This is the second installment of Ask NBN, our freshman advice column. Taking questions this week is Assistant Managing Editor Amanda Litman, a Weinberg sophomore. Have more questions? Ask us at advice@northbynorthwestern.com.
How do the Kellogg undergraduate certificate programs work? What courses should one take to get into the program? How competitive are the programs?
The undergraduate certificate program is one of the many benefits of Kellogg being at Northwestern (besides the yummy food in the Jacobs Center, of course). You apply for the program during sophomore year, so don’t worry if you aren’t sure about it just yet. However if you’re thinking ahead, you overachiever, read on.
There are two different certificates you can get, in either financial economics or managerial analytics. Each certificate program takes about 50 students, with a maximum total of 100 between the two each year. The process is fairly competitive, so aim for a good GPA freshman year. Kellogg recommends at least a B or better in all the required classes and related courses. For a list of those, check the Kellogg Web site. There is also an essay required, in addition to faculty recommendations. Remember how fun applying to college was? Get ready because you get to do it again.
However, once you’re in the program, you take four courses taught by Kellogg faculty and get the opportunity to do an optional summer internship. Finding an internship is impossible in any field, so if the school’s going to hook you up with one, this is a major benefit. Also a benefit: enhanced career services.
Still have questions? Check out an academic interest session during Wildcat Welcome. Trust me, they’re probably more interesting then the mandatory Essential NU sessions you have to sit through.
How easy is it to get past the freshman freeze?
Just so we’re all on the same page, the freshman freeze referenced by this inquisitive young 2013’er is the Northwestern policy that prohibits freshmen from entering fraternity and sorority houses during the first few weeks of school, and prohibits the organizations from advertising themselves or their events.
In the past, the freeze lasted four weeks, from New Student Week until typically October. However, a movement to change the length of the freeze successfully got the university to reduce the freeze from four weeks to three. You lucky freshmen will get to experience a rank, nasty-smelling dirty fraternity basement sooner then the rest of us did. Be excited.
Now, about getting into a fraternity house during those three weeks: Don’t do it. Well, you can if you really want to, but the brothers probably won’t appreciate it. If the Interfraternity Council catch freshmen in a frat house, the chapter can receive a variety of punishments, ranging from a scolding to the extreme of not being able to hold recruitment. Do you really want to be “that kid” who prevented Lodge from having a pledge class in the winter? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Sorority houses are dry, so no parties there. But freshman girls aren’t permitted to enter them until recruitment preview in November, so don’t get try to sneak your way into them and curry favor with the older girls in your dream sorority. As for freshmen boys, well, congratulations are in order if you make it to a sorority bedroom in the first few weeks of school.
I was just wondering how students in general (particularly engineers) study for and take notes in their classes.
Just like in high school, everyone has their own way of taking notes. Most people will bring laptops to class if the professors allow it, if not for the quicker typing skills then because “Gchatting and Facebook stalking” looks very similar to “copious note-taking.” Classes that ban laptops tend to have less people showing up and staying awake, but probably more focus than laptop-heavy groups.
As far as studying is concerned, methods range from copying notes over and memorizing flash cards to getting drunk the night before the final and taking the exam with a terrible headache and a need to stop and vomit midway through. It’s really your call on this one.
If, however, you want to put that $50,000 tuition bill to use and get decent grades, a few ways to ensure you won’t completely fail out:
- Go to class. Half the battle is showing up. Simply being there and listening, even if you don’t take notes, will help you immensely.
- Read. Eventually. Even if you don’t do the reading before the lecture — and knowing when you can get away with that is a useful skill to have — crack those books you paid $50 for and at the very least, skim it. Can’t hurt, right?
- Talk to the professor if you have any questions. Talk to the TA if old men scare you. Talk to your fellow classmates if the idea of talking to your hot TA makes you stutter. Don’t be afraid to set up a study group.
- As for those of you crazy enough to be engineering students, McCormick sophomore Kirsten Swonger warns that “MATLAB is a state of mind, a thought process. You have to know how to change your thoughts, go in a logical order and make sure you’re not missing any links.” For your required design classes, “keep an open mind,” and don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you find yourself struggling, utilize the McCormick Tech Tutoring program.
But really, where’s the Keg? Where are all the parties during those first couple weeks?
You think we’re going to tell you where the parties at? No shot — then you’ll get there and drink the place dry before we get a chance to show you how it’s done.
In all seriousness, don’t worry about “finding the parties.” Wildcat Welcome is crazy amounts of fun. And if you really want to know where parties are, just scour Facebook for fundraiser parties or ask upperclassmen who live in your dorms. Or, go out and enjoy Evanston or Chicago while it’s still warm!
Oh, okay. The Keg is on the corner of Sherman and Grove. Google Map link here.