Could I get into Northwestern University?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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I’d like to thank you in advance for taking the time to read my question :slight_smile: I’m wondering if I have a chance at Northwestern, and if you think it would be a good fit for me. I am a really hard worker, I have lots of leadership experience, I’m a decent writer, good at STEM related stuff… wouldn’t say that I’m an “introvert” per se… -I’m good at communicating and working with others to achieve goals- but I am definetely not your idea of a social teenager. I not a fan of non-diverse/homogenous communities. Do you think NU would be a good fit for me? And how does financial aid work there? Here are some of my specifics if you need them…

GPA - 4.0 UW, 4.4 W (I think… but it will probably go up a little after this year and next year because of AP classes)

Test Scores - PSAT: 1410 (750 math, 670 reading/writing) After my psat, I have been doing the Khan Academy practice almost every day to prepare for the real SAT which I take in a month. DO I NEED SUBJECT TESTS?? SHOULD I TRY THE ACT??

AP Classes -
10th: Euro (4), World (4)
11th: (no AP scores yet because I’m currently in these classes): APUSH, Lang & Comp, Chem, Calc AB
12th: (planning on taking next year): Stats, Gov, Bio/physics (or both if it fits in my schedule), Spanish (if it’s available, my school has minimal funding)

Other Classes - I take honors whenever it’s available… I am in the “humanities academy” at my school. meaning my english and history classes are rigorous even if they’re not AP and they are heavy on socratic seminars.

Volunteer -
*I tutor children at least once per week through an organization at the community center (I’ve done this since 8th grade) I have learned many leadership skills from this… (I also volunteered there during the summer last year which was every day for 6 weeks)
*I have worked at my middle school’s STEM summer camp for girls every summer since 8th grade

Extracurricular -
*Varsity Mock trial: This is one of my main high school passions and takes up A LOT of my time! I am a team captain (since 10th grade) and we are one of the best teams in the state.
*Varsity Soccer: I’ve been playing all my life… Again a team captain since 10th grd… we are not even close to a top team, but we do our best :slight_smile: (I actually couldn’t play this year (11th) because I had serious knee surgery…)
*NHS member since 10th grd.
*Feminist Union: I’m a Club leader. We leaders take turns leading weekly activities/interactive meetings where we discuss different intersectional issues. We are also planning the second annual feminist convention for middle and high schoolers city wide. We are ALSO currently planning a seminar/workshop for an upcoming day at school dedicated to social justice/change where students attend an array of workshops and seminars of their choice…
*GSA (gay straight alliance): I try to go whenever I can, but this club is on the decline… there aren’t many attendees and there isn’t ever really an agenda.
*Piano: I’ve been playing/taking lessons since age 5… It’s more of a stress reliever for me than something I go around bragging about :wink:
*I TA this year to fill a gap in my schedule because I take AP CHEM before school starts (as a 0th period) would this be considered volunteer?

Awards -
*my middle school awarded me their annual exemplary leadership award when I graduated
*I’ve won many mock trial awards, the most significant being “2016 best attorney in the district wide competition”.
*9th grade “tireless worker” award from my core teachers.

Work Experience -
I’ve worked 87 hours at a law firm (it was fun I hope they’ll let me do it again!)
I’ve done random meaningless jobs here and there for some money. I’m too busy right now to have an actual job and I’m lucky that I don’t need to get a job to support my family so I can focus on volunteering and school and extracurriculars.

So what do you think?

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Hi @robotsaremean ! I am a proud incoming freshman at NU so i might be able to help you out! First of all, my gpa and ecs were far less impressive than yours. Also, take 2 SAT IIs. I made sure to get over 700 on both, but idk how important that really was. Moving on, I’m not exactly sure what you are referring to with “non-diverse,” if you are talking about ethnic/religious diversity, you can find those stats easily, and you will probably see that NU, like many top universities, has some diversity plus a bunch of white people (myself included). If you are referring to political/intellectual diversity, I have heard good things about NU, relatively speaking. For financial aid, it’s the standard FAFSA and CSS I believe. Any additional info is right on the website. From what I’ve heard NU is a good fit for anyone with any interests unless you are not into the location.

Your stats are great; keep it up! Just know that If you really want to get into NU it is imperative that NU knows that you really want to go there. When I went in for my interview I talked about how i fell in love with NU, and I literally watched the interviewer write and underline the words “fell in love”. Admissions officers can tell how bad you want to go there from interviews, essays etc. ED would boost your chances, but I went RD and I turned out ok. Again, essays are extremely important. I went for the admitted students day this past week and actually met an admissions person who remembered my essay. TBH without that essay I don’t think I would’ve gotten in.

If your main question is whether or not you can get in, you definitely can, and I don’t really know you well enough to say whether or not it’s the best school for you. I know you’d probably prefer a response from an alum, but I saw no one has responded so… please let me know if you have any questions… I am very tired rn so this is probably a poorly written response that does not answer all of your questions…sorry and good luck with everything! If you are still interested in NU and wanna get in touch, let me know :slight_smile: