<p>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.</p>
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<p>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.</p>
<p>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</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>I highly recommend that anyone who can visit NU, try to visit a couple of classes, and decide for yourself.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t mind having that 1.5-billion-dollar difference between Cornell and NU’s endowments.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>^nope. [Northwestern</a> University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwestern_University]Northwestern”>Northwestern University - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>^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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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”.</p>
<p>I really don’t know what else to say.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>definitely got the wrong person</p>
<p>icy9ff8,</p>
<p>I think you got the wrong person. I thought BK’s post was 90% positive. NU isn’t perfect and I don’t expect everyone would give it 100/100. </p>
<p>BK,
If you go by #people winning Fulbright and awards like that, NU is comparable to other top schools. Last year, NU had the 4th-highest number of winners. <a href=“US Fulbright Program - Home Page”>US Fulbright Program - Home Page; I honestly believe NU students are as driven as others overall. Otherwise, NU wouldn’t be a target for just about every top investment banking and management consulting firm, which looks for not only smart but highly motivated and driven people. There will be people who are “just going through the motions” but you will find the same in other top schools too.</p>
<p>haha, icy, believe it or not, there are quite a few people at every school who aren’t 100% content w/ their school, even students at the good schools. There was a poster on CC who wasn’t happy at cornell, so transferred to NU, and wasn’t happy there so tranferred to UPenn. I myself personally know at least 3 friends from my h.s. who aren’t happy with NU, although my other friends there love NU.</p>
<p>i think i know whom you are talking about. is he happy there now? i hope he won’t be upset when he discovers penn doesn’t have higher SAT than nu. ;)</p>
<p>last time i heard, he was complaining how the strangers on the streets didn’t think UPenn was prestigious enough. He said that normal people think of Penn State when they hear UPenn. This person must be one of the most pathetic human beings i ever saw here on CC, to attend 3 different top schools in just 3 years bc of the perceived prestige. I even saw this poster’s facebook profile a while ago, and he had like 6 friends from NU and cornell combined.</p>
<p>patslee88: Yes, of course I know that. That is what the “average freshman retention rate” figures take into account. Sorry if I have the wrong person, although I can verify this. It is interesting because the person I thought it was is unusual for Northwestern & his group has had a couple of hospitalizations for excessive alcohol. Gold chains, tough guy attitude, the world revolves around NYC & Northern NJ. And they drink every single night. And it is difficult to do well at a demanding school under these circumstances. There aren’t too many freshman frat members who complain like this student. Sorry if I am wrong, but if I am not, I understand the issues in this case. Sorry BK, I am sure that I confused you with another student.</p>
<p>consider it verified, you without a doubt have the wrong person</p>
<p>lol so your girlfriend didn’t just break up with you and you don’t waste all your time drinking? this thread has turned into yellow journalism/soap opera status</p>
<p>This is so random. how were you guys able to trace his online identity to his real-life identity?</p>
<p>Here’s a statistical sample of actual student choices as between Ivies and others if anyone’s interested.</p>
<p>[The</a> New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/09/17/weekinreview/20060917_LEONHARDT_CHART.html]The”>The New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices)</p>