<p>I am a senior and my two top acceptances were Northwestern and Harvard. I’m interested in studying physics, religion, neuroscience, and playing classical and jazz saxophone in classes and small ensembles, even if I don’t major in music. I want to go to a school where I’ll make friends easily and be happy, and where people enjoy having philosophical conversations.
Please persuade me of why I should go to Northwestern and not Harvard.
Thanks.</p>
<p>You would be a rare person to choose Northwestern over Harvard. I was waitlisted at Harvard and would have attended had I gotten in. I did have an acceptance at a peer school, Yale, but decided against it in the end. As I mentioned before, I’m so happy with how things turned out and would choose Northwestern all over again. I had a fantastic experience and was and am extremely happy with my choice.</p>
<p>I do have to say that Harvard is not for everybody (I go here now for grad/professional school). It’s not explicitly cutthroat but it <em>is</em> competitive just because your peers are not only at the top (as you would find true at Northwestern as well) but also extremely driven to always be #1 or the next best thing. This kind of mentality has a significant impact on the atmosphere which is often inspiring but not always healthy. </p>
<p>At Northwestern, people are similarly topnotch and driven to excel but they have a healthier attitude towards achievement; they’re more concerned about doing their best and helping their peers do their best rather than always being the best in the group. Northwestern students seem to have an unspoken understanding that having a well-balanced life is important to them and ultimately what matters in the end. I think this mentality is a large part of why students at Northwestern were drawn to Northwestern in the first place. You would see this manifest itself in Northwestern’s vibrant but down-to-earth social atmosphere.</p>
<p>honestly, go to harvard, its a better school</p>
<p>Assuming that you’ve visited both schools and would be happy at either, very few would suggest that Harvard doesn’t have the better reputation. </p>
<p>A couple of thoughts – if you haven’t visited both schools do so. With my D a year ago, we visited H and did the tour, and she said she didn’t like the school and didn’t want to apply there. As parents, we agreed that it wasn’t the best fit.</p>
<p>So, in essence, she rejected Harvard (before they had the opportunity to reject her). If you visit and have a bad reaction to the school, it’s hard to recommend going there.</p>
<p>I went to Northwestern a hundred years ago. I have some musical ability but was saddened to realize that only music majors – who, at Northwestern, are incredibly talented – would have the opportunity to do music. The moderately talented, like me, did not have that opportunity.</p>
<p>“I’m interested in studying physics, religion, neuroscience, and playing classical and jazz saxophone in classes and small ensembles, even if I don’t major in music. I want to go to a school where I’ll make friends easily and be happy, and where people enjoy having philosophical conversations.
Please persuade me of why I should go to Northwestern and not Harvard.”</p>
<p>I won’t be able to persuade you in the short space and time provided on this forum, but evidently I with the aid of my suitemates at 1835 Hinman did manage to persuade an overnight visitor to choose Northwestern over Princeton. His interests were remarkably similar though not exact to yours: Chemistry, religion, neuroscience, and playing classical music. My suitemates who engaged him in a spontaneous all night discussion were very diverse and eclectic: a premed (did become a physician), an athlete, two engineering majors, a mathematics major, and a sociology major (later became a professor who studied social change). We discussed many topics including religion vs atheism and agnosticism, the advantage some third world countries may have had when it came to bonding within families and friends, the role of literature in modern society. At the end of the night he said this was precisely the type of environment he was looking for which he hadn’t seen on his visit at Princeton. I still expected him to chose Princeton but was pleasantly surprised when I saw him the following year at Northwestern. I’m sure you can find what you are looking for at Harvard or Northwestern (or for that matter at Princeton) if you run into the right students. But the suite system at 1835 Hinman was very good at bringing together a diverse array of students into one close living space. I think to engage in the best philosophical discussions you need participants from diverse backgrounds and opinions to fuel debate. The suite system at 1835 Hinman did that particularly well though I found it in other living arrangements at NU and I also think the strengths in the varied schools of Northwestern (WCAS, engineering, speech, music, journalism) adds to the diversity as well. College is the best time to engage people with disparate viewpoints since opportunities get more limited later in life. Good luck with your choice.</p>
