Chance for Northwestern ED

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

Hello all,

Northwestern is my #1 choice and I wish to apply ED. I’m interested mainly in Industrial Engineering, but I’m worried my stats are too low for mccormick and I’m willing to major in Econ as well. My father also went here for grad school so I’m a legacy. Should I apply ED to McCormick or Weinberg? Also what are my chances at Northwestern ED?

Major: Industrial Engineering & Management Science
State: Ohio
School: Very Competitive Public
Ethnicity: Black and Asian
Gender: XY
Class: Rising Senior
GPA: 3.99 W and 3.6 UW (Yikes)
PSAT: 1420/1520, track to be commended scholar
ACT: 31 (yikes), retaking in September
Subject tests: Math 2 - 780, US History - 720
AP: AP US History (4), English (4), Economics (4,4), Calc BC (3), AB sub (3), Physics (2) (yikes) (not sending physics)
Awards: Honor Roll, Scholar Athlete, Academic
Medallion, Salute to Excellence, Varsity Letters, Leadership Certificates, etc.

Freshie

Honors Algebra 2 - A
Honors English 9 - B
Physical Science - A
World History - A
Spanish 2 - A
Electives - A

Sophomore

Honors Pre Calc - A
Honors Bio - A
Honors Chemistry - A
Honors English 11 - B
Spanish 3 - B
AP US History - B
Electives - A

Junior

AP Calc BC - B
AP Physics 1 - B
AP Economics - A
AP English 11 - B
Spanish IV - A
Electives- A

Senior

AP Statistics
AP Psychology
AP Chemistry
AP Spanish
AP English 12

As one can tell, my GPA is on the lower end.

EC:

In school

Basketball - lettered sophomore year, won division 1 districts, really big part of my life, takes up LOTS of time
Track - lettered sophomore year, won division 1 districts, takes up LOTS of time
African American Culture Club - Co founder and Vice President,
Diversity Acceptance Program - Vice president,
Youth For Christ - Vice President,
Selected freshmen mentor
S.P.L.A.S.H - Selective program for leaders within my school
Principal Advisory Board
Pre Medical Society

I’m trying to start STEM UP Club in my school, see below.

Out of School

Director at Be The Change Venture - non profit with goal to empower youth by teaching networking skills, I have blogs on our website also
Junior Ambassadors - Volunteered 109 hours at Cleveland Clinic main campus in the summer
Research Assistant - Assisted post doc at Case Western Reserve’s biomedical engineering lab (WHY I LIKE BME), showcasing my research at competitions at case and entering Intel
Marketing Director for DifferentLikeYou.com - summer internship at non profit - website for kids with disabilities
Business Intern at Artificial Intelligence Laboratories - Interned at firm based in San Francisco
Council Member at the City Club of Cleveland - year round
Intern at the Diversity Center of NEO
Discover U in Business at Miami University
Look Up to Cleveland Program
Lifeguard

STEM UP - It’s not official yet, but I’m trying to start a non-profit that educates URMs in inner city schools about STEM careers. Hopefully, this can be done

2

Your stats put you in the lower end of applicants for Northwestern. But, if you apply ED, have a legacy (are you sure Northwestern will give you legacy status if you dad went to graduate school?), apply as black (are you half and half? If so, apply only as black), and write thoughtful essays, you have a decent shot of getting in.

3

bump

4

Iffy
Your scores and GPA are not high for NU

5

@WCASParent would someone with a 4.0 uw and 35 ACT and 700+ on two subject tests applying ED be in a good spot applying to Weinberg?

6

Your scores and GPA place you on the lower end for NU, but you’ve taken tough classes and earned a decent amount of As in them. Your ECs seem really cool and should set you apart from other applicants. I think you should apply to the school you feel most passionate about, not the one that’s easiest to get into. Your genuine love for McCormick will show in your supplementals, and I’ve heard NU weighs supplemental essays heavily.

7

I’ll take a stab. I think you know that no one on this site can tell you about your chances. Your ECs are great, Your testing is fine - send the SAT 2s. You took a hard schedule - lots of honors and AP classes. There is the unfortunate downward trend with your grades as the classes get harder. That is the part that no one here really knows how much it will hurt you vs. your minority/legacy status. If you want to increase your odds apply to Weinberg, you can always decide to switch to engineering after you get in. And fwiw, don’t write your essays about basketball or track or what you learned from them or scoring at districts. Pick something else from your list to write about. Also apply as Black not asian or mixed.

8

@stemmmm wow that was straight to the point thank you actually. My only question is are you sure weinberg is easier to get in because I really want to do industrial engineering. I feel in the “Why Northwestern” essay, I can talk much more about the garage, opportunities in engineering, etc vs. what weinberg has because I’m not interested in really arts, humanities, or sciences. With that said, is weinberg really easier? Because I asked at orientation and they said it doesn’t matter which school you apply to. Thank you btw.

9

I sat in on an Engineering Session and this came up. The Engineering guy said that it is easier to get into Weinberg and that you can even change to engineering over the summer before you enter (right after you get in). However, he recommended applying to Engineering if that is what you want even if its harder to get in. I think he meant wht you said - that you want to write your best application that shows you - so I guess if you think you will present better as an engineer then you should do that. What I haven’t seen is any statistics on percent of minorities in Weinberg v. McCormick. That could play into your decision as well if you can find those stats. Remember in your essays to be specific as to how you will be involved in the NU community (think about what clubs and resources they offer). I think overall you will have a strong application so good luck!

