<p>Hi! I'm currently a junior in high school who is extremely interested in Northwestern University, specifically the journalism school. I'm curious what my chances of getting in may be, based off of these credentials:</p>
<p>Middle class female, public high school in Wisconsin.
ACT composite: 33
Math: 35
Science: 35
Reading: 25</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 (all A's)
I will be graduating next year as valedictorian. </p>
<p>Honors/APs by the end of next year: Honors French 3 and 4, pre calculus, AP calculus, AP statistics, AP biology, composition, AP literature, AP psych, sociology.</p>
<p>Extra cirriculars:
3 years of holding editing positions on my school's yearbook staff.
4 years on varsity dance- 1 as captain.
Math tutoring.
Chairing a huge community event, EXPO, for 2 years.
2 years of "Blue Crew"- my school's freshman orientation group.
3 years of national honor society. </p>
<p>Work experience: worked for a year at a store, quit to focus on school and extra cirriculars. </p>
<p>Will the 25 on the reading part of the ACT harm me, or will my composite score make up for it? Is my composite even high enough? Also, will a need for quite a bit of financial aid hinder me at all? </p>
<p>Northwestern is easily my top school and I plan on applying ED.</p>
<p>What are my chances?</p>
<p>Thank you!!</p>
<p>You missed your Eng score, also your writing too. Reading score is important. In general, for those top schools, you want to get all your section scores above 30 with a composite of 34+ for a better chance. Did you try SAT? I think it may be a low reach for you.</p>
<p>
What are your writing and overall English scores? Your 25 in reading will hurt you if those two scores aren’t 30+. Your composite score is definitely good enough, but 25 that raises some questions since you’re applying for journalism.</p>
<p>
You shouldn’t apply ED if financial aid is a major concern. If you’re admitted ED, you have to take the aid package that Northwestern offers. You can’t use other aid offers to bargain for a better package so you’ll have to “reject” your ED admission if you don’t like NW’s package. For more information on ED and FA, see this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/77471-ed-financial-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/77471-ed-financial-aid.html</a></p>
<p>Sorry, I forgot to write this up there but my English score was 35 and my writing was 8. Would the English score help make up for the reading?</p>
<p>Not really. This is a typical case of bad section score distribution. Although a composite 33 is within their mid 50%, you better to have all section scores above 30. Is your Eng/Writing score 31?</p>
<p>Retake the ACT, you can do much better than a 25 on reading.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone fr the feedback! I’ll definitely retake the ACT in order to hopefully raise my reading score. I struggled a bit with the timing of that section, so I’m sure with a few months of practice I’ll be ready to go! If I am able to raise it to 30+, would my credentials look good enough for Northwestern?</p>
<p>As it stands now – your stats are certainly good enough to make a credible application to NU. The 25 in reading is a negative, but class valedictorian is a positive. My guess is that there is a strong likelihood that you can bring it up – that score looks out of place.</p>
<p>With a 30+ – you’re certainly in the range as far as your stats. Although NU has a very small overall acceptance rate, the rate is somewhat higher ED, so if it’s your #1 choice, and you can afford it, definitely apply ED.</p>
<p>Bottom line – even with a 30+ and your current stats, NU is a tough school, and no one is a lock. However it’s the kind of place you should be considering.</p>
<p>When you raise your reading to 30+, you are likely to bring your composite score to 34+. That would definitely increase your chance.</p>
<p>Just be careful with ED since you need financial aid. NU is need blinded, so that should not hurt your chance. However, if you do ED, you are committed before you know if you get any aid. This may be danger for you.</p>
<p>I realize that ED is binding, but aren’t applicants able to reject the offer if the school doesn’t offer enough financial aid? Northwestern’s website says that students “may be released from this binding commitment only in cases of documented financial hardship.” Would this include simply not being able to afford tuition or do they mean something like a loss of a job or some other type of financial crisis?</p>
<p>I’d say low reach. Retake the ACT if you can, and add more ECs (clubs, volunteering, etc)</p>
<p>Does northwestern super score?</p>
<p>^ Northwestern does not superscore ACT. There are at least 2 threads about that in this forum.</p>
<p>If you do ED, you may still withdraw if your financial need is not met, however, you probably would not find out until much later. By that time, you may have already withdrawn from other applications. However, Northwestern has a very high rate of providing need based aid. The problem is usually those who are in the border line that may or may not get aid, get partial aid, or get aid in form of loan. Think it through before applying ED.</p>
<p>You don’t withdraw other apps until/unless you ACCEPT the ED school’s aid offer.</p>
<p>Under the CommonApp agreement that the applicant signed on the form, </p>
<p>“If you are accepted under an Early Decision plan, you must promptly withdraw the applications submitted to other colleges and universities and make no additional applications to any other university in any country. If you are an Early Decision candidate and are seeking financial aid, you need not withdraw other applications until you have received notification about financial aid from the admitting Early Decision institution.”</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013EarlyDecision_download.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013EarlyDecision_download.pdf</a></p>
<p>The first part is in bold face, while the second part about financial aid is not and may be overlooked. The tricky part is you need not withdraw other applications until FA offer, but one still may not make additional applications. Also, the early decision may be shared with other schools that may reduce your chance.</p>
<p>^ Not only until you have received notification, but also this:
In which case you apply RD elsewhere as if ED had not been attempted.</p>
<p>But apply ED only to your by-far number one favorite, when the only thing you want to know is: Can I afford it? You won’t know if another school might have made you a better offer.</p>
<p>The bottom line is, if you are not sure you really want to go that school as your top choice, do not do ED.</p>