*Chances? Pretty please?*

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>I know there's no definite way to determine whether or not I'll be accepted, but I feel that hearing from actual Northwestern students would help give me a idea at least. :) </p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.625 </p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.86</p>

<p>Ranked number 8 in a class of 507</p>

<p>I've taken all honors (except classes like Spanish where you can't take honors at my school) and by the time I graduate, I will have taken 5 AP classes (including taken AP Senior English [or AP English Literature] in my sophomore year.) I will also have taken Statistics, Life Management Skills, and Pre-Cal at a community college.</p>

<p>AP Scores:</p>

<p>AP English Literature - 5
AP English Language and Composition - 5
AP U.S. History - 5</p>

<p>SAT I score was 800 Writing, 740 Critical Reading, and 600 Math (overall, 2140). </p>

<p>SAT II - U.S. History (710); Literature (730) </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>1.) Screenwriting. My primary passion. For the past 7 years, I have worked on the scripts for my TV series 10 hours every week. (about 480 hours a year, 3360 overall.) I have also written 2 short films, started one in-progress feature-length film script, and also have a large collection of original ideas for films and television series that I plan to write.</p>

<p>2.) Creative writing. While I have been writing stories, poems, and other works almost all my life, my accomplishments during the 4 years of high school: I have written two novels (one in-progress), seven novellas, five short stories, one play, one musical, a large portfolio of poetry, and a portfolio of song lyrics. </p>

<p>3.) Affinity Entertainment Independent Film Company. (freshman - senior year)
-Acting (starred in one full-length independent film and a played a small role in another)
-Cinematography (two full-length independent films)
-Creative consulting (three full-length independent films)</p>

<p>4.) Animation Appreciation Club (freshman - senior year)
I was the Discussion Leader in this club, which was centered on discussing, debating, and analyzing the merits, faults, and meanings of various animated works. Animation is a passion of mine and a field in which I highly desire to work in the future. </p>

<p>5.) Newspaper Club (freshman year)
Staff writer for the paper. Only freshman admitted to write for the paper during my year.</p>

<p>Community Service:</p>

<p>1.) I created and spearheaded a special writing workshop for interested middle school students to learn the skills and art of different forms of writing (screenwriting, fiction writing, poetry, and journalism), and I was their teacher. </p>

<p>2.) Drama-coaching middle school students for play productions for two summers </p>

<p>3.) Participated in two episodes of a local television program called "Today's Family" as a guest speaker </p>

<p>4.) Junior Honor Guard [top 10 students, assisting with graduation ceremony and senior banquet] </p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>1.) I won 3rd place in the San Diego competition “Voice of Democracy”, which comprises an essay and an audio recording of the essay on a specific topic concerning America. I was the first person from El Cajon to make it to the finals.</p>

<p>2.) I have won 1st place two times in the Rancho San Diego Library Poetry Contest and was published in their poetry anthology for both of these times.</p>

<p>3.) AP Scholar.</p>

<p>I'd really appreciate any feedback about my chances of getting in and any advice you have to offer! Thank you so much for your time. :)</p>

2

<p>If you are applying to Medill, you are a shoe-in.</p>

<p>Honestly, with all of that background in screenwriting, you have a very impressive resume.</p>

<p>Your SAT Math score is pretty low, but Northwestern (like everywhere) wants well-lopsided people as well as well-rounded.</p>

<p>I would be fairly confident in your chances if you are applying to Medill. If you are applying to Weinberg, you still have great chances.</p>

3

<p>Wow, thank you so much. :slight_smile: I was actually thinking about applying to the School of Communication as a Radio/TV/Film major. What do you think my chances of getting in there would be, as compared to Medill and Weinburg? [I’m not 100% sure I want to do Radio/TV/Film major and I am definitely open to Weinburg majors. Haven’t looked into Medill yet.]</p>

<p>Also, I’m not sure if it was clear or not, but my TV show hasn’t actually aired or anything (I’m sure you know how ridiculously difficult it would be for a minor to get an original series made), but that’s a big point of going to college and then getting into the industry and all. Hopefully my background in screenwriting will still be very impressive despite the fact that the show hasn’t actually been made. I’ve written 15 full-length scripts for it and my Common App essay describes my passion for screenwriting in general. What do you think? </p>

