. Prime location outside, but not right in, a major city (best of both worlds)

Are there any down sides to this school? It sounds almost too good to be true.

The weather is severe and awful.

They game the selectivity rate by overly focusing on ED (forced binding applications) to fill majority of slots so their yield rate goes up and application rate goes down.

The lake is beautiful for a few months. But then the seemingly artic cold winds that blow off that lake most months are absolutely brutal.