Junior Premed Northwestern???

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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I’m a junior in HS, my dream school is Northwestern and i want to major in neuroscience/premed

im really worried that my grades in STEM subjects in freshman year arent good enough (even though they got better) and even though my freshman and sophomore grades in history and english are good, in junior year im really struggling with english III and AP us history. can you look over my transcripts and give your opinion on whether this is good enough for Northwestern? also i would really appreciate any advice on how to improve my english and history grades. i find that my main problem in these subjects is staying focused… i feel like i have to work 3 times as hard in history and english just to get mediocre grades. so if anyone has any advice on how to stay focused while studying, it would be much appreciated

these are my weighted transcripts from freshman and sophomore year, and my unweighted grades so far in junior year (colleges will only see weighted grades because that’s all that my school provides)

FRESHMAN YEAR (WEIGHTED)
Religious studes I - 92
English I (high honors)- 99
World History (high honors)- 95
Algebra I (high honors)- 88
Biology (honors)- 95
Latin I- 89
Computer applications- 93
music appreciation- 88
art I- 98
health I- 95
YEAR WEIGHTED GPA- 93.03
CUMULATIVE WEIGHTED GPA- 93.03

SOPHOMORE YEAR (WEIGHTED)
religious studies II- 96
English II (high honors)- 101
US history I (high honors)- 98
geometry (honors)- 100
chemistry (high honors)- 101
latin II (honors)- 99
photography I- 97
photography II- 99
YEAR WEIGHTED GPA- 98.82
CUMULATIVE WEIGHTED GPA- 95.87

JUNIOR YEAR (UNWEIGHTED)
QUARTER ONE
Algebra II (high honors)- 99
latin II (high honors)- 98
AP chemistry- 94
AP us history- 95
english III (high honors)- 95
religious studies III- 95
musical theater- 97
Average- 96
QUARTER TWO
Algebra II (high honors)- 98
latin II (high honors)- 96
AP chemistry- 96
AP us history- 95
english III (high honors)- 90
religious studies III- 96
musical theater- 97
Average- 97

also if it helps, my SAT score is 1550 (790 reading 760 math)

thanks so much!

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Good news…

Looks like you attend a private high school and getting a strong foundation. And, you’re used to working hard.

That is soooo important for a college premed.

It’s not important for you to go to NU. If you get in, then ok, but your goal is med school and becoming a physician. Your dream isn’t 4 years of college.

what is your home state?

What other schools interest you?

What do you like about NU?

How much will your parents pay each year for college?

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@mom2collegekids thank you so much for the insight!

my home state is new jersey

im also interested in UPenn (reach), Dartmouth (reach), NYU, and Fordham (safety). my dream is to get into a residency program at columbia medical center in NYC, and i know they only accept the best of the best- so i really would love to attend an ivy for med school- and obviously to get into an ivy for med school, it helps to have attended a top school like NU

im interested in NU mainly because i’ve heard from friends in their med program that its extremely well rounded and rigorous. also i know they have a very high acceptance rate to med school. And, the dorms (from what ive seen) are extremely clean, tidy, and well-taken care of (which is a HUGE plus for me). I also like that the student body seems seriously motivated and driven (which are the type of people i want to be surrounded by), and I heard they have a very good debate society (which i did throughout high school and want to continue in college). i also LOVE evanston

my parents are more than willing to pay for college in full, but i really don’t want to put the full burden of undergrad + med school on them, so I would prefer to go to a school where i can either get a scholarship (which seems unlikely at a top tier school), or one that meets demonstrated need (which NU does).

thanks so much for your help!

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You seem to be doing pretty well, in all honesty. Keep grades up, increase test scores, maybe do some research or science olympiads or something. Cheers!