should i transfer here

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>i go to cornell...and i decided to transfer for various reasons (mostly due to the fact that I found it not to be a great fit for me....not much diversion from studying, no city...)</p>

<p>anyways...i have been accepted by U of Chicago, Rice, and Wash U, and a couple of waitlists...most prominently, Columbia</p>

<p>i went on the Wash U thread.....and I was shocked to see how SOOOOO many kids have chosen it over northwestern</p>

<p>i would have never thought that wash u was the place to be over northwestern, but I guess things are changing?</p>

<p>anyways...i really dont like the quarter system...but i can look that over</p>

<p>how is the campus culture, is there grade deflation/inflation in the humanities/social sciences??? How would you compare this to cornell?</p>

<p>are the students friendly or rude/stuck up/obnoxcious?</p>

<p>how is the workload? ru guys required to take 3 or 4 courses a quarter?</p>

<p>specifically, what does NU offer that Wash U and Chicago don't???</p>

2

<ul>
<li><p>The quarter system might have a weird schedule but the positives totally outweigh the negatives, IMHO.</p></li>
<li><p>I find that my friends at Cornell do more work than I do here.</p></li>
<li><p>Campus culture is awesome, it seems like everyone is involved somehow and there is always some student-run activity going on. Most people are laid back midwesterners, I think.</p></li>
<li><p>You have to take either 3 or 4 classes a quarter, but 4 is the norm. You can take 5.</p></li>
</ul>

3

<p>"are the students friendly or rude/stuck up/obnoxcious?"
I'm class of 2010 so I haven't attended yet, but a huge plus when I visited campus was that the students were REALLY friendly compared to the schools in the Northeast where students are a little bid colder. </p>

<p>I think its a midwest thing because people in Chicago are really friendly as well. If you're in Boston or New York, if you make eye contact you will often receive a cold look whereas in Chicago if you make eye contact and smile, you will get a smile in return.</p>

<p>"i went on the Wash U thread.....and I was shocked to see how SOOOOO many kids have chosen it over northwestern"
I wouldn't look too much into this. CC isn't exactly reflective of the cross-admits. Pre-meds are overrepresented on the WashU threads and for that WashU is really strong (second to jhu). NU will offer you a lot that WashU can't offer, even if it manipulated its way above NU on the USNews. </p>

<p>You said you got into UChicago too, right? Northwestern will give you the same opportunities/prestige as UChicago and will give you the laid back, friendly environment of WashU. Plus a whole lot more! Like a private beach, a beautiful campus, Big 10 sports, Evanston, and access to the third biggest city in the country. WashU is a great school and I'll admit I don't know much about it other than it has a top-notch premedical education. But with a yield rate around 30%, it isn't exactly any hotter among admits.</p>

4

<p>I dont know, the only person I know at Wash U hates it. I'd much much rather have spent my college years right outside chicago than st. louis. Lots of people on CC choose WashU over NU since its us news rank is higher but the rank is inflated due to alot of admission strategies WashU employs. I have another friend that transferred here from UChicago, they're kind of disconnected they don't have el stops and public transportation requires bus, and they're in a less safe area, and dont have access to Division I sports, and their campus isnt as nice.</p>

5

<p>And Northwestern doesn't use sketchy admissions strategies? You people need to realize that this is a universally employed tool...a school can admit whomever it feels like, and Northwestern is no exception to this. Obviously, WashU is considered to be notorious for this, but you can't single it out as the only one.</p>

<p>Anyhow, I had the same difficult decision between WashU and Northwestern. But in the end I chose WashU for a few reason. First, the academics there, just like Northwestern, are very solid across the board, but WashU's academics are known to be very intense, especially in the sciences (WashU's clear forte). Humanities and social sciences are also solid, and WashU doesn't inflate grades like many of the Ivy Leagues do (their average is set around a B, whereas 50% of Harvard kids get A's). Both have very pretty campuses and are located outside a major city (and what do you mean WashU's campus isn't as pretty? I actually thought WashU's campus was nicer than Northwestern's). However, there were a few things that WashU offered that Northwestern didn't. First, residential life at WashU far surpasses that of Northwestern. The dorms at WashU are among the nicest in the country, the campus food is excellent, and the residential college system allows for great social interaction. As far as not having "el stops" and public transportation, that's a minor inconvenience because there's so much to do within walking distance of WashU (museums, concerts, Forrest Park; also The Del Mar Loop is especially notable for its shops, nightlife, eateries, etc.). </p>

<p>I stayed at Northwestern for three weeks for a summer program, and the dorm I lived in was hot, dark, and dirty, with floor communal bathrooms. The food at Northwestern was not very good. Also, from what I understand, intro level courses at Northwestern are very large. As far as having D-I sports goes, that's up to you...having D-I sports really doesn't matter much to me. Relations between the townspeople and Northwestern students are kinda shaky (something I saw a bit of when I stayed at Northwestern), and although Evanston is a nice city, there's not a whole lot to do within walking distance except go downtown and shop.</p>

<p>As far as the 35% yield rate at WashU goes (up from 30% a year or two ago)...well that increased yet again this year, for WashU was unable to take anyone off its waiting list. It's becoming well known pretty quickly, and it certainly offers a lot. I know about ten people who go/went to WashU, and all of them are/were very happy there. The decision is up to you though.</p>

