February 22, 2023

#160 College Spotlight: Northwestern University

6 minutes

Season 7, Episode 160

College Spotlight: Northwestern University

Northwestern University does seem to have it all - top academics, DI athletics, highly impressive students, AND quick access to a major city. With Lake Michigan as your backyard for four years, what is not to love? Oh – and – I just have to mention that Julia Louie Dryfus is an alum of Northwestern. She was once watching her son play basketball at the school where I was the principal. I was nervous but I walked right over to introduce myself and told her I was a big fan. I still am – and she was wonderful!

Here are THREE things you need to know about Northwestern University:

ONE: Northwestern attracts students from all over the world

It shouldn’t have surprised me but – it piqued my interest to learn that the 8000 students at Northwestern represent 75 countries

As I walked around campus, albeit the end of the school year – It did feel more diverse than most campuses I’ve been to. It was terrific to hear so many different languages being spoken.

TWO – Academic emphasis with good connections with professors

Northwestern almost expects that you will change your major at least once – and you won’t get behind in your timeline (or your parents’ timeline) to graduate in 4 years.

70% of students have more than 1 academic concentration – across the 6 core colleges: Communication, Music, Journalism, Engineering, Education/Social Policy, Arts/Sciences

They use a Quarter System. A Semester system has 2 sessions, while a quarter system has 3: Fall, Winter, Spring. Three quarters with 4 courses each = 12 courses (and the summer quarter is optional of course)

Faculty and relationships: 7:1 student faculty ratio. 77% courses fewer than 20 students . That is amazing, and it means your professors will get to know YOU!

THREE: Student Run campus. The school is focused on training student leaders.

For example:

Dance Marathon

1500 students dance for 30 hours straight as a Fundraiser for a different organization each year.

What I loved about this tradition is that in March 2017, Northwestern students raised 1.3 million dollars for Gigi's Playhouse

This event is completely student run and operated by an Executive board that plans, coordinates, manages a huge budget, supervises workers – every detail!

Imagine having the opportunity to run a small organization with a 100K or 500K dollar budget – all before you turn 21! I can’t tell you what an opportunity that would be for you in developing leadership and management skills for the future.

Here are the facts and figures:

Located in: Chicago, IL

Total Student Body of: 8,353

Applicants: 33674 and admit 13%

You will definitely need to bring your A game to a place like Northwestern!

https://www.northwestern.edu/

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By Dr. Cynthia Colon

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