Chance me? What are my chances for NEU with a dropping HS GPA?

<p>I'm going to be a senior in the fall and I'm going to be visiting Northeastern University this summer. If I like the campus, then I plan on applying Early Action. I would like to attend for Communications. </p>

<p>I'm a white female living in Pennsylvania. My essays and recommendations should be solid. The only thing is as you will see my GPA dropped over 3 years. It's so low for junior year because I was sick (had mono) and was sleeping basically everyday after school and sometimes just through the night. Studying this year was limited for me. My overall GPA is 3.6 though.</p>

<p>I also have only taken my SATs one time-I will take them again in October. </p>

<p>SAT SCORES:
Math: 610 (I would like to bring this up and likely will)
Reading: 640 (I would also, ideally, like to bring this up)
Writing: 730
Total: 1980 </p>

<p><strong><em>Does NEU look at your score including writing???</em></strong> </p>

<p>CLASSES AND GPA:
9th grade: 4.0 unweighted
10th grade: 3.6 unweighted
11th grade: 3.2 unweighted
Overall unweighted: 3.6 GPA</p>

<p>More specifically, here are my grades from junior year:
JUNIOR YEAR GRADES:
AP English: B+
AP US History: B+
PreCalculus (not even an honors class, my very first non-honors class): B+
Honors Chemistry: C
Honors French 4: A
Clothing I (this class is just a regular class as well but there is no 'leveling'. It was a major I took: A+ </p>

<p>SENIOR YEAR SCHEDULE:
AP English
AP Government
AP Statistics
AP French 5
Journalism
Creative Writing</p>

<p>EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:
9th grade (different building than 10-12):
SGA (Student Government)-Media Coordinator
Member of National Junior Honor Society
Played lacrosse for my school
10th-12th
Going on my 3rd year as a member of the Class of 2013 Class Cabinet (Student Council)
Going on my 3rd year as a member of Key Club at my school (120+ hours of community service done thus far)
Going on my 3rd year as a member of the Best Buddies 'n' Us Club-we work with the special needs students twice a month after school and spend time with them.
Going on my 2nd year as a member of the National Honor Society
Going on my 3rd year as a regular volunteer at my local Boys and Girls Club working with 5th and 6th graders in the "homework room"-I help them do homework, study, complete projects, etc.
Also, I am beginning to volunteer regularly at a local soup kitchen (once a week)</p>

<p>I think starting with lower grades and improving is far better. You will have a struggle.</p>

<p>thank you, totoro66. that has been my main concern since the end of my junior year. do you go to NEU/did you go to NEU?</p>

<p>Your SAT scores are pretty good, I’d say right in the middle of where the majority of NEU’s accepted are. But if you raise them there’s always a better chance. Your EC’s look awesome too. As long as you show a rising trend in your GPA you should be ok. Get 5’s on the AP tests if you want credit, NEU isn’t taking 4’s anymore which is crazy. Good luck!</p>

<p>The following link says that NEU is still taking 4’s and 5’s on AP.
<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/pdfs/apchart2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/pdfs/apchart2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I still think it is a stretch for early action. The best chance would be to get awesome grades in the fall and then hope for regular admission. If I were an admissions officer, I would be concerned about the downward trend. The OP needs to demonstrate the ability to do college level work. Good AP scores will help, but your senior year scores won’t be ready in time.</p>

<p>Oh, and they accept 4 or 5 on the AP tests.</p>

<p>Thank you everyone! If I apply, I’ll probably just apply for regular admission. I knew this would probably be somewhat of a stretch…I’m glad to hear that they take 4’s still because although I got a 5 on AP Language and Composition, I got a 4 on AP US History. Thanks again for your responses :)</p>

<p>Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure there is no reason to not apply for early action. They will likely defer you to regular admission to see how well you do on your first semester grades, but you might get lucky. No harm in trying.</p>

<p>Oh, then I guess I’m wrong! There was a rumor going around campus that they would only accept 5’s but its good to know they’re still doing 4’s!</p>

<p>you will easily get in. your scores are on par, if not better than the average matriculated freshman.</p>

<p>Provided you work hard & show an effort to keep your grades high during your senior year, I think you’ll be fine. You could bump up your SATs a tad but you already know that. </p>

<p>You stand a decent chance in my opinion (based on the stats of friends’ that currently attend). Luck!</p>

