Unhappy students at Northwestern and Penn?

[Anonymous]

Heard Penn is quite stressful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoke with parents of two freshmen, one at each of the schools. Both attended our private; close friends of ours. And both kids are miserable.

Wishing they had gone to Michigan … where both were admitted.

Saying the students are generally insufferable, focused on their patents/ life alternating inventions or academic research, with little interest in just hanging out, socializing, and being in a normal friend group, without hundreds of résumé building activities every week.

Are these folks outliers?
Or maybe they picked the wrong schools or majors?

If the classmates are all insufferable perhaps the problems are your friends kids. The other kids sound happy.

[Anonymous]

My child at Northwestern is extremely happy, very social, has made a lot of friends. There is definitely a social cohort and a less social cohort, and I’m guessing the transition takes longer for those who are less social. And the club fair was last week and clubs haven’t started yet, so I call BS on that.

[Anonymous]

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1138340.page

Do you also have a niece who attends U Chicago?

[Anonymous]

I know a kid who just graduated from northwestern. Wasn’t happy and always ready to transfer but stuck it out for the prestige. I’m sure the Covid years didn’t help though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heard Penn is quite stressful

Same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just Northwestern because they wanted Ivies.

The only disappointments I heard were about being wait-listed, then denied at Stanford.

Northwestern's overlap schools:

1) Duke
2) Stanford
3) U Penn
4) Yale
5) U Michigan
6) Princeton
7) WashUStL
8) Harvard

Based on past research, if accepted to all nine schools, Northwestern is preferred over WashUStL & Michigan. Preference between Northwestern & U Penn is almost a 50/50 split.

Northwestern is preferred--according to Parchment--over Brown & Cornell. Northwestern versus Dartmouth is very close/about even.

You left off Notre Dame, which ie preferred over Northwestern 54%-46%.

ND is probably more social/fun than Northwestern. It's on my kid's list and she likes it based on what some of her friends have shared about it. Challenging academics without the cutthroat element. Collaborative environment. Game Days are the best.

[Anonymous]

Penn has had this reputation for years. Northwestern’s reputation may become the same. Hazing scandal probably just the tip of the iceberg. Looks like some cheerleaders are now complaining about what they had to do to keep their scholarships https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/09/24/campus/judge-allows-sex-trafficking-claim-against-nu-cheer-to-proceed/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn has had this reputation for years. Northwestern’s reputation may become the same. Hazing scandal probably just the tip of the iceberg. Looks like some cheerleaders are now complaining about what they had to do to keep their scholarships https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/09/24/campus/judge-allows-sex-trafficking-claim-against-nu-cheer-to-proceed/

The athlete program experience is very, very different than the overall student body experience at most schools, and particularly at P5 schools like Northwestern.