As a school only a few miles away from Chicago, with 6 different colleges offering courses for 8,000 undergraduates, it is hard to argue that Northwestern students don’t have a lot of opportunities to have fun while learning. However, I would argue that most of what makes your Northwestern experience great happens outside of the confines of a classroom.

Being near Chicago is definitely one of the highlights of attending Northwestern. It’s the perfect distance for us because we are “near” Chicago but not in it. This allows us to experience both the community of a small college town while enjoying the benefits of having a world-class city in our backyard.

The city of Chicago, with its astonishing architecture, is the perfect city for students that love to explore with their friends. The number of concerts or artistic performances available every week and new restaurants to try out make it hard to keep up. Also, not everything in Chicago is about fun and pleasure. As an academic city home to several college and universities in addition to it’s acclaimed museum campus, Chicago hosts a myriad of interesting speakers and conferences throughout the year that Northwestern students can access.

If you are not an urban-explorer, fear not because Evanston will always be there for you. As a North Shore suburban area, Evanston offers everything that you need in order to survive your four years of college. Good restaurants, relaxing greenspaces and an amazing lakefront that you can enjoy throughout summer, fall and spring.

However, for some students, outside of the classroom does not mean having to go off campus. Northwestern’s new and renovated residence halls make staying on campus a very pleasant experience. From our world-class athletics facilities to the many food and leisure services available to us, life on campus is definitely an experience unto itself. One of the things that makes student stay active and engaged around here are the hundreds of student organizations. In my case, being part of SCNO Northwestern as a student consultant is something that has allowed me to meet people from all schools around Northwestern. And like me, there are literally thousands of students around campus involved in anything from Greek life to Dance Marathon.

Northwestern’s fantastic location is definitely something that I considered when applying to this school and it’s something that now, three years later, has enriched my student experience. Being able to enjoy the benefits of both Chicago and Evanston creates a very unique college experience for our undergraduate students. It’s an experience that Wildcats can shape as they wish in order to suit their preferences and expectations for one of the most impactful times of their lives.