As Northwestern’s Evanston campus braced for the influx of more than 800 high school seniors coming for Sunday’s Day at NU, the prospective students had to prepare for something entirely different – the weather.
“It’s a lot colder than I thought it would be,” said Kelly Dougherty of Nashville, Tenn., where the temperature reached 90 degrees Sunday afternoon.
In Evanston, the 80-degree temperatures of last week dropped below 40 on Sunday, worrying some student organizers who feared the lousy weather might give prospies a bad first impression.
“I woke up this morning and was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was snowing, raining, it was disgusting,” said Victor Limjoco, Day at NU co-chairman. “Weather plays a big part in the decision making process.”
But despite the inclement weather, Day at NU helped Dougherty decide that she wanted to be a Wildcat.
“I think I’m actually coming here – I just talked to my mom 30 minutes ago,” she said.
Limjoco said the bad weather was offset by more than 200 eager student volunteers who made sure prospies and their families never got lost and had all their questions about life at NU answered.
“I’m here to get a better look at Northwestern because I think all the online stuff is useless,” said David Crawford of La Jolla, Calif. “The best way to know about a school is to go there because all of them say the same stuff in their letters.”
Prospies discussed the academic and social sides of the university with faculty and students in Norris University Center before going to dorms with host students. After spending the day holed up in Norris, many prospies were longing to get out and see what NU was really like.
“Everything’s just kind of dead right now, and I want to see things when they are happening,” Crawford said.
Sunday night was the big social component of the day, with “The NURevue” variety show at the Technological Institute followed by tailgates at the fraternity quads and a movie screening in Norris.
“Honestly, it’s one of the most exciting Sunday nights NU has,” Limjoco said. “Usually people just sit around in their room and study.”
Many prospies spent Sunday night with their hosts and will attend a few classes today before heading home.
The two-day event took about a month to plan, Limjoco said. Because it is a recurring event, most of the groundwork is already laid out. He and the 11 other committee members focused on recruiting volunteers and readying themselves for any problems that could arise during the event.
“One parent today started crying when she found out her daughter was not staying at the hotel room with her,” Limjoco said. “I thought, ‘What are you going to do when she leaves for college?'”
The Daily’s Janette Neuwahl and Sarah Warning contributed to this report.
