Northwestern - what kind of kids do they like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our competitive public school - the editor in chief of the school paper.

You really should visit if you can before applying. There are some schools - I'm thinking Northwestern, Stanford, Duke - that have this reputation as fun, smart schools.

Well, that was some time ago.

We visited. The lake is beautiful of course. But when Chicago seems like the more fun school, there might be an issue.

+100 Crazy that Chicago is getting more of the smart but really social kids from our private than Northwestern. Especially when you consider that fact that Northwestern is in the Big 10. We went and toured and were shocked by the feel of the place and the kids that attend.

So what schools have taken the place of northwestern, Stanford and Duke as the fun, smart schools?

Vanderbilt?

Vanderbilt is starting to trend down too (in vibe, not academics!). When schools place so much emphasis on absolute perfection of grades, scores and ECs that is what happens. The more laid back smart kids are weeded out. I suspect many are ending up at the big state flagships or privates that are the tier down from the top 25.

Agree. We toured Vanderbilt twice this year and it also feels very different than a few years ago when we toured with my older child. It is getting to be a grinder place too.
NU, Duke and to a slightly lesser extent Vanderbilt are now highly Asian with a few geeky white people and then some URM athletes. That's really what they feel like. We spent hours walking around each of them. The perspective students on tour groups feel even more this way so if anything they are trending ever increasingly in this direction.

I think the smart and social kids (white, Asian and any race) keep going down in prestige to try and find a more balanced college experience. Wisconsin seems full of normal kids. Smart but want a vibrant social life.

Lmfao! Just like the other threads, “there are no social kids at elites! They are all nerds!” Or worse the blatant anti asian racism. Well guess what dont apply! My white kids are at different ivy/+, are not athletic recruits, are intellectual and are very social and creative and are having a great time with all their new friends (several races and ethnicities represented), and definitely socialize. Just because they do not have huge football drinkfests every weekend and frat parties other nights does not mean they are not social. And newsflash, Duke was nerdy in the 90s. It has gotten more saturated with the super -bright kids, as they are a majority now: but it is as social as most ivies and stanford . None of them are the “laid back social “ vibe: these are intensely smart future leaders and researchers, if they were laid back they would not have gotten in to any T20! Don’t apply if it’s not a fit for yours, but don't trash kids for being nerds when you do not have first hand experience at multiple such schools. And don’t be racist.

Your kids are exactly the ones that my very smart, high EQ super social kid (and those like him) want to avoid going to school with en masse. You're proving my point.

This is actually not meant as a slight although I'm sure it reads as such. It's great that your kids have found their niche but not all smart kids are like them. All "future leaders" are not like them. Many future leaders are today's partiers. I can think of countless people (young adults and mid career) who fit this description.

NP. Your kid is just not as smart, ok? He is smart to you and he is smart for the type of kid who enjoys frat parties. Really smart kids find parties boring.

You're talking about a kid.
You sound incredibly insecure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our competitive public school - the editor in chief of the school paper.

You really should visit if you can before applying. There are some schools - I'm thinking Northwestern, Stanford, Duke - that have this reputation as fun, smart schools.

Well, that was some time ago.

We visited. The lake is beautiful of course. But when Chicago seems like the more fun school, there might be an issue.

+100 Crazy that Chicago is getting more of the smart but really social kids from our private than Northwestern. Especially when you consider that fact that Northwestern is in the Big 10. We went and toured and were shocked by the feel of the place and the kids that attend.

So what schools have taken the place of northwestern, Stanford and Duke as the fun, smart schools?

Vanderbilt?

Vanderbilt is starting to trend down too (in vibe, not academics!). When schools place so much emphasis on absolute perfection of grades, scores and ECs that is what happens. The more laid back smart kids are weeded out. I suspect many are ending up at the big state flagships or privates that are the tier down from the top 25.

Agree. We toured Vanderbilt twice this year and it also feels very different than a few years ago when we toured with my older child. It is getting to be a grinder place too.
NU, Duke and to a slightly lesser extent Vanderbilt are now highly Asian with a few geeky white people and then some URM athletes. That's really what they feel like. We spent hours walking around each of them. The perspective students on tour groups feel even more this way so if anything they are trending ever increasingly in this direction.

