Chances for NU, ED/RD?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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<p>At least top 10%. We're not actually ranked. I don't know why, they just don't tell us and refuse to tell us until graduation I guess. Good high school in NJ (400ish people in my class)
GPA: 3.9886 UW (4.3 for A+), 4.53 W (5.3 for A+) </p>

<p>SAT:
Superscore - 1500/2300 (700 cr/800 m/800 w)
Best sitting - 2260 (700/760/800)
PSAT: 204 (commended, notified BC and Northwestern)
ACT: 35 composite (34 writing, 36 math, 35, 35)
Senior year schedule:
Physics H
English 4A
AP Spanish
Gym
AP Econ
AP Environmental
AP Calc BC
Independent study: portfolio of newspaper stories I'm going to write</p>

<p>ECs:
- Newspaper: Feature editor (10, 11, 12), copy editor (9)
- Key club: editor (12), member (9, 10, 11)
---- 25+ volunteer hours each year from Key Club
- Spanish Honor Society: Co-president (12), member (11)
- NHS member (11, 12)
- Spring track (10, 11, 12)
- Winter track (11, 12)
- Jobs:
- Gym supervising (10, 11, 12)
- Umpiring softball (9, 10, 11, 12)
(each about 7 hours a week during their seasons)
- Tutoring math (started this year, hopefully continuing and more consistent next year)
- Applying for job at the library as a page. If I get it, it's 11 hours a week starting in late August</p>

<p>Northwestern is my first choice right now, possibly ED. I love everything about the school - size of the student body and campus, location, I think I like the quarter system because it allows for flexibility and there are a few things I would like to study, the proximity to Chicago, prestige, after a brief look I like the range of study abroad programs, Big 10 athletics, evident school pride but not over the top worship the school type of thing, the real life contributions that undergraduates can make (read a story in the school newspaper about the Innocence Project. Amazing, really.), the program offerings (I'm interested in MMSS, but if not admitted will be perfectly happy studying economics at one of the best undergrad econ/math schools in the country), and more.</p>

<p>I am planning to major in economics while double majoring or minoring in math or foreign languages. I would like to go to grad school and pursue an MBA or a different master's, maybe even a doctorate eventually.</p>

<p>So, chances for ED and RD? I'm not positive about applying ED as of now, but NU is probably the best school I have a chance at and I love what it can offer me.</p>

2

<p>I think you’re a good applicant as long as you write some pretty strong essays. I can’t say for sure that you’ll get in RD or ED, but I think you have a good chance nonetheless. If a few months from now you decide that Northwestern is your absolute number one school that you are confident you would be happy at…then apply ED. If there’s a fragment of doubt then don’t. ED can sometimes give a boost to someone that is on the fringe of acceptance. </p>

<p>You seem to have a good SAT score - I usually don’t superscore when gauging how well someone did, but a 2260 definitely looks great. Your UW GPA is good, but based on your lower W GPA and your senior class schedule it doesn’t look like you’re in all AP courses. Now I really don’t know if that would matter but generally most applicants are probably in all AP classes. Your ECs might be on the low side though. You have a couple of seasonal jobs which looks motivated, but when the Common App gives you 12 EC spots to fill and you only have about 4 or so, it can look a little empty. Yet, you are president or editor in three of your clubs and have done (most of) them throughout your 4 years. Colleges like people who stick with certain activities so that only helps your application. </p>

<p>I honestly don’t know if you’ll get into MMSS since it is very competitive. Give it a shot - what the hell, but I don’t know if I would hedge my bets. All in all, you seem like a decent applicant. You’re not a shoe in by any means though. You could very well get in Regular Decision…and you could very well not. College acceptances are unpredictable, and as each year fades into the next, the water grows dicier and dicier. Statistically speaking, as you probably know, Early Decision applicants have a higher acceptance rate and thus may be accepted as opposed to being waitlisted if having applied Regular Decision. And you could very well get in RD. I’m not trying to play games with you; I’m only trying to explain the rules of the game itself. If you decide that NU is the school you want to go to above all others, then apply ED to help your case. If you decide that you have your doubts about attaching yourself to a binding contract, then don’t. You’re going to have to play the odds one way or the other.</p>

3

<p>With a 3.99 UW GPA and a 35 ACT, you have a chance at any school in the US. </p>

<p>ECs are good, but not overwhelming. It’s all uneducated opinion, but I would be less concerned about your not taking AP English than the previous poster, especially given the strong academics.</p>

