Northwestern Cat Chats and Optional Video Submission Guide | How to Prepare Your Application
Introduction to Northwestern Cat Chats
Northwestern University is a highly selective private research university in Evanston, Illinois, known for strong undergraduate programs across areas such as journalism, communication, engineering, arts and sciences, education, music, business-related studies, and interdisciplinary learning.
For many applicants, the question is not only "How do I get into Northwestern?", but also "How do I show that Northwestern is the right fit for me?" This is where Northwestern Cat Chats and optional video submissions can become useful parts of the application preparation process.
However, it is important to be accurate. Northwestern Cat Chats are not admissions interviews. Northwestern states that it no longer offers alumni interviews as an optional part of the application process, and students who skip a Cat Chat or the optional video face no disadvantage in the review. Instead, Northwestern Cat Chats give prospective students a way to learn more about Northwestern from current students or alumni perspectives.
This Northwestern undergradate application guide explains what Northwestern Cat Chats are, how they differ from Northwesten admissions interviews, how optional video submissions can help applicants add a personal voice, what questions to ask, and how students can prepare stronger application responses. Practicing how you'd answer an optional-video-style prompt through Northwestern application video practice on MYLS Interview is a useful way to find out whether an answer sounds natural on camera, not just on paper.
Why Northwestern Cat Chats Matter
Even though **Northwestern Cat Chats will not decide your offer, they can still be valuable for applicants.
A Northwestern Cat Chat can help students understand:
- what Northwestern students actually experience
- how academic flexibility works
- how students choose majors, minors, and interdisciplinary pathways
- what campus culture feels like
- how students find community
- what makes Northwestern different from other universities
- whether Northwestern feels like a strong personal and academic fit
Northwestern's Cat Chat page describes Cat Chats as one-on-one video chats or phone calls with current Northwestern students where prospective students can ask questions such as why the student chose Northwestern or what was difficult about adapting to campus life.
This is valuable because strong applications are often specific. Applicants who understand the student experience can write and speak about Northwestern in a more authentic way, something worth testing through MYLS Interview before submitting anything on camera.
What Are Northwestern Cat Chats?
Northwestern Cat Chats are conversations that allow prospective students to connect with people who can share honest perspectives about Northwestern, and Northwestern actually offers two versions of them.
Northwestern's visit page describes 'Cat Chats: Meet with a Student as one-on-one video or phone conversations with current Northwestern students that last 30 to 45 minutes. The page says Cat Chats are useful for students who have already attended an information session or online student panel but want to dig deeper into the Northwestern student experience.
Separately, Northwestern's application materials page explains that even though alumni interviews are no longer offered as part of the application process, prospective students can still connect with alumni through 'Cat Chats to learn about Northwestern through diverse alumni perspectives, exploring shared backgrounds, career interests, or geographic connections.
The purpose either way is learning and exploration. Applicants should treat Cat Chats as a chance to understand Northwestern better, not as a formal evaluation.
Are Northwestern Cat Chats Admissions Interviews?
No. Northwestern Cat Chats are not admissions interviews.
Northwestern states clearly that it no longer offers alumni interviews as an optional part of the application process, and that students who don't pursue a Cat Chat face no disadvantage in admissions.
This distinction matters because applicants should not approach a Cat Chat as if they are being graded. Instead, they should use it as a learning opportunity. A good Cat Chat is conversational, curious, and student-centered.
That said, applicants should still be professional and prepared. The conversation may not be evaluative, but it can help students clarify their reasons for applying and understand Northwestern more deeply.
How Competitive Is Northwestern University?
Northwestern is a highly selective university, and applicants usually need to show more than strong grades or test scores. Because Northwestern uses holistic admissions, applicants should communicate academic curiosity, personal qualities, extracurricular contribution, and fit with the university.
Northwestern's application materials page emphasizes application components and notes that students can use optional materials, including video submissions, to add a more candid voice to their application.
Northwestern no longer offers alumni interviews, applicants who want to show personality and voice may pay closer attention to optional video submissions and written application materials.
Northwestern Application Requirements and Optional Materials
Northwestern's application requirements may vary by applicant type, application cycle, and school. Applicants should always review Northwestern's official application materials and deadlines pages before applying.