I think the smart and social kids (white, Asian and any race) keep going down in prestige to try and find a more balanced college experience. Wisconsin seems full of normal kids. Smart but want a vibrant social life.

Lmfao! Just like the other threads, “there are no social kids at elites! They are all nerds!” Or worse the blatant anti asian racism. Well guess what dont apply! My white kids are at different ivy/+, are not athletic recruits, are intellectual and are very social and creative and are having a great time with all their new friends (several races and ethnicities represented), and definitely socialize. Just because they do not have huge football drinkfests every weekend and frat parties other nights does not mean they are not social. And newsflash, Duke was nerdy in the 90s. It has gotten more saturated with the super -bright kids, as they are a majority now: but it is as social as most ivies and stanford . None of them are the “laid back social “ vibe: these are intensely smart future leaders and researchers, if they were laid back they would not have gotten in to any T20! Don’t apply if it’s not a fit for yours, but don't trash kids for being nerds when you do not have first hand experience at multiple such schools. And don’t be racist.

Your kids are exactly the ones that my very smart, high EQ super social kid (and those like him) want to avoid going to school with en masse. You're proving my point.

This is actually not meant as a slight although I'm sure it reads as such. It's great that your kids have found their niche but not all smart kids are like them. All "future leaders" are not like them. Many future leaders are today's partiers. I can think of countless people (young adults and mid career) who fit this description.

NP. Your kid is just not as smart, ok? He is smart to you and he is smart for the type of kid who enjoys frat parties. Really smart kids find parties boring.

You're talking about a kid.
You sound incredibly insecure.

I am talking to the parent, not the kid. The kid is not the one coming up with "I could, like, really cure cancer dude, but, like, it would get so boring after a while yannow"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our competitive public school - the editor in chief of the school paper.

You really should visit if you can before applying. There are some schools - I'm thinking Northwestern, Stanford, Duke - that have this reputation as fun, smart schools.

Well, that was some time ago.

We visited. The lake is beautiful of course. But when Chicago seems like the more fun school, there might be an issue.

+100 Crazy that Chicago is getting more of the smart but really social kids from our private than Northwestern. Especially when you consider that fact that Northwestern is in the Big 10. We went and toured and were shocked by the feel of the place and the kids that attend.

So what schools have taken the place of northwestern, Stanford and Duke as the fun, smart schools?

Vanderbilt?

Vanderbilt is starting to trend down too (in vibe, not academics!). When schools place so much emphasis on absolute perfection of grades, scores and ECs that is what happens. The more laid back smart kids are weeded out. I suspect many are ending up at the big state flagships or privates that are the tier down from the top 25.

Agree. We toured Vanderbilt twice this year and it also feels very different than a few years ago when we toured with my older child. It is getting to be a grinder place too.
NU, Duke and to a slightly lesser extent Vanderbilt are now highly Asian with a few geeky white people and then some URM athletes. That's really what they feel like. We spent hours walking around each of them. The perspective students on tour groups feel even more this way so if anything they are trending ever increasingly in this direction.

I think the smart and social kids (white, Asian and any race) keep going down in prestige to try and find a more balanced college experience. Wisconsin seems full of normal kids. Smart but want a vibrant social life.

Lmfao! Just like the other threads, “there are no social kids at elites! They are all nerds!” Or worse the blatant anti asian racism. Well guess what dont apply! My white kids are at different ivy/+, are not athletic recruits, are intellectual and are very social and creative and are having a great time with all their new friends (several races and ethnicities represented), and definitely socialize. Just because they do not have huge football drinkfests every weekend and frat parties other nights does not mean they are not social. And newsflash, Duke was nerdy in the 90s. It has gotten more saturated with the super -bright kids, as they are a majority now: but it is as social as most ivies and stanford . None of them are the “laid back social “ vibe: these are intensely smart future leaders and researchers, if they were laid back they would not have gotten in to any T20! Don’t apply if it’s not a fit for yours, but don't trash kids for being nerds when you do not have first hand experience at multiple such schools. And don’t be racist.