<p>Again, Northwestern is an awesome school as well...but I just felt that WashU fit my preferences better. And who cares about their manipulative this and that? Go to a school because it fits your preferences and gives you a good education, and don't worry about whom it admits.</p>

<p>Anyhow, hope this helps.</p>

6

<p>bball87,</p>

<p>According to revealed preference ranking, Cornell was in the top-20, NU was 22nd, and WashU was like all the way down to 69th or something. If you base your decision on what others pick (the number of CC members are too small to be representative), you probably want to stay at Cornell. Most students take 4 courses per quarter. The WCAS requires 45 credits (courses) to graduate; so if you have 12 credits from Cornell and take 4 per quarter through the end of your junior year; you will only need to take 3 courses per quarter for the senior year. I took 5 at the engineering school for one quarter (that was enough though) before; so 4 at WCAS should be very doable for someone with a 3.9+ from Cornell. </p>

<p>kolliparap,</p>

<p>Sciences are NOT WashU's "clear forte". First of all, WashU has NO top-10 dept in sciences. Its physics and chemistry aren't highly-ranked and are ranked BELOW NU. Perhaps you fall into their marketing trap (or crap). FYI: NU's chemistry is a top-10 program; now that's the REAL forte but it's overshadowed by other even better known programs like journalism, communications, econ, material sciences...etc. By the way, I transferred from WashU to NU.</p>

7

<p>sam lee, northwestern is being pathetically stingy about credit</p>

<p>i get my evaluation in the mail</p>

<p>let's remember Cornell is on the SEMESTER system</p>

<p>NU treated my semester courses just like quarter courses</p>

<p>like i took 4 courses + a science lab, they gave me 4 UNITS....just like 4 units for someone who goes to a quarter school</p>

<p>that is honestly nutz</p>

<p>second semester, they are giving me 5 units.....that is 9 units, they claim i am behind others at NU...i dont get how that's possible...i took a ridiculously hard courseload at cornell (15 and 18 credits respectively)</p>

8

<p>That's a bummer. I see how that can happen. I got 13 credits by the time I transferred to NU because I took bunch of math/sciences at WashU. For those classes, NU counts 2 semesters of calculus at semester school as 3 credits. 1 year of calculus is the same pretty much everywhere regardless whether it's taught in 3 sessions (quarter) or 2 sessions (semester). But for other courses, finding a fair equivalence is tricky. My thermodynamics class was taught in 1 quarter and it was the same as one taught in semester school but at an accerlerated pace. Apparently, they count yours just like the thermo I took but my thermo was pretty much the same as anywhere else whereas social sciences/humanities you took are probably not.</p>

<p>Does NU honor any AP you got in HS? I have no idea how NU counts AP these days. If you get 9 units, it sucks but it's not too bad. It means you won't get the luxury of 3 courses/quarter in senior year. All the students at McCormick don't have that luxury anywway since they need 48 credits to graduate.</p>

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<p>i do ap credits...hopefully..they honor them</p>

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<p>bball, definitely come to NU. what do you want to major in?</p>

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<p>Bball, I don't know if you have a summer available but thats all it takes to get to 12 units.</p>

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<p>Sam Lee...those rankings are probably for graduate programs...graduate does not equal undergraduate! Plus, WashU having good sciences is according to my guidance counselor, who has a lot of experience in dealing with both WashU and Northwestern (we're talking twenty plus years as a well knowledged person in college admissions), they're both popular choices for graduates from my school. Don't rely on graduate rankings to rate undergraduate programs! Plus, even if WashU's program in chemistry is not quite as strong as Northwestern's, at the undergraduate level it really doesn't matter that much...I turned down Northwestern because WashU fit my other preferences more closely than Northwestern did. However, WashU's engineering school, while solid, certainly isn't a top-notch program. Nonetheless, WashU's pure sciences overall are quite strong according to my guidance counselor.</p>

<p>By the way, I didn't fall into WashU's "mailing trap/crap" (in fact I didn't get spammed at all, and I don't understand how sending mail to people is a "trap"...you can promote your school as much as you want)...a representative came to my school, and that's how I learned about WashU. One of my father's friends has a son who went to Northwestern and regretted it, wishing he had gone to WashU instead.</p>

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<p>kolliparap,</p>

<p>Did your guidance counselor take any sciences at both schools? Did he did any graduate study in technical field? I did both. I never said WashU's sciences aren't "solid"; but you used the words "clear forte" and that's what I had problem with; perhaps I should ask what you meant by that at the first place. Top-50? or Top-10? If you mean top-50, then perhaps yes. But top-10 or even top-20? I would think people from many other good schools would have something else to say. Regarding graduate vs undergrad rankings, there's no such thing as undergrad ranking and we are left with graduate rankings to look at. Without any solid data/survey results, I don't see any rationale to regard anyone's opinion (such as your GC's) higher than the graduate rankings.</p>

<p>By the way, no one would know if the son of your father's friend would be happy at WashU. He didn't attend there. What's the point of you mentioning ONE person's experience anyway? Are you trying to say everyone at NU is unhappy? If that's the case, the university wouldn't have 96% retention rate. I attended WashU and didn't regret transferring to NU. I'd think my experience is more valid. But neither are representative for the whole student body. Trying to make comparison from subjective things like that is kinda ridiculous to me.</p>