Potential applicants: Read

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>I would like to start off by saying that I am currently a Junior enrolled at Northwestern; I have made it through to this point as an economics major/pre-med with a 3.71 GPA; I am involved in a variety of activities on campus, and have a lot of friends. Thus, this is coming from someone who has achieved a decent amount of success at NU.</p>

<p>If you are considering Northwestern, you shouldn't be. If Northwestern is your top choice, it shouldn't be. Here's why:</p>

<p>1) Teachers here don't care at all about teaching. They care about doing their research, and in 99% of your classes, you will be lower than whale poop on the bottom of the ocean at high tide. Granted, this is true of most universities, but at smaller institutions such as Northwestern, the professors are supposed to take teaching a little more seriously. Thus, if you think you're going to get good treatment from professors, your thinking is erroneous.</p>

<p>2) In this vein, the advising stinks to the high heavens. The people who are supposed to be helping you get through Northwestern have no idea what they're talking about. For example: I came in as a physics major. My advisor was the director of undergraduate physics. He couldn't even tell me what the right physics courses to take were, and I dropped the major.</p>

<p>3) Your GPA will be worse than at any other school, guaranteed. Here's why: In college, classes are curved to the average score. Let's consider organic chemistry, an introductory subject offered at virtually all schools. In state school orgo, the people are generally less intelligent than at Northwestern; these schools most commonly curve to a B- average. At Northwestern, an average grade in orgo still gets you a B-; however, the students are smarter, so your GPA suffers accordingly. Furthermore, at Ivy league schools, the students are marginally more intelligent than they are at NU (around a 70 point SAT average differential, or less, versus 300 or greater for the difference between the typical state school and NU), and the classes are curved to a B+, or often, an A-. Thus, your GPA would be higher whether you go to a ritzier school than NU, or a state school, which is much cheaper. If you think that employers/graduate schools care about this, you would be wrong; my 3.7 means the same as a 3.7 at U of I or any other state school, for that matter.</p>

<p>In general, the administration will treat you like you go to a state school, when you're smart enough to be going to a top-15 university. Furthermore, you are paying to go to a smaller, private institution, not a larger one. Thus, if NU's relatively small undergraduate community attracts you, IT SHOULDN'T.</p>

<p>Some things to consider about the student body:</p>

<p>1) NU, like it or not, is full of Ivy League rejects. These people set their sights on Yale or Harvard, and get rejected, often to face a choice between NU or other state schools. As you will probably learn, getting rejected from a college, no matter how out of reach it may seem, stings bad, and can make people insecure; it is in this mindset, after getting rejected from one's top choice, that a prospective student is forced to decide where he/she will go to school. For instance, one of my good friends is a Comp Sci major; he got rejected from Princeton, and his choice was between U of I (#1 in the nation for EE/CS) and NU. He chose NU simply for the name recognition, and he is by no means alone. Thus, many rejects are drawn to NU's marginally better name recognition, and go here simply because it looks better on paper. Thus, NU is full of insecure ivy-league wannabes (myself included)</p>

<p>2) This makeup of the student body, in turn, leads to a highly judgmental and acidic environment. Don't believe me? Consider this: there is a website, called collegeacb.com, where students at various universities are allowed to make anonymous gossip postings about other students. These postings can be among the meanest things you will ever hear said about other people, because there is no room for retribution from the subject of the post. Anyhow, here are some statistics on post volume at various colleges:</p>

<p>WashU: 8 pages of postings (high, but also full of Ivy rejects)
Yale: 3 pages of postings
UIowa: Not even 1 page of postings
UIllinois: 2 pages of postings
Vanderbilt: 3 pages of postings
NU: SIXTEEN pages of postings, and counting</p>

<p>Bottom line: The people here are looking for any excuse to judge you. Just be forewarned.</p>

