Northwestern University Top Questions

In the classes I've taken--predominantly anthropology and creative writing--the number of students is kept small enough that professors often get to know your name and facilitate discussion easily within the class in a compelling way. Professors are always available during their office hours, and many often make the effort to help you in any way possible when seeing you one-on-one on these occasions. My favorite classes have been my creative writing classes, in which the professors allow me to be daring in my work, my work is critiqued by my classmates in a highly-constructive manner, and the professors' own critiques and encouragement have really aided my writing. I also loved my psychological anthropology class, in which we learned how self and identity form, how genetics and environment can contribute to the formation of one's actions, and how people create coherent narratives to make sense of the world. The topics were fascinating and the professor was an expert at everything she taught, as well as a great facilitator of discussion. Students do tend to be competitive at Northwestern because everyone is ambitious. No one is outright cutthroat though. The resources for becoming a top student are pretty much available to everyone, so by trying for it and commiting to it, being one of the top is possible. The goal of both students and professors seems to be to genuinely learn more about the world. Several classes, like Russian Literature and the History of the Holocaust are must-take classes, which many students choose to take for the sake of learning even if the classes won't help them toward obtaining a job. Though all students are competitive and want to do the best they can to get the best job, all tend to also be genuinely interested in this type of learning. My major's department--anthropology--is small, but the people there are exceptionally helpful and very interested in getting to know their students. I also am a work-study aid in the English Department, and English is one of the most popular majors on campus. Though the English Department may not get to know all its students quite like the very small Anthropology Department does, its faculty always makes an effort to be as helpful to its students as it can be.

It depends on your major a lot, but I think it's like that at most schools. Northwestern doesn't really have any complete blow off classes. I ha to study and work hard to get good grades in all my classes my freshman year, so just be prepared for that. The quarter system provides that you are pretty much always writing a paper or studying for an exam. The good thing though is you are never in a class for ore then 9 weeks, so if you hate it, it will be over soon.

they're good. classes are pretty interesting, especially the higher-level ones specific to your major. and there are plenty of intro-level courses that you can get easy B's in. easy A's if you actually go to class, but i just don't.

Professors know our names except if we're in a lecture where they don't interact one-on-one with us. Either way, they're very willing to help us in any way, whether it's in choosing classes (mostly our advisers), understanding material, or thinking about our possible career paths. Students study constantly, yet still find time for extracurriculars. Class participation is common and sometimes even graded. Students have intellectual conversations outside of class, but also conversations about non-intellectual subjects - they're not so smart that they're overbearing and show it off. Students are competitive with themselves only, not with each other. I'm in the Medill School of Journalism, which determines my major for me - and I'm leaning toward broadcast or magazine journalism. It's really intense, and they've been changing the curriculum to incorporate more multimedia. Yet writing is still the core of everything we do. It's challenging but rewarding. Right away they had us doing stories about real events, and eventually going out into Evanston and Chicago to look for non-NU stories. For journalism, Medill and Northwestern are the places to be. We spend time with teachers outside of class often, whether for office hours or advising appointments. And, being in a residential college, I get to spend time with them in a non-academic setting and get to know them. They can prove to be good mentors in this way. Northwestern - or Medill's - academic requirements are not bad, especially if one comes in with AP credits as I did and fulfills some requirements this way. There are a series of journalism classes I have to take in a defined sequence. There are also about 8 areas I have to fulfill distros in. But there's a lot of room to explore after that. Part of Medill's requirements is that I spend a quarter on a journalism residency, where I go to a news market and learn from professionals. Depending on the size of the market, students sometimes get to produce news stories themselves. The education is definitely more about learning for its own sake.

Some profs know my name, but its really important to participate, great academics. Students are not very competitive with each other which is great. people generally keep to themselves about grades and such. Some people go to office hours, and I know thats really great. I just got into MMSS, which is Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, and is supposed to get you good internships and thus lot of money in the business field. I haven't felt very welcomed yet, but hopefully that will change once I start taking classes. There are a lot of possibilities to take interesting classes like Cosmology (we have our own observatory) and I love that you can take dance classes, since I'm a dancer. Some professors here are just wonderful. I loved Gender and Society, Linear Algebra with prof. alongi, modern political thought, and the EDC course. it was really cool.

I majored in Art History--and I'm proud to point out that NU's art history department is currently ranked in the Top 10 departments in the U.S. (#6) The major definitely lived up to its billing--the coursework was tough, but in retrospect, renowned professors like Claudia Swan made it worthwhile and fun. At NU, certain majors are harder than others. For example, almost the entire football team majors in "Communications Studies," whereas only masochists major in certain sub-sections of engineering. Theater at NU is, of course, intense. Journalism too.

School here is awesome, every one participates pretty much and the teachers are phenomenal. It is a difficult and rigorous courseload but you learn a lot. The quarter system SUCKS and you are in school FOREVER after everyone gets out for summer break, which is very difficult to deal with. The academics are the best part of Northwestern. If my classes weren't so interesting and my professors weren't so knowledgeable I would transfer out of this place.

My favorite class right now is my freshman seminar. Freshman seminars are basically a really cool way of satisfying your writing requirement. Everyone takes two seminars their freshman year, and they cover a huge variety of topics. My first one was about coffee, and the one I'm taking now is about Victorian literature. My least favorite class was probably chemistry. It's not that bad though, you just have to keep up with the work. It varies a lot depending on what classes you take, but students study basically every day during the week. I always say that Northwestern students study hard during the week and play hard on the weekends. One of the really cool things about Northwestern is that students here do have intellectual conversations outside of class. That's something I never really experienced with my friends at home. Students aren't too competitive here, even though in a lot of classes grades are based on a curve. People are actually willing to help you if you're struggling with something.

Every quarter I have about 2 classes that are 15 and under and the rest are big lectures. But all the big lectures have smaller discussion sections. People do participate. There isn't much competition at all. People have intellectual discussions outside of class, but not all the time. People study a lot. I think there are too many liberal arts requirements, but I guess you couldn't do with much less.

In general, classes are great. There are always unresponsive or uninteresting professors, but for the most part professors know what they're talking about, and want to talk to and help students even if you're in a huge lecture class. As you start taking smaller classes, you really get a chance to bond with some great teachers.