I am a junior at a competitive public high school, and this year I have had hardly any free time (maybe 2 hours a week, not exaggerating). I spend most of my weekends studying. I’m stressed out 95% of the time, I generally get about 4-5 hours of sleep, and I really don’t want my college experience to be the same way.
Northwestern is one of my favorite schools so far because it combines incredible academics with the opportunity to be in a Big 10 marching band, all while being close to one of my favorite cities in the country. However, almost everything I’ve read about NU portrays it as a pressure cooker school where students don’t have much fun at all. Can any current NU students share what their social life and stress levels have been like so far?
My daughter and her friends all did very well at NU, had great social lives and lots of fun.
If you know how to balance your life, you will have a great time there too. If you don’t have balance, you’ll be stressed and unhappy anywhere.
If you are not in premed, engineering, or special programs like MMSS, ISP, or Kellogg cert, it’s really not bad.
Congratulations on junior status, but please get away from the stress - nobody should work as hard as you have described! Yes, in HS all my kids did home work over the weekend - but they all got regular sleep, except for prom, sleepovers, overnights with teams, Big Tests, projects due, reading reports and parties… 
I have had 2 go through McCormick - both loved it although 1 stressed more in freshman year than the other. Then they joined a club team, and that kept them busy and let them work off the stress. And it is always a bit of a shock when a NU freshman finds out they are not the “smartest kid in the room” like they have always been before. Second kid learned from that - and turned out to STILL be the smartest kid in the room - and still be a star with their club team. BTW - both have talked about and liked the "work group/help group atmosphere at NU - not counting pre-med.
However - keep in mind - always - that YMMV - and that everybody is different. But you wouldn’t be admitted unless they think you can handle it. Good Luck!
Remember that college is a different schedule than high school. Less time in class and more free time in general. You will sleep more for sure. College kids have more time during the day to study. And you’re probably not going to be doing all of the extracurricular activities that you’re doing now. Most high school kids I know go to school until 3:00 and then have some extracurricular stuff for a few hours and then have five hours of homework. That is a very full day.
I went to NU years ago. Started as a biomed engineering major and the work was very tough but not in terms of time necessarily. Engineering and pre-med classes feel like weed-out classes anywhere you go to school. I ended up switching to econ/poli science and had an incredible experience and terrific job opportunities. And lots of fun too!
I can’t believe no one has said anything yet, but you really need to seek out a counselor/health professional, or at the very least find an adult to talk to (I didn’t say parents bc I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the ones putting excessive pressure on you). Your described behavior is NOT normal and may lead to serious mental/physical health issues in the next decade.
In terms of stress, some people work their asses off and do schoolwork every day pretty much all day and get almost no sleep, many don’t. Life at NU is what you make of it - you can make it so you get only a few hours of sleep each night and have very restricted time to be social, you can lead a moderate and balanced life while still academically and extracurricularly engaged, or you can sluff off and scrape by in your classes. Its up to you.
Social stuff is similar. You can choose to spend all your time doing work and barely take any social time, or you can be super social and barely do homework, or anywhere in between. There are plenty of opportunities to be social and meet people and get involved in different types of social engagements and hang out with different types of people as well.
Personally at NU, I probably spend about 14-15 hours per day on a balance of class (~4 hours), doing homework (~3-5 hours), participating in clubs (~2 hours), being social / eating dinner (~2 hours), working out (~2 hours), and me time usually spent walking around (~0.5-1 hour). I then take time to wind down before going to bed. I usually get like 7-8 hours of sleep a night, which feels appropriate. I’m able to keep up in my classes, earn good grades, and even take a day completely off of work each week, which a lot of students don’t do. And I really like it. Though life can get stressful (I lose like 5 pounds each quarter, which I gain back in breaks and in the summer, because my reaction to stress is to not eat), you can certainly make it manageable and enjoyable.
Also, Marching Band is, from what I’ve heard, a fantastic, supportive social group, which will probably be a good thing for you if you go to NU.
As for your current schedule, my advice would be to chillax a little bit. Do you really need to study that much?
@thatrunnerkid,
What you describe seems like a nice balance. Curious if you are in Engineering, or more specifically, can one have a good balance even as an engineering major at NU. I recall someone else posting their experience as
`Sleep, Social Life, Grades’: Choose any 2!
@osuprof there’s a couple possible reasons for my balance. One, I’m studying abroad this (junior) year, which means I’m missing what some consider to be the toughest year for engineers. The stuff I write about NU comes from my experience in the first two years of college. In terms of studying I just do the homework and go over notes the evening before midterms (usually), which is enough for me to (usually) do above average on them, too. I also made a conscious decision after high school to tone down my extracurriculars, and am thus involved in a few things on campus outside of classes, but not as many things as some of my peers. On top of that, I don’t work, so I have time to dedicate to exercise, school, ECs, and sleeping. I do still get stressed a lot, demonstrated by my regular quarterly weight loss. But yeah, I definitely deal. Its all about diminishing marginal utility, whether for studying, ECs, free time, working out, and even sleep. Leads to a good balance for me.
@homerdog How hard is biomed engineering in NU of 1-10 (1 is least stressful and 10 is most stressful)?
@vanle080499 I’m not sure it’s best to ask me. I graduated over twenty years ago. I do think biomedical is one of the hardest of the engineering majors in general. I had many friends switch from bio med to industrial. Plus, my understanding is that you need a grad degree in biomedical to do anything with it.
It was a 9 on the scale for me. I had taken Calc BC in high school so tested into the third quarter of Calc (maybe B18 if it’s still called that?). I was over my head. As for Chem, I started at the beginning and didn’t use my AP score to pass out. And I still got a C. This all being said, I did NOT go to a particularly difficult high school and I just don’t think was prepared. I was accepted into the program based on my grades and SAT score but I was not ready. I really think you need to talk to a current student to get a good answer to your question. Good luck!
@ person earlier about special programs: I’m in MMSS and have PLENTY of free time!