<p>3) Most of the "student protection" measures at this university only exist so that the university can cover its own tail in the event of a lawsuit. I had a friend get sexually assaulted at Northwestern (in fact, I've had several friends get raped at NU, by NU students: keep that in mind, ladies); after a long, painful time period, she sought out the Director of Student affairs for assistance. He pushed the idea of "peer mediation" on her, in which her and the assailant would sit in separate rooms and talk through a mediator. She decided that he only had to write her a sincere letter of apology, and get it to her in two weeks. The letter took three months to arrive, and in this letter, her assailant said that he believed it was partially her fault. Furthermore, she saw a list of previous punishments for sexual assaults; most of them were along the lines of, "if both of us are at a party, he has to leave first." Essentially, this "peer mediation" system exists so that the university doesn't get the bad publication associated with sexual assault (anyone familiar with CU-Boulder knows how bad this can be) at the expense of the victims not getting the justice they deserve, and the perpetrators waltzing off into the real world with Northwestern degrees. That's ridiculous.</p>

<p>Also, one final thing: if you're interested in journalism, and drawn to Medill, you shouldn't be. Yes, it has been a top journalism program in the past, but consider these things:</p>

<p>1) Medill is the best print journalism school in the country. Sadly, print journalism is dying, so the prominence of print journalism is declining accordingly</p>

<p>2) The school has shifted to focus more on the marketing aspects of journalism than on the writing aspects of journalism. Medill recently added a marketing certificate program, which is starting to comprise increasing amounts of Medill's professors and resources. This shift started to occur in the summer before my Freshman year, when Dean Levine took over. If you want a good laugh, google "Medill Dean Levine" and read about his history with journalistic integrity. Bottom line: journalism doesn't matter at Medill, marketing does.</p>

<p>In short, my undergraduate career is approaching its twilight. I will be graduating after Winter Quarter. Looking back, I know it's healthy to have no regrets, but I can't help but realize that I have gotten a raw deal from Northwestern. I almost didn't apply, and after having virtually finished my career at NU, I now wish that I wouldn't have. You guys still have time to make the right choice. So please, save yourself a lot of time, trouble, and agony, and send your application fee to an institution which deserves the level of respect it commands.</p>

2

<p>despite what you have said I am still ecstatic to be going to NU in the fall. Honestly I just feel really bad for you if you hate where you are that much and have not made the best of such amazing opportunities. There must be some positive aspects of NU that you loved? Could you share some of those? Again, I am truly sorry that you have had such a bad experience but I am sure many more have had amazing experiences. I intend to have an amazing one.</p>

3

<p>oh wow can anyone confirm this...?</p>

4

<p>While I am sincerely sorry that you feel like your time at NU has been a waste, I think it is rather ridiculous to make such hasty generalizations about the school in general or to assume that all other people will be as miserable at NU as you were. Comments like the one about professors being interested in research rather than teaching likely reflects your personal experiences. While my experiences have been largely the opposite, I am not going to sit here and say you are wrong; instead, I will say that making stupid generalizations about the motives and interests of the faculty is something neither of us, nor anyone else, should be doing.</p>

<p>I, too, am a junior enrolled at Northwestern, and I have managed a 3.83 GPA as a chemistry major/pre-med. While I sympathize with your complaint about the curving of pre-med courses (orgo in particular), such policies do not go unnoticed by admissions committees. My uncle is associate dean of admission at UCSF Medical School, and he has told me that most admissions offices are perfectly aware that Northwestern does not have any sort of grade inflation for pre-med courses. They are also aware that in order to get NU credit for Orgo, students MUST take the NU sequence (i.e. no transfer credits, not even from Harvard, are accepted by NU). While it does suck that NU pre-med is rigorous, the admissions committees are cognizant of this fact, and unless you can pull a 4.0 at a state school, it is unadvisable to pass up NU for a state school solely for the purpose of better grades.</p>

<p>To be completely honest, I just about dropped out of school after my first quarter because I realized all that I had dreamed about Northwestern was just that -- a dream. The Medill name attracted me as I wanted to pursue medical journalism, but I quickly became disillusioned with the changes to the journalism curriculum. Some of what you said specifically about Medill rings true, but I question how much personal experience you have with the school and its policies to criticize it so acrimoniously. Yes, the changing emphasis on multimedia does not sit well with everyone; I myself was disheartened by this change of direction and felt like I was being forced to "sell" the story to my audience. It wasn't so much about the content as it was the packaging. And while that was extremely shocking and off-putting for me, that's just the way things are. I will not argue with you about the position of Medill in undergraduate journalism. I am of the school of thought that says undergraduate journalism is a waste of time, but I think if you are going to do it anyway it might as well be either at NU or Mizzou. The latter obviously does not have the same standard of education throughout its undergraduate schools, but it has one hell of a j-school.</p>