Your kids are exactly the ones that my very smart, high EQ super social kid (and those like him) want to avoid going to school with en masse. You're proving my point.

This is actually not meant as a slight although I'm sure it reads as such. It's great that your kids have found their niche but not all smart kids are like them. All "future leaders" are not like them. Many future leaders are today's partiers. I can think of countless people (young adults and mid career) who fit this description.

NP. Your kid is just not as smart, ok? He is smart to you and he is smart for the type of kid who enjoys frat parties. Really smart kids find parties boring.

You're talking about a kid.
You sound incredibly insecure.

I am talking to the parent, not the kid. The kid is not the one coming up with "I could, like, really cure cancer dude, but, like, it would get so boring after a while yannow"

The parent said nothing of the sort. You ARE an insecure a$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our competitive public school - the editor in chief of the school paper.

You really should visit if you can before applying. There are some schools - I'm thinking Northwestern, Stanford, Duke - that have this reputation as fun, smart schools.

Well, that was some time ago.

We visited. The lake is beautiful of course. But when Chicago seems like the more fun school, there might be an issue.

+100 Crazy that Chicago is getting more of the smart but really social kids from our private than Northwestern. Especially when you consider that fact that Northwestern is in the Big 10. We went and toured and were shocked by the feel of the place and the kids that attend.

So what schools have taken the place of northwestern, Stanford and Duke as the fun, smart schools?

Vanderbilt?

Vanderbilt is starting to trend down too (in vibe, not academics!). When schools place so much emphasis on absolute perfection of grades, scores and ECs that is what happens. The more laid back smart kids are weeded out. I suspect many are ending up at the big state flagships or privates that are the tier down from the top 25.

Agree. We toured Vanderbilt twice this year and it also feels very different than a few years ago when we toured with my older child. It is getting to be a grinder place too.
NU, Duke and to a slightly lesser extent Vanderbilt are now highly Asian with a few geeky white people and then some URM athletes. That's really what they feel like. We spent hours walking around each of them. The perspective students on tour groups feel even more this way so if anything they are trending ever increasingly in this direction.

I think the smart and social kids (white, Asian and any race) keep going down in prestige to try and find a more balanced college experience. Wisconsin seems full of normal kids. Smart but want a vibrant social life.

Lmfao! Just like the other threads, “there are no social kids at elites! They are all nerds!” Or worse the blatant anti asian racism. Well guess what dont apply! My white kids are at different ivy/+, are not athletic recruits, are intellectual and are very social and creative and are having a great time with all their new friends (several races and ethnicities represented), and definitely socialize. Just because they do not have huge football drinkfests every weekend and frat parties other nights does not mean they are not social. And newsflash, Duke was nerdy in the 90s. It has gotten more saturated with the super -bright kids, as they are a majority now: but it is as social as most ivies and stanford . None of them are the “laid back social “ vibe: these are intensely smart future leaders and researchers, if they were laid back they would not have gotten in to any T20! Don’t apply if it’s not a fit for yours, but don't trash kids for being nerds when you do not have first hand experience at multiple such schools. And don’t be racist.

Your kids are exactly the ones that my very smart, high EQ super social kid (and those like him) want to avoid going to school with en masse. You're proving my point.

This is actually not meant as a slight although I'm sure it reads as such. It's great that your kids have found their niche but not all smart kids are like them. All "future leaders" are not like them. Many future leaders are today's partiers. I can think of countless people (young adults and mid career) who fit this description.

NP. Your kid is just not as smart, ok? He is smart to you and he is smart for the type of kid who enjoys frat parties. Really smart kids find parties boring.

You're talking about a kid.
You sound incredibly insecure.

I am talking to the parent, not the kid. The kid is not the one coming up with "I could, like, really cure cancer dude, but, like, it would get so boring after a while yannow"

The parent said nothing of the sort. You ARE an insecure a$$.

