ETOWNER

Hey, I'm just going off of my personal experiences and what I've been told by students who have attended the school for more than 5 months.

Sam Lee

Do you seriously believe there's some kind of unknown force at NU that draws more "grinders" than its test scores indicate? Like a black hole? lol!. If NU has more grinders and less brilliant students than you want/expect, I am pretty sure you will see even more grinders at most of the schools you apply to because they have lower test scores. You should apply to schools with higher test scores, not lower and definitely not way lower like Colorado College. Our average SAT was 1423. So the ones that score like 1600 are gonna think a lot of people are grinders whereas the ones at the lower end are gonna think there are tons of brilliant people. It's all relative and depends on whom you talk to. I am pretty sure some Harvard students think some of their peers are grinders too.

elsijfdl

this statement alone shows that you have no idea of the actual social scene here

ETOWNER

I applied to CC because of what makes it unique, and it's not as if I've decided to go there and it's not like that's the best school I could get into. Also, I will admit, I haven't spent much time talking to students from the other elite institutions in the country, but I have enough experience with students from some similarly elite schools (Middlebury, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Stanford and a few others) to say that I've found more bright people at those schools. To use test scores as a measure of intelligence is not valid, especially because my logic would dictate that NU students would have taken plenty of test prep classes anyways. I got a 35 cold, and while I consider myself intelligent, I don't consider that to be evidence of my intelligence. Also, sure there are a lot of NU parties, but if you've ever been to a party at almost any other college in the nation, you'd understand my perspective.

elsijfdl

the schools you mentioned, with the exception maybe of dartmouth, i will agree with you have more intellectual types than northwestern. northwestern is very pre-professional, most kids are looking to go to med/law/biz school, and aren't really there to intensely indulge in academics other than to get as nearly perfect grades as possible and get out. there are very few students (in my experience) at northwestern who are hoping to pursue PhD work or who take "harder" classes for the 'experience' when they have the option of taking something easier

this doesn't mean though, that northwestern students aren't as smart as students at these other, academically-oriented schools, they're just utilitarian with their academics. depending on your definition of "smart" they might actually be more so, for knowing the most efficient way to a lucrative and prestigious career, without spending a lot of time and money pursuing unprofitable academic work. obviously i'm sort of kidding with that, but you get my point

and PS the ACT is an achievement test. the SAT is the 'intelligence aptitude' test.

arbiter213

I really, seriously doubt that is true, barring completely meaningless pure numbers manipulations. I also find your use of the word logic amusing.

ETOWNER

that could actually be part of it as I've never really looked at it that way. That being said, in just normal conversation I've been unimpressed by a fair number students. I dunno,, they just didn't seem like the students I'd expect to see at a top 15 university

arbiter213

There are two things at play here, then: Your preconceived notions (known as biases) of what a student at a top 15 institution should be, and that Northwestern is a-typical in that regard. Wonderfully so.

elsijfdl

amen to that

northwestern is also one of the most "fit" colleges in the country, by research and rankings. it's not a school full of argyle sweater-vests and philosophers, and that's why i like it.

arbiter213

merrr- I could use one or two more of those....

:sad Philosophy major face:

elsijfdl

haha, i have a friend who is a philosophy major and we always joke how she is the only student in the department

arbiter213

Well I'm a freshman, so now there's the two of us. The sadder thing isn't the student count- it's the implosion of faculty from a few years back.

Bala

ETOWNER,

I fear you may be a good deal more discouraged facing the campus you'll join this coming fall.

I understand your limited exposure to college life, but your skewed expectations are a recipe for disappointment. If you're seeking a student body that wears intellectualism on its sleeve, you won't find it at the schools to which you're applying. They, like the vast majority of colleges, will be much less uniform places. There will be grinders, there will party animals. A handful will talk of little else but Plato, a handful little else but the Packers. Some will live for Abercrombie and Prada, some will be poster children for What Not to Wear. To caricature the schools to which you've applied as you have NU would more likely yield a picture of campuses dominated by alcohol, drugs and partying - certainly not one of intellectual debate late into the night. This caricature is, of course, about as close to the truth as your portrait of the 8,000 students here in Evanston.

If you're looking forward to enjoying these next four years, drop the stereotypes and oversimplification and prepare for diversity - diversity of intellectual interest, diversity of intelligence, diversity on every social level. This is what you’d find at Northwestern if you looked a bit more carefully. Budding save-the-world journalists/blow-up-the-world chemists, express-myself musicians/express-yourself teachers, video-gaming engineers/video-expressionist screenwriters, and on and on and on are the mix that makes life at Northwestern as dynamic and interesting as any place in the country. It is that diversity and the opportunity that diverse body of interests engenders that has helped make Northwestern such a great home to generations of undergrads.

Sachmoney

I was trying to get my friend to describe Northwestern to me, and all he said was it was fun. He was having internet problems, but I was more interested in him elaborating on that. Thanks bala, for showing what the student body is like.

Sam Lee

and diversity of success after graduation:
University representation at the largest Private Equity Firms

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