<p>MrInformed seems misinformed.</p>

<p>This is the academic profile for 2011 </p>

<p>[Academic</a> Profile | Admissions](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/apply/profile.html]Academic”>http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/apply/profile.html)</p>

<ul>
<li>2012 was even higher</li>
</ul>

<p>The OP’s test scores (not counting writing) and GPA fall below the middle 50%. She doesn’t have any A’s in academic subjects, except French, and has declining grades. A 3.2 UW in her junior year is not “on par” with admitted freshmen. </p>

<p>Ceilidh8 is right that the OP stands a decent chance if she “works hard and shows an effort” to keep grades high. I also agree that taking the SAT again is a good idea. It can make a big difference if your other stats are borderline.</p>

<p>I don’t want to seem like a downer, but the OP needs to be realistic about what she needs to do to get in.</p>

<p>@totoro
As crazy as you are to make northeastern seem like a very tough school to get in, you really need to adjust your perspective. I’m going to take a wild guess that either you, or your children go to NEU?</p>

<p>The OP stands a good chance of getting in. many of my friends with significantly lower test scores, GPA, and accomplishments were accepted. Saying that the OP needs to be realistic about what she needs to do to get in is utterly incorrect. The answer is simple: Show interest. Ignore acceptance rates and what not because NEU often gets applications from subpar students or students who show no interest whatsoever because it is a safety school to them.</p>

<p>@MrInformed
I know some highly qualified students with scores similar to the OP who were rejected this year. And they all came from a competitive prep school that has only had one rejection from Northeastern prior to last year. So unless your friends with “significantly lower scores” are international students or legacy kids, then I say you are bluffing.</p>

<p>I would agree with Totoro…my son, an incoming freshman, had several strong applicants from his school that were denied admission to NEU. The guidance counselor at our HS said that NEU is becoming increasingly competitive each year, stats that would have gained admission 4-6 years ago likely would not be strong enough in today’s admission pool.</p>

<p>@MrInformed: Looking at your brief posting history, you seem to be a self appointed expert on a variety of colleges, especially Villanova. Could you state your qualifications to be chancing applicants to Northeastern please, since you have no connection with the school? Or are just trolling threads?</p>

<p>I understand that both of you are very proud parents and love to tell people that your children are going to a competitive school that rejects even the top applicants. However, bear in mind that there are many schools that reject competitive applicants because they know they will not attend/show no interest. The fact of the matter is NEU is an average school and to say that an applicant with a 1980, 3.6 UW, 6 AP classes, and superb EC’s should be more realistic about his/her chances with NEU is simply misguided.</p>

<p>OP, show your interest by emailing your local NEU Admissions officer. Attend college fairs, and visit NEU. If you show them that NEU is your top choice, you will definitely get in. It’s really not that hard.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>i got into NEU</p></li>
<li><p>many of my friends got into NEU.</p></li>
<li><p>I looked up acceptance results from previous years.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>@TomSr</p>

<p>MrInformed is new to this forum and has not been following the accepted students threads from earlier in the year. He also posted that his friend got into CalTech with a 2.9 GPA, even though CalTech has a 12% acceptance rate (the same as Harvard, MIT, Yale, etc). I am not saying it’s not true, but I sure there must have been extraordinary circumstances. The OP should just look at the admissions stats and the accepted students threads and then decide for herself how hard she should work to get into Northeastern.</p>

<p>Just saying, I got into Northeastern with a 3.0 GPA and a 32 on my ACT. That being said I wrote an awesome essay and had some strong EC’s, but from everything I heard and witnessed at my high school this year, I was certainly an outlier. I had a couple friends that got rejected with 3.5+ GPAs and slightly lower test scores (think 28-31). While I don’t consider NEU to be a top notch school, it’s certainly growing fast and had a record number of applicants this year. These people on this board are clearly biased since they are associated with the school. To put it bluntly, when I finally became a little motivated, I was disappointed with only being able to get into a school like NEU, and I am leaving the option of transferring on the table.</p>

<p>One more thing to note about my particular case is that my grades were on a significant upward trend (2.6 freshman, 3.05 sophomore, 3.1 junior, 4.0 senior). That could have played a large role in my acceptance too, who knows. My overall GPA including senior year was a ~3.3 (rounding up).</p>

<p>All you can do is try right? No one here is exactly qualified to tell you even ballpark whether or not you can get in because there are so many odd cases and unexpected outcomes (look at my case for example). Just do your best this year and apply EA since there is no reason not to. Keep your head high and see what happens. Best of luck.</p>