goankit

how is intellectual life at northwestern, do people talk about academics outside class? i'm afraid by some of the people that are going there arent intellectual esp compared to my other choice, georgetown.

CCCollegiate

Seriously? NU is a pretty big deal. Rankings may be rather useless, but they're rooted in a great bit of truth. NU? Tied for 14th with Brown and Hopkins. Georgetown? 23rd.

I'd definitely say Northwestern is a university rather entrenched in academia. I don't think the level of intellectual life should be any big of trouble to you.

sanjenferrer

I sense that you were denied by NU, but if you were accepted, please don't come here. Northwestern students are on the same plane as the Georgetown's. Given that they attract similar types, how could one school end up significantly more "intellectual"?

Sam Lee

Georgetown's most known program is SFS, a great training ground for future politicians, not intellectuals; though the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, the politicians these days seem to say otherwise...lol. Other than that, NU is ranked higher in pretty much all other "academic" fields.

goankit

smartness doesnt mean intellectual atmosphere, people can be smart but not be necessarily actively involved in academic life. i dont doubt that people are smart there, most smarter than me , but i wanted to know if academics transcended the classroom.

Sam Lee

If you are looking for more intensely intellectual atmosphere, you should be looking at UChicago, not Georgetown. I'd say Georgetown is no more intellectual than NU and vice versa. So this shouldn't be your decision rule.

goankit

i also got ionto uchicago, but i was just wondering if there is an intellectual atmosphere at nu too. i like the flexibility of nu's curriculum better

Sam Lee

UChicago and Columbia have more intellectual atmosphere; other than that, I'd say NU has comparable intellectual atmosphere as most other peers. I know that NU has rigorous undergrad programs in MENU (math), ISP (science), and Kaplan Scholars (humanities) and there are good number of students in them; so obviously, NU has good number of people who are into intellectual pursuit, other than just being smart.

calcalcalcalcal

I'd say Northwestern's intellectual life is split into 3rds: first the awkward, "nerdy" virgins of all things social and sexual; second, the preppy, fratty, Greek crowd who were undoubtedly in the "popular" group in high school and may or may not be intelligent; and third, the cool, intellectual crowd, often journalism or philosophy or film majors, who tend to be more driven and individualistic than the other thirds. They're better looking than the nerd third, not so attractive as the preppy third, but definitely the ones you'll want to have conversations with at a party.

Compared to U Chicago, Northwestern students may seem less "intellectual." Conversations are less likely to be about what you're learning in class. But if you hated the idiots in high school, if you have an esoteric taste in literature or music or film, if you think you belong to any of the groups I've mentioned, you definitely won't be alone. For my first quarter I was really amazed by a lot of the people I met. Northwestern really attracts some of the smartest kids in the country, but compared to UofC it has a MUCH more normal social scene.

neumes

calx5, do the music school kids fit into the third batch?

icy9ff8

As a parent I cannot answer your question other than by repeating a statistic that impressed me. Northwestern University's entering class last Fall had the third highest number of National Merit Scholars trailing only Harvard & Texas (which has an undergraduate student enrollment of approximately 34,000 according to USNews). According to what I read, 12.2% of the class (one in eight students) of 2011 is a NMS at Northwestern. Although this doesn't specifically address your question, the potential is there. My impression is that Northwestern is more intellectual than Georgetown simply because the caliber of student tends to be a bit higher at NU when measured by class rank & SAT I scores. Of course, much depends upon what you mean by intellectual. If discussion about world affairs is intellectual to you, then Georgetown's School of Foreign Service wins. Northwestern's studentbody is probably most similiar to Penn & Cornell. All three of which are a bit above Georgetown in my opinion. None of the four schools, however, are intellectual in the same vein as Chicago, Swarthmore & Reed. Smarter, yes; more accomplished, probably; more intellectual, probably not.

BK22889

I know very little bit about Georgetown, but as a freshman at Northwestern, while I recognize that students here are very smart, there does seem to be a lack of "the intellectually curious". by no means is it completely lacking, but I feel like if this something you need, which some people certainly do, uchicago might be a better bet, as would some of the lac's (don't know where else you got in)

yes, northwestern students are smart, and probably there is a much more intellectual attitude than at other big ten schools, but at the end of the day, smart and intellectual aren't the same thing

arbiter213

BK, do you live on North or south campus? I feel like what you've said is only definitely true of the North Campus. South campus is inarguably more intellectual than North Campus.

BK22889

i live in elder. and i agree that it appears that south campus is more "intellectual", though i still don't know if it can rival some of our peer institutions, there are certainly very intellectual people, i personally just don't how many

RisingSun

I mean, you can throw around statistics and rankings and whatever, but here's how it is. At northwestern, it is more likely than not that you will find yourself in a clique of good friends. And that clique really determines how intellectual you will find your experience. My first year at NU was far more social-oriented, and I didn't get much outlet for my intellectual side. But this year, I live among 4 very interesting and diverse people and we have the most invigorating intellectual discussions. It's really about who you hang out with, but trust me, these people exist, you just have to find them. (In short, yes, it is there, but it is not the dominant feature of social interaction).