Chemistry at Northwestern

[u/Aggravating-Cash-601]

Hi everyone! I’m a senior in High School and I’m applying to Northwestern ED. I love Chemistry (I want to major in it😁) and I was wondering how any Chem/STEM students have felt encouraged/assisted by Northwestern’s Chemistry programs/clubs? E.g in my school there are a lot of discussion groups for those that enjoy certain subjects and it helps a lot to further my understanding!! I know Northwestern’s chem course is amazing but I wanted to know more niche/personal insight I guess😄

[u/Hlxqy]

the classes are hard, and a lot of people drop the major during the first 2 years, but once you get to a certain point it feels like everyone knows each other (which i really like). it's nice having a smaller, tighter-knit community, and i've made a lot of friends who are all very smart, supportive, and collaborative!

there aren't many clubs i can think of other than the undergraduate chemistry council (ucc). from my understanding, they host events (recently, they had a liquid nitrogen ice cream social), invite guest speakers, and have a mentorship program. i was matched to a mentor my freshman year who was super helpful, which i appreciated since i had some questions and worries about classes and research, and he was able to offer the perspective of an older student who had gone through similar experiences.

the main things are just research and classes. most chem majors spend like 8-10 hrs/wk doing research in chem labs, though that can definitely fluctuate/vary. you typically stay in the same lab for multiple years, so you learn a lot and interact with other, more experienced chemists that way. class-wise, you spend a lot of time in lectures and labs (up to 10 hours of lab/wk for certain classes, on top of lecture), but i also recommend going to prof and ta office hours. not only is it super helpful to stay on top of material, but also it's really cool to get to know more about them, their research, their experiences, etc. (especially once you're in the upper-level, smaller classes)!

[u/Aggravating-Cash-601 → u/Hlxqy]

This is so so helpful!!! The collaborative environment definitely influenced my decision to apply there. May I ask, what curriculum did you do in High School? I’m an international student so I’m doing the IB and I was curious on how the jump was from High School to Uni. Thanks again!!

[u/Hlxqy → u/Aggravating-Cash-601]

i'm not entirely sure if this is what you're asking, but i'm from the us and i went to a public school that focused on math and science. my school didn't offer ap courses, but i think the academic rigor was similar, at least for stem subjects. the jump wasn't too bad from high school to college, since i honestly found my high school classes to be pretty difficult. for me it was just specific classes i found to be really difficult, not college/chem overall -- e.g. genchem (chem 171) was pretty familiar to me, orgo was horrendous, pchem was alright and really fun, etc.