I don’t think I made a very informed decision. Frankly, I’m not sure if I would pick NU again, which is not to say NU isn’t a great school, but it’s not for everyone. My post is too long, so here I will address some general topics of interest, and in responses I will attempt to enumerate some other issues I care about: socioeconomic and racial diversity, mental health support, and other issues I may think of later.
A broad point to consider before I get into specifics: NU costs a lot because the tuition covers not only classes but campus life. For universities akin to NU, a bigger part of “college” is what is learned outside of the classroom. Obviously, NU has great professors and academics as well, but for students who are only interested in academics, I don’t think NU makes the most sense, purely for financial reasons. At a less rigorous & cheaper institution, you could put in effort to learn content independently and still quite well. By doing well at a “lesser” institution you could still do well in the future. So be sure that campus life is something you would take advantage of. In fact, I’m not sure NU makes sense for anyone who isn’t either financially well-off or receiving substantial financial aid.
Dorms, Parties, Alcohol: Though I have an entire topic dedicated to this, most of my friends don’t actually like to party, and they have had satisfactory experiences in college. This is for the students for whom the party scene is a large concern.
While on campus, I only lived on South Campus, which is more artsy and less “wild”. I’m really not sure how North is. NU doesn’t have a wet campus (it’s a liability issue). There are no dorm parties (like at Wash U or Brown). The alcohol policy also doesn’t protect individuals for making responsible choices if they themselves were in violation of the policy (i.e. if someone needs to go to the hospital, but all the friends with them are underage drinkers, they have less incentive to call for help since they will face disciplinary action). As a result, drinking is more dangerous at NU than at similar institutions with better alcohol policies. Our policy is antiquated and seems to prefer pretending that students won’t drink if the policy discourages it.
Frat parties are mainly for freshman girls at members of the particular frat. Off campus parties are frequently shut down by cops because of noise citations, but there is still a party scene, and I can’t recall a time when I wanted to go out and there was nothing going on. There’s always something, but it can be a little lackluster at times.
Greek life: I’m not in Greek life, but it has a noticeable (though not overbearing) presence. Some criticisms include its lack of inclusion for poor students. I have heard that during sorority recruitment, over 100 students applied for financial help but ~5 actually received it. This is not a confirmed statistic, but it’s sort of representative of a big issue with Greek life. Some of the Greek houses also have a “cost of fitting in,” unspoken requirement – the clothes, makeup, shoes, social expenses, etc. Though, some of the Greek houses have some very nice, down-to-earth individuals, and several of my friends have been very happy with their decisions to join.
Sports games: Disappointingly few students show up to football and basketball games. We are in the Big Ten and have a team that sometimes is amazing. There are people that are very interested in the games, and it does have a presence on our campus. I think it could be a good “middle-ground” for people who aren’t really into sports but like the football game experience. Games are free for students, a stark contrast to some of the lotteries and fares at other Division 1 schools.
Extracurriculars: There are groups for all kinds of interests, and if you make an effort, it’s not difficult to find people with similar interests (unless you’re conservative. I’m not, but I have heard them express how their point of view is in the minority – to which I respond, boohoo, now you know how minorities feel). I have several criticisms, but I don’t think these issues are unique to NU. The student groups are disparate and run on cycles. Many students start clubs for the resume padding, and some may even be very devoted, but generally by the time they graduate, if it doesn’t get picked up, the club sort of dies away as it’s less enthusiastic members take over. They continue to receive funding, though they do far less. There are MANY of these small groups, but they don’t have a large presence. Some small groups have such niche causes that they are unable to accomplish much in spite of having highly motivated members. The student government, which determines funding, so far has been unable to coordinate efforts of these groups to accomplish much needed changes within campus or to create a voice for some of the groups. Personally, I’ve also found very few groups with diverse major representation. People who study the same things tend to flock together. It’s been frustrating to try to understand some concepts from other disciplines and work with individuals from other disciplines on complex projects because I can’t find these people.
There are a few big groups that tend to attract the most attention, funds, and members.
Food: The dining hall meal plan is also required on-campus, and it’s pretty expensive, at about $10-11/meal for sub-standard food, and you will probably end up using some “meal points” at the convenience stores, which are very over-priced ($6.50 for Cinnamon Toast Crunch, $3.39 for the Starbucks bottles and small Odwalla bottles). There are a lot of good restaurants in downtown Evanston, though (which is just a 5 minute walk from some of the South Campus dorms & 15-20 mins from North)
Academics: There is a noticeable difference in academic rigor and intellectual culture between NU and some of the state schools my friends attend. The quarter system is quick. Because it’s so short, we have midterms from week 2 to week 10, and the quarter is only 11 weeks long. There is never a break or opportunity to fall behind. That being said, I’ve noticed tremendous intellectual growth within myself, which I credit largely to my classes and the students
Weather: It is cold and windy. School starts in late September, and it is usually too cold for sundresses even then. Then we have 2 weeks of warm weather before we go home for the summer. I grew up in a pretty cold temperature, but in college, you have to walk everywhere, and it’s unavoidable. It’s a much bigger obstacle. In the cold weather, people tend to stay indoors more and there are fewer social things to do. Consequently, the winter can be very depressing.
