<p>My wife and I took our 11th grade son on tours of Northwestern and the University of Chicago last week during his spring break. He fell in love with both schools and hopes to one day be accepted to one or both.</p>
<p>Some background info on our son.....his act score came back today and he scored a 31. He attends a very competitive high school in Michigan. His class has over 400 students. His gpa is 3.88 and is taking two ap courses this year (history and ab calc). Next year he will take 4 more ap classes. He has been treasurer of his class for 3 years and may be re-elected to a fourth year. He plays a varsity sport and also plays the piano. </p>
<p>My question is.....does he have a decent chance of getting into either Northwestern or U of Chicago? He plans to take the SAT and is considering retaking the act if he thinks it is necessary. He plans to eventually apply to law school (constitutional law). Is there anything else he should be doing at this point of his high school career? Any and all suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.</p>
<p>Don't worry about taking the SAT for midwest schools, ACT is sufficient.</p>
<p>For Northwestern, I got on the waitlist, with a 3.86 UW GPA, top 5% rank, 29 ACT, 9 IB classes total, and lots of CP (college prep..highest non IB's...for fresh/soph years before you can take IB).</p>
<p>For me, my EC's were Boyscouts (Eagle Scout <--- this helps a lot, ES = Success in many people's eyes), Key Club (Class Director) for one year, 2 years of JV volleyball, Model UN's and other sims, and then some church related stuff.</p>
<p>Your son should be very competitive for Northwestern. Can't comment on UC though.</p>
<p>I'm not sure about Northwestern but I got into UCLA and UC Berkeley with a 30 ACT (my SAT was low...1760). But I would say a 31 is pretty competitive, but you might want to try for a 32+ just incase...</p>
<p>It sounds like your son is a great student who has varied interests. There is no magic bullet for college admissions in the current highly competitive environment. </p>
<p>I would recommend that, by the end of the summer, he have a well-developed list of schools (including two or three safety schools) and a good working draft of a one page personal statement that effectively communicates some important things about himself. He should also know which teachers to ask for letters of recommendation and ask for them as soon as school starts back up in the fall to give them plenty of time to write good ones. I would also suggest that he look at copies of last year's applications for all of the schools he likes best so that he can start thinking about what they are looking for and how he would answer the questions. The more thought he gives to how to get his best self across on the applications, the better those applications will be.</p>
<p>Chicago does offer early action and Northwestern has binding early decision. I would seriously consider one of these options. Early decision, especially, can make a big difference. </p>
<p>Your son is a very viable candidate. There is no harm in retaking standardized tests. But much good, at this point, can come out of preparing for the actual application process. Best of luck!</p>
<p>One nice thing about the ACT is that when you send in the report, the college doesn't necessarily seen how many times you have taken it, so in that manner, it certainly can't hurt to retake it.</p>
<p>31 is good for both. Note that UChicago considers test score as a low item on its list of what it considers. Of most importance for it is GPA, courses taken, essays, ECs, followed by test score. It is particular about admitting those that it thinks have the "personality" for UChicago. Chicago does not require SAT IIs but Northwestern recommends them (and requires them for a few programs) and he should consider taking SAT IIs for it.</p>
<p>Just note that both are highly selective so having a "decent chance" generally means for anybody no more than a 30% chance.</p>
<p>I got a 31. Rejected Northwestern, but in at Princeton, Brown, and Chicago. So I don't think he is in a bad position given that everything else measures up.</p>
<p>To maximize his chances (particularly at Northwestern which seems more focussed on test scores than UChicago), I'd recommend re-taking the ACT to try to bump it up a bit. According to the NU website, the middle 50% of ACT scores for entering students for the Class of 2011 was 30 to 34.</p>
<p>I appreciate everyone who responded to our inquiries about the act and admission to Northwestern and U of Chicago. I will share this info with our son and formulate a gameplan for his senior year. Thanks again!!!</p>