<p>As for the comment about Ivy League rejects. Yes, it's true. A large portion of the student body at NU was rejected from one or more Ivies, but there are also many, like myself and most of my friends, that turned down Ivy League schools to attend Northwestern. Whenever discussion about where we got accepted comes up, I have NEVER -- I repeat, NEVER -- had someone so much as scoff at me or give me a dirty look because I passed on the opportunity to attend a school to which they had not been accepted. Only once have I ever been asked if I thought I would have been happier or better off had I gone to one of the Ivies to which I was accepted. My honest and direct answer was "No". It's not that I think I would be miserable there, but rather that I cannot imagine being happier anywhere else. </p>

<p>While you may be bitter and angry that you even applied to Northwestern, I view it as one of the more important, life-altering and joyous moments of my life. My decision to attend NU was perhaps the best I've ever made, and I, for one, do not appreciate you stripping others of that opportunity by telling them not to consider NU. Maybe you just got back your winter quarter grades and are expressing your ire and indignation this way; I really don't know what you MO is, but I can tell you this -- thank you for sharing your opinion about NU, but I certainly hope you do not actually believe you speak for the rest of the student body, or better yet that your opinion matters more than anyone else's. </p>

<p>I extend to you my deepest condolences for your regrets and your frustrations during your time at Northwestern. A life of regrets is not a healthy one, and I sincerely hope you can lead a healthier life. May your post graduation plans bring you the same joy (and even more) that I have been afforded during my 3 years at Northwestern. Although I have just two quarters left before I leave Northwestern for good, I am not looking back on the previous quarters with the same scorn as you; I am sad that I have been unable to accomplish all I had planned out for my time at Northwestern, and I am wondering where the years went. The adage "time flies when you're having fun" comes to mind.</p>

<p>For potential applicants, I hope you have not been scared off by such an extreme and depressing account of one person's college experience. If any of you wish to find out more about how grateful and appreciative I am for my Northwestern education, feel free to contact me and I will give you honest and candid answers to whatever questions you may have. Don't let one bad apple ruin Northwestern for you.</p>

5

<p>Wow, I am shocked by this thread. If you’ve been so unhappy with Northwestern then why, in Heaven’s name, didn’t you transfer?! I have never heard anyone speak with such disdain toward their undergraduate school. Most are thrilled with their experience, regardless of where they go. Otherwise, they transfer.</p>

<p>Anyway, I am honestly sorry that you have had such a terrible experience at NU. I have heard nothing but good things about it.</p>

<p>Also, don’t give Medill such a bad rap. With print journalism dying, as you said, what was Medill supposed to do? NU had to revive the J-School with a more technological and marketing approach or it would fall in prestige.</p>

6

<p>1.

If that’s the case, then the CTEC scores must be like 0-1 out of 6 for most of them. Yet, the results say otherwise:
[Profs</a>’ CTECs lowest for teaching quality - CAMPUS](<a href=“http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2000/06/13/Campus/Profs.Ctecs.Lowest.For.Teaching.Quality-1904647.shtml]Profs”>http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2000/06/13/Campus/Profs.Ctecs.Lowest.For.Teaching.Quality-1904647.shtml)

I never heard of any Ivy League school with premed courses curved to B+/A-. Also, the SAT differential between NU and Ivies is less than 70. NU’s is about the same as Penn/Brown’s and slightly higher than Cornell’s.<br>
3.

People that get into NU usually have other privates like Emory, Carnegie Mellon, WashU, UChicago…etc. to choose from, not just state schools. They have more choices than you claimed. Also, 25% of the students get in through ED. </p>

<p>I am sorry that you hate your experience at NU but it seems to me you were exaggerating the negatives to get your points across.</p>

7

<p>So much of this is attributed to Northwestern being filled with students waxing resentful at being rejected from the Ivy League, however, the same is said of non-HYP Ivies, and all the near-Ivies. For the students you would dissuade from attending NU would be at another college for which the same thing can be said. </p>

<p>If Northwestern is the the seething cauldron of misery you describe, with disinterested professors, clueless advisors, resentful students, toxic social scene, and draconian grading, one would expect that Wildcats would be headed en masse for the exits. However, Northwestern’s freshmen retention (96%) and 4 year graduation rates (86%) are very good, and are no different than [Cornell</a>, Georgetown, and Univ. of Chicago](<a href=“College Navigator - Compare Institutions”>College Navigator - Compare Institutions).</p>