<p>My son graduated from Harvard last year. My daughter is a sophomore at Northwestern (McCormick) now. Neither school is for everyone, so you need to think about what it is that you are looking for. I have to disagree with the person who said that everyone at Harvard wants to be #1. My son was a physics major (now in grad school), and he talked much more about collaboration than competition. As for music Harvard has enormous opportunities for everyone, probably because there are no performance majors. Northwestern has a zillion extracurricular activities, and your only danger is that you might overcommit. My daughter was waitlisted at Harvard and ultimately didn’t get in, but I’m happy about that because it would not have been the right place for her. She is a real “doer”, and, although she is amazingly smart and accomplished, she is not as cerebral as her brother. She has her eye on her future, and she wants a great education so that she can become an engineer. NU seems to fit that personality. My son is more interested in the process of learning than in what will happen later (which is why he’ll probably be in school forever), and Harvard seemed to fit that well. Neither school coddles its students as the smaller top schools seem to (Williams, Amherst, etc.). One thing is really important, and that is money. If you come from a background of wealth or small means, then it probably won’t matter (both schools will give you nothing or big $$$ respectively). However, if you are in the middle class, Harvard will give you lots of financial aid, whereas Northwestern won’t give you anything. That is the only thing I regret about my daughter’s not going to Harvard. Try to visit both schools and get a feel for the atmosphere. We live near Harvard, so I can’t really judge my first impression of it. When we went to Northwestern with my daughter in April 2010, we couldn’t get over the enthusiasm of the student body and the friendliness of the community. You don’t get that mid-western warmth here in Massachusetts. They are both great schools; lots of people would envy your dilemma. Good luck to you.</p>
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<p>^Not NOTHING- my family was pretty solidly middle class and I got a surprisingly generous financial aid package at NU. Excellent contribution though- sadly (for me) NU is definitely more focused on doing than on intellectual pursuits- I chalk it up to the pragmatic midwestern roots. That and the professional schools (McCormick, Medill, parts of Comm, Music (performance), and parts of SESP are all professional programs).</p>
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<p>Our D is not a music major, and she has been offered many more opportunities to do music at NU than she has time for. She performs with an a cappella group and takes private voice (non-majors have to audition and pay an extra fee) but has also been offered many chances to play in small ensembles (she’s a flute player), marching band, etc.</p>
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<p>It wasn’t 100 years ago, but more than 25… and there were always non-music majors in marching band, concert band, and jazz bands and I’m sure there are similar or better opportunities now. And I will absolutely guarantee that the overall music environment is better than at Harvard… Here’s a link from the website about which ensembles allow non-majors:
[Performing</a> Ensembles: Bienen School of Music - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/ensembles/index.html]Performing”>http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/ensembles/index.html)</p>
<p>I have some colleagues over at Harvard. They like it alright. I’m really enjoying my time here at NU (though it’s different for us graduate students vs. undergrads in terms of what you’re looking for).</p>
<p>The problem with forums and others’ opinions is that you can only be so informed, whereas the qualia really comes from your experience and no one else’s. Visit both schools and decide for yourself.</p>
<p>As a current student at Northestern, I can largely affirm Wildcatalum’s, and MomCares’ comments. Although the attitude is competitive (as one would expect from any top-notch university), it is anything but cutthroat, and that general midwestern friendliness pervades almost all parts of the campus.</p>
<p>With regards to music, I myself am a music major (among other things), but there are definitely a plethora of opportunities for the non-major community. In addition to the institutionalized non-major ensembles (both run by the school and student-run) that MomCares and Jakeami mentioned, there are lots of other options: People (mainly jazz students) also play in local restaurants (I actually just got asked last if I wanted to play for a couple of afternoons in a sandwich place called Soulwich), student-run musical theater productions occasionally use non-majors in pit orchestras, and composition students are always looking for people to perform their works, just to name a few. The bottom line is that Northwestern (musically speaking) is open to any group or person that has an idea and the initiative to achieve it; an all whistling acapella group was started last year, and an entirely student-run extracurricular orchestra was founded this year, and there’s no reason why you couldn’t carve out your own musical niche as well if the current options available don’t suit you.</p>
