Hi everyone, I’m having the August 1st panic of the common app opening and the decision that I knew I would have to make that I put in the back of my mind is working its way to the front. Basically I’m torn between whether I should early decision to Columbia or Northwestern. Columbia is my number one, top, dream school and Northwestern is my number two. I know that I’d have a much higher shot at getting into Northwestern and I don’t want to miss out on both schools by applying ED to Columbia and not getting in and also not getting into Northwestern RD. I was just wondering if you guys can take a look at my stats and tell me if it would be dumb to ED to columbia and possibly miss out on northwestern? Thanks so much, all help is appreciated.
Unweighted GPA- 3.75 (11 honors, 4 APs 9-11 and plan on taking 5 APs senior year)
SAT- 2370 (800 English 800 Writing 770 Math)
ACT- 34
SAT II- 800 reading
- 720 Math 2 (will be retaking)
Indian female (not the best hook, hah)
ECs
-Varsity lacrosse 9-11
-Varsity field hockey 9-11, captain
-Art Conservatory
-Head managing editor of the school newspaper
-volunteer at Kids Empowered, an organization that teaches kids how to stand up to bullies
-volunteer at a local hospital’s Center for Exceptional Families, which basically is an organization that helps kids with mental and physical disabilities do fun activities and such
-ambassador for the big sister/big brother program at my school
awards:
lacrosse: academic all state, yellow jacket award (our team mascot- basically the team voted on who best represented the school and was the best example for the team on and off the field)
National Spanish Exam award
magna cum laude 9-11
likely national merit semifinalist in the fall-- I got a 1470 out of 1500
a piece of jewelry I made in my art class was selected by the Michigan Silversmiths Guild to be put on display in their “Jewelry + Object” show
selected to be a part of the “Blue and Gold Club”-> nominated and selected based on who best represents the school’s motto of “a sound mind in a sound body”
Honest answers are appreciated!! Thanks so much of your time
If you like Columbia a lot more than Northwestern - which is what I’m getting from your post - then I think you should go for Columbia. I think you would make a competitive applicant for both ED pools.
If your preference for Columbia over Northwestern isn’t all that big, then consider going for NU.
If you’re not sure how much more you like Columbia or why, then feel free to write out what you like about each school here and we can give you feedback.
I would only ED 1) if you have top school and 2) if you have no need to compare financial offers. It sounds like Columbia is your top choice so I’d ED there – otherwise if you get into Northwestern you would always wonder what might have happened had you applied to the school you preferred.
Northwestern, unlike Columbia, offers a significant boost to ED applicants - they want to fill their class with students for whom the school is their number 1. You’re competitive at Columbia but the numbers there ED are measurably tougher than NU and argue against an outright acceptance. Should you not get in, and RD at NU, you will be facing a much more challenging set of odds. Just the facts. To suggest you owe it to yourself to apply to your #1 and not your #2 seems naive to me. What if your #1 was Stanford or MIT? Would the opinions above still be the same?
Columbia accepts nearly half its class ED. I don’t think the boost is really much smaller.
Yes.
And these are two schools with significant differences. Columbia is directly in a major city, more of an intellectual feel, and has the core. NU is in a nice suburb about 45 minutes outside the city and has more Greek life.
And if you don’t get into Columbua or NU then you know what happens? You get over it. You can do just fine at many universities that are not NU or Columbia. You’ll survive. What’s the point of applying to your second choice school ED - it looks like you’re just grasping for your best chance at prestige. That’s not how you should make binding college decisions.
“[Northwestern wants] to fill their class with students for whom the school is their number 1” (#4)
However, if an admissions strategy is being suggested, then NU would not actually represent a true top choice for this and presumably other applicants.
“What if your #1 were Stanford . . . ?”
Columbia typically reports higher student standardized scoring than Stanford, so it’s not clear what the point is here.
I know it looks like I’m just going for prestige, but my dad will only pay for out of state tuition if it’s for a highly ranked school, and I truly love both Columbia and NU. I want all the opportunities that come from being near/in a major city, as well as experienced professors. If I don’t get into either, though, I’m hoping for U of M (in state) which is also an amazing school, and I know I’ll end up being happy there either way. Thanks for your response!
Northwestern is not 45 mins outside the city. Perhaps you were thinking the downtown, which is a small part of Chicago. Evanston borders Chicago on the north side.