The Flipside’s coverage of clarifying tour guides’ spiels continues with this look at student groups and Design Thinking and Communication.

Student Groups
What You Hear: Northwestern has hundreds of student groups. “If you’re interested in something, it’s probably here.” Sports, drama and improv, academics, culture groups, heck, we even have a Happiness Club that gives out free hugs.
What They Don’t Say: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you may or may not have to apply to get into nearly every club, and it’s pretty competitive. But then again, so is admission to Northwestern, and you’re here, right? It’s nothing personal, but it’s just that while we know everyone here at Northwestern is here because of their accomplishments in high school, we just want to make sure your “standards” match our “standards.” Besides, if you aren’t a good “fit” for our student group, you wouldn’t be “happy” here anyways. And the best way for us to determine if you’re a good “fit” is through a series of snap judgments following a 5 minute interview. Good luck!

Design Thinking and Communication
What You Hear: Here at Northwestern, our engineering students take part in a class called Design Thinking and Communication, or DTC for short. What is DTC? It’s a class that’s part of McCormick’s patented Engineering First: Whole Brain Engineering v. 2.0©®™ curriculum that allows you to work on an engineering project with 3 of your brightest fellow students in your very first quarter here! People in this class always make something so helpfully amazing they get their project featured on the Today Show. Are you even hearing this? Turn in your deposit slip today!
What They Don’t Say: Okay, maybe we exaggerated a little. Maybe something as cool as what we just showed you only happens once every few years or so. Maybe also the last time Northwestern did something truly revolutionary was in 2011. Maybe your project will end up looking more like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge than the Golden Gate. What did you actually expect out of your very first engineering project? You might make something great, or you might not. In the words of Jim Carrey, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?” And the answer is, yes. Unequivocally, yes.

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