<p>I’m certain that there’s a degree of randomness involved in the process. However, I do recall a ton of emphasis on extraordinary, unique ECs and achievements, and enthusiasm for Northwestern. A lot of the elite schools that are just below the usual top-tier schools can get a reputation for being filled with students who nurse egos damaged by rejection letters. It’s not a good reputation to have, and it gives the campus a bad atmosphere–I’ve seen it, and it’s definitely noticeable.</p>
<p>Every college wants special snowflakes, and it’s probably the best way to separate out the class from everyone else, all other things being equal. And can you really blame them for wanting to accept students that actually want to go to NU?</p>
<p>Still, it does suck that part of the process is about as precise and fair as a lottery (which is ‘fair’ in its own way, I suppose).</p>
<p>There is no such thing as being “overqualified” for NU (or any school at the same level). The entire concept is laughable. and Phuriku – you exemplify the stereotype that UC is trying to escape from (see post 78).</p>
<p>The only acceptable reaction when accepted to one of the top schools in the country is “yay, how exciting for me and how blessed I am!” Not “I’m a victim.” Gag. You can only attend one school at a time, so what difference does it make if you “only” got accepted to one top school?</p>
<p>The problem – which those of us who post here regularly see over and over again – is that there is a mindset that Northwestern is an Ivy League safety school. There is a second mindset that “If I got into School A, I should get into Northwestern.”</p>
<p>Both of these statements are demonstrably false, and have been false for years.</p>
<p>On the second there’s a certain degree of irony. Some students think that there should be a strict heirarchy of students which should apply for admissions. However, when it comes to choosing a school many of the same students apply holistic criteria, to determine which of their acceptances they should go to.</p>
<p>In fact, we all know that grades and scores are essential, but that every school is looking for something a little different.</p>
<p>The student body of schools ranked by USNWR, say 7-12, is remarkedly similar stat-wise.</p>
<p>At this juncture, it’s just a crap-shoot; an applicant accepted by NU could just as easily be rejected by Penn and vice versa.</p>
<p>It could all very well hinge on the admissions personnel reading thru a particular application and whether he/she is having a crappy day.</p>
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<p>I’m not talking about USNWR rankings (which can vary quite a bit depending on what USNWR decides to emphasize in calculating its rankings, much less manipulated by schools to some degree), but admit rate %s.</p>
<p>Duke’s admit rate has seen the steady drop that many other schools have seen, where it is not an anomaly.</p>
<p>UoC’s admit rate, otoh, saw a drop that was not in line w/ the other top schools.</p>
<p>And really, it’s not like 2006 was that long ago - so one can easily choose to repeatedly post on the UoC board about UoC having a higher admit rate (near 40%) than the other peer schools and the steps it took to lower it.</p>
<p>Also, NU’s yield dropping from the 40-42% to the low 30% range is not really disconcerting since the no. of applicants to NU has really skyrocketed, and the yield rate is already back to the high 30% range will likely be back to its norm in another application cycle or 2.</p>
<p>“It could all very well hinge on the admissions personnel reading thru a particular application and whether he/she is having a crappy day.”</p>
<p>It’s not even a crappy day (which implies some kind of “mistake”). It’s that different groups of humans make different decisions when forced to sort through other groups of humans. If you and your friends go to a party, are you all attracted to exactly the same set of other people in exactly the same order? Of course not. Everyone has his / her own unique set of things that they find interesting / appealing in others that are presented for their “approval,” and adcoms are no different.</p>
<p>All that mindset reveals about the writer is that they are the stereotypical provincial East Coaster who isn’t traveled or knowledgeable enough to know that there are other parts of the country where … prepare yourself, kids … not everyone drools over the same set of schools. They’ve got no clue whatsoever that the dream school for the bright South Side Irish Catholic kid is Notre Dame or Northwestern or Georgetown. They’ve got no clue that the alumni networks they think are so very important are nonexistent in other parts of the country and that “lesser” schools are far more important (Texas A&M anyone?)</p>
