<p>I am a rising senior, (wow i feel really old) and my realistic dream school seems to be Northwestern. I don't have very special EC's, 33 act, 48/742 and 3.68 gpa. How much would I gain from applying ED instead of getting my ranking and gpa up after 1st semester of senior year? Can any wise person give me a little help? I am a VERY realistic person, and I want to know what is out there for me</p>
<p>ED would definitely increase your chances of getting in</p>
<p>ED is probably more helpful to you than any ranking boost you'd get in one semester, you're already in the top 10%</p>
<p>bump.. I really would like to hear more opinions =)</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure you'd get in if you apply ED.</p>
<p>IMO 2011 class was competitive, and your class may be even more so...schools that statistically may be "matches" may not turn out to be so...and acceptance rates were brutal this year....IF NU is your very first choice, then you have a better shot at getting in on ED--but make sure you have the finances in place as you have to attend if accepted...Good Luck!</p>
<p>If you have a low GPA, but think u can raise it during first trimester of senior year is it better to do that rather than apply ED?</p>
<p>i personally find ed to not be a good idea for most borderling applicants, becasue they can't waitlist you for later consideration. this is just based on my own experience, i think i wuldnt have been accepted ed, a friend of mine was not, but i'm sure would have been waitlisted or accepted if he had applied regular.</p>
<p>no way, the RD round is much more selective than ED. it's very hard to get into northwestern RD.</p>
<p>bump .................</p>
<p>if you are borderline, you would most likely be deferred ED, not rejected. If NU is your first choice, I say definitely go ED if financially it is not a problem.</p>
<p>I'd say go ED. Unless you can raise your GPA, write superb essays, and find stellar EC's by the end of first semester, going RD would make it tremendously more difficult to get in.</p>
<p>Hey, I had a 2240 on the SAT (M800 V730 W710), 3.62 and 88/370 (my school didn't weight IB though, which is pretty lame). I got in, and I'm easily one of the top students in the engineering school for my class. I also happened to have got into the best school of my class at my HS. </p>
<p>I was pretty unique though, to be honest. I think I defied the traditional applicant mold and went for something that was more personal, but hey, take your approach and see how you do. Don't be afraid to take a chance with the essays and show them who you are, instead of who they want you to be. I did it, and I think it helped counterbalance my somewhat lower numbers. </p>
<p>Note: One problem about ED that I've heard is that it does decrease your financial aid, so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Oh and I'm pretty sure everyone here knows that "desperate" is not spelled "despate"</p>
<p>my bad about "despate".... i was rushing... if i don't get any financial aid, can i refuse to go even if i applied ED?</p>
<p>^^^ no... but... they provide 100% of demonstrated need.</p>
<p>but they calculate the demonstrated need...and all the colleges that said that screwed me over...</p>
<p>im pretty sure that if you say that financial aid is not enough, then NU will allow you to apply to other schools because thats a legitimate reason to not accept the binding agreement.</p>
<p>Yeah that's the one reason they will let you change ED. The problem though, as I understand it, is that they tell you your financial aid info very late, I think like ... mid may? And since you're required to pull out all your other applications, you'll be screwed. I'm pretty sure that's how it works, but then again, I don't know, I applied RD.</p>
<p>no risingsun, ED people have to get their financial info in earlier and recieve an estimate of how much they are going to be given with their acceptance</p>