Northwestern University

Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois is an institution of 8000 undergraduates and 14,000 graduate students about two miles north of the Chicago city limits, literally on Lake Michigan. Evanston is a beautiful and very upscale suburb – a great college town. The campus is an interesting mix of Gothic and Brutalist architecture; many find it absolutely beautiful. I think the Brutalist architecture speaks louder than the Gothic. Northwestern has a lot of alumni to brag about, including Gillian Flynn (who didn’t love “Gone Girl?”, Julia-Louis-Dreyfus, Saul Bellow, and Meghan Markle. (I’m on Team Kate, but we can discuss that offline!)

Northwestern operates on the quarter system with 3 quarters: fall, winter and spring, and the summer quarter that is never mandatory. Students end up taking 48 classes over 4 years – 4 per quarter. This allows them more breadth than the usual semester system.

There are six colleges with majors available to undergraduates. Half of the students at Northwestern are enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences, and some interesting majors include Cognitive Science, Legal Studies, Science in Human Culture, Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, and Comparative Literary Studies. The School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is nationally recognized, and students here are required to do a full-time internship one quarter junior year. Similarly, the School of Education and Social Policy requires students to complete a practicum during one full quarter. The School of Engineering and Applied Science is philosophically committed to students having hands-on experiences in their first year while also requiring seven humanity-themed classes. Majors include the usual suspects plus Materials Science and Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Applied Mathematics, and Manufacturing and Design Engineering. The School of Communication includes majors in Dance, Theatre, and Radio/Television/Film, and the very prestigious Bienen School of Music is a world-class conservatory. The 5-year dual degree program at Bienen is very popular – I have a student who’ll be starting that in the fall! Here’s what’s interesting: Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, a top-ranked business school by any measure, doesn’t believe in offering a business major for undergraduate students.

Students are required to live on campus for 2 years, and most move off campus after that. Apartments in the area can be very expensive. There’s a lot of support for the athletes who compete in the Big Ten Conference, and Greek life has a fairly significant presence on campus. With a 7% acceptance rate, Northwestern is in a position to pick the most accomplished and most interesting students from the pack. Those who are admitted have boundless opportunities!