Common application components may include:
- Common Application or Coalition Application
- Northwestern Supplement
- Official or self-reported academic records
- Counselor recommendation
- Teacher recommendation
- Standardized testing, depending on current policy
- School-specific materials, if applicable
- Optional video submission, where available
- Optional arts supplement, if applicable
Northwestern's application materials page states that Northwestern no longer offers alumni interviews as an optional part of the application process and points applicants to optional video submissions for those who want to add a candid voice to their application.
Applicants should treat optional materials thoughtfully. Optional does not mean required, but it also does not mean meaningless. The strongest optional video submissions add something personal, specific, and not already obvious from the rest of the application.
Application Timeline and Deadlines
Northwestern application deadlines can vary by admission plan and cycle. Applicants should always confirm the latest dates on Northwestern's official admissions website.
Northwestern's application deadlines page lists deadline information by application type and notes that Northwestern is test optional for first-year applicants for the recent admissions cycles.
Useful timeline categories may include:
Early Decision Deadline: Check Northwestern's official deadlines page Regular Decision Deadline: Check Northwestern's official deadlines page Optional Video Submission Deadline: Check Northwestern's application materials page or submission portal Financial Aid Deadline: Check official Northwestern financial aid instructions Decision Release Timing: Check Northwestern's admissions website
Applicants should prepare early because thoughtful supplemental essays and optional videos require reflection, planning, and revision.
Does Northwestern Offer Alumni Interviews?
No. Northwestern states that it no longer offers alumni interviews as an optional part of the application process.
Applicants should be careful when searching online because older posts may still refer to Northwestern alumni interviews. That information may be outdated. The current framing is that applicants can connect with alumni through 'Cat Chats and can review optional video submission opportunities if they want to add a candid voice to their application.
This means a blog or preparation guide should avoid calling Cat Chats an "interview." A more accurate term is student conversation, alumni conversation, or Northwestern fit conversation.
What Is the Northwestern Optional Video Submission?
Northwestern explains that applicants looking to add a more candid voice to their application can review the Application Materials page to learn more about optional video submissions.
This optional video is commonly submitted through a third-party platform called Glimpse and typically runs about 60 to 90 seconds. It can help applicants show personality, communication style, values, perspective, or lived experiences that may not fully appear in essays or activity lists.
Applicants should use the optional video only if they have something meaningful to add. A strong video should not simply repeat the personal statement. Testing a draft answer on MYLS Interview before recording the real submission can help confirm whether it sounds personal or just recycled.
Possible video topics may include:
- a meaningful personal experience
- a value that shapes the applicant
- a community or identity that influenced the applicant's perspective
- an academic curiosity or creative interest
- a personal challenge and growth
- a short story that shows how the applicant thinks
- a contribution the applicant hopes to make at Northwestern
What Admissions Teams May Evaluate
For the application overall, Northwestern admissions may evaluate:
- Academic Readiness: Can the applicant succeed in a rigorous academic environment?
- Intellectual Curiosity: Does the applicant show genuine interest in learning?
- Personal Voice: Does the applicant communicate authentically?
- Community Contribution: How might the applicant contribute to Northwestern?
- Fit with Northwestern: Does the applicant understand what makes Northwestern distinct?
- Communication Skills: Can the applicant explain ideas clearly in essays or optional video?
- Initiative: Has the applicant pursued meaningful activities, projects, or responsibilities?
- Reflection: Can the applicant explain what experiences mean, not just what happened?
Cat Chats can help applicants understand fit more deeply, while optional video submissions can help applicants express personality and voice.
What Questions Should You Ask in a Northwestern Cat Chat?
Strong Northwestern Cat Chat questions should help applicants understand student life, academic culture, and fit. Applicants may ask questions such as:
- Why did you choose Northwestern?
- What surprised you most after arriving on campus?
- How would you describe Northwestern's academic culture?
- How easy is it to explore different academic interests?
- What is student life like outside class?
- How do students find community at Northwestern?
- What is one thing you wish you knew before applying?
- How do students balance academics and extracurriculars?
- What resources have been most helpful to you?
- How would you describe the relationship between students and professors?
- What is the campus culture like during the first year?
- How do students take advantage of Chicago?
- What advice would you give to applicants?
- What kind of student tends to thrive at Northwestern?