8

<p>NU wouldn’t have 11 students winning prestigious British scholarships (Rhodes, Marshall, Gates…etc) if it’s such a horrible place for undergrads. I doubt anyone can find a school with a more impressive list this year. It also got 29 Fulbright scholars this year (not sure how that’s ranked this year but last year, only Harvard got that many) </p>

<p>The new President is known to care a lot about undergrads. So regardless, it’s only gonna get better.</p>

9

<p>Some responses:</p>

<p>To the most recent post by Sam Lee, I trust NU’s administration as far as I can throw it. They have lied about every little thing since I got here, all the way down to whether or not they were going to lock the side doors in dormitories. So, if Shapiro says he cares about undergraduates, I don’t trust it. As for the scholarships, we had 2 Rhodes, 1 Marshall, and 1 Mitchell this year. That’s not 11 winners. Furthermore, this can be attributed to a good fellowship department, not a good university.</p>

<p>To Mr. Muller, yes, I agree with you, these same things should be characteristic of other near-Ivies and non-HYP Ivies. However, the obsession with petty gossip at Northwestern is ridiculous, and unlike anything I could have imagined seeing at any of these other schools. I have friends who attend WashU, UofC, Cornell, and Brown, and I talked to them about this, and indeed, the gossip level is nowhere near what it is at NU. The closest I could come to giving quantitative evidence of this was the collegeacb.com statistic; I think that speaks for itself (To clarify, I’ve never had anything bad said about me on RR or any of the other acidic websites that NU students seem to worship, but I have several friends who have. It sucks). Bottom line: for some reason (I offered universal Ivy rejection as a potential explanation, if this is inadequate it doesn’t matter, the bottom line remains the same) NU students are insecure, fake, and looking to judge you, more than at other schools. All of my best friends are now Northwestern people; however, I had to wade through a pile of snakes to find them.</p>

<p>As for the first post by Sam Lee, yes, I may have exaggerated about all of the teachers not caring about teaching. Allow me to clarify: humanities teachers sometimes care about teaching; they are often engaging lecturers, and attending class can be a pleasure. Hence, the high CTECs However, when it comes to office hours/personal attention to students, they fail. Some anecdotes from my undergraduate career</p>

<p>1) I had an English teacher who was late to her own class by an average of 20 minutes per day. This was a 300-level English class with 25 students.
2) I had a friend email a teacher about the coverage of the intermediate macroeconomics final (worth 50% of the grade), as the syllabus and the book contradicted one another, two weeks before the final. He got no response.
3) In an open review session for intermediate microeconomics, I had a TA roll his eyes and sigh loudly, several times, at other students’ questions. This isn’t even a professor; it’s a TA!
4) During the first orgo lab lecture, the lab professor singled out a student who fell asleep (it’s an 8 AM lecture, it happens), and told her to “get the hell out of class.” In front of 400 other students.
5) I had a math teacher Freshman year post 1-2 PM office hours. I showed up 5 times, he showed up 1 time, and I caught him on his way out the door. At 1:15. This was in the most difficult math course offered to freshmen in WCAS, so you’d think they’d take it a little more seriously.</p>

<p>There, you have it. There have been some excellent teachers (Mark Witte, Lynne Kiesling, Eric Schulz in the econ dept, Glenn Sucich in English, all the orgo lecture-section leaders have been great, any tecaher in the bio department is also probably awesome), but they are exceptions, rather than rules.</p>

<p>Also, the point about SAT Ivy differential being lower than I state is true. However, read my argument about grades, this only bolsters it. As for curves, my best friend from high school goes to Yale, and he says that average pretty much always gets you a B+. He’s an econ/math double. As for other options; yes, most students at NU have other private school options than their state school. I could have gone to WashU (which, for premeds, is awesome). I also could have gone to the UVA honors program, with a decent scholarship to boot. However, looking back on the nature of the impersonal, poorly advised education I have received, I would have even chosen U of I over NU, in a heartbeat. What I didn’t realize was that I chose NU largely because its name carries a certain degree of prestige which made me feel good after getting rejected from my dream schools, after working my butt off in High School. Talking to people here, I get that, for many, their decisions were similar. Again, I don’t know if this sets NU apart from other near-ivies, but given the conversations I’ve had with friends at these schools, and the obscene amounts of gossip, for some reason, it does.</p>

