How do you entertain a complete stranger for a night, with midterms to cram for and class in the morning?

Every spring, dozens of Northwestern students ask that question as they host prospective students, or “prospies,” for overnight visits.

Often the decision to come to NU depends on a prospie’s brief visit to campus, but providing a good experience in such a short amount of time sometimes requires unorthodox measures.

Some students take their prospies to Cafe Hookah, 726 Clark St., said Thomas Alford, a McCormick sophomore who hosted a prospie last week. Others take the high school seniors on a tour of Evanston bars.

“A bunch of prospies went to The Keg,” said Nancy Choi, a Weinberg freshman, “supervised by someone in the dorm, of course.”

Teaming up to entertain prospies was a common solution among busy hosts.

Andrew Hernacki, a Weinberg sophomore, brought his high school guest to a gathering at Zeta Beta Tau.

“We knew a lot of guys in the house were having prospies so we had a prospie dinner,” Hernacki said. “We had maybe seven or eight prospies there. Then we had a prospie dance party.”

One Medill freshman hosted more than her share of potential NU students.

“My roommate had work, and one of my friends went to a concert, so I ended up getting three prospies,” Meghan Watt said. “They went to bed really early because they were pretty dead.”

Some students found their prospies more difficult to handle.

Kyle Strong, a Weinberg freshman, said one of the prospies he hosted slept on the floor without a pillow because he was too shy to ask for one. The second prospie, a musician, asked if he could play his drums in the residence hall.

“I don’t know if he was such a good match for our small dorm, with his drumset,” said Strong, who lives in Chapin Hall.

Weinberg sophomore Heather Holly said she wasn’t too comfortable lending her private space to a stranger.

“My roommate gave the girl a key to our room, and I said, ‘I thought you were from Brooklyn. I wouldn’t trust her with my key and I’m from the suburban boonies,'” she said. “I think I locked my laptop to my desk.”

McCormick freshman Matthew Wagner, like many other hosts, said he had prospies who just weren’t too excited about doing anything.

“My first ones were antisocial, so I just walked them around,” he said. “Then they went to sleep, and then the second one ran off with some people, so I didn’t spend much time with him either.”

Reach Nitesh Srivastava at [email protected].

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Student hosts find prospies a challenge to entertain

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 High school seniors introduced to the highs and lows of college life

at NU by busy undergraduates

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“My first (prospies) were antisocial, so I just walked them around.”

Matthew Wagner,

McCormick freshman