Yes, one of the candidates I mentioned got off the list with an FA package of 50% aid. Hang in there!
That makes me feel much better! Thanks! 
I got off with about 80% pay off, but I had a better deal elsewhere. I know from a friend who got admitted, he was full pay too so NU has a wide rangeâŠ
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Did you get off this year? Which major?
This year, Chemical Engineering -McCormick. My friend got in RD and declined.
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Thank you!
No art and sciences
Thank you!
Hello, I will send you a PM and ask some questions. Thank you.
Hi there,
I have quite a few Northwestern alumni in my extended family and they all seem to love their experience. Some have volunteered as alum interviewers. As such, I am very curious about the rationale behind your decision to not attend NU (other than the difference in the financial package), and possibly for your other friend.
The NU admissions office works very closely with alumni interviewers - the group is very adhesive and constantly working to increase their yield.
You can PM me if you are willing to share your thoughts. Thank you!
i hope they pick up calling again soon! the waiting is killing me!
Will the university inform us if we are no longer a prospective waitlist candidate? i.e. if they have filled up all their spots, will they inform all the waitlisted students?
I believe so. Schools like Harvard and NYU have been doing that via email, saying their waitlist is full. I definitely donât think NU is full though, because theyâve seemingly only accepted engineering students and a couple McCormick students!
There are plenty of reasons people decline NU over other schools, but especially for Engineering. While NU may be considered a T10, it is not for Engineering. They still have a lot to do to get up to par with those other schools that have way more to offer than just a degree from NU. And if youâre from the midwest, NU doesnât have the same âstar powerâ as other schools, so people here donât view it as a T10 or go for the name.
We normally have at least 10 kids go to NU from our school, including many who apply ED. This year we are only sending 3. Many either chose other schools for the ED chance, or are choosing Illinois Engineering, Michigan Engineering or just didnât apply. Itâs also outrageously expensive - as you well know. I also think with them not allowing kids on campus for most of the year and then only some the second half (last 2 quarters) didnât help.
Iâm also from IL and very familiar with the HS in the city and suburbs. I am unaware of a school that ânormally has at least 10 kids going to NUâ (at least in the last few years - maybe years ago this happened). âOnly 3â actually being accepted from any given top IL HS makes sense. NU has a few feeder schools in the area. But maybe you have some school NU acceptance stats you can provide? I am thinking of the top city magnates, privates, gold ribbon public HS on the North Shore, etc.
I know lots of IL schools, and lots of IL kids - kids who are top academics and only looking at the tippy top colleges. Kids who are in some of the top Natl academic/talent programs in Chicagoland. I do not see all these kids who you say are being accepted and then choosing these other schools over NU.
I know plenty of IL kids who go to Northwestern. And many, many kids who applied to both NU and U of IL (as their safety). But NU is their dream school - including McCormick engineering (lots of reasons why) - and they jump on the chance to attend NU. The few exceptions Iâve seen were based on financial decisions or choosing U of IL (or Berkeley) specifically for their computer engineering programs.
Maybe NU isnât the tippy top ranked for computer engineering (though they are the tippy top for other STEM majors, like Materials, Industrial, Chem); However, combining Comp Eng (or any Eng) with the Kellogg business certificate, and/or a 4 year Engineering Masters (very feasible with Qtr system/AP acceptance), and/or startup ventures/funding at The Garage, and lots of design/co-op experience, and lots of undergrad research opportunitiesâŠwell that is a very attractive prospect for many students.
Not to mention, an NU student may want to change their major, which they can do in 5 minutes by checking a box on a form. That is practically impossible to do at previous schools you mentioned. Difficult, maybe impossible, to switch between even similar Eng majors at these other schools (e.g. chemical eng to bio eng), since these Eng programs are direct Freshman admit.
Also, your last paragraph is incorrect. NU did not allow students on campus for the Fall term only - just like many, many other schools during the Covid spike. Because of this, NU Covid numbers were low, esp compared to places like U of IL that were scrambling with emergency Covid quarantine housing/meal problems. NU students are back in their campus housing for Winter, Spring, Summer quarters with some in-person classes.
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I respectfully disagree. I didnât say âonly 3â were accepted. I said âonly 3â were attending. I also work at a high school that does have approximately 10 students attending NU this year. These are public high schools in the suburbs. The only stats I can provide are from our school stats that kids have reported through Naviance and 45 students have been accepted over the past 5 years. So, I apologize, thatâs 9, not 10 per year. I think NU generally just likes kids from certain schools better than others. Itâs like how this year we have more than 30 kids going to Wisconsin yet the school I work at many kids didnât get into Wisconsin. It makes no sense because the school I work at is considered higher ranked than the school where I live. They just like those kids.
Of course there are plenty of kids at NU from Illinois. Their recent numbers show about 30% are Illinois residents. Thatâs no different than what most private schools are going to show. My daughter goes to a private school and 27% of the students are from that state.
Computer Engineering isnât the reason people are choosing other schools. Itâs Computer Science which is far better at other schools than at Northwestern. Some will go to Northwestern over others that have better CS program just for the name but many will go to the better CS programs because they are just better period. Most schools have undergrad research opportunities. It is not exclusive to NU.
