Do you love your alma mater?

NUwildcat92
Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:32:20 +0000

I love my undergrad alma mater (Northwestern) but, ironically, didn’t have a particularly great experience there. Part of that was my own fault (personal maturity + struggled academically), but part was due to the consistently poor quality of teaching in my major (Computer Science). I think the school of engineering has become a lot better since I left (25 years ago). Anyway, I’ve been a consistent donor for the past 20 years, NU sticker on my car, living and dying with each football & basketball game, etc. Go Cats!

That said…D1 is a HS Senior, NU is her #1 choice, and we’re waiting to hear back from Admissions right now. If she gets rejected, I fear my attitude toward NU is in for an abrupt change. It’s not fair, I know.

As for my graduate alma mater (Notre Dame), I’m kind of meh even though I had a fabulous experience there. Part of it is ND’s strong Catholic identity (I’m Protestant) and part of it is that I didn’t have the on-campus experience that really binds you emotionally to a school.