<p>I'm looking into WCAS or the School of Communication or the School of Journalism, but I'd like to know which schools are harder or easier to get into.</p>
<p>Also, is it easy/possible to transfer into different programs once accepted?</p>
<p>Any info will be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Medill is probably the hardest to get into with something like a 10% accept rate. WCAS is probably one of the easier ones to get into, correct me if i'm wrong.</p>
<p>I think most people apply to WCAS, so it may or may not make it more selective than Communications. Medill is definitely hardest.</p>
<p>You'll find a number of old threads dealing with these questions.</p>
<p>Quick summary:</p>
<ol>
<li>The admit rate for Medill is the lowest of any of Northwestern's undergrad programs BUT </li>
<li>SAT scores at WCAS are slightly higher than Medill which is slightly higher than Comm AND </li>
<li>Extracurriculars will weigh more heavily at Medill than WCAS. Theater and writing programs at Comm, for example, are obviously going to weigh a particular talent very heavily and often allow some weak academic credential to be "forgiven" SO</li>
<li>Overall, can't make a blanket claim that one school is "harder or easier to get into" than another.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>As far as transferring between schools is concerned, it's often difficult to move into Medill due to the size limit imposed in many required writing/production classes and the very high retention rate within the program (attrition of only 1-2%).</p>
<p>Transferring into either WCAS or general comm is not a problem and easily arranged.</p>
<p>Not quite sure where you got the 1-2% from. In my class of less than 200 I know of at least 10 people (>5%) that transferred out of Medill. A more realistic guess would be 5-7%, which is quite significant. But, yes, the class size limit does affect the ease of transfer into Medill.</p>
<p>The numbers are medians from pre-'06. It was routine to see only 2-3 transfers accepted in any given year. Even in an outlier year like your own, 5-7% is a pretty small number. Historically, 50% of entering college freshman will change their proposed major by the time they graduate. </p>
<p>Don't remember the exact precentage of students that transfer between schools at NU but do recall being surprised at how high a number it was. Anyone else know this?</p>
<p>Thanks bala! Another thing I was wondering... How prestigious or highly regarded is Comm v. WCAS? (Forget Medill, I know it's a fantastic school already and I'm not really interested in journalism.)</p>
<p>Like Stern and Tisch at NYU is MUCH more prestigious than the normal CAS, whereas the normal Columbia College is better than the Columbia Engineering school. I think.</p>
<p>All 6 of Northwestern's undergraduate schools are very prestigious, including comm., which houses film and theater in addition to comm. studies and a few others. </p>
<p>I disagree that Medill is the "hardest" to get into- in fact, the average SAT score of enrolling students is lower than those for Weinberg.</p>
<p>If you are measuring selectivity by SAT scores, McCormick is the "hardest."</p>
<p>Last year, I think the average SAT of Weinberg students is more than 30 points higher than the average SAT of Medill students!</p>
<p>Calendarxgirl/lilybbloom (Sam, I know you're aware of this),</p>
<p>Last year, SAT scores at WCAS were about 10 points higher than Engineering which were about 20 points higher than Medill which were about 5-10 points higher than Comm.
(I think this was the first year WCAS was higher than Engineering.)</p>
<p>These comparison numbers are for composite Math/Verbal only. If writing were included it might shift these relationships a bit.</p>
<p>Calendarxgirl,</p>
<p>Regarding prestige, what lilybbloom said. Remember that The School of Communications is a mixed bag of majors. Theater, RTF and Communications Disorders all are absolutely top reputed programs among top tier colleges. Communication Studies is actually infrequently offered at most top tier schools. When it is (e.g. Stanford, Annenberg at Penn) it often tends to favor the theoretical, often to the chagrin of students hoping for something more pragmatic. Northwestern's academic program includes great interships that clearly favor a pragmatic orientation. Chicago is a phenomenol resource. Great training ground for PR, marketing, advertising, etc. and great job prospects for those who don't choose the law school route.</p>
<p>Yeah, average SAT scores for engineering are lower than those of WCAS.</p>