Furthermore, it is very easy to change majors at most schools. I have one kid who is affiliated in CS at her school and adding a second major in ORIE and still going to be able to graduate on time and with a minor. She could also add a second minor and still graduate on time if she wished. It is not complicated at all. I have a second daughter who is a double major at her school as well, she wouldâve triple majored but they donât allow it, so instead she is getting a minor and additional certificates also very easily. Again, not specific to NU. The quarter system is indeed nice you are correct as I was on that system in college, but itâs definitely not for everyone. Not all schools have direct to major Engineering programs. For Illinois it is easy to switch between Engineering majors with the exception of Computer Science/Engineering unless you want to go out. Mechanical is next hardest but doable. At Michigan you can switch anytime you want as it is not direct admit to your major. Purdue it is easy to switch as well because youâre not directly admitted to major and CS is in itâs own school so itâs not even in Engineering, so thatâs one that you cannot transfer into because itâs not part of Engineering.
My last paragraph is correct. They did not allow students on campus for most of the year and only started letting some come back after winter. UIUC while not perfect, at least had kids in dorms, in person classes, constant testing, and the kids I know there didnât have any trouble with getting food or housing, but maybe they also didnât put themselves in the position to have to be quarantined.
Bottom line is, the person asked why kids are not going to NU. NU is a great school no doubt about it, but for those wanting to go into tech, Chicago is not where it is and people want to go to Berkeley or Silicon etc to be near the startups. NU doesnât have an undergrad business degree, while Berkeley is ranked top 5. Berkeley is also ranked higher for CS and other programs so thatâs why and, if CA residents it could very well be weather related and cost related. My kids wouldnât even look at NU, location was only one factor. They didnât have the undergrad business and they canât compete with other schools at this time in CS. Theyâre working on it but still have some ways to go. One has many friends that chose her school over NU. It just is what it is. Everyone has their reasons. Itâs not a fit for everyone. As for my one in business if she wants to later get her MBA she can try her shot at Kellogg. I would have loved for one of mine to go there but they didnât have any interest and wanted to go to the best programs for what they wanted. It just is what it is.
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@srparent15 100% agree that certain colleges & universities love certain high schools. And Naviance backs this up. Strategizing using this info is essential.
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I just found it unlikely there are many schools sending 10+ kids to NU, (maybe the large top IL public schools New Trier, Stevenson, etc.). I know the groups of NU kids/parents through the IL student NU groups, and weâve talked about these #âs from various top HS. NU isnât really that big of a school.
I do believe that, due to Engr freshman direct admit process, it is nearly impossible to add/switch Engr majors at U of I. Iâm sure it has happened occasionally, but there are very limited spots in these U of I Engr programs.
Iâve known too many kids (with good college GPAs) who attend these schools âundecidedâ hoping to get into Engr and it just does not happen. Or they can not switch between, say, Aerospace Eng and Mech Eng. Happens all the time with good students.
Same thing can be said about attending Indiana âundecidedâ and hoping to get into Kelly Business. It is a rare occurrence for a non-direct admit to get into IU Kelly business, or U of I engineering. And if you want to go to Purdue and switch to business, youâll have to figure out a way to transfer to Indiana University. And if youâre at Indiana University, you canât switch to engineering.
Some U of I Eng programs (like ChemE) are even in separate schools (same as Berkeley setup), making it even tougher to switch. NU has all engineering in McCormick, and all Eng students take the same Fresh/Soph Eng Analysis & Design Thinking course path. This exposes them to all the different engineering disciplines, making it easy to switch between engineering majors.
Also, in your previous post, you referenced the Engineering schools, which is why I mentioned Comp Engr. You started your posts referencing Engineering programs, and now youâre saying itâs easy to switch to Computer Science.
NU has engineering all in McCormick, with computer being in both McCormick and Weinberg - a student can choose which school/path. These other schools donât even come anywhere close to the major choice flexibility of NU. And the ability of a student to easily combine Engr with a Top 5 business school certificate is also hard to beat.
NU has one of the largest undergrad research #âs, as well as endowment $, in the country.
One quarter (out of four) of no students on campus is not âmost of the year.â It is also in line with many college Fall closures due to Covid - nothing different about NU. U of I did allow kids on campus in the Fall, but I know many kids who were miserable there due to their quarantine fiascos. Contact tracing meant many kids were stuck in quarantine, even if they had been careful to follow rules.
Berkeley is exceptional. My child had to chose between NU and Berkeley. But you canât easily switch majors at Berkeley, particularly with Engr. And my childâs Engr major happens to be higher ranked at NU than at Berkeley - not that it matters.
And there is PLENTY of Chicago tech start up $, billions of $ of govt/school/private investments in the Chicago Tech and Research Corridor, big investments in quantum computing hub, big Pharma research co, big expansion of Amazon warehousing/logistics opportunities⊠etc⊠etc⊠all at a reasonable midwest cost-of-living, centralized location with great transportation options, and lots of talented/educated workers that tech companies want. I have no worries about STEM opportunities in the area.
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Also, if you are living in the city of Evanston, than it makes sense there is a major NU admission bump, esp due to NUâs âGood Neighborâ program, their G&T HS programs for underserved youth, Questbridge, etc.
The local university is going to strongly partner with the local high school, and the large Evanston Township HS is going to have much higher acceptance #âs/percentages. But I canât extrapolate natl. trends from this.
I donât know if my child would chose NU if she lived in Evanston either. There is often the need to spread wings and move away from your hometown, despite how good the university may be. I totally get that. Iâve heard the same thing on local California kids not wanting to go to Stanford, which is crazy since next to no one gets into Stanford.
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NU let kids back on campus in Winter (not after). My son moved into the dorms in January.
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