<p>hi. can some people give me an honest opinion about the reputation and merits/drawbacks of SESP. i was admitted to WCAS but i'm thinking about transferring. thanks heaps</p>
<p>I'm not in SESP, but I'd say the best advice is to follow your OWN opinion. Try out some of the classes once you get here, and if you like it, transfer. It's not all that difficult to transfer schools here (except for maybe going into Medill), and advisors will allow you to take classes in the other schools while you see which one's better for you.</p>
<p>I can!</p>
<p>Benefits:
- BEST ADVISING ON CAMPUS. Can't stress this enough. SESP is so personal and the people really care about you. My advisor emails me nearly every day, with seminars and job opportunities, or just to see how I am doing. During NSW we had dinner in the dean's backyard. I know almost everyone in my SESP class because it's a smaller school. The motto is "we do things differently," and it shows.
- Interesting programs not available elsewhere on campus. Many people do Econ for business whereas I did LOC, which is a really cool program. Social Policy is also fantastic, and HDPS is a neat alternative to psych if you're more interested in development. And of course, secondary teaching.
- Annenberg is a cute building.
- Classes are generally smaller and more discussion-based. (And easier, I find.)
- You can always double major in another school, such as LOC + Econ or Social Policy + Int'l Studies.
- Pre-approved classes are the shiiiiiit. Basically, for your major requirement you will have to take classes in OTHER schools that count for your major- it's a great way of forcing you to diversify your studies. (For example, I am an LOC major, but I can take classes like Macroecon, US Foreign Policy and Marketing Management- all in Weinberg- that all go towards my LOC degree.)
- Practicum has the potential to be an amazing/rewarding experience.
- You will have fun trying to "convert" your friends, since many will not have a clue what SESP is (see below). SESP has the highest transferred-into rate of any of the schools.</p>
<p>The Bad:
- Viewed as the easiest school (has the highest GPA) so you might face criticism from jealous engineers
- "I'm in SESP." "Oh, so you want to be a teacher?"
- "I'm in LOC." "*** is that?"
- Uneven guy-girl ratio (slightly more girls- could be good or bad, depending)
- Even if you double major, your primary degree will be from SESP, so for jobs and such you might have to do some explaining as to why you have an "Econ" degree from the "School of Education."</p>
<p>I transferred into SESP from Weinberg and it was probably one of the best decisions I've made. I did this the summer before arriving, once I found out about the LOC program (originally I was an Econ major). Any other questions, ask away.</p>
<p>Wow I really appreciate your info!! I actually do have a few more questions!
How hard is it to graduate with honors from SESP. Id really like to do the honors thesis and of course, having honors in general would be great too. I think its a 3.5 GPA. What % gets honors from SESP?
Also, do you know the guy/girl ratio is it like 90-10 or something more reasonable? So the classes are small and discussion based which sounds awesome, but how is the community in general?
Do SESP kids have special social events and become close friends or is it basically just like friends in classes. Im of course going to want friends from all schools but I think itd be nice to have that extra community environment there.
About the Chicago field studies thing, I know its competitive to get into from WCAS- is it guaranteed or easier from SESP since thats kindof part of the program?
What about capstone- how competitive is that if youre willing to do the community service requirement. How much value does the learning with service (or whatever its called) component of a degree have?
Do you think that graduate schools will look at a degree from SESP and know that its easier and thatll put you at a disadvantage?
If I was to study internatl studies and social policy, do I have to transfer to SESP or can I still graduate from WCAS?
Do SESP students generally live in south or north? (sorry
random!)
The classes listed as core requirements like adults and aging and those ones..do I have to take all of them or is there a degree of choice, because, for instance, Im not interested in adults as much as I am kids and adolescents.