<p>Ca2009, I’m sorry you have heard nothing but good things about NU. Consider my thoughts the “grain of salt,” if you will. As for Medill, yes, those changes were made so that the school could “keep up.” However, they changed the standard after my class already made their decisions; therefore, a lot of the journalism majors from my year were expecting something completely different, and wound up going to glorified marketing school. Again, google “Medill Dean Levine” for some good evidence. </p>

<p>As for aterdecer0, I certainly hope that what you said about medical schools is true, as I am about to start the application process. Nevertheless, it irritates me that you take offense to my motives for posting. My winter quarter grades were fine, thank you, and I’m not bitter about them in the least. Nor do I feel that my opinion is any better than anyone else’s. I just want these people who are considering going to NU in the fall to hear a contrarian account to all the wonderful things they hear about Northwestern. And, calling me somehow “unhealthy” for expressing regret is snide and arrogant; obviously, it’s best to live life with no regrets, but you’d be lying if you told me you had no regrets at all. If you felt you’d gotten a raw deal with something as important as college, you’d probably regret it too. Despite my disdain for NU, I’ve tried to make the most of what it has to offer; I have extensive research experience, am on the executive board of my fraternity and a student volunteering group, am a GSW facilitator, and am writing an honors thesis. So, I did not post this out of angst or stubborn refusal to participate in Northwestern’s great opportunities. In fact, I post after having maximized my opportunities, and have come to the conclusion that, for me, NU wasn’t worth it, and I still feel like I’m getting a raw deal with my undergraduate education. </p>

<p>And, to clarify, I am not saying anything about speaking for the entire student body, however, many of my friends agree whole-heartedly with my point of view; I’ve spoken with them at length about it. Unfortunately, they don’t care enough to be posting on college confidential, but if they were, they’d agree.</p>

10

<p>Jchen3, you asked for some positive aspects of NU. As you are already going there, and as the school does have many wonderful things to offer, I will share them:</p>

<p>1) The courses are rigorous and stimulating. Most teachers, while they don’t give a rat’s behind about you personally, can lecture their tail off. Some of these include Peter Hayes, Sarah Maza, Mark Ratner, and Joe Walsh. Furthermore, some teachers really do care about teaching: Mark Witte, Eric Schulz, Lynne Kiesling, Glenn Sucich, Richard Walker, and Joseph Lambert, to name a few</p>

<p>2) The vast majority of upper(300)-level courses are really interesting. I can’t speak for engineering or Medill courses, but I’ve taken 300-level bio, physics, math, history, english, econ, and psych courses; with the exception of physics and the English course mentioned below, all have been exceptional. </p>

<p>3) Greek life, if you have the right attitude about it, is wonderful and huge at NU. Some people use their affiliation as an excuse to judge or label (which, given the highly insecure nature of the NU student body, wouldn’t surprise me), but many others use it to foster genuine friendships and to meet people which, under any other circumstances, they couldn’t have met. In fact, to the poster who asked why I didn’t transfer, I solely credit my fraternity for my remaining at Northwestern. Anyway, I’d recommend looking into Greek life.</p>

<p>4) Research opportunities are extensive. The second you hit campus you should figure out what you’re interested in, look up a professor who does it, and get started running. Seriously.</p>

<p>NU is not all bad. You can make the most of it if you have the right attitude. I just have had bad experiences here, and felt they needed to be shared with prospective students.</p>

11

<p>I think warywildcat has a legit point. It is entirely appropriate for warywildcat to list his/her opinions regarding NU. It is true, that are alot of positive aspects that people hear about NU, in fact as an applicant to NU I appreciate an individual taking the time to tell people about their experiences. This gives me as a possible accepted student the option of viewing other schools. It is great to view both the pros and cons. I have mostly heard great stuff in regards to NU, I truly appreciate warywildcat advice and information, whether it is 50% true or 10% true, it gives me an experience of a student, which allows me to make a better decision as to which school I should attend to. So thanks for the advice warywildcat.</p>

12

<p>warywildcat,</p>

<p>The 11 Brit scholarships include Cambridge Gates and Churchill. Anyway, you’ve done a good job sharing your opinion.</p>