<p>HEY!!! I am that stereotypical provincial east-coaster!!! </p>
<p>I also like to think that I have an open mind, so that when my D explained to me why she felt that NU-Engineering was better for her than Cornell, I listened, felt that she made valid points, and fully agree that she did make the right decision.</p>
<p>I was being a bit facetious, but yeah, the point is that the same application could get a different response if read on a diff. day by a certain admissions personnel or simply by diff. reviewer.</p>
<p>I once asked a college professor who I was friendly with how he knows that a exam he reads early in the morning would get the same grade if it were read in the afternoon. His answer was that there is no way to insure this. A borderline paper might be a B in the morning and a B+ in the afternoon. However – he said that it’s unlikely that the difference would be more than this (i.e., a B- might be a B, but wouldn’t ever be a B+). I assume it’s the same for experienced admissions officers.</p>
<p>Does anyone here know how Admissions at NU (or any extremely selective school) actually works? </p>
<p>I’ve always imagined that there are a bunch of readers (maybe organized by college or geography) who do an initial reading of the aps, then take their preferred candidates to a big meeting and advocate for their selected candidates.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how it really works? Do multiple independent people review every single ap (maybe after an initial quick weed-out), or at least the top-tier candidates?</p>
<p>D has a friend who read essays at Yale – I should ask her to ask him how their process works.</p>
<p>I’m led to understand that there’s a pretty long process to sift through everyone. First, every application gets read by an admissions officer, who marks them as Admit, Possible (Maybe a P+ or P- if they’re leaning one way or the other), or Deny, and writes notes about their impression of the file. </p>
<p>Then the admit and deny recommendations are reviewed. The ones that are upheld have their decision made, and if the reviewer (the officer’s superior, I think?) disagrees, then they go into a pile with all of the ‘possibles’ for a second admissions officer to look through all over again. More notes get added… </p>
<p>and then everyone comes together in committee to start talking about which possible admits should be accepted, and which should be rejected. Sift sift sift ad nauseum, and then some, until they’ve reached their target number of admits.</p>
<p>I’m sure there’re people who are -way- more familiar than I am around here… I just got that from talking to my counselor (she worked in admissions for a while, but secondhand knowledge still isn’t the same).</p>
This is so true. I grew up in the Midwest and while I of course knew about Harvard and Yale (to which I did apply and got into one of them and was waitlisted at the other), Northwestern and Chicago were next in my order (got into both and obviously chose Northwestern). It was not until late in high school that I even found out exactly which of the Ivy schools were and that there were 8 of them. Even after I’d heard of Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, and Penn, they didn’t possess the same “oomph” to me that Northwestern and UChicago did despite their higher rankings. Today, I see these schools as having similar prestige but I’m still shocked when people think so highly of Dartmouth and Brown. I get that they’re very selective but very few of their programs (at the undergraduate or graduate level) are top-ranked. I did not have a favorable impression of Penn at first but upon researching its programs (many of which are absolutely topnotch), I could see why it’s top-ranked and why so many people like it. I’ve always held Columbia in high esteem and it has a special place in my heart, though in Chicago, it’s virtually unknown and is mistaken for Columbia College (the arts school there) :)</p>
<p>… though at the risk of proving that I’m the stereotypical provincial east coaster I claim to be – even if the two Columbia’s are confused by some – I suspect few if any of the employers or grad schools that the average Columbia (New York) senior is considering makes this mistake.</p>
<p>Yeah, I would hope so. Columbia College Chicago and Columbia NYC grads are now applying for the same internships/jobs though, esp. for entry-level nonprofit positions in Chicago, NYC, SF, and DC. I would think employers would know the distinction and probe if it’s not clear.</p>
<p>The “NU Syndrome” or “Tufts Syndrome” is a falsehood in the modern college era. These schools take a holistic approach in deciding on qualified candidates. It is too bad that people keep coming back to these excuses for schools like NU, Wash U and Tufts…</p>