<p>Applying ED at NU improves your chances.</p>

<p>All the usual caveats – good essays, good recs, no guarantees, etc.</p>

4

<p>Just write good essays and you are in</p>

<p>Sent from my LS670 using CC App</p>

5

<p>I am not “concerned” that he didn’t take all AP classes. I’m an observer not his mother. Now, if you had actually read what I wrote, I claimed that I don’t think it will really matter. I don’t see what is giving you fits - when I was reading his summary, the fact that 1/3 of his classes are not AP and his lower weighted GPA just came to my attention. At my high school, anyone even remotely interested in any top 20 school was in all AP courses; the divide between AP and Honors was noticeable.</p>

6

<p>@Tinfoyl</p>

<p>I, as you are an observer, and I meant no offense. Really, my point wasn’t to say that you are wrong, but that as an observer, I didn’t think OP’s senior class schedule looked overly weak. That being said, you must have gone to a fantastic HS, if virtually all people considering top 20 schools are in full AP loads.</p>

<p>My bigger point – none of us really knows what goes on in an admissions office and how they view these things. Any advice that any of us observers gives is really an uninformed opinion.</p>

7

<p>I was just making a passing comment on something that I noticed. I really wasn’t hung up on his courses. I’m sorry if I was a bit snarky in that last response. </p>

<p>And you’re right zephyr, our opinions are really neither here nor there because of the unpredictability of college applications. Tests and grades only get you so far. I knew a handful of kids my high school with weak ECs but stellar grades (4.0, 2250+) who got rejected by every top tier school. I went to a public high school - nothing special if I led you to believe something else. Maybe twenty spectacular students, one hundred good students, and four hundred other unremarkable students. </p>

<p>The crucial point I was trying to make is that in today’s application process a 3.9 and above GPA and a 2220+ on the SAT are almost routine amongst top applicants. The majority of them have stats like that…and well, colleges like NU are in the teens for acceptance rate. Colleges today are really about two things: ECs and essays. I was trying to tell the OP, George Steinbrenner, that he could very well get in RD but very well not. It’s his chance to take going ED if he wants it.</p>

<p>Speaking of the OP, did you take any SAT Subject Tests? I “think” Northwestern recommends three, but it’s a good bet to submit at least two.</p>

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<p>@Tinfoyl</p>

<p>We’re Good!! </p>

<p>And we agree that any student can fail to get admission at any Top Tier School.</p>

<p>With respect to OP. The 35 ACT (which translates to about SAT 2340 on the three part and 1560 on the two-part) is a bit more impressive than the 2300 superscored three part/1500 two part SAT (esp with CR being the ‘low’ score). OP should discuss with a GC whether to send the SAT at all – though it’s hard not to send in two 800s.</p>

<p>btw – public school or not, that many taking a full AP load is impressive.</p>

9

<p>“Speaking of the OP, did you take any SAT Subject Tests? I ‘think’ Northwestern recommends three, but it’s a good bet to submit at least two.”</p>

<p>Oops - I forgot to update it. Regarding subject tests, I took the Math II and US History. On the math II I got an 800 and on the US history I got a 740. I am taking the Spanish in October, but haven’t registered yet. I picked up a prep book today. I’m good at Spanish, so hoping for a 700+, but we’ll see since so many native speakers take it. </p>

<p>Oh, I also got a 5 on the APUSH test, but I don’t know if they look at that for admissions or just credit?</p>

<p>Thank you guys for helping me out. I understand that almost everybody these days seems to have a high GPA and great test scores, but that’s why I came here. To see if, in today’s pool of applicants, I have a good shot.</p>

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<p>^ </p>

<p>Whatever I might have said in my (overly long) posts, you most definitely have a good shot. That’s for certain. Applying ED, if you mean it, only helps your cause because it’s such a crap shoot today!</p>

11

<p>NU only needs 3 SAT subject tests for HPME and ISP.</p>

<p>Northwestern recommends that all applicants take two SAT Subject Tests but requires scores from SAT Subject Tests only for applicants to the Honors Program in Medical Education (HPME), the Integrated Science Program (ISP), and applicants who have been home-schooled.</p>

<p>Don’t get hung up on AP courses either as it’s all relative as to what is offered at your HS. My son only took 5 but his school only offered 6. He ended up with a 4.2632 weighted GPA and 4.0 UW and was accepted. Your subject test scores are fine as well. My son got a 760 on Math II and 730 in Biology (M).</p>

<p>My suggestion is to focus on your essays and spend quality time on them as that is how you will separate yourself from the pack. Good luck.</p>