This is exactly what the parent said. She said that her kid is the same intellectual caliber as kids at, say, NW, but since he is "super social" he doesn't want to be surrounded by friendless nerds there. In other words, he is too good for those kids because although they are intellectual peers he is so much more than that....

[Anonymous]

I think really smart kids who tend to be more socially awkward are that way because they hyper analyze their interactions with others but not because they don’t desire social contact and interaction. Personally all these parents bragging about their super smart kids who are super social and party all the time are pathetic and are of the same ilk that made our private high school a miserable place to be for 4 years. Grow up and don’t glorify kids doing drugs, drinking and having sex at parties as some major accomplishment.

[Anonymous]

Smart, full pay, ED

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our competitive public school - the editor in chief of the school paper.

You really should visit if you can before applying. There are some schools - I'm thinking Northwestern, Stanford, Duke - that have this reputation as fun, smart schools.

Well, that was some time ago.

We visited. The lake is beautiful of course. But when Chicago seems like the more fun school, there might be an issue.

Wowza. Care to elaborate?

Different poster. My kid graduated from NU in 2018. Kid was athletic, middle-class Midwestern family, Hispanic, smart but not obsessive about academics. It was surprising how few similar students were there.

Students tended to be coastal, from families with apparently endless wealth, well-traveled, & far more interested in studying on a Saturday afternoon than cheering on the football team.

Politically, students who weren’t far left had to keep it on the down low or risk ostracism. Students rarely ventured into Chicago except for organized events such as fraternity balls.

In other words, it was very much like the intense academic experience one expects at U of Chicago, not a work-hard/play-hard place at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our competitive public school - the editor in chief of the school paper.

You really should visit if you can before applying. There are some schools - I'm thinking Northwestern, Stanford, Duke - that have this reputation as fun, smart schools.

Well, that was some time ago.

We visited. The lake is beautiful of course. But when Chicago seems like the more fun school, there might be an issue.

Wowza. Care to elaborate?

Different poster. My kid graduated from NU in 2018. Kid was athletic, middle-class Midwestern family, Hispanic, smart but not obsessive about academics. It was surprising how few similar students were there.

Students tended to be coastal, from families with apparently endless wealth, well-traveled, & far more interested in studying on a Saturday afternoon than cheering on the football team.

Politically, students who weren’t far left had to keep it on the down low or risk ostracism. Students rarely ventured into Chicago except for organized events such as fraternity balls.

In other words, it was very much like the intense academic experience one expects at U of Chicago, not a work-hard/play-hard place at all.

They are called date parties, not “balls”.

The normal kids that we know that are there now go to Chicago every weekend because the social life in Evanston sucks. It’s a pretty dead campus on the weekends. Agree that it is not as fun and social as it once was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think really smart kids who tend to be more socially awkward are that way because they hyper analyze their interactions with others but not because they don’t desire social contact and interaction. Personally all these parents bragging about their super smart kids who are super social and party all the time are pathetic and are of the same ilk that made our private high school a miserable place to be for 4 years. Grow up and don’t glorify kids doing drugs, drinking and having sex at parties as some major accomplishment.

yes, but it's just as obnoxious to say that your super smart kid who doesn't party is somehow superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think really smart kids who tend to be more socially awkward are that way because they hyper analyze their interactions with others but not because they don’t desire social contact and interaction. Personally all these parents bragging about their super smart kids who are super social and party all the time are pathetic and are of the same ilk that made our private high school a miserable place to be for 4 years. Grow up and don’t glorify kids doing drugs, drinking and having sex at parties as some major accomplishment.

yes, but it's just as obnoxious to say that your super smart kid who doesn't party is somehow superior.

In 99% of the cases, this starts with the party parent saying "my kid is super smart but he doesn't want to be around your kid".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Full pay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our competitive public school - the editor in chief of the school paper.

You really should visit if you can before applying. There are some schools - I'm thinking Northwestern, Stanford, Duke - that have this reputation as fun, smart schools.

Well, that was some time ago.

We visited. The lake is beautiful of course. But when Chicago seems like the more fun school, there might be an issue.

