Northwestern University

Founders John Evans, Orrington Lunt, and Grant Goodrich.

This summer, along with attending the University of Chicago, I will be visiting four different universities with my cohorts. One of the universities that we will be visiting is Northwestern University located in Chicago. Northwestern is a private research university located in Evanston Illinois founded by nine men whose key leaders were John Evans, Orrington Lunt, and Grant Goodrich. These men didn't have much and they all had to work hard to get the support and money needed for the school to run. On January 28, 1851, Northwestern was officially established and they began enrolling students in November 1855.

Northwestern is on a quarter system and what makes it unique is that its students take four courses each quarter except the engineering students who are allowed to take five. Their popular majors include communications/journalism, social science, and engineering while their strongest programs are chemistry, engineering and economics. Economics is definitely something that I would be interested in studying at Northwestern because I am already interested in that area of study and their economics program is considered one of the best.

There are different groups and activities that are available at Northwestern. They seem to be really big on arts groups since they have a choral group, concert band, jazz band, marching band, theater/drama group, film society, and many more of that nature. Northwestern also has a healthy sports community. They are a member of the Big Ten conference playing in Division 1 and their athletic teams are nicknamed the Wildcats. What surprised me the most about Northwestern was that they had not only a rifle team but also a squash team.

A new tradition at Northwestern is the March Through the Arch to welcome new students to campus. The marching band leads all new students on a celebratory walk through The Arch, the symbolic entrance to the University. New students are welcomed by current students and faculty who line the pathway to cheer and welcome them. I really like this tradition a lot because going to college is a really big step for anybody and that can scare some people, this is a perfect way to make the new students feel welcomed at their new school. 

The March Through the Arch

I am really excited to visit Northwestern University over the summer. I hope that we will get the opportunity to hear firsthand from the students what their experience at Northwestern has been like. Least appealing to me is their quarter system but that might be because I’m so used to a semester schedule like we have at El Cerrito High. Hopefully we get to meet some students who can share their experiences with the quarter schedule.