Final day in the "Windy City"

Last night, Rochelle was dying to eat at The Yolk, so Mr. Chanlaw finally agreed to take us (mostly her) there this morning for breakfast. We were on a time crunch since we wanted to get to Northwestern early though, so we ate fairly quickly and took the train North to Evanston. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted by Shannon, Northwestern’s admissions officer and quickly sat in for an information session. There, I was immediately drawn toward the school. I was so fascinated by our speaker’s accomplishments of majoring in music yet still being able to fit in non-major courses such as journalism classes.

After, we went off on our walking tour with our guide, Carrie, who chose to go through Northwestern’s unique Dual degree route of completing two bachelors’ degree in Music and another of her choice within a five year time period.

Both the colleges we visited these past two days (U Chicago and Northwestern) definitely hold their own unique perks and positive attractions. Though both are extremely competitive and rigorous (with a pretty low acceptance rate), I can’t tell which one I liked more. After attending the tours and dinners for each, I am now completely sold on the fact that the students at U Chicago really are a part of their school. I also felt a greater sense of community and bond between the students of the university. However, I really liked how Northwestern was divided into 6 specific schools. And because music and journalism play a huge part of my  high school life, the university’s extremely strong schools in those fields just blew me away.

                     [Left to Right] Christian, Me, Tomi, and Rochelle

Tomi, Rochelle, and I before the dinner

We had a bit of down time after our tour, so the six of us did a little shopping at some of stores around our hotel. This gave us a nice chunk of time for all the information we gained from the Northwestern tour to actually soak in. We walked back to our hotel at around 5:40 PM to get ready for the dinner. 

Because our restaurant wasn’t too far from The Drake, we walked to our destination in roughly 10-15 minutes, meeting up with four undergraduates from Northwestern as well as Shannon.

Appetizer: Lobster ravioli, seared scallop, ginger lobster sauce

We dined at Les Nomades, and I sat in between Michelle and an undergrad who was majoring in engineering. Though I definitely do not plan on going into engineering of any sort, I was able to learn so much from her experiences and everything she had to say about Northwestern, ranging from her housing situation to her Northwestern affiliated job this summer. 

Because of these dinners, I can finally say that I've actually had a conversation with someone so passionate about their school and their accomplishments thus far. It’s so nice to pick a college student’s brain, for they are packed with so much knowledge since they've been through everything-- first hand. Shannon also enlightened us with a bunch of information regarding the admissions/ applications process as well as provided us with many tips on how to approach Northwestern’s application. I don’t think there is really a better way to learn about a particular school of interest than actually sitting down with the people who have experienced it all. After attending these engaging dinners, I have also become less intimidated when asking questions, starting a conversation, or saying what’s on my mind. Those that support the Ivy League Connection are extremely kind people who just want to help us in any way they can with our college process and I am truly grateful for the endless amounts of resources we’re provided with.

Entree: Arctic Char, Maitake mushrooms, forbidden rice, yellow tomato lemongrass sauce

Dessert: Warm chocolate tart with raspberries, white coffee bean ice cream, vanilla froth, chocolate sauce

Today is our last day in Chicago. We’ll be departing from The Drake tomorrow morning and we’ll arrive in Ithaca, New York pretty soon after.