Evanston Township High School is fewer than two miles from Northwestern’s campus. It serves the same zip code in which the University is located. Yet each year, only a small fraction of the graduating class chooses to attend NU.
In 2011, 8 percent of the graduating class applied to NU, according to College and Career Coordinator Beth Arey. According to self-reported student information, she said, only two have committed to NU so far this year. Although students still have time to decide, last year’s number yielded only three more students.
“When you’ve grown up in the same community, do you really want to go to school there?” Arey said. “Regardless of how good the university is, kids still have their own college experience they want to have.”
NU administrators say they make outreach efforts to ETHS. Many programs do not try to recruit students to attend NU, and instead involve NU students and faculty teaching and tutoring ETHS students. One such program, Project EXCITE, provides supplemental education for minority in advanced math and science programs prior to high school. ETHS students also have the opportunity to take college-level classes at NU.
“There’s no formal arrangement for them to come to NU, but we hope to be able to attract at least some of those students,” said Associate Provost Ron Braeutigam.
Other efforts are more directly targeted at getting students to attend NU. The University makes the same outreach efforts to ETHS as every other school, Arey said. In addition, this year the school launched the Good Neighbor Great University program, which provides need-based scholarships to students who attended school in Evanston or Chicago.
“It’s not so much about raising awareness, because they all know us from those communities, but it’s more to convince them to come,” said Associate Provost Michael Mills.
While 200 students admitted to NU for the upcoming school year applied to the Great Neighbor Great University program, it did not increase the number of students who applied from ETHS. The amount who applied decreased 1 percent from last year, but the percentage admitted increased from 29 percent to 33 percent.
Weinberg freshman Alex Jakubowski, who graduated from ETHS, said he was not surprised he was one of only five students to attend NU from his year. He had taken classes on campus during high school, which played a big factor in his decision to apply early decision, he said.
While he was aware of NU’s involvement in the community throughout high school, he said he does not think it helped recruit students at all.
“[NU] didn’t publicize themselves or try to get locals to come here at all,” he said. “They don’t reach out to kids who can actually go here.”
Regardless of recruitment efforts, he said, it makes sense that not very many students want to come to NU because it is so close to home.
Arey said this is just one of many reasons students choose not to apply. Cost is a huge factor, she said, as well as whether or not the school is a good fit.
“In general, students in Evanston don’t all have a good concept of who and what NU is as a selective institution,” she said.
Many students have it on their college lists simply because it is nearby, but it is not attainable for them, Arey said.
Despite its expense, Mills has high hopes the Great Neighbor Great University will help fix this problem.
“We want to do all within our power to demonstrate our interest in growing the number of local students,” Mills said.
