<p>Hello all,
I'm considering applying to NU's ISP, but I'm worried that I lack the chemistry credentials they require. On their site, it says to have college credit in and/or SAT IIs in Chemisty and Physics. I took both the SAT Physics and Math II, but no chemistry, nor have I taken college chemistry in high school. I've taken both AP Bio and Physics, but will the lack of extended chemistry hurt my chances? Thanks for all inputs!</p>
<p>Yes, you do. If it says you need it, then you should have it. ISP is incomprehensibly competitive and only one of three insanely qualified kids from my school got in. You shouldn’t have a single thing that puts you at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Here’s a true story from last year with my S. He had a somewhat similar situation and worry. He’s now a happy freshman in the ISP program, and managed to get the two highest scores in the two math mid-terms.</p>
<p>S likes physics better than chemistry. So, going in to college application season, he had already taken AP Physics C and the SAT II in Physics (780.) He had honors Chemistry as a sophomore, and was scheduled to take AP Chemistry as a senior. He had not taken the SAT II in Chemistry, nor did he feel prepared to take it. </p>
<p>Other particulars: He scored an 800 on the SAT II Math 2, and also an 800 of the SAT Math portion. He completed the online CTY math course in Linear Algebra as a junior, getting a solid A. He was taking the online CTY math course in Multivariable Calculus as a senior, carrying a solid A in the class. He also did a summer research internship at USC, working with a paleoclimatologist. He learned MatLab and used it to analyze data on the history record of fossil corals.</p>
<p>He presented all this info to the CTY coordinator, and asked if he had to take the SAT II in Chemistry. They said, in his case, it would be okay to just submit his first semester grade in the AP Chemistry class, which turned out to be an A.</p>
<p>He also received an extremely strong recommendation from his AP Calculus BC teacher (from sophomore year), a teacher of 16 years who said S was one of the top five math students he’d ever had, among other positive comments.</p>
<p>My suggestion: Send an email off to the ISP coordinator and state your case.</p>
<p>ISP IS known as a rigorous program. S told me when students hear he’s in ISP, they say “Wow!” The McCormick Enegineering students don’t feel the Weinberg single science majors have the rigor that they do, but they will tip their hat to an ISP student. </p>
<p>S has already had a seminar regarding research as an ISP student. They were advised, when sending an email to a professor expressing an interest in working with them, that they identify themselves in the subject line as “AN ISP STUDENT Interested in XXXXX.” This catches the prof’s attention. Most of them are fond of working with ISPers.</p>
<p>ISP wants you to get the chemistry out of the way so you can start in an accelerated sequence of general chemistry, or pass straight through to organic. I’d contact the ISP administrator (<a href=“mailto:ispadmin@northwestern.edu”>ispadmin@northwestern.edu</a> - his name is Steve Daut, and he’s really nice) to explain the situation, certainly, but the lack of chemistry probably isn’t going to be a big problem, particularly if you’ve taken bio, physics, and calculus at the AP level. At the worst, you’ll need to pick up a textbook and read through it over the summer, or maybe take a community college chem course to gain a bit of ground. I’m a senior in ISP, and I’ve yet to meet a person rejected from the program if they applied and gained admittance to NU - the challenge is sticking with it. So no crazy summer research experience is necessary to be worthy (nice if you can find one, of course, but just because research experience is a benefit for every application you’ll ever fill out after getting into college). And likewise, you’re probably fine without extensive high school chem training. </p>
<p>Also, if you’ve got more questions about life, application, or whatever concerning ISP, feel free to bounce them off me. I’ve been here a while =).</p>
<p>How many kids are in the ISP program? How many women?
Is the housing separate, or integrated with the general Northwestern population?</p>
<p>They take about 30 students in each year at ISP. There is usually melt along the way until graduation. My S, a freshman, has 3 women in his ISP class.</p>
<p>There is no housing (as in living quarters) associated with ISP, so you are integrated with the rest of NU. There may be some confusion on this, as there is an ISP “house” which is a converted residence that now serves as classroom and meeting spaces for ISP but you aren’t allowed to live there. An ISPer can use it pretty much anytime, however, because they get a key to the building. I believe some social function go on there as well.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my husband (math prof at USC) vetted the program for my S. ISP tends to attract the caliber of student who might have gone to MIT/CalTech/Mudd but either didn’t get admitted OR, in the case of my S, never applied because he was seeking a more balanced student body. So, the ISP is kind of like a MIT program but housed in a university with more students with interests in other fields. This is something that my S wanted very much, so I’m thankful ISP exists and that he was admitted here. Thus far, deep into the second quarter of his tenure as an ISPer, he’s working hard but thriving.</p>
<p>As was said, classes start out around 35 students, and usually graduate a third of that. Some drop out due to workload, but most leave because they figure out which field of science they strongly prefer to others, and no longer want to take classes out of line with this interest. About a quarter of every class is female - but, interestingly, the proportion of girls who drops out is usually less than that of the boys. I’m actually fairly sure that there are currently six girls enrolled in the ISP freshman class - in any case, three would be unusually low.</p>
<p>You get to pick where you want to live, and ISP students are scattered basically evenly about campus. There’s a science and engineering dorm usually hosts between 2 - 4 ISP kids/year, but that also may be due to the newness and relative niceness of the facilities there. The ISP class that graduated two years ago went out and rented a house to live in together their senior year, but that’s more of an adorable anomaly than the rule.</p>
<p>Serithsky, maybe my S (a frosh ISPer) needs to learn how to count? LOL! I’d be hard pressed to tell from the list of names he showed me, since some are international students for whom I’m less familiar with male/female names.</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll suggest to him the idea of an ISP rented house for the future. I’m pretty sure he’s going for on campus housing again for next year. He of course (given the location of Tech Center) applied for all north housing, and got assigned to Hinman in the south instead. He adapted well once he got a bicycle, except for the time his bike lock froze, his key broke in it and he had to have the campus police cut off the lock, at a princely fee of $40.</p>
<p>Congrats to you on making it close to the finish line with ISP. One quarter and a few more weeks to go for you.</p>