Visit Report by indiejimmy (Member since September 08 2007 with 486 posts) Visit Date - April 2008
Visit to Northwestern University in April 2008 by indiejimmy (Student, HS Class of 2008)
Visit Activities:
Admissions Interview:
Yes - Group interviews were pretty lame. I thought I did the worst in this interview, and the guy I was speaking with wasn't exactly brilliant (Marketing executive). Information Session:
Yes - Wildcat Days at the end of April (right before May 1; thanks a lot NU!). Campus Tour:
Yes - My friend gave my mom and me our own little tour. Classroom Visit:
Yes - Visited an organic chem lecture. I talked to two students, asking them how they liked NU, and my question was met with not only lukewarm responses, but they actually looked at each other and laughed.
Northwestern University Campus:
Friendliness/Courtesy of Students: 3 - Good -
Being called "prospie" and referred to in conversations indefinitely as "a prospie" and definitely as "the prospie" didn't exactly make me feel like a welcomed membe
Friendliness/Courtesy of Staff: 4 - Very Good -
They seemed pretty dumb. The WCAS dean's speech to the visiting prospies was pathetic. Maybe this is irrelevant though? They were very nice and courteous.
Appearance of Campus: 4 - Very Good -
The lakefill is the coolest thing I have ever seen on any college campus. Everything else was nice but not spectacular; there were lots of dirt patches, and some of the buildings were quite bland.
Building/Facilities Maintenance/Cleanliness: 4 - Very Good -
It definitely was not immaculate.
Dormitories: 3 - Good -
Bobb has pretty crappy facilities and small rooms, and Hinman has a terrible cafeteria, at least compared to some other schools I visited.
Security/Safety: 4 - Very Good -
Pretty safe, I'd say. It's in a city, though, so there is some element of concern I guess. It's nothing like Columbia or U of C, though, haha.
Overall Campus Impression: 5 - Excellent -
The campus' location and components really impressed me, especially the lakefill and the indoor tennis facility. I was very surprised by NU's great location and urban but not-so-urban feel.
Off-Campus:
Area Immediately Around Campus: 5 - Excellent -
Lots of little restaurants and shops and movie theaters and bars. Evanston is a great little college town/city!
City/Town/Community: 5 - Excellent -
Evanston and Chicago are both spectacular cities!
Campus Visit Notes for Northwestern University:
Visit Description:
I really wanted to love Northwestern. I came into this campus visit with NU as my #1 choice and was looking for some confirmation of what my intuition and research had led me to believe about the school. However, NU came up very short in my book
It all began with the WCAS dean's speech to the visiting prospies; this speech was honestly one of the worst speeches I have ever heard and seemed to say nothing significantly or demonstrate any kind of concern or care for the students. Secondly disappointing was the student/faculty presentations for different departments at the school. One girl proudly gave the advice of prospies not to get the "pre-disease" and ambitiously believe that you are pre-med or pre-law during your freshman year. She apparently was pre-med, could not handle the workload, and is now an art history major. This "advice" seemed not only ridiculous but just plain stupid. Especially in the context; she is trying to convince students of NU's value as a school and is making stupid comments like that? What impression am I supposed to have of the students after seeing something like that?
Also, the "science" department presentation was done by a psychology professor/student. I'm sorry, but since when is psychology considered science? I did not get to see ANYTHING about chemistry or economics, both of which I was interested in getting a taste of (and probably MANY other prospies as well). After all, how good an idea is it to use psychology in a panel discussion on the school's science departments? I'm sure that turned off many of the other prospective science majors.
The panel discussion on student life was the icing on the cake, the cake being me not going to Northwestern. A cocky theater major who bragged about turning down Columbia, a jobless Creative Writing major who joked about never making any money, and a clueless Dance major comprised this panel that is supposed to be representative of NU students. My questions were never answered with any kind of depth, and I was so severely disappointed by this that I walked around campus alone for the next hour rethinking my impression of the school, since I loved the school before learning about its inner workings through these panels.
While I know that using simply a day's worth of activities to assess a college is not the wisest way to choose where one will attend, the overall vibes I got from the campus and the highly heterogeneous student body did not at all welcome me or inspire confidence in how I would fit into this renowned research university. Because that's what Northwestern is, a renowned research university. I don't want to attend a renowned research university, though; I'd much rather attend a less-renowned, more community oriented university or college, one in which I can feel valued and be pushed by my peers to do my best and grow academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. NU will definitely be on my list in four years when applying for medical school, but I think it really comes up short in terms of the overall undergraduate experience it provides.
Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:
Hotel Orrington is nice but expensive. I stayed at the Best Western, the parking lot of which reminded me of the neighborhoods around U of C (lol..that is BAD, for those of you unfamiliar with U of C)
Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:
There are so many great ones, I can't really make any definitive recommendations!
Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):
Definitely not a car school. Mass transit would suffice for the needs of most students.
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Being called "prospie" and referred to in conversations indefinitely as "a prospie" and definitely as "the prospie" didn't exactly make me feel like a welcomed membe
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They seemed pretty dumb. The WCAS dean's speech to the visiting prospies was pathetic. Maybe this is irrelevant though? They were very nice and courteous.
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The campus' location and components really impressed me, especially the lakefill and the indoor tennis facility. I was very surprised by NU's great location and urban but not-so-urban feel.