My son is considering ISP (this program seems fairly unique to Northwestern so it’s a major draw) and I’d love to hear from current or former ISP students. What are your general impressions? Does it really give good grounding in sciences or more superficial? How many students do a second major in math or science with it and how hard is it? Do people socialize a lot with others inside the program?
Science nerds would love it. I heard it’s comparable to Cal Tech which puts it among most advanced and rigorous science curriculum in the country.
If you do a search on Google, there’s a thread in Reddit that is similar to this one you created. That should answer your question.
Thank you @IWannaHelp - sounds pretty awesome from Reddit, especially the part about the tight knit community of nerds which was the reason for one guy NOT recommending it!
My DS is a NU ISP senior right now. The ISP community has been wonderful for him. His year, 30 students were accepted. I believe about 10-11 left the program in the first 2 quarters, and there are about 12 or so graduating in ISP this year. Many of his closest friends came from the ISP students, and they put them in their own orientation groups during Wildcat Welcome to help develop the community. It is a very rigorous program, and my understanding is that most of the kids who leave the program do so due to a realization that it isn’t what they want to study. Most of the kids (not all) who complete it go on to advanced study for research, med school or industry (ie: consulting or pharma companies). I was surprised with the rigor of study, that many of his peers get dual majors. He is double majoring in Biomedical Engineering in McCormick. The transfer from Weinberg (where he was accepted) to McCormick was a formality. All he had to do was sign a piece of paper. I know the ISP house is also his favorite place to study. Most interestingly, he wasn’t even 100% sure of what he wanted to study, but he had been accepted ED and opted to apply to keep his options open. Good luck to you!
As to the question of math or science dual major:if you are looking at dualing in math, or the basic sciences, it isn’t necessary, as they are already part of the ISP major. If the student is interested in applied science (ie: engineering) then it makes sense, and many of the ISP classes are accepted for that, as they cover the same material, often at a higher level.
@deannaj Thank you. I thought ISP doesn’t really have enough math classes for a math major, but I may be wrong. From what you say it seems many students are oriented towards biology and related fields, is this right? DS loves math, physics and chemistry - biology maybe not so much. He’s OK with taking biology classes, but do you know if this is going to be a problem in terms of research and internship opportunities? Anyway, I guess we’ll worry about this if he is accepted.
My DS is a freshman McCormick and ISP and he’s more interested in Engineering. To your questions, Math and Physics are only for ISP student, meaning these are rigorous, advanced classes. The rigor ensures collaboration among the students because they can’t succeed on their own. It would be much easier to take the engineering core classes in math and science than being in ISP. You may be confused about the program. A student can graduate in three years with an ISP major as along as they satisfy the Weinberg requirements including a foreign language. At three years, one gets the ISP as their major and not a specific major. To get the Math major requires four years. In short, to graduate as a Math major requires the four years and ISP would be the second major. Hope this helps and forget about comparisons. It’s impossible to say this program compares to something at another college. ISP at Northwestern is unique.
Most of the required classes for ISP are tailored made for ISP only. They are taught at a more advanced level (even the bio classes have a good dose of math; that’s why I said earlier the rigor is comparable to Cal Tech).
Based on what I saw before, many ISP majors pair ISP with a science or engineering major and I guess it’s mostly because of their interests. If they pair it with a science, I think many would be taking advanced if not graduate level courses (the regular freshmen/sophomore classes are probably too easy for them).
There’s nothing wrong pairing it with math. Whether there’s “enough math” or not depends on whether one wants to be a future mathematician. It’s mostly about the interest.
@yucca10 I am not exactly sure what you are asking. The curriculum includes it all, but as far as labs, the ISP kids get more access to labs, due to the understanding that they get exposure to more rigorous science classes. Also, the ISP major requires 2 or 3 quarters (I can’t recall now) in a NU lab. My son, for instance, enjoyed the chem lab he got as a soph, and has stuck with it, and also had an off-site summer internship at a US national lab. If he is in ISP, he will definitely have an advantage in getting into a lab of his choosing. If he gets in, and is concerned about the bio component, I would have him call the department to see how much is required and if he can tolerate it. BTW - the organic chem class it harder than the ones the premeds take in the rest of the university. On the plus side, the classes are quite small, as in most of them, only ISP are enrolled.
Here’s the link to a thread on ISP from a few years ago:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/northwestern-university/687712-northwestern-integrated-science-program-isp-p1.html
Thank you everyone. DS was accepted to his second choice school, so Northwestern is out of the picture now.