I’m a rising senior trying to decide which school I want to apply to early. I have an interest in pre-med, possibly majoring in biomedical engineering. I have a 4.0 GPA (unweighted), 36 ACT, 1520 SAT (on 1600 scale), 790 SAT Biology, and decent extracurriculars (I’m still waiting for my SAT Math II scores to come out).
During college, I’d like to help out with the school newspaper as well as play intramural soccer.
My top 3 choices are: Northwestern University, Stanford University, and Washington University in St. Louis. I’ve visited all 3 schools and have a good impression of each, but I still feel like I don’t know the schools well enough. Does anyone have any experiences/suggestions?
IMO you should not be applying to anyplace ED at this point. ED is a huge commitment. If you don’t know the schools well enough to be 100% certain that one is your absolute top choice, then don’t apply ED. Also if you have a need to compare financial offers don’t apply ED.
I’m worried that I won’t be able to get into one of my top choices if I don’t choose to apply early. Is this a legitimate concern? Also, how would you suggest going about researching the schools for a more complete picture? Thanks so much!
You should also consider the financial picture, since ED may not be a good choice if you need significant merit beyond your efc to attend, or if your parents cannot afford to actually pay your efc. If you have not already done so, run the net price calculators for all of the schools on your list, and also get a firm commitment on how much your parents are willing to pay each year.
I have seen multiple threads here on CC posted by students/parents who thought ED was the best way to increase the odds of admission to selective school without actually considering the financial details/plan. Then these students are left scrambling to apply for schools in search of big merit, only to discover that they have missed many scholarship deadlines by the time they realize they cannot afford their ED school. Have a frank financial conversation with your parents now, not after the ED or other apps. have been submitted.
I will say that your chances of getting into Northwestern or WUSTL through ED should be very high as both schools are high on yield protection (I also agree with other posters who say that should not apply without paying attention to financial issues). WUSTL might be a slightly stronger school for pre-med, Northwestern is somewhat stronger overall. Engineering at Northwestern is much stronger than in WUSTL.
Stanford is very hard to get into ED or RD.
Northwestern can be very hard to get in RD – you will need to really convince them that you are very likely to come there.
Assuming that money is not a consideration (which is not the case for most of us), there are a couple of things I’d recommend…
Visit all 3 schools and try to spend a full day at each before the ED deadline. You can do this in Sept. or Oct. – just be ready to pull the trigger on 11/1. If you know people who went to your high school, perhaps you can visit for an overnight. Even if you can’t, see if you can talk to them. If you know them, you may be able to better filter their comments about the school. Read the information from the school, look at their facebook pages, read comments here and at other sites (recognizing that most require a whole block of salt.) Look carefully at the courses offered and requirements for your expected major. Think about location and the academic calendar (Stanford has 3 trimesters vs. 2 semesters.) Does this matter? If you’re interested in study abroad, volunteering, etc., what opportunities does each offer? If you like one best, that’s your ED school.
None of these schools have an ED2 round (I think), so there’s no "well if I don’t get into #1 in the ED1 round, I can apply ED2 with #2. I am assuming that these are your top 3.
It appears that your stats are good enough to get you into the “viable” pile, so ED is a good way of telling the school that you’re really interested. Yes, it can help your odds. Even then, remember that the “better” odds that you see in ED rounds are affected by a number of things from the fact that a marginal candidate is unlikely to squander ED on a school that’s unlikely to admit him to recruited athletes and legacies using this round. In other words, the ED and RD applicant pools aren’t entirely comparable and there are “hooked” applicants in this round.
The last thing to consider is whether there is anything about your application that would be STRONGER if you waited to submit. It doesn’t look like you’re in need of improving your GPA, but for some people, they can present a better picture of themselves by waiting (i.e., winter sport team captain, etc.)
Do significant research online for the programs you’re interested in. It may be wise to choose the school that has the stronger program. Also consider financial aid - this is very important.
I know a student who had perfect 36 and 4.0 at our very rigorous Chicago-area high school and was rejected at NU for RD. Her counselor told her it was definitely because NU thought she would choose to go elsewhere. 8 out of the 10 kids going to NU from our high school were accepted ED. All of them were very strong, high-achieving students. If you visit and it’s your favorite, ED is the way to ensure a “yes”.
You will have a lot of school choices. Don’t apply early anyplace that is binding (Stanford EA makes sense). Show a lot of love to WUSTL – they are used to being considered a backup school for high stats kids, and they protect yield. Sounds like you should do the same for NU. Visit, be on their mailing list, open all emails from them and check your portal after applying, write specific and thoughtful supplemental essays if they have them.