<p>As far as having philosophical discussions go, I have nothing but anecdotal evidence to really give you. My general experience is that most students are intellectually engaged on a range of issues outside of their areas of focus, and that if you make the right friends, you can converse with them for hours on any number of topics. There are plenty of more institutionalized paths for discussions as well, like the residential colleges. (On the subject of anecdotal evidence, I met a recent graduate who studied neuroscience at Northwestern and now does research for them downtown. He also played piano on the side and dabbled in violin, I believe. We had a number of interesting conversations ranging from the music of Wagner to the nature of Eastern Orthodox Christianity to the role of different sensory receptors in determining taste. Like I said, just an anecdote, but I thought it might be relevant.)</p>
<p>As a student at NU, I’m obviously biased. I can’t confirm whether or not Harvard or other universities offer the same experiences as the one’s I’ve describe above, but I can say with certainty that my experience at Northwestern has been all I could have asked for.</p>
<p>One final point: consider the location as well. IMO, Evanston is every bit as good as Cambridge and Chicago beats the pants off of Boston.</p>
<p>I want to make it clear that I am in no way dissing Northwestern, nor am I saying that got7th should go to Harvard instead. I’m not sure if it came out that way. My daughter is happy happy happy. I still believe that the atmosphere at the two schools is different, but not because one is more cutthroat than the other. As for Chicago beating the pants off of Cambridge/Boston, that is really a matter of taste. I LOVE visiting Chicago - it’s an amazing city, and I like it more than NYC (where I was raised). However, its flatness drives me nuts. For someone who likes hiking and nature, I think Boston is fabulous; being near the ocean, the White Mountains, and the Berkshires (and skiing) can’t be beat, except maybe by California, with its range of terrain. </p>
<p>arbiter213, your parents must have been real wizards at filling out the FAFSA (or they are in business for themselves so they can hide stuff, which people with a salary can’t do). Or they have an amazing accountant. There is, however, another possible factor that might have hurt us in terms of financial aid. Harvard looks at where you live when they consider your real estate holdings as a part of your assets. The housing market in the Boston area is very expensive, so even though we live in a modest 3-bedroom house with about 7000 sq. feet of property, our house valuation is very high, so it looks like we have a ton of money. Northwestern considers that an asset, whereas Harvard took our location into account when figuring out an aid package. Anyway, I’m glad that you got some money out of Northwestern. We did last year because we had two kids in college, but not this year. </p>
<p>Anyway, got7th, try to visit both!!! My kids’ guidance counselor said, “I’ll let you apply anywhere you want to, but I won’t let you go to any school that you haven’t visited.” I thought that was good advice.</p>
<p>I actually filled out my own Fafsa- what probably helped was that my parents are divorced with joint custody, but by default one is “non custodial”, meaning only a fraction of his income is expected as a contribution.</p>
<p>Just a note on financial aid. We’re upper middle class and we got decent aid from Northwestern… It’s a pricey school, but our cost to go there was the same as at Macalester, Pomona, and a few other schools, so I can’t complain. I know we would have gotten more from Harvard (didn’t apply).</p>
<p>Also, wanted to mention that my D decided not to apply to Stanford - didn’t like it… just didn’t feel right to her… but did like NU. So prestige isn’t the only thing one should consider. Figure out which school fits YOU the best if you can. They are both good enough schools that you can do whatever you want and your success will be more a matter of what you make of the school than the difference between the schools.</p>
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<p>Visit Seattle sometime. ;-D</p>
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<p>For what it’s worth, we are too and didn’t get a dime (except unsubsidized loans which were of no interest to us). ;-D</p>
<p>Go to NU.
- If you’re doubting Harvard, it’s got to be for a pretty good reason.
- Northwestern still gets you stellar academics, but at the same time you have a (let’s be blatant here) FUNNER atmosphere.
- You only live once. So why not make your college years more enjoyable?
- Chicago proximity (granted, Boston /Cambridge is nice too), Big 10 sports (even though NU doesn’t exactly win win win no matter what), and lack of East Coast pretentiousness (I mean, every school has their dbags, but they’re pretty avoidable in Evanston).
- I don’t know what EnoughAlready is talking about when it comes to aid…my family’s very standard upper-middle class and the aid package I received…let’s just say it was enough to make me start hyperventilating, and NU is now wayyy cheaper than in-state public school.
- We can hang! --Just accepted to Medill :)</p>
<p>I would choose NU. I was accepted NU Arts and Sciences and not Music, so I can’t go, but I just think it’s an amazing school. NU is friendly and nerdy in a great way, and when I visited Harvard, it was unfriendly and the admissions people were very pretentious.</p>
<p>Harvard…</p>
<p>“NU is friendly and nerdy in a great way, and when I visited Harvard, it was unfriendly and the admissions people were very pretentious.”</p>
<p>I think the people at Harvard are pretty friendly (well, my son’s circle of friends was) but you are absolutely right about admissions. They think the sun shines out of their collective behind.</p>