I’m a Junior from a good public school in the Chicagoland area. I have been looking over my application specifics and it all seems mediocre at best and at the very low end of Northwestern standards. So generally I was wondering how I can improve my chances and best demonstrate my interest through essays and beyond. In addition, what impact does legacy status give me when I apply ED?
If this helps I can give you my applications statistics:
ACT (breakdown): 32 (30M 35E 33R 29S)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): None available
AP (place score in parenthesis): Ap Euro (3)–not submitting
*** I will take 3 more tests in May
Senior Year Course Load: Ap Chem, Ap Econ/Gov, Ap stats, Ap Calc BC, Ap Spanish, Ap English
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing
Minor Awards: Numerous local and state-wide debate awards and accolades
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Debate (exec board)
Boy Scouts (SPL–Highest position possible in charge of 100+ boys)
Disease awareness club (founding member)
Newspaper – sporadic involvement
Track/X Country --1 season a piece, but still run on my own
NHS
Job/Work Experience: Referee, AMC employee, Pool Cashier, Election Judge
Volunteer/Community service: 100+ hours
Summer Activities: Summer School, summer job, Boy scout campout
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Econ + Int. Studies
State (if domestic applicant): IL.
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Well-regarded Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Both my parents are unemployed but they have a fair amount of savings.—I’m probably going to write about the affect this had on me. (Concurrently explaining the dip in my gpa last semester)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Legacy Status (via Gramps)
Thanks in advance and please excuse any typos I’m typing this from an Ipad.
Legacy helps a good amount ED, put usually more if the person that went there is a parent ( or multiple siblings). Your stats are good for a decent shot ED, RD you might struggle as you can see by the tons of qualified people rejected RD yesterday due to the much larger competitive applicant pool. Spend a lot of time on your essay, visit since you are close, try to improve your ACT one or two more times, try to get straight As last semester Junior year, emphasize the income thing, showcase your variety of ECs, and show them your taking a challenging schedule (which you are). You have a good shot ED, your definitely on the right track. In the end it’s hard to do things beyond that. I would invest all I can in the essays, I think that helps. I started planning to apply ED this year with similar stats as you now, and with legacy(parent and siblings)+good essays+Good junior grades+ an ACT that I managed to bump up into the 99% range (a 33+ from a 31) I got in so you should have a strong shot. Good luck!
A couple of thoughts:
What makes you, YOU. What do you have a passion for?
Your stats currently make NU a statistical match for you. But as we know, NU has so many similar applications that this may be enough.
When, my daughters applied to several years ago, we spoke with some admissions counselors – they said that many of the essays, though well written are generic. An example – the “I travelled abroad to and it opened my eyes and changed my life” essay. They’re going to read 20 of these every day. It doesn’t stand out.
So, my daughters’ approach – and it worked for them – when you write an essay, write one that lets them get to know you as a person. The kind of essay that no one else could write. This can stand out.
When you write your why NU essay (I’m pretty sure there is one). Be as specific as possible. You like NU because of their world renowned XXX program. You attended a class with Professor YYY on a visit and were excited about it. When the admissions committee reads this, they should know that you’ve spent time to write a NU specific essay, and haven’t sent them the same essay that you recycle for every application.
Finally – as the prior poster says, Legacy helps, and ED helps a lot.
Good luck.
What sort of career do you have in mind that enrolling and graduating from Northwestern University critically helps?