<p>ok well i can reassure with my own experience...most high schools within the suburbs i imagine send about 5-15 students, which exceptions of course. Personally, my high school sent eight kids, all varying in stats and such. The top students in my grade did not apply to northwestern and those that did are the ones that actually wanted to go there and got in. The ones that did not get into northwestern had subpar grades and scores...basically what i'm saying is that everyone that deserved to get in got in and those that did not did not. My stats fell into the average acceptance stats (maybe even the bottom half of the averages) and I got in without a double legacy. So basically if you have the stats and double legacy you are not going to be hurt....at least thats my opinion but i could be wrong.</p>
<p>Since I brought up the subject of methods of "reading" applications, I would like to note that it is a fluid field depending upon institutional priorities and staff changes in the admissions dept. Being a ,I am assuming, qualified double legacy does not guarantee admission. Two years ago I met a family whose child was denied admission to the Ivy League school from which both parents had graduated. The applicant was well qualified and both parents frequently volunteered at the Ivy school for fundraising and other activities. The parents were and are still bewildered as to why their well qualified double legacy child was denied.</p>
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I do have a friend who reads apps for one of the six colleges at Northwestern and can tell you that they do read by college; therefore, if you apply to the college of engineering you are only competing with other applicants to that college.
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<p>Since you know someone there, do you know how they look at the SAT Writing portion, the SAT, and SAT II's? Do they place a really heavy emphasis on it? According to CB, they place it as VERY important. And according to Kaplan, they look at the Writing as "less important" than the rest of the SAT. I thought they didn't even look at it. Any idea of what they really do?</p>
<p>I'd rather be applying from Idaho than from suburban Chicago. My perception is that applying from a unique geographic area helps because it makes you stand out from other applicants, and since applicants compete against each other, it is therefore a disadvantage to apply from a over-represented area like suburban Chicago. Admission committees of private universities like to enroll a diverse student body.</p>
<p>Applicants are required to disclose where they are from on their application, so knowing whether or not applying from suburban Chicago hurts one chance's is not very useful information. Applicants do not have any influence over how their geographic location will affect them when their application is read. Working on application essays, preparing for the SAT, and doing homework are all probably much better uses of time than worrying about aspects of the application that one has no control over.</p>
<p>The info. which you are requesting usually is freely shared by the admissions dept. because it will not give one any undue insider type advantage. It is best to call the school admissions office directly for this type of info. as they will be more up to date. There was a recent staff change announced about 6 months ago as the Director of Admissions for Princeton Univ. resigned to become Dean of Admissions at NU.(Following the relatively new President of NU who also came from Princeton.) So things may be a little different with a new dean. I do know that several admissions dept.s which do not officially use the writing portion use it as a verification tool with respect to applicant essays.</p>
<p>(I'm the parent / NU grad, not the applicant, by the way.) Both of my twins are interested in applying to NU, potentially even ED. (Opposite gender, and one would most likely be CAS, the other either Medill or Speech. Very different interests, activities, and personalities.) Assuming that they are otherwise equally qualified, what do you think an adcom's reaction would be to admitting twins? Could that, in a weird way, be a hook? I guess this is one reason I'm concerned about the suburban-Chicago thing, because while their school is not one of the biggest feeders, there will be at least a handful of kids applying to NU - as opposed to if we were coming from Idaho.</p>
<p>I think that it's great to have twins applying to the same university, but to different colleges. Their applications almost certainly will be noticed and well received. My best guess is that it is a hook in the sense that their apps will get attention if the admissions staff knows that they are two different students and not just one applicant applying twice to two separate colleges within Northwestern University.</p>
<p>Everyone I know here who is a twin also has their twin here at NU. (I know 3 twin pairs.)</p>
<p>That's what I needed to hear, dfleish :-) I only remember one set of twins from my day, though I'm sure there were more. But those were the good old days when the avg SAT was more like 1250 or so and you didn't have to have cured cancer over the summer to get in!</p>