So, About Northwestern

One of the schools our cohort is hoping to visit is Northwestern. Honestly, I hadn't heard anything about Northwestern until this year when ILCers at my school mentioned they had visited Northwestern and really wanted to attend school there. This of course made me thoroughly excited to find out that we would have a site visit there! And here I go sharing some of what I know about this University.

Northwestern is home to three campuses(Evanston, Chicago, and Doha, Qatar), and serves 21,000 total students. It all began in late May 1850 when nine men came together to plan a university to serve the Northwest. Though they had little money to work with, through creativity and hard work, the fantasy became a reality.

The campus was established 12 miles north of Chicago and the land around it was developed named Evanston after one the founders, John Evans. After the first building was completed in 1855, classes began with 2 faculty members and 10 students.

Chicago skyline from the Evanston campus

Since its inception, a dozen colleges of Northwestern University have been created, starting first with the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences(1851). It educates all of Northwestern's undergrads and has 4,300 undergraduate students. The most recent addition to the Northwestern University family is Northwestern University in Qatar(2008).

Now that we've gotten through some history and general information about Northwestern, let's get into something more fun -like some key spots on campus that I want to see.

Weber Arch
I'm a sucker for interesting, fun, or sweet college traditions, and Weber Arch fulfills that criteria. It was named after Northwestern's 14th president serves as the entrance to campus. This arch also serves as a ceremonious entrance for freshman in the fall, with the marching band leading them under the arch with upperclassmen cheering them on. When the seniors graduate in the spring, they march out through the arch to begin their next chapter.

The Rock

The Rock
This is another tradition and is particularly quirky. It first became a tradition to paint the rock in the 1940s as a prank, but has since become a form of self expression and club and activity advertisement. Nearly every night, different groups guard the rock to paint messages or symbols on it in the dark of night. 

Deering Library
Deering Library was modeled after King's College Chapel -the architectural inspiration for Hogwarts, so when we say in our blogs after visiting that it looked just like Hogwarts, at least there will be some truth to that statement. 

Deering Library aka Hogwarts

Shakespeare Garden

Shakespeare Garden

This garden is apparently a great oasis right in the middle of campus. It's over 100 years old and has a few dozen different flowers and shrubs that were mentioned in Shakespeare's works.

Through finding this information about Northwestern University, I'm even more excited about the prospect of touring the University on a site visit, and I hope I really enjoy the college and consider applying.