Help me out

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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I’m sorry if this is the wrong forum!!

I’m totally lost on college and admissions and all of that, I tried googling some but there’s still a lot of things that fly over my head. I really want to go to Northwestern, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to meet the requirements. I’m going to be a sophomore in high school, but my unweighted GPA is pretty terrible (for Northwestern at least, it was a 3.1 first sem/3.7 second sem). I have no excuse for that, but I’m planning on pushing myself to get all A’s for the rest of my high school career (hopefully), I had 2 honors last year and 4 this year (only 1 AP class is available for sophomores in my school but it was something that wasn’t available to me because of scheduling choices). I’m planning on applying ED with a computer science major.

What are other things I can do to increase my chances? Should I try out for a sport, win awards, etc? What kinds of awards are good/matter? Do pre- high school activities count on the college application? Should I try to get closer to a teacher this year for recommendation things, or is that more for next year? How much does job experience matter when it comes to college applications? How many ECs/Honors/AP classes do you think I need to get to be considered? Will being an Asian female hurt me? All of my current ECs are in music, but will they have any impact if what I’m applying for has nothing to do with music? Do colleges look at your weighted, GPA and how much does it matter? Since my max unweighted GPA can only go to about a 3.79, is that enough to be considered to Northwestern (got some mixed answers on this one)? What else can I do not mentioned so far to stand out?

Sorry for all the questions, but thank you for reading this far! College is really scaring me.

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First off, the college process should not be scary. There’s a lot to it, but you have plenty of time because you are getting started now, so relax on that front. Nothing needs to be done for at least a couple of years yet. Spend time on this forum, googling, and getting books at the library. You will find a lot of books on the subject which will answer many of your questions.

First and foremost, you need to adjust your expectations. NW is extremely selective, and they simply can’t accept all the qualified and excellent students who apply. You already have a small strike against you. It doesn’t mean NW is impossible, but in junior year, one of your tasks is to find colleges where your stats are solidly above the 50th percentile, and ideally into the 75th percentile. You need a range of schools to apply to. But you have a lot of time and if you work hard and get your GPA up, your chances will be better.

All those things you mentioned are helpful for getting into college. None of them are necessary. You should be engaging in activities outside of school that interest you. Jobs are good, volunteering is good, awards, clubs and sports are all good. Caring for a family member is too. What isn’t good is doing something just because you think it will help you get into college.

As a junior, yes, you should participate in class and work hard. Be nice, talk to your teachers, and see which ones you click with. Those will be the ones you should ask to write you recs. Again, it’s too early for you.

Being an Asian female doesn’t “hurt” you. It does mean you are over represented in terms of students applying to some colleges. If you only apply to tippy top colleges, you will possibly find it more difficult. If you apply to a range of schools, such as publics, privates, and LACs where your stats are in line and acceptance rates are not ridiculous, you will have plenty of choices.

To answer a few questions: no, nothing done before high school matters, except perhaps some major national or Internatonal achievement. Most colleges will use UW GPA and recalculate. Course rigor is important, but that doesn’t mean you need twelve APs. There is no exact number of awards, ECs, AP courses, or anything else. If there was a formula, every student would try to do it. Very selective colleges practice holistic admissions. They pick and choose what matters to them and consider the whole package. You can’t game the system. Be the best you can be. Do things that interest you. Work hard, but do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by stress in a quest to load up on AP classes and study obsessively for standardized tests. Allow yourself time to have fun, relax, and enjoy being a teenager. Being healthy is a thousand times more important than worrying about college.

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Thank you Lindagaf!
I understand that it’s a selective college, recently I’ve been looking into some other less competitive options to fall back on. If you’re above the 50/75th percentile, does it mean you will almost certainly be accepted or is it just the minimum?
Thank you for all the answers, I feel like I understand a bit more about this process now. Another question, if colleges use unweighted GPAs, then do weighted GPAs matter at all?
I’ll try to chill about this, though!

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You can never be certainly accepted (unless you are a recruited D1 athlete or something). It puts you in the running, but it doesn’t give you any guarantees.

