<p>I will be applying ED this fall to Northwestern. I am ranked in the Top 5% and have a 33 on my ACT. Now, there is another student from my school who has a higher rank and a 35 on his ACT, yet mostly all of our activities and courseload are the same. He will also be applying under the ED plan. I just wanted to know if the fact that both of us are applying will actually hinder my chances of getting in or if we will be judged on the same playing field as all other students. Does Northwestern only accept a certain number from a particular school or is it always by merit?</p>
<p>generally by merit. if yo0u have some good extra currics you will be more than fine...i wouldnt sweat the fact that this other kid is applying. I had lower class rank and 3 points lower on my ACT. i got in while our salutatorian with the higher ACT got waitlisted and never got in. An all around app will help you out, your test scores and gpa are already there.</p>
<p>this really is a good question. It's definitely not going to HELP, but i'm not sure about the answer to whether it will hurt or not. </p>
<p>I know from schools in the area (ie: north shore) northwestern typically admits more than one student per high school, and the amount of students admitted from each school tends to go go up as the proximity of the high school to northwestern rises (ie: evanston high school sends the most kids to northwestern, while schools on the far north shore send the least, with numbers tending to increase in-between)</p>
<p>I don't know what that random observation means for admittance rates, however, but i can tell you more than one student per high school in the area are admitted.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry if i were you, your stats sound good, just that other guy's stats are REALLY good.</p>
<p>Thanks. I live about an hour outside of Evanston so hopefully your theory will hold true. I went to a small-group interview on campus and I had addressed a similar question. Supposedly applications are read by individual schools instead of on a regional basis. The only real comparison between other classmates will be by the school report. </p>
<p>On a side note: Did any of you do an alumni interview during the application process for Northwestern?</p>
<p>Im in the middle of it right now...And I didn't have an alumni interview, but I DID have an interview with the Dean of Admissions ;-)...haha sorry its kind of a special case my dad is a graduate of Kellogg strings were pulled...</p>
<p>els-- interesting observation on the proximity of feeder school. In another huge thread on HS matriculation, I found a similar pattern with HS's near elite colleges....for instance Williams, Cornell & Dartmouth. We deduced that the reason for the huge enrollment from very nearby HS's was favoring of university staff's children. The Cornell data were very compelling, as the local PS had a huge amount of low SAT band admits, atypical of Cornell's non-athlete scores.</p>