<p>Hi,to the current NU students, I'm just wondering what your thoughts are about the size of the school, and its relation to the campus size. Does it ever feel like it's too crowded (density-wise?), or are you ever lost within the crowd? After researching other schools with similar academic excellence, it seems that most of the other schools have a smaller student body with a larger campus (ex. Duke's 13.5k undergrads with 8k acres, to NU's 16.5k undergrads with 240 acres. UPenn has ~20.5k undergrads, a bit more, but still has a much larger campus with 990acres).</p>
<p>Also, with the quarter system: any insights into that by northwestern students specifically? perks and disadvantages?</p>
<p>Instead of responding with scathing sarcasm as was my original impulse because I’m in a bad mood, I’ll respond like this instead:
NU
Students 16,640 (10-11)[3]
Undergraduates 8,397 (10-11)[3]
Postgraduates 7,870 (10-11)[3]</p>
<p>Duke
Students 13,662[8]
Undergraduates 6,400[9]
Postgraduates 7,262[9]</p>
<p>Penn’s actual campus is only 300 acres. 92 of the 990 you give are the arboretum off campus, and 600 acres are the veterinary school campus well away.</p>
<p>So one: Do better research.</p>
<p>Does campus feel cramped? Not at all. Its more or less the perfect size. I would say it would be nice if there were more dorms on campus, but no, the campus does not feel cramped. In fact, I’ve never heard of anyone ever complain about that about any school, ever. Except maybe Columbia. Certainly none that were not in a city.</p>
<p>And the quarter system is good because it is rigorous, thus better preparing you, because its flexible, allowing time off for internships more easily, and because it allows you to take a greater variety of classes and easily double and triple major.</p>
<p>A disadvantage of the quarter system, at least at my school, is generally some classes will have 3 tests/3 papers (at the 1/3 marks) or 2 tests/papers (at the 1/2 marks). This means that most quarters, once the first midterm hits at the 3rd or 4th week, it’s pretty much midterms/finals/projects/papers almost every week the rest of the way, with maybe a chill week or two thrown in. </p>
<p>Also your schedule is off for some summer internships as well as seeing friends during break (unless your friends are also quarter system). </p>
<p>That said, quarter system in my opinion is far better than the semester system for reasons Arbiter mentioned. Also I’ll add it’s generally less classes at any given time. At my school most people take around 3-4 legit classes per quarter.</p>
<p>What arbiter said.
The frats are on the northern end of campus, as in north of the Technological Institute.
With the quarter system, if you don’t like a particular course, at least it will be over quickly. On the other hand, the quarter system allows you to sample more courses each year than the semester system, allowing for easier double majors.</p>
<p>woops, forgot to delete “undergraduates” after i revised the numbers to match total amount of students. my bad. </p>
<p>and thank you arbiter, for controlling your rage and providing helpful info. i was really concerned with the higher density compared to other schools, but i appreciate your student’s point of view.</p>
<p>on that note: how hard is it to get noticed by your professors? will they ever learn your names and remember your academic progress in their classes?</p>
<p>Again, yes- if you talk to them. The student:faculty ratio is actually very low, around 7:1. And the number of grad students on campus has almost no effect on undergraduate life. The law and med students are on the Chicago Campus, grad students are your TAs, and Kellogg students never venture away from the Kellogg building or the Allen Center. NU is a mid-size, not a large, university. UPenn is borderline large, and Duke is borderline small, though both are still classified as mid-size.</p>
<p>I’m very close with a few of my professors, either from being in special programs (which, if any interest you, I highly recommend), or just talking to them or striking a raport. I have coffee with a few of them on occasion just to catch up.</p>
<p>I forgot to answer: Frat houses are all at the very north end of campus. They surround Slivka. Most are in quads along sheridan road. In short, all the empty space around that seeming grid of black dots at the north end of campus.</p>
<p>Freshmen in their fall quarters cannot, and there are GPA requirements/ approval necessary. As a freshman you must have a 3.5 (that is, you must get a 3.5 in fall) to take an overload in winter. More than 5 requires special permission, but is definitely done</p>
<p>I’ve never felt, as you put it, “lost in a crowd”. Part of that does have to do with the size to student ratio - it’s very manageable and I never feel overwhelmed by the number of people, with perhaps the exception of a very large class. These seem quite rare, as when I told people my Russian Lit class had over 500 people they were usually surprised. Even so, the professor was happy to have you come up to the stage and talk to him directly, and the TAs were very helpful, stemming the feeling of being in such a large class.</p>
<p>But, as a whole, the student body works together very well, and I’ve never felt surrounded by strangers even when I am. Plus, get involved in even just a few things and you are bound to run across people you know on the way to class almost every day. It makes the number of people seem not that big of a deal, without being suffocatingly small.</p>
<p>It can be as large or as small as you want- my best friend from HS, whom I’m rarely in touch with now but who also goes here, knows almost everyone that is in any social circle. I know far fewer. I’d say it’s just the right size- large enough to be lost, but small enough to be noticed.</p>