<p>^awkward? like nerdy?</p>
<p>Nerdy doesn’t necessarily mean socially awkward. NU students simply just seem to have been hit with the awkward stick on the way out of the HS tree.</p>
<p>I have read that comment from others, but I have met a lot of my daughter’s classmates, and very, very few of them could be considered nerdy. Most are attractive, cool, smart and self-confident.</p>
<p>^^ I agree, I’m not sure I’d classify the student body as particularly nerdy. Especially not compared to schools like our neighbor to the south.</p>
<p>Hence why I say awkward alone, and not nerdy. Plenty of cool kids, just somehow the social interactions, in general, are somewhat more strained than is usual.</p>
<p>After my freshman year, my biggest gripe is definitely the social atmosphere at Northwestern. I’ve spent a lot of time visiting friends at UVa (where I almost went), and students there are definitely much less socially awkward. People at Northwestern on the whole certainly are great when it comes to social interactions, which, in my experience, has tended toward a weird atmosphere of people who just avoid social situations and people who feel they need to prove they aren’t socially awkward (which makes for a lot of social climbers in the fraternity/sorority scene–not to say I didn’t find that people at UVa were highly interested in who they know, but the social climbing is rather blatant among many of the students at Northwestern).
I’m not sure where this “attractive, cool, smart, and self-confident” thing is coming from. Northwestern has a very unattractive student body, although those who are attractive do tend to be far more self-confident–it’s definitely a confidence booster for anyone who was viewed as average-looking in high school when you’re surrounded by people with what everyone here seems to see a typical midwestern sub-par physical attractiveness.</p>
<p>Edaru: Northwestern has a very unattractive student body, although those who are attractive do tend to be far more self-confident–it’s definitely a confidence booster for anyone who was viewed as average-looking in high school when you’re surrounded by people with what everyone here seems to see a typical midwestern sub-par physical attractiveness. </p>
<p>Excuse me? I don’t even go to NU and I’m completely offended. To stereotype an entire section of the country is unexcusable. Maybe if you’re so unhappy at NU you should transfer to UVa. You might be happy with all of the “attractive” people in the south. There’s no need to be nasty about a school. Be responsible for yourself. If you’re not happy, do something to make yourself happy. Don’t just sit there and complain and disrespect people.</p>
<p>I think you will find at most selective colleges that many seem “socially inept”. Highly intelligent people have grown at different rates in different areas of their lives throughout their lives, same as us all. Well rounded, high achievers are probably less commom then “nerdy” high achievers. So why would you be shocked about NU? Everyone has great things to offer, some just offer it different then we might think of as “normal”. I worked with a kid who had Ausbergers Syndrome and is a wonderful kid! When you look past the akwardness of his social behavior - he is amazingly fun to be with! So look beyond and you will find friends that you will have for life!</p>
<p>I don’t know if people are necessarily more awkward, but they do seem a little less nice. This could be partially a result of the bitter weather. That would make a bit of sense, as people do seem at least a little cheerier in the spring. But it seems pretty rare to be smiled at as you’re walking to class…unless you’re passing by a good friend. </p>
<p>I AM a theater major, so my awkward radar could be broken…or maybe I’m just never around awkward people. Or always around awkward people? Either way, like I said, I disagree with the awkward assessment.</p>
<p>I had no idea people are supposed to smile at each other in the street to be considered friendly? That could easily be misconstrued.</p>
<p>Re: I had no idea people are supposed to smile at each other in the street to be considered friendly? That could easily be misconstrued.</p>
<p>I see what you’re saying. I guess I’m just used to people being smiley. But, really, at NU - at least in the winter - people seem to frown. It brings out the worst in you, crazy cold weather does.</p>
<p>I think the stereotype of Ivy league rejects is so true and you can see it in the over-achiever attitude of the campus. It’s hard to deal with so many other kids that are so competitive as you! We are a nerdy campus, but not geeky–yes there’s a distinction. Greek life really adds to the social life of the campus, so if you think we’re awkward then maybe you need to come to North campus. </p>
