Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

I am trying to narrow my college list to about 6. Northwestern is currently on my list of about 9 prospective schools. Since a lot of you seem very knowledgable and seem to really love Northwestern, I was wondering, if you could tell me why I should keep Northwestern on my final list? What are the best things about Northwestern? Thanks for all your help and good luck to everyone.

By Tomcat8272 (Tomcat8272) on Sunday, August 08, 2004 - 01:07 am: Edit

How do I love Northwestern? Let me count the ways.

1. Beautiful lake-side campus just north of Chicago
2. Excellent programs in a wide variety of subjects (including my favs, communications and journalism)
3. Interesting, smart, diverse group of students
4. Big Ten Athletics (even though we suck, hehe)
5. So many AWESOME extracurriculars- whether you're into club sports, newspaper, theatre, band, ASG, Dance Marathon- there is something for you there!

It'd help to know what other schools you were looking at so as to provide a comparison. But I think you should apply to NU no matter what! Wahoo

By Mosquito86 (Mosquito86) on Sunday, August 08, 2004 - 04:42 am: Edit

To help you out, could you include some info: your major, your interests, your activities, your preferences, your location, your goals, what you want out of a college experience, and what other colleges you are considering (not so we can diss them..but so we can assess the type of places you are interested).

By Dukeda1 (Dukeda1) on Sunday, August 08, 2004 - 03:58 pm: Edit

I live in NC and am very, very involved in athletics (basketball, cross country, track) and would probably try (keyword: try) to walk-on the basketball team at Northwestern, if I ended up going there. I am sort of leaning toward engineering but that is far from being set in stone. My ideal college would include many of the things mentioned above: a diverse & generally friendly (not stuck up) student-body, a beautiful campus, plenty to do on and near the university, small class sizes, and not necessarily a small college, but somewhere that has a sort of personal feel (if that makes any sense).

Here are the other schools that are on my current list...
Duke (reach)
Stanford (reach)
Yale (huge reach)
Lehigh (match/reach)
NYU (match/reach)
NC State (saftey)

Thanks again for all your help! I really appreciate everything!!!

By Mosquito86 (Mosquito86) on Sunday, August 08, 2004 - 11:04 pm: Edit

NU from a glance over seems like a good fit for you.

Athletics is prominent at the school. It has a good engineering department (esp good at things related to business). It's very well-rounded overall, so if you decide not to go for engineering..you'll still be part of a great department. NU is prolly not as diverse as NYU..but it's pretty mixed. As well, people do seem to be very friendly. You'll find stuck up people at most private schools..so I'm not saying NU doesnt have them..but the whole school isn't like that. It certainly has a gorgeous campus. It's also a midsize university..you'll have small classes...but not too small.

By Dukeda1 (Dukeda1) on Monday, August 09, 2004 - 06:45 pm: Edit

Thanks for everyone's help again. Anyone else???

By Buckwald (Buckwald) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 05:38 pm: Edit

Who says we suck at athletics? We went to a bowl game in football- how many teams can say that. And in basketball we got TJ Parker- brother is all-star point gaurd for Spurs; just got Michael Thompson- 6foot-10inch. mcdonalds all-american forward who transfered from Duke; and another transfer- Bernard Cote- 6foot-9inch Forward from the Kentucky Wilcats who has great shot. Oh yea, anyone check out redshirt freshman Kim Thompson in football- 6foot4inch wide reciever who was a track star in high school and will be next randy moss! Northwestern Wilcats- rock on!

By Stanfordnualum (Stanfordnualum) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 07:07 pm: Edit

Dukeda1,

I think you should add NU. In terms of entrance difficulty, it's right in the middle among the schools on your list. NU's engineering program overall is second only to Stanford (better than Duke and Yale).

By Tomcat8272 (Tomcat8272) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 11:16 pm: Edit

Buckwald,

Actually you're right- this year looks very good for NU sports, especially basketball! And I agree NU has some really good teams like womens lacrosse and tennis (those girls could all probably kick my ass, hehe).

But I mean come on NU has had a rough history with the basketball and football (except for those few bright years in the 90s). I hope maybe this is the season mens bball makes it to the NCAA tournament.

By Slipper2002 (Slipper2002) on Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 04:57 pm: Edit

If you are good enough to walk on NU- why not leverage that and get into an Ivy for B-ball like Penn, Dartmouth, or Brown.

By Hdotchar (Hdotchar) on Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 08:41 pm: Edit

you're not applying to UNC?

By Hdotchar (Hdotchar) on Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 08:41 pm: Edit

you're not applying to UNC?