- What has been your favorite Northwestern experience so far?
Applicants should avoid asking questions that can be answered in two seconds from the website. The best Cat Chat questions invite honest personal perspective.
Sample Questions for Optional Video Practice
Although Cat Chats are not interviews, applicants preparing optional video submissions can practice college application video-style prompts. Worth trying on MYLS Interview are prompts such as:
- What is something meaningful about you that does not appear elsewhere in your application?
- Tell us about a community that shaped you.
- What intellectual question are you currently exploring?
- Describe a moment that changed how you see yourself.
- What is one value that guides your decisions?
- How do you hope to contribute to a college community?
- Tell us about a project, activity, or interest that matters to you.
- What is one challenge that helped you grow?
- What kind of learner are you?
- What do you want admissions readers to remember about you?
These are not official Northwestern questions. They are practice prompts to help applicants become more comfortable speaking about themselves clearly and authentically.
How to Prepare for Northwestern Cat Chats
Applicants can prepare for Northwestern Cat Chats by researching the university and identifying what they genuinely want to learn.
A helpful preparation structure is:
Research → Reflect → Ask → Listen → Apply
Research
Before the Cat Chat, applicants should review Northwestern's academic programs, campus culture, student organizations, interdisciplinary options, and application materials.
Reflect
Applicants should think about what matters most to them in a college experience. For example:
- academic flexibility
- research opportunities
- campus community
- location near Chicago
- school spirit
- arts or journalism opportunities
- engineering or science resources
- communication or performance culture
- interdisciplinary study
Ask
Prepare thoughtful questions that cannot be easily answered by the website.
Listen
During the conversation, focus on learning from the current student or alum's perspective.
Apply
After the conversation, reflect on what you learned and how it might help you write stronger essays or decide whether Northwestern is the right fit.
How Can Applicants Improve Their Chances of Creating a Strong Northwestern Application?
Applicants can improve their Northwestern application by using every component to show fit, curiosity, and personal voice.
Understanding Northwestern Beyond Rankings
Strong applicants should know why Northwestern fits them specifically. This might include academic flexibility, interdisciplinary study, school-specific opportunities, student culture, location, or community.
Using Cat Chats for Better Fit Research
Cat Chats can help applicants understand the real student experience and avoid generic "Why Northwestern" statements.
Adding a Personal Voice Through Optional Video
If submitting an optional video, applicants should use it to show something meaningful that is not already obvious from the application.
Avoiding Repeating the Essay
The optional video should not sound like a spoken version of the personal statement. It should add a fresh perspective.
Practicing Speaking Naturally
Video submissions are usually stronger when applicants sound natural, specific, and reflective. Overly scripted videos can feel less authentic.
Being Specific About Contribution
Applicants should explain how they may contribute to Northwestern's academic and social community.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Applicants often weaken their Northwestern preparation by:
- treating Cat Chats like formal admissions interviews
- asking only basic questions from the website
- trying too hard to impress instead of learn
- using outdated information about alumni interviews
- submitting an optional video that repeats the essay
- making the video too generic
- over-editing or over-rehearsing a video until it feels unnatural
- talking only about prestige or rankings
- not explaining why Northwestern fits their interests
- ignoring what they learned from student perspectives
- preparing too late for optional video submissions
The strongest applicants usually sound curious, specific, thoughtful, and authentic.
Strategic Preparation Tips
✅ Remember Cat Chats Aren't Interviews Treating them as learning conversations rather than formal evaluation keeps the whole exercise lower-pressure and more useful.
✅ Bring Better Questions Questions about student experience, academic culture, community, and fit tend to yield far more useful answers than generic ones.
✅ Write Notes Down Right After What you learn tends to fade fast, so capturing it while it's fresh makes it easier to use later.
✅ Use Insights Without Forcing Them Letting what you learn sharpen your essays or video naturally works better than awkwardly name-dropping the conversation itself.
✅ Rehearse the Optional Video Out Loud Speaking through an answer a few times before recording tends to sound far more natural than reading from a script cold.
✅ Add Something New The optional video is only worth submitting if it shows admissions readers a side of you the rest of the application doesn't already cover.
How MYLS Interview Supports Each Step of Your Preparation
MYLS Interview helps applicants prepare for Northwestern optional video submissions and college interview-style questions with realistic practice tools that support clear spoken communication.
