Hi all, I’ve posted a few times on this forum before, but this will be the first time I’m posting in the What Are My Chances board.
I am a rising senior, and for most of high school I have known that I want to be a teacher. One path I’m considering is teaching German, or maybe some social science. I am also thinking about music education, but since admission to those programs is more dependent on auditions, I want this thread to be about the academic aspect of my applications, the schools for which will mostly be separate from the schools I audition for, if that makes sense (so for the purpose of this thread, only worry about my academics and admission to schools for academics, not music). Right now my top school is Northwestern. With that said, here are my stats.
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
State: IL
ACT: 35 C (36 E, 35 M, 34 R, 33 S, 25 W)
Unweighted GPA: 3.97 (estimated, school doesn’t provide it)
Weighted GPA: 4.76
Rank: 1/400+
AP: APUSH (5), Psych (5), Lang (5), Calc BC (5), Physics 1 (5)
Senior Year Courses: AP Stats, AP Envi Sci, AP German, AP Micro/Macro, AP Music Theory, Senior Year English Elective
Awards:
National Merit Commended Scholar (212 is confirmed to qualify, right?)
AP Scholar with Distinction
Extracurriculars:
Quiz Bowl (9-12)
Math Team (11-12)
Spring Musical (11-12)
Church Youth Choir (11-12)
Voice Lessons (10-12)
Club to Raise Awareness for Girls Education in Other Parts of the World (11-12)
2016 Regional Honors Choir (11)
Summer Student Exchange to Germany (12)
Volunteer:
Mission Trips in Other Parts of the U.S. (9,11)
Coaching Quiz Bowl Team at Former Middle School (9-10)
Helping Teach Religious Education Classes at Church (12) (Do the coaching and teaching count as volunteer?)
Recommendations will likely come from my German teacher and my Psych or Physics teacher. I know it is generally advised to have your academic teachers write recommendations, but would a recommendation from one of my non-academic teachers help at Northwestern, if said teacher went to Northwestern? Counselor will probably be generic but not bad. Essays should hopefully be good too.
Will not having SAT Subject Tests hurt me? From what I have read on schools’ websites, many say “students who do not submit SAT Subject Test scores will not be at a disadvantage” but I have no idea if this is true or not. I know Northwestern has SAT Subject Tests listed as “recommended,” but based on my understanding, this wouldn’t disqualify me, it’s just that I wouldn’t receive the same bump as a person with SAT Subject Tests might get. Maybe I’m completely wrong on this, please correct me if they truely are necessary.
I know the Bienen School of Music is quite good, and I would love to audition for it, but does anyone know how this would affect my general application to the school? Is it possible to get rejected from Bienen but get admitted academically, or is a rejection from Bienen an outright rejection from the rest of Northwestern?
Lastly, I’m really at a loss as to where else I should apply, so can anyone recommend any match and safety schools based on what I’ve described above? Keep in mind, I will likely have separate lists for academics and music, so right now I’m just looking at schools where I could go to become a German teacher (recommendations for music are acceptable too, but right now I’m more focused on the academic side of things). I mostly need schools that I have a strong chance of acceptance and schools that provide good need-based aid or merit aid, based on my stats.
I apologize for the super long post, thank you to anyone who offers advice.
Maybe ask this alone as a question in the NU forum?