ED Chance Me Please :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

Hi my name is Christopher Owen and I am an upcoming senior from Massachusetts that is dying to attend Northwestern in 2017. I was hoping someone could give me feedback on my chances as an early decision applicant. My intended major is materials science/engineering and as for my credentials:
4.3 GPA
Ranked 15 in my class of about 370 kids
1380 score on New SAT with 7s in all areas on the optional essay out of 8 for each
-700 R+W
-680 Math
(Taking again this Saturday without essay to try to bump up score)
On the subject tests:
-730 on Chemistry
-710 on Math II
AP scores:
4 on statistics
3 on Chemistry (bummed about this)
3 on English (I was super sick so this I was not so shocked about)
Extracurriculars:
President of the national honor society
President of the Science national honor society
Founder and president of the chemistry club
Leo club (community service organization) chairperson
Students against destructive decisions club (SADD) member
Volunteer D.A.R.E camp counselor
Was secretary of class as a freshman (since only 1 year I may not include this on app)
Founding Member of english national honor society
Was in french nat honor society for 1 year (then decided not to take french senior year)
Lots of hours of community service
Organized the Junior Fundraiser

Something I am hoping will make me stand out Did independent research into Piezoelectric materials the past three years. I started out sophomore year growing and testing the piezoelectric properties of Rochelle salts and then last year built a small scale generator with the help of my physics teacher using a piezoelectric ceramic element. This year I met with an MIT professor to work on my research project this year which has to do with bio-piezoelectric materials

Work at Target in electronics
Varsity swim team all four years
Peer tutor past three years

Awards:
Bausch and lomb science award
Key club
Most active chair of the leo club
Honors Academy

I really love this school and have since my sophomore year but I am worried that my scores are just too low. Like I said I am taking the SAT again this Saturday but assuming these are my credentials, how do I stand at acceptance early decision?
Thank you!!!
Go Cats

2

Applying ED as well. I think you’re pretty competitive if you can get that SAT up to 1520+. Best of luck.

3

Oh and just an fyi, for APs im taking this year
AP Physics
AP Biology
AP Calculus
AP Government
AP Literature

4

You’ve got a chance. I don’t think the new sat will be sent on time to northwestern if you’re taking it october 1st.

5

From an ED admit to the class of 2020: I think you’ve got a very good chance of getting in, but I would definitely work on your scores (not sure about SAT, because I never took that, but it can’t never hurt to strive for the best possible score). Also, it sounds like your coursework for the upcoming year is challenging, which is awesome. NU is all about taking the hardest possible courses your high school offers (whether this means AP, IB, honors, or dual enrollment). In the end, just make sure you demonstrate how important Northwestern is to you in your supplement essay. They’re HUGE on demonstrated interest, especially with ED applicants since it’s kind of necessary to be set on the school. Good luck, hope to see you on campus next year!