Ok
Im so sorry
you dont have to answer all of my questions
thank you so much for your time!!! -katie</p>
<p>How hard is it to graduate with honors from SESP. Id really like to do the honors thesis and of course, having honors in general would be great too. I think its a 3.5 GPA. What % gets honors from SESP?</p>
<p>I don't actually know the requirements, but so far I have found it to be not too hard. If you put the effort into each class, it's not that bad. It helps to pay attention to CTECs to get a feel for what's required for each class. I don't know the %s but SESP does have the highest GPA on campus. </p>
<p>Also, do you know the guy/girl ratio is it like 90-10 or something more reasonable? </p>
<p>Nooo not that extreme. It's probably around 70-30 or 65-35. </p>
<p>So the classes are small and discussion based which sounds awesome, but how is the community in general? Do SESP kids have special social events and become close friends or is it basically just like friends in classes. Im of course going to want friends from all schools but I think itd be nice to have that extra community environment there.</p>
<p>It's a great community. You do a ton of stuff with all SESP during NSW so you get to know everyone. Plus in the core SESP classes, it's basically all SESP students, and usually freshmen, so you really get to know people. You will meet people from ALL schools when you take electives and approved classes.</p>
<p>About the Chicago field studies thing, I know its competitive to get into from WCAS- is it guaranteed or easier from SESP since thats kindof part of the program? What about capstone- how competitive is that if youre willing to do the community service requirement. How much value does the learning with service (or whatever its called) component of a degree have?</p>
<p>I don't know MUCH about these things, but a LOT of people do the certificate in service learning project and say it's easy and a lot of fun. </p>
<p>Do you think that graduate schools will look at a degree from SESP and know that its easier and thatll put you at a disadvantage?</p>
<p>Not necessarily. It also depends on what your major is here. Social Policy and Ed majors will have an easier time than LOC/HDPS majors probably since they are expected to have a degree from the School of EDUCATION and POLICY. In the end it's STILL a Northwestern degree, and that's an accomplishment. SESP is also very respected in its field; the graduate school is ranked 6th in the country.</p>
<p>If I was to study internatl studies and social policy, do I have to transfer to SESP or can I still graduate from WCAS?</p>
<p>You'd have to be in SESP for any double major. But Int'l Studies is an adjunct major anyway so you have to pick a primary major and be in that particular school, I believe. </p>
<p>Do SESP students generally live in south or north? (sorry random!)</p>
<p>Both. Annenberg is dead center campus so it makes no difference.</p>
<p>The classes listed as core requirements like adults and aging and those ones..do I have to take all of them or is there a degree of choice, because, for instance, Im not interested in adults as much as I am kids and adolescents.</p>
<p>You have to choose EITHER Adulthood/Aging or Childhood/Adolescence. There is also another set of requirements where you choose 2 courses from a list, and both of them are on it- so you CAN take both, but it's not required. I have taken both, and enjoyed A/A more, but you definitely only need to take one (usually the one more relevant to your major).</p>
<p>Sorry for not knowing some of the stuff but I hope this helps.</p>
<p>no it reeally does help! i am really leaning toward transferring now. in wcas only 2 distros starting in 06 can be satisfied through AP..is this the same as in SESP or does the 7 limit remain? Also, if i was to double major SESP social policy and international studies, is it true that i can only complete one major at a time? like i'd have to complete all of my credits for social policy then all for internat'l studies in the remaining time? one last random question, do u know anyone who did an internship at the us dppt of education...i reeeeally want to but i'm sure it's incredibly competitive. thanks!</p>
<p>wait im so sorry for just continually throwing questions at you by the way. i know you're really busy at college and appreciate it so much. i should have said that in the last post!! you're so nice to help!!</p>
<p>I don't know how the distro requirements have changed (I am sorry they did, because that blows), but for me, the requirements were TECHNICALLY the same as Weinberg. Well, I was told that, but they accepted my Bio 5 for my science distro, and Weinberg wouldn't... so yay for SESP. I'd assume that the rules are the same though. </p>
<p>That thing about the majors is very false. I mean we have advising, but in the end WE are picking all of our own classes... so even if it were true (?) you could just start taking Int'l Studies classes as "electives" and once you declared the major, you'd have taken them already. But I am like 99% sure you can just fulfill each major however you want to. (Making your own schedule is fun!)</p>
<p>No idea about the internship, but that sounds like a good place to look into for your practicum if you transferred into SESP.</p>
<p>It's no problem about the load of questions. I only transferred into SESP because of good advice I got from an upperclassmen before I arrived here, and I am so glad I did, so it's pretty much my duty now to keep incoming freshmen informed about the awesomeness...</p>
<p>SESP is notorious for having insanely inflated GPAs. As of 1998, the average SESP grade was a 3.55, so it's probably over a 3.6 now.</p>
<p>do you think CAS is more respected than SESP in terms of applying to grad school then?</p>
<p>No, and you probably shouldn't be worrying about that right now. What you need to do is decide what you want to study, and where is the best place to do that at Northwestern. If it's SESP, do it! If it's WCAS, do it! Or go into SESP but double major so it won't make a difference at all. </p>
<p>and im_blue seems to be exaggerating a tiny bit; we do have the highest GPAs (well, except School of Music) but it's not "notorious"... that article didn't even mention SESP except in the little chart. </p>
<p>Either way you will applying to grad school with a NU degree and that's an accomplishment. And plenty of SESP students go to grad school.</p>
<p>you're right..just paranoid..i think im definetely transferring to SESP..the question now is will they let me..it's such a small school? would you recommend doing it before school starts so i can be involved in the SESP new student week stuff and meet people etc? or waiting untill they talk to students about it after school starts? does sesp have freshman seminars? (sorry random) thanks</p>
<p>It is the most transferred-into school and they expect a lot of WCAS transfers, so don't sweat it. Transfer in before school starts, definitely! It is so easy to do it over the summer. I simply emailed the dean over the summer and told her I wanted to do LOC, and a few days later I was emailed saying "congrats! we've transferred you into SESP"- it was that easy. So I'd definitely recommend doing it as soon as possible and I have pretty much no doubt it will go through. And no, SESP has no freshman seminars, WCAS is the only school that does. What SESP program are you considering?</p>
<p>If an average GPA of ~3.6 isn't rampant grade inflation, then I don't know what is.</p>
<p>hey dfleish, i'm hoping social policy, but in terms of research and things, i'd like to look at educationk, tho i wouldnt major in secondary teaching itself...haha that was confusing..is the social policy program good? (you're in LOC right?)</p>
<p>Yep. I'm a pretty big fan of all the SESP programs, but Social Policy is one of the biggest. I know a lot of people in it who are very happy. Studying education and policy works really well in conjunction with NU's study abroad options (I know someone who just got back studying education reform in Africa... talk about intense).</p>