Yes, WGPA’s matter, because it is representative of the rigor of the classes you took. Note: GPA is often referred to as the most meaningless number in the whole application, because every school is different in terms of grade inflation vs deflation. My school is notorious for it’s grade deflation, so to the point where my 3.6 unweighted GPA puts me in the top ten percent of my class. At another school, that same unweighted takes a kid out of the top 50%.

Don’t worry too much about GPA as a number. Focus on taking the hardest classes possible, and doing your absolute best in them. Don’t worry about the difference between a 3.79 and a 3.9, because that won’t determine if you get in or not.

BTW, if you get straight A’s from here on forward, you will end up with a 3.83 if you don’t apply ED. Realistically though, aim for a 3.75, that’s the cutoff for the top GPA group. (4-3.75, 3.74-3.5, 3.49-3.25, ect)

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Weighted GPAs don’t matter because colleges look at your course rigor, which is why they recalculate them to their own scale. An A in bio isn’t as impressive as an A in AP bio, or even honors bio for that matter.

Will you get in for sure if you are above the 75th percentile?..absolutely not. You will hear this a million times before you apply, but they do not just want classes of Valedictorians, 1600 SATs, and 4.0 GPAs. Brown publishes the acceptance rate for Vals and Sals. I think 23% of Vals get in, and maybe 18% of Sals. And it’s not being val or Sal that gets them in. It’s more likely that those people also have a lot of other qualities that a college like Brown is looking for.

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First of all, breathe!! It’s still very early in you HS career and you have lots of time to turn things around.

Showing an upward trend in your grades is important. Doing well on standardized tests is important.

How important is music to you and how strong a musician are you? Will you do an arts supplement or audition? You don’t have to apply to a conservatory program or apply as a music major, but do you want to continue playing your instrument in college?

Consistency, passion, and, if possible, leadership in an extracurricular and in your academics are more important than a laundry list of clubs and ECs. Do a sport if you’re so inclined, but not if it will negatively impact your studies. Work experience is just as valid as ECs.

Other things to improve your chances besides getting good grades: do interesting things and be an interesting person. Yes, try to develop good relationships with your teachers and find a mentor.

If you can win awards (preferably at the state or national level), that’s good. If you can apply for and get into a prestigious summer program (preferably funded), that’s good. If you can take dual enrollment or summer college classes, that’s good. Getting involved in volunteer work is good. Don’t do a pay-to-play academic or community service program.

You don’t need more that 8 or so APs. Do not bother to self-study and take AP exams, unless you can get college credit.

Nothing pre-high school will count, other than showing how long you’ve been doing something (e.g., playing an instrument).

Being an Asian female won’t help you, but being a woman who wants to do CS might help a bit.

Whether or not you’ll be competitive for Northwestern is anyone’s guess. But do NOT pin your hopes on one school, make sure to apply to matches – not just reaches – and have at least one or two safeties.

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Sorry @ConcernedRabbit you are wrong about GPA. GPA is one of the most important items in the application. Not all schools weight, and all schools do it differently, so weighted GPA is pretty much meaningless. Adcoms will consider course rigor, of course, when evaluating your GPA.

OP, you need to put together a realistic list. It seems like you don’t have any test scores yet. Once those come in you will have a better idea of what schools you can target. For now, just concentrate on doing as well as you can in your high school classes.

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@me29034

I heard that GPA as a number is meaningless without context. Yes, if you have two student from the same school and who took the same classes, then GPA is a very useful tool of comparison. However, if one student attended a very competitive high school (where the average GPA is a 3.0) getting a 3.8 GPA, while another attended a less competitive high school (where the average GPA is a 3.6), and also got a 3.8, clearly the one who attended the more difficult high school would be considered a stronger applicant.

Beyond that, if you have a student who started with a 3.0 Freshman year, got a 3.5 for sophomore year, and a 4.0 junior year, ending with a 3.5 total, that’s completely different from someone who started with a 4.0, then got a 3.5, then a 3.0, even if they both ended with the same overall GPA.

Test scores are easier to compare due to the standardized nature of them, and that is why colleges require them. Hence, as long as OP keeps her GPA relatively 3.75+, and does very very well on her standardized tests (I’m talking almost perfect, if not perfect: 34+, 1550+), then she should be able to get into Northwestern (no guarantee though).