<p>The professors certainly can treat you like crap (some of the science ones in particlular) but beyond that I’ve found many awesome professors who truly want to see me succeed in whatever I’m doing. The administration is easy to work with too, Im not sure what a previous poster was referring to.</p>
<p>Cold weather? Buy a jacket it’s not that bad. Long L ride? Yeah ride the intercampus it’s free and besides you won’t have any time to go downtown anyways because you’ll be too busy doing homework and other cool stuff on campus.</p>
<p>NUraider, the “Ivy League reject” attitude is most common among East Coast students. Many Midwestern students are pretty satisfied to attend NU.</p>
<p>^^ my experience at NU also attests to this</p>
<p>NU definitely gets the top students from the Midwest and most of these people see NU as equal or even above “Ivies.” You will be hard-pressed to find people who will consider Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, or even Columbia (which is often confused with the Columbia College here) a notch higher, especially if the town is non-affluent (basically anywhere besides the North Shore). If you tell people around here that you go to Dartmouth/Cornell/Brown/Penn/Columbia, no one will even care, but people react differently to NU.</p>
<p>Also, I’d venture to say that if you walk around with HYP apparel, no one would really think you go there because HYP people don’t really do that outside of their own schools. Those who do go there who still wear HYP apparel in public tend to be those with an inferiority complex, like if they’re ugly or something. I know plenty of good-looking people at those schools but you will NEVER see them wearing HYP gear in public (in school is different of course). The same is true for NU students. It’s just downright toolish to wear private school gear in a poor section of town, for example.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the ivy-reject attitude doesn’t really include Cornell or Brown though. Most of the people I’ve talked to only cared about HYP, Columbia, Wharton (usually not Penn CAS), and sometimes Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Just because many NU students got rejected from HYP doesn’t mean there’s “ivy-reject” attitude. NU students are smart enough to know admission is a crapshot and know that they are as smart as those in most Ivies. Our SAT/ACT scores are on par with/higher than non-HYPC Ivies even though we have Div-1 athletes and a conservatory-level music school; further more, NU is consistently ranked higher than Brown, especially at the graduate level. In many areas/academic disciplines, NU is better than certain Ivies. It’s not like NU is some northeastern backup that is weaker than every Ivy in most, if not all, disciplines; besides, only 5% of NU students are from the NE anyway.</p>
<p>yeah the ivy league rejects mentality does show here, give me a break, it’s not just kids from NE. I’d say the majority of the people I know were rejected from the Ivy league schools and NU was the best place to go to. I think that that’s cool and that’s why NU is such a good school because it’s full of Ivy league quality kids. it’s not a bad thing to be rejected from the ivy league, it happens, we weren’t lucky enough, but were lucky enough to get into NU. the ivy league is just a name.</p>
<p>yeah the ivy league rejects mentality does show here, give me a break, it’s not just kids from NE. I’d say the majority of the people I know were rejected from the Ivy league schools and NU was the best place to go to. I think that that’s cool and that’s why NU is such a good school because it’s full of Ivy league quality kids. it’s not a bad thing to be rejected from the ivy league, it happens, we weren’t lucky enough, but were lucky enough to get into NU. the ivy league is just a name.</p>
<p>Well, many Ivy students were rejected from other Ivy league schools. And probably the majority of people in, say, Cornell or Penn were rejected by HYP. Yet, nobody calls it “HYP rejects mentality”. I don’t know what “Ivy league rejects mentality” means. It’s true that NU students are ambitious and competitive but the same can be said for students at other peer schools. Anyway, people don’t still dream about getting into some Ivy schools at nights. They have moved on and that whole HYP/Ivy wannabe was just a phase in HS. Once they are in college, they are busy with their new college lives and goals. The last thing they think about is which schools rejected them back in HS.</p>