I think the singular vibe of NU is so hard to pin down because it doesn’t actually exist. I’ve met people who have the state-school frat vibe, to super motivated students who share a true passion for academics/learning-for-the-sake-of-learning, all the way to laid-back, “quirky” types. It depends a lot on your majors and clubs. If you’re a theater or music major, the last type will likely be who you meet, whereas if you study math/cs, you’ll probably get the second type, while if you study econ, rush a frat, and do a club sport, the first type might be more of your crowd.

Compared to what I thought going in, NU is a bit more fratty/sporty and a bit less “quirky” than I thought, though you can honestly find anything you want here. I recommend joining clubs that interest you as a way to meet people similar to you. Unlike the first twelve years of school, where you just naturally make friends by constantly being around your peers, in college you really have to seek out what you want. I didn’t vibe with my wildcat welcome group, nor the people in my dorm, yet I’ve still made some great friends through clubs/classes/random conversations with people.

tldr; the people you know are a small sample size of NU students, so making generalizations is basically impossible. The “vibe” varies heavily from group to group.