Northwestern will accept a new, optional supplement for college applications starting this admissions cycle.
Known as “Dialogues,” the program is part of the educational nonprofit Schoolhouse founded by Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy.
Dialogues offers users opportunities to have civil discussions about political and cultural issues, and following these conversations, students fill out a survey to share their reflections and peer feedback. Feedback, as well as the number of discussions, hours of discussions and topics discussed, are compiled into a Dialogues portfolio that students can now submit to select colleges.
NU is one of six institutions accepting the Dialogues portfolio for the 2025-26 admissions cycle. Other universities include the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Colby College and Washington University in St. Louis.
MIT and Vanderbilt are no longer participating in the pilot:
A statement provided by MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen confirmed that MIT will no longer be a Schoolhouse Dialogues university partner, and that undergraduate applications for the 2025-2026 cycle will not include the Dialogues portfolio as an optional supplement.
In May, we initiated a pilot project with Schoolhouse Dialogues, a third-party organization, to explore its potential to complement Vanderbilt’s existing programming to foster meaningful dialogue, respectful disagreement, and intellectual curiosity. After careful consideration and hearing some concerns, we have decided to end this pilot project at this time.
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