Hey, I’m a senior in high school and am getting ready to decide what schools I definitely want to apply to for regular decision. Northwestern is a top choice for me alongside Vanderbilt and Cornell but I’m not sure how I should expect my application to play out. Also looking at Wash U, UIUC, Case Western Reserve, and Minnesota Twin Cities. I’m from Illinois and have visited NW and I think it’s really worth trying but I want to be realistic (I’ve also visited all of my other schools).
High School Type: Public
Location: Illinois
Race/Gender: White Male
Prospective Major: Biology, or Bioengineering, maybe pre-med
Unweighted GPA: 3.61/4.0 (had a very bad freshman year of 3.25 and then about 3.75-3.8 for the following years)
Weighted GPA: 4.4 (3.7 freshman year and about 4.73 for the following years)
Class Rank: No class rank but my HS does have stats for gpa: median: 3.27uw, 3.47w; while the highest gpa is 4.0 uw and 4.88w.
ACT: 33 Composite (English: 34, math: 33, reading: 30, science: 34); I have another 33 composite from another test which superscores to a 34 (Wash U)
SAT: I got a 1440/1600 the one time I tried it.
Subject Tests: Bio E:770 Bio M:780, will be taking math level 2 shortly
Courses: I’ve taken nearly all honors/AP classes with the exception of pre-calc. It also should be noted that I do have 4 years of credits for French, I went up to french 4 honors and the first year was actually part of middle school french (so a total of 6 years of french).
AP’s I’ve taken or am taking: psych (soph), lang & composition (junior), us history (junior), AB calc (junior), art history (junior), bio, physics C, statistics, literature, and European history.
AP tests: 5 on psych and 4 on AB calc
Extracurricular activities:
*I’ve made a large commitment to volunteering at my local hospital doing various jobs/tasks including front desk/reception, surgery reception, newspaper delivery, worked in outpatient lab, helped out in pathology, as well as delivered flowers/food for patients.
*I’ve also volunteered a lot at my local library which involved both backroom work, helping older people learn technology tips, and helped setting up a few events.
*Helped heavily with my church in setting up and working Rummage sales for several years in a row
*Tennis team Freshman Year
*Played on competitive chess team as various boards (~7-8th board)
*Have Taught/assisted Sunday school at my church for a couple of years for k-5th graders
*Probably have a few more things to add, but this is the general idea
Demonstrated Interest: I’ve visited and attended an information session as well as a visit to my HS from NW rep.
Work Experience:
*I started working at Target the summer before junior year and worked through the school year on sales floor.
Awards: (not much to show for here)
*Won a few chess team tournaments
*Honors Society
*There may be a few other things but nothing I can think of right now.
Recs:
*Will have a very good counselor rec
*2 solid junior year teacher recs (math and apush)
*1 extra rec from my tutor/family friend who is a Berkeley Alum and also worked at Northwestern for research (engineering).
Essays: They’re a work in progress but should be solid as well and not a problem.
Extra: I have a sibling that attends, not sure if that’s relevant or not.
*Also first generation
I realize that I’m far from a perfect candidate but honesty would be appreciated for NW in particular but also any of my other choices. I’m also not applying ED anywhere since senior grades are a pretty big deal as are finalized test scores.
Thanks for any responses and input about anything relevant.