Northwestern University | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Molly

Class: Sophomore
Major: Journalism
Gender: F

High School: Staten Island Technical HS
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

Northwestern fills a unique niche in the college spectrum. Northwestern rivals the Ivies on an academic level, battles midwestern state schools on the field, and challenges small liberal arts schools with specialized programs like theatre and journalism. There are about 8,000 undergrads at NU. 8,000 = perfect size! There is always someone new to meet but usually there is a familiar face wherever you go. Whenever I say I go to Northwestern, first I have to correct the person and say.. "Nope NorthWESTern, not NorthEASTern.." After we get over that little hurdle, they usually are impressed by the academics and then tell me, "Well you know, its cold in Chicago." Yes, thanks for that information I answer sarcastically. There is even a facebook group called, " Yes, damnit, I KNOW Chicago gets really cold, now shut the hell up about it!" Evanston has what you need for everyday things. It has some nice retail stores, cool coffee shops, great restaurants, and a couple of college bars. It is known on campus that "town-gown" relations are strained but I really don't notice it! It would be nice though to get some more 24 hour places to eat and hang besides the BK Lounge. And if you ever want something more from a city, Chicago is just an El ride away. ( Chicago is really an awesome city.) Out of a 1-10 scale, school pride is at 7.5. People are proud to go to Northwestern and often don purple sweatshirts but don't have crazy "Wildcat fever." It is a nice balance.

Academic Life

Academics at Northwestern are world class. There are a lot of big introduction classes but also a lot of small intimate classes as well. Professors are usually very approachable and encourage going to office hours. A lot of professors love knowing their students. I had an English class once with about 120 students enrolled and by the second day of class, the professor had already memorized everyone's names by their school id picture! I have made good friends with a lot of my professors and some I am just in awe of. I have never taken a class and afterwards thought it was useless. I have learned something valuable in every class thus far. The students here also take academics seriously but are not cut-throat about it. The library sometimes becomes the place to be seen! Everyone is really smart but not obnoxious about it. Yesterday while shopping for groceries at Whole Foods in Evanston, I heard two students talking about Italian language and literature in the produce section ... only at Northwestern!

Student Body

Northwestern is pretty white but there is some diversity. That is one thing that Northwestern should work on - mixing it up a little bit! There is a pretty large gay population here too. The person who wouldn't absolutely love NU would be the guy who parties all day and night and doesn't care about academics or his future. Most students get pretty dressed up to go to class. No one is wearing suits or anything but most people try to look presentable. Sweats are acceptable too. The majority of students are friendly with each other but I feel that most of the different ethnic groups stay in their own groups, which isn't very good. Students are from all over : Midwest, West, East, and South. We got it all covered. I would also say that a big chunk of NU students are upper middle class liberals.