The Importance of Campus Atmosphere

Everyone always wants to know how important the demographic of students on campus is. Well, coupled with the location of the school, it can greatly define one's college experience, as I've experienced firsthand through my two six week pre-college programs. That reassuring proverb endlessly spewed by adults "you'll find your niche anywhere" or "people everywhere are pretty much the same and you'll find your crowd" now seem incredibly uninformed to me.

I use Northwestern as an example of a school that simply didn't fit with my personality. When I first arrived on campus for my pre-college program two summers ago, I was wowed by its historic, prestigious feeling, and I soon came to love its natural beauty and proximity to Chicago, not to mention it's awesome location in Evanston. This satisfaction soon changed once I began the second week of classes (anthropology and history) and we were still solely in lecture format, even though my classes had only 5 and 12 other students respectively. There was zero class involvement in either of my classes, and after class my professors promptly got up and left, not leaving room for questions or discussion. I was simply disappointed that for so much money, my education was what one would expect from a community college class. For that much money, I now expect the intimacy provided only by extremely wealthy universities who can provide an intimate liberal arts experience (think Ivies) and small liberal arts colleges themselves.

In addition to academic disappointments, the social environment slowly grew more taxing on me. Though I at first loved the lively nature of eventful nights and sporadic trips into Chicago, this lifestyle really started to drag on my studies, and things became so social that I had very little time to study. I realized that the school was just not compatible with my priorities: most people there really wanted a 50/50 balance of work and play, as opposed to my 70/30 preference. On top of that, play at Northwestern consisted of things like going to the beach and joining Greek life, rather than doing something intellectual like going to a museum or play, which is much more valuable to me.

Thus, in terms of both academic focus and social scene, Northwestern simply did not fit my personality. I later realized that most people who graduate from Northwestern go into pre-professional fields like business or medicine rather than intellectual pursuits such as going into academia or further graduate school. This is a minor distinction to make, but I think it really has a huge impact on the academic experience. People who love learning and want to continue learning for the rest of their lives choose small liberal arts schools or more intense universities that are more focused on the intimate, genuine academic experience and don't go to large, state universities or schools like Northwestern.

Harvard provided a completely different environment that was much more compatible with my personality. Specifically, Harvard had a much more academically intense student body that had a much more valuable balance of work and play. This meant that I never felt pressured to skip out on work like I did at Northwestern, and I could really be myself much more with friends taking the time to do meaningful studying and just going out  for fun on nights and weekends. Students were also much more interesting, and the things we did outside of class were extremely engaging but also intellectual, whether it meant seeing a noir movie, stopping in one of Harvard's many free museums, or wasting away hours exploring the COOP bookstore.

Ultimately, I want you to leave with the message that student demographic does matter. College should be an experience to facilitate your existing personality and interests, throwing in some twists along the way as you find yourself. It should not be a vastly different and uncomfortable experience where you are constantly fighting your environment, even if it's only in small ways like I realize I now was at Northwestern. Campus visits are the best way to gauge the priorities and general demographic a school has, but guides like Barron's Guide to the Most Competitive Colleges, the Fiske Guide to Colleges, and the Princeton Review's Best 373 Colleges guides are a great way to get a feel of how a school falls on the study-hard/party-hard spectrum and should help you find the place that will really speak to your personality.