<p>truthfully, are you?</p>
<p>Yes. Shame I’m not on campus now. I’m looking forward to being back.</p>
<p>And I’m NOT a generally happy person- definitely pretty much only truly happy up to this point in my life at NU.</p>
<p>Yep
10 char.</p>
<p>Yes, but I would be much happier if weren’t burdened every single day with so much work. ><</p>
<p>very happy here. and most people i know are far too engaged and happy to even think about college confidential.</p>
<p>^Ditto. Other than fall quarter (when the freshman are still HS students), college stuff never actually comes up (except the obligatory Daily columnist who for want of a better topic decides to tackle the non-existent Ivy Reject Mentality ™ that NU aparently has an endemic of hidden somewhere). </p>
<p>I only post here so much at present because I’m not on campus and have a lot of free time here.</p>
<p>All I can tell you is that my son is very happy at Northwestern. He’s doing good in his classes - a few bumps in the road - nothing major. He is involved in a couple of social / club activities - there are alot of offerings so I’m glad he didn’t over extend himself. He calls me about once a week and texts about every other day. So far, so good.</p>
<p>Okay thank you for your response,</p>
<p>I ask this because I am considering applying and my friend went to NU and became so depressed that he is transferring.</p>
<p>^where is your friend looking to transfer?</p>
<p>He is coming back to our state school</p>
<p>Check out <a href="http://www..com/northwestern_university/reviews/%5B/url%5D">http://www..com/northwestern_university/reviews/</a>.</p>
<p>Many students love NU, but I’ve read reviews by people who were miserable there, because of the non-collaborative academic environment. According to one student, NU has “an abundance of people who really, really want you to know how smart they are. Really bad.”</p>
<p>I had been considering NU, but am not planning to apply anymore. There are just so many great colleges where people seem to be happier, on the whole.</p>
<p>Edit: For some reason, CC doesn’t allow links. Anyway, look up college reviews. I’ve found honest reviews by actual students to be very helpful.</p>
<p>I think for any top college, you will find competitive kids like you mention. My D is a sophomore and doesn’t know anyone who is unhappy at Northwestern. On the contrary, she finds the kids bright, intellectual, creative and interesting. She has not had the experience you mentioned. Perhaps the kids that don’t like a school are the ones who write the reviews!</p>
<p>The unhappy ones at top schools, not just NU, tend to be those whose identities were so focused on getting good grades coming in and find out they can no longer make it to the top when they get there. There are also those who are unhappy because they can’t get any, plain and simple, or both of these reasons. Of course, they won’t say these to you and try find something else about the school to blame so it appears the bad experiences are not unique to them. </p>
<p>Honestly, kids at the top schools are pretty much the same, and this is shown by the huge overlaps in students drawn to these schools. It’s not like NU has policies different from everywhere else that encourages unhealthy competition. Bottom line is, when you’re in a science class, grades are curved and people will have all kinds of reactions to that. In a humanities/social science class, you still have to be at the top to get an A. Professors will not just hand out As/A-minuses to the entire class. People who make up stuff about NU being overly competitive are probably those who are not getting the grade they want in the first place no matter how hard they try, when the truth is there are simply people in those classes better than them. </p>
<p>Also, the vast majority of people here are high-performing in every area of life. Those who are intimidated by this probably do not belong here. Those who see this instead as an opportunity to improve themselves and grow in ways they never imagined are probably the ones who will thrive.</p>
<p>
I have never noticed this. NU students are really intelligent, but we’re not insecure at all about it (I mean, there’s no reason to be). In fact, others fault us for downplaying our intelligence so much that we come across as anti-intellectual. In reality, we are still pretty intellectual but it just comes across in subtle ways because we don’t like to name-drop and overanalyze everything to an awkward degree during meals or something. The person you’re quoting is probably just amazed by the intelligence of her peers and feels insecure about her own intelligence… I mean how is she so sure the people she was with were deliberately trying to come across as smart in the first place?</p>
<p>I am an NU alum, and no one asked me directly what was my GPA. If you did the work and participated in class, everyone assumed you were a smart student.</p>
<p>
Keilinger,
This looks to me like the work of some HS kid or ■■■■■. You’d better think about if there’s any internal control on those sites before reading too much into them. As far as I know, there isn’t any. Anyone can pretend to be a student and start ■■■■■■■■.</p>
<p>I saw this thread today and thought I should add that my S, a music major, LOVES Northwestern. There is a tremendous amount of energy there–perhaps that comes across as being driven/competitive?–and there are an extraordinary number of events–plays, musicals, etc.–completely run by the students. It boggles the mind. I have no idea when/if they sleep. We saw S in a show last year, and he went from that to a friend’s play that was showing at 11pm. He did not pledge a fraternity (that’s his one complaint, that some freshman friends seemed to change when they pledged), BUT he has found so many like-minded kids who have not that he is not lacking for friends. He has never mentioned backstabbing or the like. He has said that people are intense, but that’s because they are passionate about what they are doing, as I mentioned before. (Most of his friends are theater/communications/music/Weinberg. I can’t speak for Engineering or other schools. But the arts are hopping and the people we’ve met are great. We’ve met many of his friends and they are incredibly funny/creative and most definitely kind and generous.</p>
<p>It’s nice to have stories of people who love NU. Because the entire process is a self-selective one, most students are going to love the college they attend, but there will also be those disappointed students. Sam, I agree that student reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. However, I’ve found review sites to be somewhat helpful for identifying the cons of a school, especially a concern comes up more than once. If the question is reliability, books like Princeton Review’s Best 361 Colleges would ensure that the quotes are by real students.</p>
<p>To the OP: Reviews are great and all, but it doesn’t ensure you’ll agree with the majority opinion. I suggest you apply; you can always visit the school after you get accepted. If you get a fee waiver, you won’t have much to lose, except for the few hours you spent working on the application.</p>
<p>I freakin love NU. It’s the best place I could’ve chosen. I’ve grown academically and selected my own path of majors/minors. I’ve been involved in a lot of great opportunities through student organizations and departments. And I’ve been a fan of NU sports beating up on great schools in D-1 athletics. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to go anywhere else…</p>
<p>I love it, my classes are great and I’ve met the most amazing people ever. I came home for Thanksgiving yesterday and I already can’t wait to go back.</p>