Is Northwestern the ideal school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good old posts on here. Maybe search?
About 1/3 of the incoming class is social and “normal” (makes eye contact, friendly, goes out 3x/week, Greek like (growing there like everywhere after BLM and abolish Greek life did a number on campus). These students skew wealthy, well-traveled and well-adjusted.

But it’s a pretty small chunk of the incoming class.

this is incorrect - and bizarre.

I have a student there. It is definitely accurate.

The Greek life there is growing or at least there’s growing demand (like every other school). It’s actually really small right now and not everyone can get a bid that wants one because they’re so few houses.

They have consultants on campus all the time to try and get more Greek houses. The sororities do mixers with the University of Chicago frats because they’re not enough Greek men at Northwestern. Weird, but it’s easy for them to meet up downtown.

All of the social kids hang out together (including for study abroad - they all pick the same location). Yes it can be cliquey but no more than other schools.

Great experience for my kid!

[Anonymous]

I have been surprised and saddened at the social bifurcation. The stereotypical social kids tend to mostly study easier things (journalism), are noticeably whiter than the rest of NU, and wealthier. I had hoped my kid would have branched out and invested in the great diversity of humans in the world, but all the Insta photos look exactly like the ones from her private high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good old posts on here. Maybe search?
About 1/3 of the incoming class is social and “normal” (makes eye contact, friendly, goes out 3x/week, Greek like (growing there like everywhere after BLM and abolish Greek life did a number on campus). These students skew wealthy, well-traveled and well-adjusted.

But it’s a pretty small chunk of the incoming class.

this is incorrect - and bizarre.

I have a student there. It is definitely accurate.

The Greek life there is growing or at least there’s growing demand (like every other school). It’s actually really small right now and not everyone can get a bid that wants one because they’re so few houses.

They have consultants on campus all the time to try and get more Greek houses. The sororities do mixers with the University of Chicago frats because they’re not enough Greek men at Northwestern. Weird, but it’s easy for them to meet up downtown.

All of the social kids hang out together (including for study abroad - they all pick the same location). Yes it can be cliquey but no more than other schools.

Great experience for my kid!

Which study abroad programs are these? My kid is there and I’m sure your kids would classify her as a huge geek so she really would prefer to avoid that. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good old posts on here. Maybe search?
About 1/3 of the incoming class is social and “normal” (makes eye contact, friendly, goes out 3x/week, Greek like (growing there like everywhere after BLM and abolish Greek life did a number on campus). These students skew wealthy, well-traveled and well-adjusted.

But it’s a pretty small chunk of the incoming class.

this is incorrect - and bizarre.

I have a student there. It is definitely accurate.

The Greek life there is growing or at least there’s growing demand (like every other school). It’s actually really small right now and not everyone can get a bid that wants one because they’re so few houses.

They have consultants on campus all the time to try and get more Greek houses. The sororities do mixers with the University of Chicago frats because they’re not enough Greek men at Northwestern. Weird, but it’s easy for them to meet up downtown.

All of the social kids hang out together (including for study abroad - they all pick the same location). Yes it can be cliquey but no more than other schools.

Great experience for my kid!

Which study abroad programs are these? My kid is there and I’m sure your kids would classify her as a huge geek so she really would prefer to avoid that. Thank you!

PP, my striving social child is in a clique like this, and your “huge geek” is literally unlikely to ever cross paths with this clique, in study abroad or elsewhere. They move as a pack. Your kid knows who they are. (Can you tell I wish it wasn’t this way?)

[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.

+1

I also heard every kid is high stress over achiever and/ or quirky. And I mean high stress in an unhealthy way, which I did t want for my child.

One of child’s friend’s transferred into engineering program at Maryland. after year one of Northwestern. Happier at UMD.

Depends on the kid.

[Anonymous]

My spouse graduated from Northwestern years ago. Also, he was an athlete. The career services department was lacking and he felt he did almost everything on his own.
Years later when he contacted career department they told him basically to get lost and that they don’t offer services after a certain period. The Ivy my spouse attended for grad school will always speak/ assist alumni even years or decades later!

He said the quarter system was a bit difficult and that he preferred the semester system from grad school.

He seemed to like it when he attended but since not so much now. Their alumni engagement is lacking in my opinion.

He attended grad school at a top Ivy but applied for a grad school at Northwestern. He did not get off the waitlist at Northwestern. If he got into Northwestern he most likely would have attended.

