Admission into Northwestern University

Hi,
I am a high school senior - I have 36 ACT score, 3.6 Unweighted GPA and 4.3 Weighted GPA. I am in top top 15% of the class. I live in NJ. What are my chances for admission into Northwestern Arts and Science Economics program through ED.
Does it matter how many students in your class apply ED to particular program in same college. I am thinking of ED in another college, but my preference is Northwestern. I do not want to waste my ED card by applying to Northwestern if I do not have more than 70% probability
Pls. advise.

Thanks

You definitely DO NOT have a 70% chance of getting in. I’d say you have around a 25% chance of getting in since you seem like a pretty average applicant for the ED pool. Your GPA is low for NU since most people who get in are well within the top 10% of their class. The only thing you have going for you is your 36 ACT which doesn’t carry much weight compared to a 35 or 34.

Nobody has a 70% chance at getting into Northwestern. The acceptance rate is 9% and the ED acceptance rate his roughly 25%. You also are coming form a state where a ton of Northwestern students come from. Just apply ED to your top school that you know you want to go to more than any other and that you can afford.

Does it matter that I am coming from a challenging school district

If anything, it will reduce the odds because that means there are other competitive students, likely with a higher GPA applying. The same can be said for any other elite school.

From what some recent NU students have seen, they believe that it DOES seem to matter how many students from your high school apply. It seems to them that it’s unlikely that more than 2 applicants (often one male & one female) are accepted from ordinary high schools. From better high schools there seems to be more accepted students. This is not based on any hard evidence, just an impression these students have from talking to their friends.