Well balanced students who are very smart and committed to school work. Some are extremely stuck up. But most students can be summed up by the motto: work hard, play hard.
Ex 1: "Come on guys, we should be able to figure this out. I mean, we're Northwestern students."
Ex 2: "My friend was trying to brag about school, but they go to Berkley. I mean, come on, it's only Berkley. I got into Northwestern University."
Ex 3: "I spent all day working on this assignment. Time to go get hammered."
Ex 4: "Screw this hangover, I need to finish this essay."
Northwestern University is known as the Ivy of the Midwest. A highly selective and prestigious school with an entirely homogenous student body.
Northwestern Norms: Black North Face Fleece, Lacoste Polo, Apple iPod, Losing at almost every Big Ten Sports, walking with your head down, wearing t-shirts from Ivy League schools you aren't going to, and having an artificially low GPA because of extremely challenging classes.
Elsewhere in the world, people stir and mutter curses as dawn shoves them into wakefulness.
But here, friends, we tear home across campus on midnight bicycle treks.
Here we stumble home from Burger King distracted by theories of economics and the way the alcohol in our blood makes the clock tower blur into the stars.
Here we spin our brains like coffee-fueled turbines and blast our computers with chattering keystrokezaps.
Here, essays crack, crumble and landslide into printer-paper torrents as mental reservoirs overflow, burst upon unsuspecting assignments below us, drown them and saturate them and thrash them and stream on.
Elsewhere, people punch their alarm clocks and snooze in the shower. But here we know the dawn as it is: the first signpost of approaching sleep.
A prestigious school known to vary a lot in terms of programs. There are lots of organizations and the overall student fine arts are superb. They make for great campus productions. Degrees and grades depend greatly on program. There is a mix of very social and anti-social which is largely defined by major. Social scene is mainly greek as many students are involved in the system. Grading in Engineering is NOTORIOUS for being very low, adhering to the mantra that a C is an average grade which in turn makes it difficult for NU grads to compete for internships/CoOp's. Chemistry also has a slight problem with this. Other programs like Communications are known for A average classes. This makes the overall school GPA look more balanced, but still lower than most.
Students wear middle-end designer labels on nearly everything. People are middle/upper middle class for the most part, but some act above that. There are really two types of students who go to NU : those which it was their top choice, and those who it was there best choice. School pride is masked by designer labels and trends limited to the school. Most notable are the Northface fleece, Coach handbags, UGG Boots, and recently Vera Bradley totes. People may be very social, but never gain any new friends. Exceptions are usually only made if you include greek organizations. GDI's sometimes have to struggle to find a link to a traditional social scene without using the greek system.
Those who have school spirit year round are very passionate and can easily be picked out of a crowd in a game or other event.
The school spirit depends on how the sports teams do, which is usually not very well. The sports with the best teams are usually the sports least cared about.
Professors can be accessed, but will not pursue you. Office hours indicate how much the prof. cares about his/her students. Much of a student's grade can be determined by interest shown by the student, but there is no hand holding here. Class size is middle of the road, but much smaller than State schools.
Northwestern University is a private four-year college located in Evanston, Illinois. Despite a location mere miles from Chicago, the average NU student only makes the trip downtown to get hammered drunk, usually at a concert, club, or Cubs game, although sometimes at a Chicago cultural institution like the Field Museum.
The student body is divided among three social strata. First, fraternity and sorority members that are for some reason much more popular at NU than they ever hoped to be in high school, and eager to flaunt their newfound social superiority. Second, McCormick tryhards that will never touch a drop of alcohol in their college career despite achieving lower GPAs than perpetually-wasted Comm majors. Third (and most prominently), the great unwashed mass of students who do the bare minimum classwork necessary, get drunk on weekends and wonder why they aren't hooking up with anyone without ever actually attempting a kiss.
Athletically, Northwestern's Wildcats tend to fare well in sports that only the players' relatives care about, such as women's lacrosse and tennis. Interestingly, these sports are scandal-prone. In any given year, one may find pictures of scantily-clad Northwestern female athletes wearing thongs -- of either kind -- gracing the pages of the Internet. Revenue sports (football and basketball) remain poor year after year, despite being the only events students actually care about.
Northwestern is famous for its graduates who have gone on to pursue careers in showbusiness, and many students come to NU with interests in the arts. Unfortunately only 1/100 of these students actually make money upon graduation. The rest commit suicide or become strippers.
Real classes at Northwestern (i.e., not School of Comm) are relatively difficult, as the administration tries desperately to prove the school's academic mettle by assigning too-low grades, ignoring the fact that no matter what, NU will never have a reputation on par with the Ivy League schools it strives to emulate.
Not closingthe deal; having a victory in hand, but somehow finding a way to lose. Northwesterning is particularly defined within college sports, but relates to all sports in general
A corrupt 4A high school located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Known best for its stuck up kids, ROTC teacher, and stupid policys. Also has the lowest pregnancy rate in the district.
A socially-OK 4-year college just north of Chicago, IL, USA. Student body is composed of fair-to-poor athletes, dateless engineers-in-training, and those who are, for some reason, studying Radio, Television, and Film. Its women's lacrosse team is well known for its footwear. Not to put too fine a point on it: Charlotte Rae and David Schwimmer went there.
You'll laugh!
You'll cry!
You'll kiss $64K (in 1985 dollars) goodbye!
Go U! NU!