13

<p>Warywildcat, I did not mean to come off as condescending or rude. Perhaps it is just my German bluntness, but I was simply being frank – like any German would. I hope you can accept my sincerest apologies if I offended you with my comments about what you said. </p>

<p>I did not mean to imply that you were living an “unhealthy” life but merely that I hope after leaving Northwestern your life will be healthier and happier and you will not have such regrets. Obviously there are things that I regret in life, but, for me, attending Northwestern has not been one of them. Two years ago I might have said otherwise, as I was click away from submitting transfer applications to several universities. But I decided I hadn’t given NU a fair chance and wanted to make the most of my experience. Clearly, from what you said, you have given NU every opportunity to impress and captivate you. Without a doubt you are motivated and involved academically, socially and extracurricularly, and the fact that you are still unhappy with your decision to attend NU saddens me. Not because of what you say about the school I love and appreciate, but because the school that has given me so much failed to provide for you what you were searching. It is fair to say that you got a raw deal and can feel angry, upset even indignant about it.</p>

<p>I am certain that any student at NU has a litany of problems with the University on the tip of their tongue. Every department could do certain things better, every professor could improve some aspect of their teaching, every student organization could do things a little bit differently. God knows I feel the same way about you in criticizing specific departments; Medill particularly faces the largest brunt of my criticism, and I agree whole-heartedly with what you said about it. </p>

<p>But the fact of the matter is that I disagree with your attempt to dissuade others from coming to Northwestern. While I cannot sit here and truthfully claim that every single person will love Northwestern, and their lives will be all the better for having attended, there are certain people for whom Northwestern is the ideal school. I think we can agree that everyone has a certain school that is perfect for them. Just as I will not claim NU is perfect for everyone, I don’t think you should claim it is perfect for no one. Forgive me if I misunderstood your opinion, but I seemed to glean from your original post that you think prospective students SHOULD NOT apply to or attend Northwestern. Had someone told me that before I applied, I probably would have heeded the warning and applied elsewhere. So I appreciate that you explained your opinions as the “grain of salt” to be taken with all the praise and acclaim Northwestern typically receives on here. Obviously, prospective students search for truthful and honest answers from current students, which is why I thank you for expressing your feelings and sharing your experiences – to prospective, current and former students alike. I, for one, appreciate you taking the time to respond to all the comments and offer your experiences up for others to consider. </p>

<p>Again, I apologize for offending you with my directness. My comments about healthy living were not meant to imply anything about the current state of your life, and all the perceived denigration was unintentional. I am sorry. Please accept my apologies. Es tut mir Leid. Bitte entschuldigen Sie.</p>

14

<p>I’m a bit disappointed nobody is commenting on the sexual assault issue, which bothered me most of all as a prospective student.</p>

15

<p>Roflcopter, I have at least 3 friends who have been sexually assaulted. Probably more, but obviously it’s something that they don’t like to talk about. My one friend who went to Jim Neumeister (Director of Student affairs) to pursue disciplinary action and went through the useless peer mediation process described above said that the list of people who had gone through mediation was pages and pages long. And that’s just people who talked to the worthless university leadership about it. It’s a huge problem at NU, take it or leave it.</p>

16

<p>

I did not have a single teacher that’s constantly late, not even 1 or 2 minutes when I was at Northwestern. I was in chemE and took a few classes in econ departments. Most of the teachers were pretty good. </p>

<p>In this case, however, it’s more than just bad teaching. Bad teaching doesn’t get you fired but this kind of thing does. It’s probably even <em>illegal</em> to do that–getting paid while showing up for just half the time. Based on what you described, you were literally getting ripped off by half the tuition for that class. You should have demanded your money back and I really don’t understand why none of you didn’t come forward for something this serious. It’s a moot point whether it’s 300-level or 100-level. In fact, the teacher thought she/he could get away with it because there’s only 25 students and the chance of anyone of you going to complain would be smaller.</p>

17

<p>Before I read this entire thread, I just want to say flat out that I disagree with the facts of pretty much everything the original poster said.</p>

<p>Its all the mainstream stereotypes you hear the sheep in the student body spouting. This thread is false.</p>

