<p>I’ve heard some rumors that a lot of students at Northwestern are “stuck up,” a.k.a. feel they “entitled” or are bitter ivy league wannabes. How true are these stereotypes?</p>
<p>All elite schools would have some small fraction of people carrying some sense of entitlement. Northwestern isn’t an exception. But if anything, Northwestern would have less of those than the Ivies since I believe those schools have more sons/daughters/relatives of the entrenched social elites or old money.</p>
<p>There’s really no such thing as “bitter ivy league wannabes”. There’s no breakup of a 10-yr relationship here. People move on and don’t think about the Ivies as soon as the first quarter starts!</p>
<p>A lot of NU students come from the Midwest where NU is considered highly prestigious, more so than most of the Ivies. Overall, I don’t really even hear NU being compared to them, as people feel NU is a special place with a special niche among top schools. Most people feel lucky to be accepted here.</p>
<p>Because NU is highly ranked, we will of course share cross-applicants with Ivies and many who don’t get into them come to us (and so do many who do get in), but keep in mind that these rejects aren’t really settling for a less smart student body if you look at numbers. It’s also not like every highly qualified student gets in here. Most get turned down, and sometimes, those whom we deny are accepted by Ivies.</p>
<p>Sure, some might worry that NU is not as prestigious as some of the Ivies, but I doubt they think about this on a daily basis to have a meaningful effect on others around them. At the very least, people do realize that NU is highly prestigious nationally and come to realize that worrying about slight differences in prestige is silly.</p>
<p>A lot of my friends didn’t even apply to any Ivies! They’re happy to be here.</p>
<p>thanks, this is all good to know</p>