<p>Hi, I'm an Asian female attending an international high school as a senior. NU is really, really my first choice and I'm aiming for the School of Communication, but I'm posting this because NU is a reach for me; I have some weaknesses that I'm very worried about.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.68W (school doesn't offer unweighted or class rank)-my GPA is my main weakness because I got a C in AP Physics B during my first semester junior year, but during the second semester, I ended up raising my grade to a B+
SAT: 2300, SAT II: Chinese 740 and Math II (730-planning to retake this in October)</p>
<p>AP courses: AP Chinese (5), AP Music Theory (5), AP Euro (4), AP Physics B (3)</p>
<p>Awards/Honors: Tri-M Honor Society (10-12), Chinese Honor Society (11-12), Associate Performance Diploma for Piano (The standard of performance is equivalent to the performance component of the first year in a full-time undergraduate course at a conservatoire or other higher education establishment.), HSK Chinese Level 5</p>
<p>EC's: IASAS (Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools) Music (9-12), Jazz Ensemble (10-12), music service (10-12 Secretary), Brown Online Summer Course (Storytelling in the Digital Age)-produced a documentary and will get a recommendation from the professor who taught the course</p>
<p>Senior year: taking 4 AP courses and film courses </p>
<p>So do I some chance for ED? Or do I have slim chances?</p>
<p>Here’s something for you to consider: you clearly have a high degree of Chinese proficiency: a 5 in AP Chinese, honors society, etc. Plus, you’re Asian. To put it bluntly, your Chinese SAT II score won’t mean much at all, if anything. You might want to consider taking another subject test.</p>
<p>Source: My college counselors (I’m in pretty much the same boat as you with regards to Chinese, except that I actually live in China, which renders the test even more meaningless).</p>
<p>–EDIT–
Sorry, I forgot to actually answer your question. While ED can help you, you have to consider that it might be a better strategy for you to wait an extra semester and allow the weighted classes you’re taking to boost your gpa a bit.</p>
<p>What if I’m not Chinese; will the scores still help? </p>
<p>Also, I’ve considered applying regular because my gpa is really low, but my school has an ED acceptance rate of 60% while the regular acceptance rate is significantly lower. So what would be the better choice?</p>
<p>It will make the test more meaningful, that’s for sure. However, if your last name is ambiguous enough to look Chinese (for example “Lee” can be both Korean and Chinese), then maybe not.</p>
<p>If you really, really, REALLY want to go to NU, then sure, apply ED and see where it gets you.</p>
<p>But if Northwestern is truly your top choice school, then apply ED. You have nothing to lose. I am probably applying ED to Northwestern as well.</p>