Chance me for Northwestern, Umich, UIUC, UW Madison, and Purdue

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Desired major: Chemistry, pharmaceuticals or biology
Junior
I live in California and go to a pretty good public school
3.85 UW GPA (3.9W)
28 ACT
Not really any hooks, second gen college, dad is a purdue alumnus, I am a white male at a mostly Asian school.

I am not taking very challenging classes. I currently take AP World History and it is my first and only AP since we cannot take them as underclassmen at my school. I wanted to take AP chem but failed to reach the math requisite. As such, I am currently talking with my school’s new head of chemistry in the hopes of lowering the unnecessarily high requisite (Honors pre calculus).

Softmore classes:
H science, english, and history
CP geometry, spanish 2
weight training.

Junior classes:
AP World
CP Algebra 2, chemistry, English, Spanish 3
Photography.

EC’s
Presidential Volunteer Service Award Gold for 250 hours of service in six months.
I currently have 300 hours and have been volunteering eight months, I am planning about 500 by this December.

three years of speech and debate (Minimal participation, I had two debate partners move away )

two years in my school’s anti domestic violence club (Giving presentations and educating myself about issues regarding
domestic violence. I was pretty passive as a member)

two years as my school’s human rights club’s campaign manager (Organized some pretty great campaigns that brought in several other clubs from my school in and guest speakers from all-throughout California)

Member of my school’s secular student alliance and entrepreneurial club but play a minimal role in each

Currently working on designing an app with a friend to teach children about a specific aspect of science that I would rather not reveal, but I have yet to decide if this is worth it.

That’s pretty much it folks. some mediocre grades and test scores and ok Ec’s. I will apply for ED at Northwestern but don’t expect to get in, what can I be doing to raise my chances?

2

It sounds like you are taking 1 or 2 AP classes available to you as a junior. Your HS should explain that on the profile. and it will be taken in context. You should also sign up for AP classes as a senior. Try to improve your ACT with a target of 33+. A 28 is well below the 25th percentile (especially for OOS) for the schools on your list. Are you applying to any UCs? You would likely have a better chance at those, especially with a much improved ACT.

3

Yes I am applying to all of them, but I don’t really want to stay in state. I really like the mid west and want to go to school there.I will definitely improve my ACT but a 33+ seems a little far for me, all though I will certainly study rigorously for it.

4

Just make your best effort, improving by 5 or more points is definitely possible.

5

You do need a higher score for most of the schools on your list. In addition, a higher GPA would help too. If you can bring your ACT up by at least a couple points, you will have a better chance for Purdue and UW,

6

If you want a competitive chance at Northwestern you will need to raise your ACT score. Look back at the sections you did not do well on and review for another session. Good luck!

7

Purdue is the easiest college for admissions on that list; if you want a shot at Wisconsin, Michigan, or Illinois, a 33 ACT would do you wonders. Northwestern is a heavy reach.

8

overall, I think you need higher test scores for sure for northwestern but may be fine for UW madison. I know people with similar test scores and grades who have gotten into madison, though I am from madison so it may be easier for instate but I’m not sure…?