Since he graduated from the grad degree he sees a total difference in alumni engagement and networking. The Ivy is so much better. Very engaged, wants input from alumni, great networking events. My spouse has spoken with tons of alumni from his graduate program and offered assistance. NU didn’t seem to want that or only offer it for a short period in the experiences I have seen.

[Anonymous]

My kid was really turned off by the quarter system. Very short winter break and the Spring semester ends in June. Didn't work for his summer internship plans. Also, his friends at Northwestern were on a completely different schedule from almost all his other friends. Maybe small in the scheme of things, but my kid said a hard no because of Northwestern's schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was really turned off by the quarter system. Very short winter break and the Spring semester ends in June. Didn't work for his summer internship plans. Also, his friends at Northwestern were on a completely different schedule from almost all his other friends. Maybe small in the scheme of things, but my kid said a hard no because of Northwestern's schedule.

Same for my kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was #1 on my kids list, until we visited. He decided not to apply within a few minutes of stepping foot on campus. He said not one student looked happy, all had heads down. I insisted we go on the tour anyway, which we did, but even I thought that didn't help.

Think the student profile will change this year. And maybe even for foreseeable future.

They are going very deep into WL (again today); recent kids coming from previously committed to schools like Wisconsin, Michigan, UCLA, USC, Tulane, Middlebury - all social, normal kids.

Lots of WL admission overlap btw Brown, Vanderbilt, UCLA (OOS) and Northwestern this year. Let’s see what happens.

How could you possibly know this? You speak with such utter confidence. Making really specific statements with no actual basis in fact —unless you are head of NU’s admissions and see everyone’s folder.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, many of the posts in this thread painting NU in a negative light seem to be written by the same writer.

The main takeaway from this thread is that the Ivies are concerned about competition from Northwestern. This is understandable. Both Northwestern University and the University of Chicago are outstanding schools which offer easy access to one of the best cities in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, many of the posts in this thread painting NU in a negative light seem to be written by the same writer.

The main takeaway from this thread is that the Ivies are concerned about competition from Northwestern. This is understandable. Both Northwestern University and the University of Chicago are outstanding schools which offer easy access to one of the best cities in the country.

I don’t think ivies are concerned. They know it’s a great school. It’s those that didn’t get in any that want to knock it down and call all of these students “quirky” and socially inept.

[Anonymous]

Nonetheless, it is fair to state that Northwestern University has a lot of driven, hard-working, conscientious, brainiac students who are serious students.

Northwestern is not the ideal school for one seeking a rah-rah party school atmosphere dominated by ostentatious Greek social life.

NU is composed of more grad students (probably 55% of the total full-time student population) on two stunning campuses. While the architecture may not be uniform, both the Chicago setting (medical & law school) and the Evanston setting (undergrads, MBA Kellogg School, and many other graduate programs) are spectacular.

Northwestern University is a serious school with Big Ten Conference athletics. NU's overall endowment (#13 overall) places it in the top ten in the country when three system wide endowments are placed aside (UTexas system, U Texas A&M system, & UC System wide endowments) --so it is also a wealthy school.

https://northwestern.edu/recruit/our-students/

NU students do now socialize with U Chicago students/student organizations which is a fairly recent development.

The quarter system keeps kids busy & sober. NU is not a party school, but it is social in a low key fashion.

[Anonymous]

FWIW As a side-note: In 1980, Northwestern was approached by the Ivy League for membership. (The Ivy League also expressed interest in the USMA at West Point and in the USNA at Annapolis.) NU athletics cut the talks short due to the travel distances for athletics events.

[Anonymous]

As an NU parent who has also had several relatives attend both undergraduate & professional schools at NU, I have never heard any complaints whatsoever regarding career opportunities and career placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, many of the posts in this thread painting NU in a negative light seem to be written by the same writer.

The main takeaway from this thread is that the Ivies are concerned about competition from Northwestern. This is understandable. Both Northwestern University and the University of Chicago are outstanding schools which offer easy access to one of the best cities in the country.

I wrote one post on here. I don’t think the Ivies are concerned.

Everyone is different and there are plenty of people who love NU and good for them!

Your kid should decide what is the right fit. I think it’s healthy to talk about what universities can work on and how they treat alumni.

We have consistently given to the Ivy every year since graduation. My spouse used to give to NU but hasn’t in years.