This question is mainly for current students and alumni at Northwestern.
I spent a large portion of my ED application talking about my interest in technology and entrepreneurship, and while I mention things like my academic interests, I made it clear my main passion in life is to be entrepreneurial in the technology sector (or biological entrepreneurship). I’ve done as much research as I could and I chose NU as my top choice (hence ED).
Is there a large entrepreneurial culture, in your opinion, at Northwestern? Does it pervade the campus, or is it restricted to Kellogg/engineering?
Will my application be looked at negatively because it’s focused on something that isn’t Northwestern’s most famous/common focus (pre-law/law/consulting/marketing vs entrepreneurship)?
Thanks!
I wouldn’t say there is much of an entrepreneurial culture from my two months here. I do know someone who is creating a private fashion and make up styling business. I do know that an undergrad made a cookie business a few years ago. He submitted it to some people in Kellogg and they invested it and it was big on campus until he graduated.
that’s something that I perceived too, but I believe that too much entrepreneurialism can also get kind of boring for me haha.
my main question is: do you think admissions would look at my interest negatively because entrepreneurship isn’t NU’s more famous strengths?
There’s actually a fair bit of entrepreneurship on campus, and even if it is predominantly Kellogg and McCormick, Northwestern is trying to spur innovation overall. There’s of course the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship, but they also just opened The Garage, which is a startup incubator on campus and overall fantastic environment to be in. There’s lots of cross-curricular innovation going on there, and it’s open to anybody, even if you don’t have a startup idea. All of this to say Northwestern is definitely looking for entrepreneurial and innovative students! I also noticed you’re interested in CS and CogSci - I’m currently pursuing both through Weinberg! Both are great programs.
@theeendofbananas that’s awesome! you literally are pursing the same academic interests as me. Just curious, what did you apply for when you send in your app? Computer Science? Or CogSci?