+100 Crazy that Chicago is getting more of the smart but really social kids from our private than Northwestern. Especially when you consider that fact that Northwestern is in the Big 10. We went and toured and were shocked by the feel of the place and the kids that attend.

So what schools have taken the place of northwestern, Stanford and Duke as the fun, smart schools?

Vanderbilt?

Vanderbilt is starting to trend down too (in vibe, not academics!). When schools place so much emphasis on absolute perfection of grades, scores and ECs that is what happens. The more laid back smart kids are weeded out. I suspect many are ending up at the big state flagships or privates that are the tier down from the top 25.

Agree. We toured Vanderbilt twice this year and it also feels very different than a few years ago when we toured with my older child. It is getting to be a grinder place too.
NU, Duke and to a slightly lesser extent Vanderbilt are now highly Asian with a few geeky white people and then some URM athletes. That's really what they feel like. We spent hours walking around each of them. The perspective students on tour groups feel even more this way so if anything they are trending ever increasingly in this direction.

I think the smart and social kids (white, Asian and any race) keep going down in prestige to try and find a more balanced college experience. Wisconsin seems full of normal kids. Smart but want a vibrant social life.

Lmfao! Just like the other threads, “there are no social kids at elites! They are all nerds!” Or worse the blatant anti asian racism. Well guess what dont apply! My white kids are at different ivy/+, are not athletic recruits, are intellectual and are very social and creative and are having a great time with all their new friends (several races and ethnicities represented), and definitely socialize. Just because they do not have huge football drinkfests every weekend and frat parties other nights does not mean they are not social. And newsflash, Duke was nerdy in the 90s. It has gotten more saturated with the super -bright kids, as they are a majority now: but it is as social as most ivies and stanford . None of them are the “laid back social “ vibe: these are intensely smart future leaders and researchers, if they were laid back they would not have gotten in to any T20! Don’t apply if it’s not a fit for yours, but don't trash kids for being nerds when you do not have first hand experience at multiple such schools. And don’t be racist.

Your kids are exactly the ones that my very smart, high EQ super social kid (and those like him) want to avoid going to school with en masse. You're proving my point.

This is actually not meant as a slight although I'm sure it reads as such. It's great that your kids have found their niche but not all smart kids are like them. All "future leaders" are not like them. Many future leaders are today's partiers. I can think of countless people (young adults and mid career) who fit this description.

NP. Your kid is just not as smart, ok? He is smart to you and he is smart for the type of kid who enjoys frat parties. Really smart kids find parties boring.

You're talking about a kid.
You sound incredibly insecure.

Not to mention, has the PP been to Northwestern at all? Plenty of the kids there like frat parties. Plenty don't, just like at an university. But some of the smartest kids there spend their weekends at parties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think really smart kids who tend to be more socially awkward are that way because they hyper analyze their interactions with others but not because they don’t desire social contact and interaction. Personally all these parents bragging about their super smart kids who are super social and party all the time are pathetic and are of the same ilk that made our private high school a miserable place to be for 4 years. Grow up and don’t glorify kids doing drugs, drinking and having sex at parties as some major accomplishment.

yes, but it's just as obnoxious to say that your super smart kid who doesn't party is somehow superior.

In 99% of the cases, this starts with the party parent saying "my kid is super smart but he doesn't want to be around your kid".

💯

[Anonymous]

Most T20 schools are looking for the same thing. What parents are not used to is the fact that Northwestern is no longer a solid regional backup option for Harvard-quality students. They are taking the same students Harvard took 15 years ago.

You need top grades, high class ranking (top 10%), a 1540+ SAT score, and exceptional extracurricular or awards. A Harvard and Northwestern admit are marginally different nowadays.

[Anonymous]

The kids I know who went to Northwestern were all incredibly smart/studious, but really nice kids, usually with one or two pronounced hobbies outside of their schoolwork.

In all my years, the best manager I ever had was a Northwestern graduate, and I always sort of look to her as the prototype of a NU grad. Extremely smart, friendly, down-to-earth, and a bit of a workhouse.