10

@stemmmm Hmmm interesting. So if I’m interested in both economics and industrial engineering I should apply economics? Also to your black thing, what if I wrote my common app essay on me being mixed? Wouldn’t they know anyway even if I did apply just as black? Btw thanks for the help!

11

Im going to PM you.

12

Both your GPA and test score are not competitive for NU ED right now. They are at or below the 25th percentile. If one need to improve his stat, usually ED is not a good choice unless the rejection rate is very low.

13

Hello everyone,

I plan on applying ED to Northwestern University for the class of 2022 admissions round. I’m just curious to what my chances of acceptance would be and I have a couple questions also:

-If I want to major in LOC and Economics should I apply to Weinberg for Economics or the School of Education and Social Policy for LOC? Because they only let me pick one. In other words, which school would I have a better chance at statistically?

-If my father attended the Kellogg School for his MBA, does that consider me a legacy? If so, to what extent?

-Will the October ACT count towards the ED round of admissions?

-I’m retaking the ACT in September and October and obviously I’m aiming for the highest score possible, however, what score would you say would make “safe”? 32? 33? Because I know you don’t need a 36 or 35 to get in.

-Should I mention that I was diagnosed with anxiety my freshmen year of high school and never received medication? If so then where?

Thank you so much for the help!!!

Major: Learning & Organizational Change/Economics
State: Ohio
School: Very Competitive Public
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: XY
Class: Rising Senior
GPA: 3.99 W and 3.6 UW
ACT: 31 (yikes)
Subject tests: Math 2 - 780, US History - 720
AP: AP US History (4), English (4), Economics (4,4), Calc BC (3), AB sub (3), Physics (2) (yikes)(not sending physics)
Awards: Honor Roll, Scholar Athlete, Academic
Medallion, Salute to Excellence, Varsity Letterman, Leadership Certificates, District Champion in Basketball & Track.

Freshie

Honors Algebra 2 - A
Honors English 9 - B
Physical Science - A
World History - A
Spanish 2 - A
Electives - A

Sophomore

Honors Pre Calc - A
Honors Bio - A
Honors Chemistry - A
Honors English 11 - B
Spanish 3 - B
AP US History - B
Electives - A

Junior

AP Calc BC - B
AP Physics 1 - B
AP Economics - A
AP English 11 - B
Spanish IV - A
Electives- A

Senior

AP Statistics
AP Psychology
AP Chemistry
AP Spanish
AP Comparative Government
AP English 12

EC:

In school

Basketball - lettered sophomore year, won division 1 districts, really big part of my life, takes up LOTS of time, 3 year letterman
Track - lettered sophomore year, won division 1 districts, takes up LOTS of time, 3 year letterman
African American Culture Club - Co founder and Vice President,
Diversity Acceptance Program - Vice president,
Youth For Christ - Vice President,
Selected Freshmen Mentor
S.P.L.A.S.H - Selective program for leaders within my school
Principal’s Advisory Board - 1 of 5 students in my grade.
Comets Fighting Cancer

Out of School

COO of ClevirWorks - tech startup in SF, started by my friend.
Director at Be The Change Venture - diversity and inclusion movement within Cleveland, I have a blog post written on our website.
Research Assistant - Assisted post doc at Case Western Reserve’s biomedical engineering lab, did this for 2 summers.
Junior Ambassadors - Volunteered 109 hours at Cleveland Clinic main campus in the summer, did for one summer.
Marketing Director for DifferentLikeYou.com - summer internship at non profit - website for kids with disabilities, did for one summer.
Council Member at the City Club of Cleveland, year round
Intern at the Diversity Center of Northeastern Ohio, did for one summer
Discover U in Business at Miami University, summer program
Look Up to Cleveland Program, summer program
Lifeguard at Solon Recreation Center, all year round

14

But ED is usually a better choice for legacy students, so in his case ED is the best option if he can get the ACT a little higher.

I think you should pick up the phone and call NU admissions and ask your questions about testing policy (yes, October is fine for ED), legacy (I believe your dad will count as legacy), and admissions stats - to see if they have any info broken down by school. They will probably tell you that the admissions rate is the same for all schools. That seems to be the general line that all these schools say, but you know its not. It would be interesting to see the M/F application and admit numbers because if I were to make an educated guess, I would bet anything that there are a lot more women than men applying to the school of education and social policy. The question is do you really want to study that? There is more to life and college than getting into NU. Its a great school, but so is tOSU and Case and Oberlin and Kenyon and a bunch of other schools in your area.

15

@stemmmm Thank you so much for the feedback and actually answering the questions like the last person. Yeah I know, they all say the admission rate is the same but that is definitely not true. To be honest, I have multiple majors that I’m considering: Industrial Engineering, Economics, or Learning and Organizational Change. It really depends on the school, but definitely at Northwestern I would want to major in LOC. At Ohio State, I would definitely do Industrial Engineering and for Miami University or an Ivy League school, I would do Economics. So yeah it’s not really “Northwestern or die,” but it is definitely my first choice school. What do you think my ACT should be to definitely boost my chance? Thanks so much btw.

16

Anything above a 32 is considered a high score. With your stats, I think you have a shot at both colleges. Though one thing to keep it mind is that NU accepts more applicants to Weinberg so statistically you might have a better shot there. But as @stemmmm said, there is more to life and college than getting into NU, so apply to whichever college you want to go to.