<p>Thanks for all the help!</p>

4

<p>You’ve got quite a nice chance. Your scores are good. The 600 in math is a sticking point, but you’ve got frankly an amazing EC resume, a good GPA, good ranking, nice SAT II scores, and your other two SAT I components are impressive.</p>

<p>I know this is neither here nor there, but I’d love to know about your TV series. =D I plan to go into the RTVF department to pursue a career in television, so I’m extremely curious to know what’s cooking over so many hours. No pressure, it just really caught my eye.</p>

5

<p>As I’m sure you are aware NU only looks at M and V SAT’s. Your 1340 is well below the average for admission. Your EC sound very impressive but writing unpublished screen plays or novels does not necessarily qualify as an accomplishment. Have any of your works been published or won independent competitive awards? Without more details it’s very hard to evaluate the quality or merit of your impressive sounding ECs. Based on scores your NU is a reach.</p>

6

<p>Are you doing RD? If so, you have the time to take the ACT or SAT. I found the ACT more suited to how I liked testing, and my score was much stronger there. You need to have it taken by the January testing date, so if you want to improve your scores, that might be a good bet.</p>

7

<p>Thanks a lot, you guys. :slight_smile: I am doing RD, and I might be retaking my SAT in January one more time to try and improve my math score. But I already retook it in November and had studied but somehow did worse on every single section. :-/ Does private tutoring really work? I really do wish to improve my math score, but I wonder if it’s even possible.</p>

<p>Oh, and I already took the ACT but did much, much worse on it. (26, which is equivalent to about an 1800 versus my 2140 on the SAT, so yeah…I don’t think retaking the ACT would really help much. Hmmm…)</p>

<p>And SAY, my works haven’t been published or won any awards. I never really thought I’d be applying to these ultra-competitive schools, so I never gave much thought to winning awards; I just did it because I loved to do it and am passionate about it. Hopefully that’ll be conveyed in my essays, but how much do you think it’ll hurt me that I haven’t actually proven (through awards) my screenwriting abilities?</p>

8

<p>You sound like a very honest person so i don’t want you think I’m being harsh. But I wouldn’t state that you’ve written screen plays or novels as significant EC’s unless some knowledgable independent person/body has deemed them to have true merit. Without that validation they have no significant meaning and I think your scores are rather low for this school.</p>

9

<p>Well, thank you. Isn’t it only my math score that is low though? I might be retaking it…not sure. </p>

<p>As for the writing, would any of this help?:</p>

<p>Both my teachers let me see their rec’s, and they both certainly praised my writing abilities (among other things). One of them said I was the best writer she’s had in her 7 years of teaching so far. </p>

<p>I also wrote for the Newspaper staff during freshman year and was the only freshman deemed advanced enough to skip Beginning Journalism class and move straight to writing for the paper. Also, during my freshman English class (which was already honors and the highest one can do as a freshman at my school), my teacher deemed me advanced enough to partake in a more challenging curriculum; we worked together to create an independent study for me.</p>

<p>I was also the only sophomore in my class deemed advanced enough to take AP English Literature sophomore year instead of senior year (there have been only 4 other students who have taken AP English Lit before senior year at my school, and out of those 4, I was the only one to get above a 3 on the exam [I got a 5].)</p>

<p>Would any of this be relevant or helpful to my case at Northwestern? Should I ask my counselor to include this information in his recommendation, or would it make no difference?</p>

<p>Thanks for your advice, SAY. I really appreciate it! :)</p>

10

<p>I think the above poster’s point is that without having some kind of official recognition for your work, it doesn’t really mean much to say you’ve written 99 screenplays or whatever. Saying “I’ve written a bunch of stuff and everyone says it’s really good” doesn’t carry nearly as much weight as “I won X award for my writing.”</p>

<p>The other stuff you posted would indeed be very relevant if you can get it on your app somewhere without forcing it (the counselor rec would be a good place)</p>

11

<p>You have a very good GPA and class rank well within the NU spectrum. It’s really your math score that could be a problem. Many posters on this site have provided documentation that NU like most top schools doesn’t look at the writing score. My point was only that while your EC are fine they are not so exceptional to necessarily counter your math score. The best advice is to study and retake it and with a score close to 700 you should have a very good chance.</p>

12

<p>Thanks, SAY! I decided I will get a tutor and retake it in January. I’ll let you guys know how it goes. :)</p>