The sudden surge of lanyards, nametags and purple swag in general has made it clear: admitted student season is upon us. After Northwestern sent out regular decision results in late-March, the power shifted, going from admissions to prospective-students-turned-admits. After reading applications and making decisions for months, admissions is at a students’ mercy and it’s time for them to make the final push.
Part of this push involves current students interacting with admits. To this battle, Northwestern has sent an army. Volunteers with the Student Admissions Council and Global Wildcats call admits, congratulating them and answering their questions. While the purpose of these interactions is for admits to learn about Northwestern, there’s definitely an unspoken item on the agenda: be positive, say good things and make them pick us.
To an extent, I disagree. Even though we’re competing with tons of schools that are all putting their best foot forward to attract students, I believe that honesty will prevail. At a time where every current student involved with their university’s admissions office is going to be a walking billboard for their school, it’s important to skip the sugar-coating and allow admits to take everything with a pinch of salt.
In order to allow students to understand and make the most informed decision regarding Northwestern, the university is hosting Wildcat Days where admits can meet current students face-to-face. These students range from the SAC volunteer having breakfast with them or the tour guide guiding them through the Tech labyrinth. With or without meaning to, these students are the face of Northwestern and may feel under more pressure to smile, put their best foot forward and go ‘Cats.
It’s logical to assume that these students at Wildcat Days love Northwestern (you’d really have to if you’re at Norris at 7:30 on a Monday morning), so the conversation would naturally be positive. I personally found it easy to gush about the lakefill, the residence college system and suite-love, but was stumped when asked what I regretted the most about my freshman year.
I deliberated. It was an invitation to thought-dump about my struggles with the quarter-system, the opportunities I passed up and mistakes I made. However, as real as those experiences were, my first instinct was to draw attention away from those aspects of Northwestern. Moreover, I’m sure those aspects are not unique, but instead common in comparable institutions. Would telling the truth undo all the efforts encouraging students to attend?
In the end I told the truth because I wish I had the chance to run my list of questions by a current student before showing up on campus. I believe student-to-student interaction has so much potential because it’s undoubtedly less formal and therefore, more informative. If students tweak their answers, admits would never understand what being at Northwestern entails and admits might be in for a rude awakening next year.
Of course, this doesn't mean that everything that sucks needs to be dragged through the mud. As seen from these optimistic takes on the dreaded winter quarter, Northwestern students are good at acknowledging clouds but equally talented at finding silver linings. No school is perfect and learning how to adapt is an essential part of the college experience.
While we’re not the only ones rolling out the red (or purple) carpet, there’s no need to sweep the truth under it. An honest take on a school is probably refreshing for admits constantly bombarded with the number of Nobel laureates and Olympians that the school churns out. While frankness may catch them off guard, they’ll definitely appreciate it later.