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Is it really that great as everyone says?

Also, for a student that IS involved with the journalism program, do they have a lot of hands-on and other GREAT programs?

Also, could anyone else give me their opinions of the campus, dining, housing, students and the whole atmosphere of the university.

Thanks a lot. NU is quite possibly my top candidate school.

:D

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 06:45 pm: Edit

Lots of Medill students have internship opportunities. Many double major in other schools at Northwestern, naming English and Political Science as favorites for example.

By Journalismchic (Journalismchic) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 04:36 pm: Edit

Thanks. Any other opinions?

By Spunkymunky1 (Spunkymunky1) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 11:41 pm: Edit

I think they're required to do an internship at a newspaper junior year and I know three of their four classes freshman year are based in Weinberg. They have no foreign language requirement, which makes me a little peeved to say the least as a distressed Weinberg-er. Plus, Medill is recognized as the unofficial number one journalism school in the country so don't worry about quality of education.

Your other questions are so broad that I can't hope to answer them all.

I can just tell you that I'm extremely happy I chose NU, classes are tough, and the students are friendly. Ask more specific questions.

By Kk19131 (Kk19131) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 11:54 pm: Edit

Spunkymunky1: what year are you? I don't want to take a lang either, lol. Sigh....

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 01:41 am: Edit

Spunkymunky, I'm in Weinberg too but I may switch into SESP. You have no idea how mad I was when I saw all my freshman seminars, foreign language requirement (yes I fulfilled it) went straight to electives under SESP major worksheet. SESP does not have a language requirement either.

Makes me want to double major in SESP and Weinberg so I won't cry in vain over all my hard work to fulfill Weinberg classes. Haha.

By Spunkymunky1 (Spunkymunky1) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 05:08 pm: Edit

I'm a sophomore. I don't want to scare you guys too much about the foreign language requirement for Weinberg. Basically, you need a two-year proficiency, but it sucks for a few reasons:

Let's say you don't want to take Spanish anymore and want to try something new. However, you're stuck with either getting the foreign language requirement out of the way in a year or doing Chinese, Arabic, Swahili, or whatever for two years instead.

Some career paths simply don't require it; I don't think premeds particularly need it.

Foreign language courses tend to be of enough difficulty that if you slack off, you'll suffer.

For example, one of my friends slacked off in his last quarter of Spanish and finished with a C plus, not a good thing when applying to grad school.

Typically, foreign language courses have this setup:

Weekly quizzes
2 to 3 midterms
an oral at the end
a final

Plus, Weinberg has weird distro requirements (what's up with values requirements, tenisghs?) and freshman seminars with a mix of good/really bad profs teaching. You won't have unrestricted freedom until after soph. year in choosing ALL of your classes most likely in Weinberg. Just get through the first couple of years is what counselors tell me.

By Asianalto (Asianalto) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 05:31 pm: Edit

Sounds like NUs language courses are pretty much the same as everywhere else, so I wouldn't pay too much attention to that. Is it possible to pass out of the language requirement though? Like with credits from other colleges? Or SAT IIs?

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 07:21 pm: Edit

Asianalto, I took an online placement exam that placed me into 2nd-year foreign language. So I completed it in one year with an A my last quarter. Do not screw around with these classes. There are placement exams you can take online (if you didn't take AP exams or you didn't score high enough on AP/SAT II) that will place you in the respectable class.

Make sure to get 3/4 of your distribution requirements done by the end of sophomore year. It sucks to take a math or science class into your junior/senior years. I only need to take 2 values, a science and literature class. I can easily fulfill two of them before I start junior year. It's best to leave values classes last since they are the most-highly taken (yes, there are seniors in values classes).

Spunkmunky, the values classes are suppsose to make us more tolerant to religion and philosophy. It's a big waste IMO, but the Religion and Philosophy Depts will think otherwise.

Have you been considering switching into other schools? I'm considering SESP even though my Weinberg classes don't count for nothing there.

By Stanfordnualum (Stanfordnualum) on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 03:37 am: Edit

No need to worry about the course load in Weinberg. You can always find those from Tech to keep you company in libraries. 2 years of foreign language isn't that bad considering I was doing everything with English which isn't my native language. By the way, Weinberg's 45-credit requirement is pretty reasonable when compared to Tech's 48.