With Northwestern optional video practice, applicants can improve through:
- Realistic Video Interview Practice: Timed on-camera responses help applicants improve pacing, confidence, eye contact, and answer structure without memorizing every sentence.
- Northwestern Optional Video Simulation: Practice realistic college application video prompts on themes such as personal voice, community, intellectual curiosity, values, contribution, and fit.
- Feedback on Delivery, Not Just Content: Applicants get comments on whether a response sounds natural and fits comfortably within a short recording, not just whether the ideas are good.
- Playback That Shows What to Fix: Reviewing the recording and transcript together makes it easier to catch moments that sound stiff, rushed, or generic on camera.
- Wording That Sounds More Natural: Suggested phrasing helps applicants avoid sounding stiff or over-rehearsed on camera.
- A Broad Range of Prompts: MYLS Interview spans 190+ tailored programs and 24,000+ interview-style questions, well beyond a handful of predictable prompts.
Reading sample prompts can help, but many applicants struggle when they actually need to speak naturally on camera rather than write. Students preparing for more than one school's optional materials can also browse MYLS Interview's other programs rather than starting fresh each time.
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Conclusion
The Northwestern Cat Chats and optional video submission process can help applicants understand fit and add a more personal voice to their application. However, it is important to remember that Cat Chats are not admissions interviews. They are learning conversations that help prospective students understand Northwestern more deeply.
Because Northwestern no longer offers alumni interviews, applicants who want to show voice and personality should pay careful attention to written supplements and the optional video submission. Practicing college application video prompts beforehand can help applicants communicate more clearly, naturally, and confidently when it's time to record the real thing.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are Northwestern Cat Chats Admissions Interviews?
No. Northwestern Cat Chats are not admissions interviews, and Northwestern states plainly that it no longer offers alumni interviews as an optional part of the application process. Students who choose not to participate in a Cat Chat or submit an optional video face no disadvantage in the review process. Instead, Cat Chats exist purely to help prospective students learn about Northwestern from a current student's or alum's honest perspective before or during the application.
What Are Northwestern Cat Chats?
Northwestern offers two versions: alumni Cat Chats, connecting prospective students with alumni for one-on-one conversations from diverse perspectives, and student Cat Chats, one-on-one video or phone conversations with a current student lasting 30 to 45 minutes. Both are entirely optional and work best for students who have already attended an information session or online panel but want to dig into the actual student experience. Applicants steer the conversation toward whatever matters most to them personally.
What Should I Ask in a Northwestern Cat Chat?
Good Cat Chat questions dig into student life, academic culture, and genuine fit rather than facts already on Northwestern's website. Worth asking: why the student chose Northwestern, what surprised them after arriving, how academic flexibility works day to day, how students find community, and what they wish they'd known before applying. Questions that could be answered in two seconds by a search engine tend to waste the conversation's real value, which is hearing an honest, personal perspective.
Does Northwestern Have an Optional Video Submission?
Yes, though it's not called an alumni interview anymore, since Northwestern discontinued that specifically. Students applying from US high schools can record an optional video, often referred to by the third-party platform name Glimpse, that typically runs 60 to 90 seconds and gives admissions readers a more candid sense of who the applicant is beyond the essays and activity list. Submitting this video carries no requirement and, according to Northwestern, creates no disadvantage for students who skip it.
Should I Submit an Optional Video to Northwestern?
Consider it if you have something genuinely meaningful to add that doesn't already come through clearly in your essays or activities list, since a video that just repeats the personal statement in spoken form adds little value. The strongest optional videos feel natural and specific rather than over-rehearsed, giving admissions readers one more authentic data point about who you are. If nothing distinct comes to mind, skipping it causes no disadvantage, since Northwestern treats it as truly optional.
Can MYLS Interview Help Me Prepare for Northwestern Optional Video Submissions?
Yes. MYLS Interview helps applicants prepare for optional video submissions and general college-interview-style questions with realistic video simulations, program-specific prompts, AI-powered feedback, recording playback, transcripts, and vocabulary suggestions. Because speaking naturally on camera is a different skill from writing a polished essay, practicing out loud tends to reveal whether a response actually sounds authentic and specific, rather than rehearsed, before recording the real submission.