Hi, I am an admitted student to Weinberg at NU. I was so shocked I got into NU, my act and ecs really carried me. NU seems intimidating from the outside academically speaking since it is so prestigious. Is the course load especially challenging? Are people competitive in a bad way or is it collaborative?
Thanks for y’alls help this is really helpful.
Course load is not uniform and depends on what classes you take. In general, engineering, ISP, MMSS, Kellogg cert and premed sequences are intense. Others seem to strike a good balance of being challenging without being too time consuming. Google “Live from Northwestern” on YouTube. You’d get a lot of info from the videos.
If they accepted you, that means that you are as good as anybody else who was accepted. You weren’t accepted out of pity or by mistake. The AOs looked at your application and figured that you are up to the academic challenges of NU.
You are mistaken - you were accepted based on your entire application. People aren’t accepted to Northwestern based on only part of their profile. If they looked at your GPA and decided that your GPA and course list demonstrates that you are able to keep up with the rest of the students at NU, that means that you are able to keep up with the rest of the students at NU.
Unlike ACTs or SATs, a GPA is only meaningful in a student’s specific context. Your GPA cannot really be compared to the GPA of a student from another school. Colleges often do compare them because they do not have the time and energy to try and figure out exactly how much grade inflation this school has, etc - they have enough on their plate trying to match how different school weight their grades. However, in your case, an AO took the time to look at what your transcript was actually saying about your specific set of academic skills.
Yes, students who are accepted to NU can be intimidating. That includes you.
You’ve got this.
OP. @MWolf stated it very eloquently above. All schools have tough courses and accomplished students. Including you. You will make wonderful friends and memories. Go enjoy.
My comment is not specific to OP’s concerns. But I’d challenge the above popular claim. AOs aren’t super humans. They have to make quick decisions based on limited and often fuzzy data. They aren’t academically trained generally and make plenty of mistakes. Not all admitted students are equally “qualified”. Nor would they perform similarly in any academic area or in aggregate. In most colleges, including Northwestern, student bodies, measured by individual academic abilities, have a wide distribution. Some students will excel. Some will struggle, and even fail.
Northwestern is fantastic. I wish both my kids had gone there. (One went twice - undergrad and Kellogg.)
If you like the feel of the place, then don’t worry about course load. Of course it can be challenging (you should be going to college to be challenged), but it is largely in your control.
And as for competitiveness, my kid never complained about it.