Current Evanston resident here (at least, until June). If you're working at Northwestern Hospital, you might be able to take the NU intercampus shuttle bus from Sheridan Road (and the big parking lots at Ryan Field) to the downtown campus.

I did a similar commute this summer to River North, and I took the Purple express to Merchandise Mart, but the hospital is significantly further East so the bus is a better option as long as your job covers it. If you have a Northwestern employee ID card, you should be fine.

Finally, re: quality of life in Evanston. The relationship between the university and the city is really, really, bad, a function of the school not having to pay any property taxes on its bundle of valuable lakefront real estate. Rents are really high in the "nicer" part of Evanston near campus, and there are constantly issues between students partying and residents trying to live in peace (despite the fact that NU isn't a party school compared to anywhere else in the Big Ten). Check out this article: http://gawker.com/5664243/epic-rager...ghten-children. Ridiculous, on so many different levels.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the area, too.