Hi!
I’m currently planning for my “Why Northwestern?” essay, and was wondering if anyone could help me out. I’ve looked at Niche and the Northwestern website, and feel like I need more information. I’m trying to study Business or Economics, so if I could get in touch with any alumni, it would also be greatly appreciated.
Could any of you just disclose details and random stuff that you remember from Northwestern? I’m just looking for anything to write in my essay.
For example, I’ve heard Russian literature is a popular class, there’s a big rock that people paint there, and that there is a collaborative culture.
You can look up Kellogg Certificate and talk about it
Mentioning something about economics faculty and classes can help … they will show up with easy web searches
If you do not have a reason for why you want to attend northwestern University, then maybe it is not the right school for you.
I don’t know @publisher thats a bit harsh on a 17 yr old trying to figure out which college they want to go to.
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@CU123: Not at all. OP has viewed NU’s website & has an intended major area of study, yet cannot articulate “Why Northwestern ?”. Admission to NU is quite competitive.
^unfortunately I too did not spend my entire life obsessing over the oNe DrEaM college and instead chose to get a life 
It’s august, no senior has their shiznit together yet.
OP look at specific classes pertaining to the major you are applying for and professors (+their research) to talk about. The more specificity the better.
Just a warning: dig deeper than just mentioning a few professors and courses. We were at a Columbia event recently and the admissions rep specifically told the kids that when it comes to their “Why Columbia?” essay, they really want the kids to know what they want from the school and what they can offer the school; not just regurgitation of names and classes and anything they can find on the website. This essay is just as important and any other.
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@Sougiya There is a large distance between doing your due diligence and learning about the colleges to which you want to apply, and obsessing over colleges. And yes, a lot of Seniors, how did you put it “have their shiznit together”, or are well on their way to doing so.
@richards3 Based on the fact that chose an unreliable and lazy way to learn about NU, I would suggest that perhaps you should reconsider applying to NU. You will not do well in any of your classes if your idea of “doing research” is asking asking the opinions of strangers on the internet.
I could easily have fed you a whole bunch of made up facts and stories about NU and you would likely have added them to your essay without verifying any of them. I do not think that the AOs at NU would have treated your application very seriously if, in your essay, you had claimed that you want to attend NU because you heard about the annual Late Winter Night Poetry Recital On The Banks Of Lake Michigan, or because Milton Friedman did his BA there (he didn’t), and that his initials are still doodled on one of the seats in a lecture hall. The AOs may have been amused, but most likely not impressed.
It’s great that you are already putting your applications together, but do your research seriously, not this way.
@richards3 i talked about chicago field studies and how it related to my goals in life and got in!
@MWolf fair enough. perhaps I was too laid back when I wrote my why essay. I agree with your point though, OP it is kinda suspicious (and very lazy) to ask others for the content to help write your why essay. perhaps in the future try to ask what resources others used (like the ones I and others mentioned), so you can be helped while not getting shamed.
unfortunately I did not have my life together by September when I was applying. While many seniors must have, I felt scared, intimidated, and most of all freaked out by this process. I don’t know if you have ever felt this way, but I hope you sympathize with that much. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, or how would you put it, thank you for reading this comment.
Hi all!! Current Northwestern undergraduate. Just wanted to plug a live stream campus tour + Q&A that some of my classmates are hosting this Friday 2/26 for prospective students. It will be hosted on Northwestern’s Knight Lab channel at 4:30pm CST! We are Knight_Lab on Twitch.