Northwestern University

Date: Jun 02 2005
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
I applied early-decision because Northwestern had it all for me—an excellent reputation, great departments across the board, and a beautiful campus along the lake. I was not disappointed in my education, but please be advised that a prestigious diploma is not necessarily the key to a great job. You have to work for it, like I did.

I come from an upper-middle-class family in the midwest, and let's just say that financial aid isn't ideal for people like me, but it was do-able. I also worked part-time and found that this was definitely not the norm, as most of the other students live off of trust funds. Regardless, I did activities that I enjoyed and met a great group of people similar to me. It is kinda interesting to be at a school where everyone else was also in the "smart group," although there are a lot of BMW/Porsche Trixie-types. Just keep your head on your shoulders, even if you do come "from the block" so to speak. I learned so much, and the school is flexible enough to even let me study abroad for a year in France, which was probably the best experience of college. I was not involved in the Greek system and found that I had a better time with my "true" friends other than those that I pay for, so just be aware of instant fake friendships. I would challenge every new student at Northwestern to stay away from the Greek system because, trust me, you can have a perfectly fulfilled social life outside of it. I think the operative word for the students is "intellectual curiosity" because I was always impressed in people, like a pre-med film and french double-major, etc. who also played the cello. In summary, the diversity of classes, the interesting, just really cool smart people make this an absolutely unbeatable experience and I hope that you at least go to visit the campus. I am sure you will love it just like I do!