<p>I am a parent of a high school senior applying to Northwestern - and many other schools. I know the school is highly rated. We have been there, and it is beautiful. One thing worries me. All of the guidebooks I have seen about colllege seem to stress for Northwestern how hard the students there work and how busy they are. Comments to the effect that the students love their experience there/are happy seem in short supply compared to what I read about other comparable schools. How happy is the average student at Northwestern?</p>
<p>I have found that in general, we are a very happy student body. In fact, the general upbeatness I saw in students was one of the reasons NU was my first choice. NUers seem to have a great sense of balance...we work hard, but we play hard too. People are very passionate about what they do, which drives them to work their butts off, but there is also a very relaxed, laid-back atmosphere. </p>
<p>Not to say that there won't be some friday nights you spend in the library and some weeks you have 3 huge papers and a midterm due and you barely sleep, BUT as a freshman here I've never felt overwhelmed so much of the time that it's an issue. </p>
<p>NU is also a great place for students that LIKE to be busy...we're a school of overachievers, so everyone is involved in plenty of activities in addition to their classes. I'm happiest when I'm taking a dance class and building the set for a play and attending seminars and planning an event...etc etc. I definitely still have plenty of time to hang out at the dorm too, but I wouldn't recommend NU to students who are happiest with lots of "down time".</p>
<p>So to sum up: NU is tough, and the students are busy, but students generally like that, and so most people are relaxed and happy. (at least those I've met).</p>
<p>eli, I also wondered about the happiness level before my daughter started attending NU this year. I can now report that she is extremely happy, even though she's working harder than ever. The atmosphere seems to be unusually supportive and cooperative, rather than being cut-throat competitive. There seems to be an attitude that they're all in it together wanting each other succeed. </p>
<p>Even though my daughter is very busy with her school work, she still manages to have a lot of fun. People on her floor have formed a tight community and they're very good at entertaining each other in between all the studying. It looks to me like they're having a blast.</p>
<p>From what I hear, there's plenty of support for students who need extra support in any way, but I haven't heard of anybody needing it yet.</p>
<p>I second all that has been said so far, especially, "People are very passionate about what they do, which drives them to work their butts off, but there is also a very relaxed, laid-back atmosphere." That really sums it up, in my opinion. (I'm a freshman)</p>
<p>The majority of people are happy at Northwestern, if you know what you want then it's easy to get involved with those types of things and meet those types of people. If you're undecided about everything and don't have very many things you want to do, I could see you being less happy though. I know a few people that weren't happy their first semester here since they had a hard time meeting the people they wanted; that usually clears up soon though since there is really a ton of diversity in the different personalities here. I'd say you have to be somewhat outgoing to be happy here though, the student body can tend to be exclusive, i.e. every one usually hangs out with their group of friends and aren't normally willing to hang out with people they've just met. Oh, and you definately have to enjoy what you're studying to be happy here.</p>