Northwestern University

On July 22 I visited Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. My visit started with a presentation given by an admission counselor at 1:15 pm. It was followed by a student lead tour at 2 pm. Northwestern's campus is huge (240 acres!). Several of the university buildings are converted from beautiful old mansions. The Admission Office is in such a building.
Northwestern University was founded in 1851 as a Methodist institution of higher learning. It's name derives from it mission to serve the Northwest Territory, or much of what we now refer to as the Midwestern states. The gate below serves as an entrance to the main campus area off of Sheridan Road. While it looks as old as the university itself, the gate only dates back a few years. The arch was a gift from a former president of the university.
Northwestern can be a bit of an enigma. It is undoubtedly one of the finest institutions in the country. US News and World Reports currently has Northwestern ranked as the 14th best National Research University (tied with Brown and Johns Hopkins). It is world renowned for its medical and engineering programs. Yet it also has among the finest Theatre and Journalism programs in the country. Northwestern is on par academically with the Ivys and yet it is home to Big 10 athletics (despite having only 8000 undergrads). Another seemingly discordant feature of Northwestern's community is that despite its status as a midsized elite private university, it has a robust Greek community, replete with entire sections of campus reserved strictly for fraternity and sorority housing. Below is a picture of the national headquarters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the largest fraternities in the United States.
While Northwestern no longer has a religious affiliation, it still has a beautiful nondenominational chapel on campus. Evanston, Illinois is one of the more religiously, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse communities in the country. As such there is a lot of opportunity to enjoy and develop within in your own culture, as well as explore and learn about others. Evanston is a great place to go to school in that it has a college friendly downtown area that abuts the main campus of Northwestern. There are lots of shops and restaurants, various watering holes, and a massive movie theater that shows both large studio pictures as well as smaller released independent fare. And despite the insistence of my tour guide, Northwestern's main campus is not 12 miles from Chicago ( I think he meant 12 miles from downtown, which is true, but there is a lot of Chicago before you hit downtown. It would be like telling people that MPA is 15 miles south of Chicago. I will give him a slight pass because he is from New Mexico and just finished his freshman year. So you're saying there's a 'new' Mexico . . . ?) Evanston is the first northern suburb of Chicago. As such Northwestern is only about 2 miles north of the city. The 'L' also runs, via the Purple Line, right by campus. Unfortunately Northwestern's undergraduate colleges do not participate in the CTA U-Pass system, so students are responsible for their own train fare. For a list of local schools that do use the U-Pass system click here.

Like U of C, Northwestern has a mix of beautiful old buildings and very modern newer structures as well.

Here is our friend from "New Mexico" explaining a little about academics at NU. He made a point to talk about small class sizes and the opportunity to work closely with professors. This room would represent a much larger than typical class room setting.
This is a rock that students paint and occasionally students from other schools defile. I do not understand entirely the significance of the Rock, but it seems to be a big symbol of the NU culture. See here for more information.


Below are pictures of the original library of the university as well the new library. The architecture of the newer library is meant to actually symbolize books stacked next to each other.


The branch of this tree seems to be growing at a perfect right angle. I have never seen that before. Beyond that, this picture is illustrative of campus greenery. Despite being off one of the busiest roads on the far north side (Sheridan) and right in the middle of downtown Evanston, once you step through the arch you would have no idea that you weren't among the rolling lawns of some small school situated in the middle of nowhere.

Like every other campus there is always development and new construction in the summer.
This is the Recreational Center. Like most schools, membership to the rec center, and use of all its equipment is part of your tuition and fees. This whole area used to be part of Lake Michigan. In 1969 Northwestern completed it's "Lakefill." The university changed the shore line and gave itself an additional 74 acres of campus. On which they also built the pond below, which struck me as a little odd.The actual lake is out there in the distance. We didn't see it as part of the tour, but I imagine it is quite majestic.

Here is one of the dining halls on campus. There are 15 different dining facilities on campus. Most of the main dining halls that utilize the campus meal plan are located directly in the various residence halls.
These are the Theatre and Arts buildings. Northwestern has six different undergraduate colleges to which students can apply. While the main undergraduate campus is in Evanston, Northwestern has a primarily graduate campus located in downtown Chicago. This is where their Law and Medical Schools are located. It is the Evanston campus, however, is home to the famous Kellogg School of Management.
(click on picture below to make it larger)
This building houses WNUR, Northwestern's critically acclaimed and nationally recognized radio station. See here for more information.

This building houses the Medill School of Journalism, one of the most highly regarded journalism programs in the country.

Northwestern is a highly residential campus. This is an example of freshman housing. The housing is suite style with a 2 or 3 bedrooms sharing a bathroom and a small common area. They are almost like tiny apartments without kitchens. Northwestern uses a regular admission process. They also offer Early Decision. Unlike in years past some Early Decision candidates may be deferred into the regular pool. Northwestern will take either the ACT with writing or the SAT. NU will not recalculate a composite ACT score using subscores from different tests. They will however combine the highest subscores from different administrations of the SAT. For more information about applying see here.

Our admission counselor last year was Tamara Stewart-Hadaway.
To schedule a visit to campus see here.

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