The Wildcat and the Phoenix

On our trip out to Ithaca, the Cornell Cohort will be making stops in Evanston and Chicago for site visits to Northwestern University and UChicago. In our time there, we will not only be touring the campuses, but also learning about student life, academics, and experiencing for ourselves what it’s like to spend time in both cities. These stays are likely to influence and impact our college-application and decision processes. Therefore, it is crucial that we brush up on the history of the schools we are visiting and can demonstrate knowledge of the resources that they provide in order to transform our own lives as well as the lives of our community members.

Northwestern University

When considering these high-caliber educational institutions, you have to be mentally prepared to compare them. In the United States alone, there are thousands of universities and colleges to choose from. Figuring out which one is an overall good fit for you as an individual might seem like searching for a needle in a haystack at first, but when provided with the right information it’s not as hard of a task as it seems.

What makes UChicago unique? Why should you choose Northwestern over Harvard? The answers to these questions can be found in the details for many students and oftentimes they’re not as simple as the reputation of the school itself, although for many that too is of vital importance. By researching the inner workings of the universities, I have found parts to both UChicago and Northwestern that appeal to me personally and might do so to many others.

UChicago

Take Northwestern, for example. The students are very big on fundraising and school spirit. They take a LOT of pride in their sports, volunteering opportunities, and 30-hour dance marathons. The strong sense of community and teamwork is a huge plus for a lot of us.

 UChicago on the other hand is located in Chicago. That simple fact is enough to convince me to want to attend, but it’s definitely not the only thing that stands out. Aside from a plethora of courses ranging from Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies to Computational Neuroscience, the juxtaposition in on-campus architecture, modern alongside ancient, is mesmerizing.

There are of course many other reasons why these universities dominate when it comes to attracting applicants. Because these reasons vary from person to person, attempting to point out each and every one of them would be impractical. Instead, I aimed to determine what I’d do if I had three hours at to spend at Northwestern and UChicago.

Known for its brutalist architecture, The Regenstein Library.

If I had three hours at UChicago, I would find one of the many food trucks on campus, Bombay Wraps, grab a chicken tikka wrap and some samosas and make my way over to the Regenstein Library. The library known for having one of the largest collections of books in the world sounds like someplace I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of my life let alone an hour or two.  The Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, Harper Memorial Library Reading Room, and Botany Pond are other points of interests that I would desperately want to fit into that window of time.

Stained glass at The Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

The Rock

At Northwestern, Shakespeare Garden and the Dearborn Observatory would both be must-sees. What interests me the most however is The Rock, a boulder that serves as a billboard. If a student chooses to guard the rock for 24 hours straight, they get to paint it with a message or symbol of their choosing. The Rock has become a location used for marriage proposals, political and social messages, and the promotion of numerous events. Finally, I would make it a priority of mine to pay a visit to the Block museum and spend the remaining time gazing at the captivating, unusual exhibits available.

It goes without saying that UChicago and Northwestern are both highly prestigious, academic, and intellectually rewarding universities. The confirmation emails for both site visits were a great reminder of how grateful I should be that there are less than 20 days left till departure!