18

<p>To elaborate somewhat- </p>

<p>As far as the sexual assault issue, I can’t say whether its true or not, but I’ve never heard of any sexual assaults at all. Maybe I run in the wrong circles?</p>

<p>And since it’s been well addressed, I just want to voice that 1) I believe, honestly, that even WITH all the actual flaws that NU has, it is one of the best possible college experiences available. 2) I have had nearly the opposite experience of almost everything you’ve listed, including a) quality of teaching b) advising c) timeliness of teaching, just to name a few.</p>

<p>I’ll note, however, that I’ve been in a small special program almost every quarter I’ve been here.</p>

<p>Apply to NU. Getting rejected from Princeton was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it led me to NU.</p>

19

<p>I am a freshman in Medill, and I wish to stand up slightly for my school.</p>

<p>After fall quarter, dealing with the petty nonsense from Medill’s staff (particularly Dean Lavine), I was convinced I was going to switch to another school. Northwestern is, above all, renowned for a good number of programs, and I knew I could find something else to suit my interests.</p>

<p>After lengthy discussions with both my parents and my adviser (who, might I add, is entirely accessible, knowledge and overall very helpful), I decided to give Medill another chance. I enrolled in two classes winter quarter-- the alleged weed-out courses-- and found that Medill was, despite my initial reactions to Medill 2020, exactly what I was looking for.</p>

<p>The change in Medill’s curriculum is not merely focused on marketing. While that is a large part of what is emphasized at Medill, we as students are afforded numerous opportunities to discover what aspect of journalism we are interested in. Print journalism is dying rapidly (just look at the Tribune), and Medill had to make changes to prepare its students for the professional shift. I, personally, will be likely focusing on print journalism in its most innovative form: online. Medill’s change in curriculum is truly to better suit the students in a changing environment. Lavine’s absolutely despicable failures aside, Medill remains a top-tier journalism school. I do not regret my choice to enroll, nor do I resent my choice to remain in the program.</p>

<p>I am a Yale reject, and I, like arbiter213 before me, cannot possibly express just how grateful I am that I did not receive acceptance there. NU was undoubtedly the right fit for me, and coming here was the best decision I ever made. I could have enrolled in state school for a small chunk of change, studying journalism in a similarly regarded program, but I chose Northwestern in part because of name and in part because of the opportunities coming here allowed me. I am a sorority girl, I write for multiple student publications, I am involved in film, and I still find time to enjoy my classes. </p>

<p>Northwestern was the best place in the world for me. I dedicated so much of myself to the college search, and, when I found myself rejected from my dream, I nearly just apathetically chose NU. I absolutely cannot, however, imagine myself feeling better adjusted or generally happier elsewhere. </p>

<p>To the OP, I am sorry you have had such a negative experience at Northwestern. It is not, however, universal. I am usually happy, though my winter quarter grades did leave much to be desired. I only blame myself. :)</p>

<p>I encourage you to apply to NU if you have the interest. Potential students or applicants, please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.</p>

<p>As to the sexual assault issues, I have yet to feel threatened or unsafe on Northwestern’s campus. Again, I am a member of a sorority, and I’ve not breached the issue of sexual assault.</p>

<p>Additionally, we may like to add the occasional post to the trashy CollegeACB. I don’t find it threatening or even surprising. Gossip, in its own way, is fun. I don’t think that should be taken as a sign that NU students are, on the whole, petty and conniving. Sure, we have some terrible people who inhabit our ranks, and no one is perfect, but you can certainly find some gems at NU, too. There truly is a place for everyone.</p>

20

<p>“I’ll note, however, that I’ve been in a small special program almost every quarter I’ve been here.”</p>

<p>Unfortunately, most people at NU are not in small special programs. Talk to literally ANYONE in WCAS/McCormick about their advising. It’s pitiful. </p>

<p>And furthermore, how is my post false? It’s my experience, and my feelings, which are just as valid as yours, like it or not. </p>

<p>I believe that, given how much we pay, and the experience that the AVERAGE student gets here, NU is a rip off, and the majority of people would be better off attending their state university. Maybe this isn’t so for ISP/MMSS/other special programs, but for your run of the mill Weinberg/McCormick student, I feel this is the case. These are my beliefs, and I simply wish to share them with potential applicants, who hear nothing but excellent things about the school, because when I applied, I heard nothing but excellent things about it too, and I wish I hadn’t.</p>