Northwestern University's wording, checked October 26, 2026“Northwestern’s location is special: on the shore of Lake Michigan, steps from downtown Evanston, just a few miles from Chicago. What aspects of our location are most compelling to you, and why?”
How to approach it
- 1Pick one aspect and what you would do with it.
- 2The prompt asks which aspects are most compelling and why. The why is where the answer is.
- 3Specific beats scenic: a music scene, a research site, an industry nearby, a shoreline you would run.
A structure that works
One way to shape this answer. It describes moves, not sentences: the words have to be yours.
- 1The aspect of the location that matters most to you: the lake, Evanston or Chicago.
- 2Why it matters, from your own life so far.
- 3What you would actually do with it in an ordinary week.
- 4How it connects to what you want to study or become.
Where the 200 words go
| Part | Words |
|---|---|
| Your first, most specific reason | about 70 |
| A second reason, tied to your experience | about 70 |
| What you would do or add there | about 60 |
Mistakes to avoid
- Generic big-city excitement.
- A paragraph a tourism brochure could print.
The checklist our grader uses for this question
When you check your Northwestern answers, this answer is read against these 5 areas. Each comes back Met, Partly or Missing with a quote from your draft as evidence, and together with the 200 words limit they set its readiness verdict.
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| Specific to this college | It names at least two concrete things that exist at this college (a program, course, research group, tradition, place, way of teaching) and could not survive a swap of the college's name. |
| Connected to you | Each thing named is tied to something the applicant has done, asked or wants, so the reader sees why it matters to THIS student, not why the college is good. |
| What you would do there | It shows how the applicant would use those things and what they would add (join, start, research, contribute), not only what they would receive. |
| Northwestern's ask | Names what about Lake Michigan, Evanston or Chicago is compelling to the applicant, and why. |
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Questions
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