[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I will be entering Northwestern University in Evanston, IL this fall. Rated #14 of Universities in the country by US News, Northwestern is a very strong Engineering program and co-op and internship connections with many major companies (Ford mainly, and Motorola, others).

I. Location, Location, Location
This school is 30 minutes away from downtown Chicago on the shuttle. Easy to fly into, easy to get to, and just a generally awesome place to go to school. Chicago is a cultural explosion. Lots of food, an amazing music and cultural scene, etc. The campus itself is on the shore of Lake Michigan. It's a Big 10 school, but a relatively smaller one: each of the years is about 2000 strong.

II. Academics
All-around very strong science school. I see a LOT of FIRST kids applying to MIT, RPI, Cornell, U Mich, Northeastern...but I don't see that many applying here. If you aren't into Engineering, the Sciences are very strong, and Biomedical & Chemical Engineering (two very good programs here) are the main reason I chose to apply. It's also known for lots of dual-degree programs (Engineering & Law, Engineering & Music, etc) and an incredible pre-med preparation reputation.

III. FIRST
There isn't a FIRST team there that I know of. It is however maybe 30-45 minutes to the Midwest Regional, within a few hours of the Wisconsin Regional, and 3 hours north of Boilermaker. There are Chicago events if you choose to pursue them, but if you are a high school FIRSTer looking for a big city with opportunities for FIRST that you won't feel sucked into, this is probably a good chance.

Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.