<p>Interesting contrasts…</p>
<p>[Mother</a>, Daughter and the Delicate Dance of Decision-making - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/momu18/]Mother”>Mother, Daughter and the Delicate Dance of Decision-making - The New York Times)</p>
<p>I thought I saw the author in the Office of Undergrad admissions and did a double-take. </p>
<p>I’m of the mind that almost any publicity is good publicity. NY Times has a disproportionately east-coast readership, so I think it’s good to remind well-educated east coasters that NU absolutely exists and there is a world beyond the Ivies, sister-Ivies, MIT, Duke, G’Town, etc.</p>
<p>With that said, this article could not have been less valuable if it tried. The series is supposed to be about an in-depth, real-time loook at a daughter’s college process through the eyes of the mother. </p>
<p>In my view, this series is a chance for a mother to show off what a great writer she is and use her daughter’s college process as a convenient backdrop. I love reading NY Times’ The Choice, but this series is frustrating. There is so much to discuss when visiting a school like NU (especially after visiting UChicago). </p>
<p>Long story short: NU is more diverse and less intellectual than UChicago while maintaining the highest of academic standards. Wow. I’m stunned and am sure that the educated, intellectually curious NY Times reading population was equally enlightened.</p>
<p>
I agree. The academic standards are very comparable when you compare Northwestern to other schools and may in fact be surprising. The below stats were from another forum and compare Northwestern with Stanford, but they are pretty impressive:</p>
<p>“Academically in 2009, (Northwestern) had slightly higher SAT scores (NU: 1360-1530 combined, Stanford: 1340-1540 combined), more National Merit scholars (NU: 246 (#2 behind Harvard’s 266), Stanford: 110), more Fulbright scholars (NU: 32 (#1), Stanford: 28), more Gates Cambridge scholars (NU: 5 (#1) (4 through NU), Stanford (3), and more Rhodes scholars (NU: 2 (only Princeton had more with 3), Stanford:1 ).”</p>
<p>basically it shows that we offer both undergrad academics on par with uchicago plus a better social scene. and a traditional campus in a safe, suburban neighborhood, with access to downtown chicago in less than an hour. doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me.</p>
<p>^ I agree wholeheartedly.</p>