BK22889

thats hilarious arbiter

sanjenferrer

Hey BK, I think you should elaborate on why you don't feel NU to be a good fit, even if your biases come through. I'm particularly interested in how the NU culture is different (as you say) from the East Coast culture you're used to.

picaro

I am interested as well BK. (From east coast, will be a freshman next fall)

BK22889

Without going into a lot of detail, coming from Manhattan, NU and the surrounding suburbs are very laid back. I have friends who are also from Manhattan that love NU because of that, it just isn't for me. While this is not the case for everyone, and it might be similar at other schools, I just don't know, there is also a slight sense of complacency here, both socially and academically. I know other people will disagree with me, its just my two cents from a different perspective.

I don't want to discourage anyone from coming here. Everyone I know ranges from being happy here to ecstatic about it, for some reason it just isn't working FOR ME, which is why I was so hesitant to write this in the first place.

picaro

I'm not really sure what social complacency is, but I think I understand what you are trying to say. A laid back campus sounds alright though.

On the other hand, academic complacency certainly doesn't sound good...
What do you study?

icy9ff8

Northwestern University's average freshman retention rate is 97% which is the same for Chicago, Georgetown, Duke, Brown, CalTech, Virginia, Rice, WashUStL, Berkeley & UCLA. Pretty nice company. If any of these 97% schools increased their retention rate by one (1%) percent, then they would be equal to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Penn, MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth & Notre Dame. BK22889 may be one of the three (3%) percent at Northwestern. I think that everyone can live with that. Of the USNews Top 50 National Universities only Yale offers smaller average class size. Northwestern has the only SESP school in the country. Medill School of Journalism is regarded by many as the best in the world. The School of Communication is widely considered to be the best in the nation, and its theatre/acting/drama major is conservatory level training unavailable elsewhere except Juilliard. Only Yale & Northwestern have successfully sold patent rights near the billion dollar mark. Northwestern's endowment is much larger than Georgetown, Chicago, Brown, Penn, Duke, Cornell & Dartmouth. In fact, only Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford & MIT have larger endowments than Northwestern University as Northwestern is now probably tied with Columbia University.(The Univ. of Texas system--multiple universities--also has a larger endowment.) Most students at Northwestern are not "laidback", they are busy. Compare Northwestern's Law School & MBA School to any school in the country. Number 8 & number 3 or 4, having fallen from number one several years ago. If the OP's criticism is of Northwestern's engineering school or college of arts & sciences, then the argument is weak as Northwestern students work as hard as those at Penn & Columbia--two of the most demanding Ivies--and harder than at a few others.

patlees88

I disagree. NU endowment = 7 bil. Penn = 6.8 bil. Chicago = 6.2 bil. Cornell = 5.5 bil. as u see, the difference aren't that significant.

t.i.

I'm an NU sophomore, and an Ivy reject. I literally was rejected from all the Ivies I applied to. I would venture to guess that a lot of my classmates were in a similar situation. It is pretty much a fact that NU provides an admissions niche that is slightly below HYP, and there's no reason to get defensive about that. In no way, though, do I think that NU is full of people wishing they were at Yale. An "Ivy reject" to me is just someone who spent less of their time in high school trying really hard to get into the Ivies - maybe they did other interesting things with their lives. People at NU like it here and from what I gather, don't really want to be anywhere else

BK22889

this is exactly why i tried not to answer in the first place...My current feelings about NU are personal and in no way reflective of the student body at large, or even of people with similar backgrounds to myself, which I tried very hard to stress in my post.

I know that NU is a good school, I applied here early decision. However, since I made that decision in October of 2006, I have begun to have a change of heart, and am not sure that NU is for me, meaning that I'm just reevaluating, not getting on the next flight back East.

My purpose for writing in this forum in the first place was just to give perspective freshman a slightly different point of view, being as it is rather common on the NU board for people to write that "NU has no flaws", "I can't imagine anyone not loving NU". That being said, the reason they hold these opinions is because for most people, this is true.

I highly recommend that anyone who can visit NU, try to visit a couple of classes, and decide for yourself.

neumes

I wouldn't mind having that 1.5-billion-dollar difference between Cornell and NU's endowments.

icy9ff8

I wouldn't mind the $200 million difference between Northwestern & Penn, but I think that it is actually a bit higher--approximately $7.3 billion versus Penn's $6.8 billion. The point is that Northwestern University is one of the best schools in the world, let alone in the U.S. If you want to complain, you are free to do so--but some specifics would be helpful to understand your feelings of disappointment. Northwestern publishes to the world that 3% of its students won't or can't return for their sophomore year. Does the fault lie with the school as in an unmet promise? Or is it the student perhaps dealing with growing pains, changing interests or simply an improper match? "Laidback" is a mischacterization of the typical Northwestern student; perhaps it is the social life & nightlife that is too laidback for one who wants to be in NYC & Manhatten. patlees88: you miss the point. The point is that NU is great when measured by objective, verifiable standards. Trying to denigrate NU as a place for "Ivy rejects"--which is verifiably inaccurate--when it is just one unhappy camper venting his frustrations without specifics is unfair & unwarranted and immature. But he is free to do so, just as I am free to respond in a factual & verifiable fashion. Also, patslee, the answer is "yup", not "nope" as Wikipedia's $7billion does not determine NU's endowment. NU has at least $7.3 billion after the patent rights sale.

patlees88

^nope. Northwestern University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Besides, to put things into context, when a school has 'much' larger endowment, that would mean, as an example, the difference btwn Stanford and Penn, not NU and Penn. Stanford has endowment of over 17 bil, and this number absolutely dwarfs that of Penn's or other schools that you mentioned. But, 7 bil versus 6.8 or 6 billion doesn't imply much of significance.

Sam Lee

^true. The one that has 6.8 billion can easily be ahead of the one with 7 billion next year, depending on how the funds they've invested in perform.

BK22889

I don't know how many more times I can say it, NU is a good school. I would categorize my first post in this thread as being 90% positive. I was then asked to elaborate on why I was not 100% positive, and could not stress enough that it was for personal reasons that for the most part should not be noted by others- I do think there are some growing pains involved.

In terms of "laidback", I'm just going to say that the social scene is not very creative. Though I'm in a frat, so maybe I'm not exposing myself to enough else, I don't really here about students doing a whole lot off campus, either nightlife or otherwise.

From a "non-social" front, many students are involved in many things, and thats great. Honestly, being at the last block of DM this year was the time I was most proud to be a Northwestern student. At the same time, there are a lot of students here who I believe are just going through the motions, and don't have the desire to accomplish much more than they have to, which might be the case at any school, I DON'T KNOW. That being said, "many students are involved in many things".

I really don't know what else to say.

icy9ff8

BK: noone is really upset with you--in fact, I am a parent and I actually think that I know who you are and you have been complaining since your first month at NU and you spend a great deal of time drinking. I am almost certain that I know you. You were always complaining that you wanted to transfer. Again, not mad at you, but it is you and not Northwestern. And your best friend is angry that he didn't get into his first choice school. Right? If I am correct, you hang out with a very negative & non-productive group & your girlfriend recently split up with you.