Hello! I just wanted a bit of an honest review, what do you guys think about my profile based on these stats?
3.8 uw 4.3w
1510 sat
Founder/president of an international nonprofit club for public speaking in rural areas (specifically malnutrition based kids)
president of local speech club.
girl scouts ambassador (recieved gold), working on eagle
there’s no president or role system in my school but i was in the exec board for unicef and my cultural club at my high school.
-Varsity speech
-french honors society.
-Black belt degree 3, 2nd place state 2x
-2x state champion for public speaking in club
intern overseas at rural side hospital
volunteering at redress,hospital, library,
initiated a back 2 school campaign with local organization and made over 300+ backpacks with supplied for rural areas.
work as cashier and religious school ta
JV track and field.
-President for an aquascaping club (personal hobby in decorating aquariums)
co manager for overseas malnutrition organization.
co president for women leadership club
Theme wise, I want to pursue neuroscience, I was thinking of correlating it with malnutrition.
Sorry if my spelling/format is off, I am typing via phone. It’s a little hard to fix.
What can anyone say other than you have a shot? Better shot if you apply ED. What does your counselor say? Did you take the hardest course load possible?
My fingers are crossed for you. My child’s best friend was waitlisted with a 1600, 4.7 weighted in dual enrollment. National Quiz Bowl, 1 sport. Northwestern has one of those single digit acceptance rates that might mean you fit the criteria but so do thousands of others. Have lots of solid back ups that you can love.
I agree, if Northwestern is your first choice and you can ED, I would highly recommend, especially if you are from a high population state (like CA, etc.) It’s just so hard to get in RD unless you fit a specific priority they still need to fill. I know a lot of very high stat students with great EC’s that are getting a lot of waitlists at top schools during the RD round (myself included, sigh.) Good luck to you!
Thank you so much for your reply. It makes a lot of sense; I’m sure it’s super competitive, especially this year…I heard that gap year students were also applying to sorts. I saw so many crazy ECs and stats on the NU page, so I wanted to see how well my ECs are.
I won’t lie; course load-wise, I did take around eight APs so far, and I am taking 3 more next year. As much as I wanted to take AP chem and AP Physics, it’s just extremely difficult at my school to even pass. I know every student’s potential and criteria are different, but after seeing some of my classmates who are in the top ranks of our school barely pass the classes, I didn’t want to take the risk of affecting my grades. I did chat with the councilor, but I didn’t really get solid feedback on my stats, rather it was just “seems good enough for solid state schools” Thats what got me in a frenzy and just reaching out on here because although my stats aren’t crazy excellent like some of the students on the Northwestern thread, I wanted to see if I had a solid shot.
No no, I’m not an international student. I live near Northwestern…based on budget constraints, You could consider me in the middle class, my family’s opinion is that if it’s a great school they are willing to pay for it.
Run Northwestern’s NPC with your parents to see if it’s affordable without requiring debt beyond the $27K max undergrad student loans, here: Net Price Calculator
NPCs may not be accurate if parents are divorced, own real estate beyond a primary home and/or own a business. Are any of those the case for you?
If the NPC looks affordable are you intending to apply ED?
Do a lot of research to identify at least one affordable safety school you would like to attend, and a handful of target schools. Finding reach schools is the easy part.
Definitely find out exactly what they are prepared to pay for. Before my sister’s kids were ready to start the college application, she really had no idea how much tuition had increased since she was a student (she attended Richmond and mba at northwestern). Fortunately she is full pay anywhere, but she was absolutely shocked at how much tuition has gone up since she went to college.
That is solid advice, thank you; I’ll check it out. I do have 2-3 state/safety schools set, target as well. As you mentioned, with reach schools being easy to find, still cutting down on that. I was shook recently, seeing a senior friend of mine applying to 54 schools.
Please do not apply to 54 colleges! 15 is too many, and will hamper your ability to write good essays and turn in competitive apps.
I agree with mjkacmom that you and your parents should define a budget. There can’t be an effective college list until you know what you have to spend. Run the NPCs at every school on your list, and if any look unaffordable (defined as requiring parent loans after the student’s max $27K total over 4 years), then off the list it goes.
Of course, I don’t plan on applying to that many colleges. Most likely 12-14 max. Regarding my stats, though, would you say I have a solid shot at NU (and other reach schools)? I’m thinking of doing ED but not entirely sure. I haven’t been getting a real answer or like information based on my profile because it’s either just “yea, it’s good” or “alright,” so I just genuinely wanted to know a rating on them to see what’s lacking.
Just as a heads-up, I’m still reaching out for research opportunities in regard to neuroscience; depending on whether I find a match, I think it would be a nice addition to my profile.
No one here can give you an accurate chance based on an incomplete profile…we don’t have your courses and their rigor (will you have taken 4 years of classes in each of the 5 core areas: Eng, Math, SS, FL, Sci?), or know how your course load and rigor compare to your classmates/your class rank (approximate if your school doesn’t rank), or have visibility to your essays or your LoRs. All of those things will be critical to how NU evaluates your app.
All you can do is continue doing ECs you want to, and keep your grades up. Research would be great, but lots of HS students have research now…so only do it if you would like to do that. A summer job at a fast food restaurant, or the local park district, etc. will look just as good.
Agreed. I do think if you aren’t one of top handful of students at your school (unless your school sends a lot of kids to top selectives every year) you probably don’t have a good shot. You probably know whether this is the case for you.
It is difficult to evaluate your ECs - they seem good enough but not necessarily outstanding to where you don’t also need to be an outstanding student. The international nonprofit- is that something that will continue and grow after you graduate? If not then I think it would be viewed similarly to other good community service ECs. If yes it may count for more.
You need to get more information from your school . Since you live nearby, your school most likely has had a lot of Northwestern applicants over the last 3 years. You need to ask if you are taking the course rigor that is similar to those accepted at NU, and if your class rank is high enough compared to those accepted. Ask if they were ED or RD. 3.8uw can be middle of the pack at some HS, top 10% at others. Just of note, do not necessarily believe rumors on classes: there are classes rumored to be “too hard” at every school, yet… the top kids ace them. Kids who do not have most if not all of the hardest courses compared to peers do not tend do as well, even if they have a higher gpa. If a course truly has a mean of a B or C, then getting a B to B+ is a huge win and if Northwestern knows your school it will be a plus that you challenged yourself.
Your grades and courses are the most important part of your application: focus on that. Amazing ECs rarely make up for a mediocre transcript. Work hard in your classes and be a polite and kind student and classmate. LORs are important, and your character is important even when no one is paying attention.
If your counselor tells you your stats are great for state schools but no one similar to your course rigor and gpa have gotten into Northwestern, then by all means ED, but understand it is a long shot.