<p>NOW, I'm having trouble finding specific statistics on Medill's admission, and comparative statistics comparing Medill to the other schools... does anyone know where I can find these? (I have checked the school's website to no avail). </p>
<p>Most importantly, could someone explain how it works in the application process? Do you have to pick a school right off the bat? Can you change schools once you get there? ...because in that case, I will apply to the least selective school and transfer into Medill (it's not REALLY cheating). HELP?</p>
<p>You have to apply specifically to a school at first. The short answer: Apply to Medill off the bat. Its harder to transfer into Medill, even from within NU, than it is to get in to virtually any other program.</p>
<p>You do have to select a school in your application to Northwestern. I was just accepted to WCAS and am now dealing with whether or not I want to stick around WCAS or try to transfer Medill -- originally when applying to schools, I had no intention of studying journalism because it strikes me as a bit of a faux pas? Like, you should study what you're trying to write about so your stories aren't all sorts of superficial. But the more I read about Medill, the more it seems like they do a lot to avoid churning out stock journalists and take a lot of precautions to make sure they are 'cultured' or what have you. And it also makes it waaaay easy to double major. I am hitting myself on the head right now :/</p>
<p>Unfortunately, word has it that it's incredibly easy to transfer from Medill to WCAS, and not at all easy to transfer from WCAS to Medill. I forgot where I read it, but someone characterized it as only a 'handful' of students successfully transfer every year. As for getting in, I am sure which school you choose does impact admissions -- but I'm not totally sure how it affects selectivity. For instance, Medill probably isn't looking for the run-of-the-mill 4.0 super-athlete-president-baby saver student (even though that's really great, too); chances are, they are more interested in the great student who has also already established an interest and experience in journalism.</p>
<p>podomonster has it right. there have been a number of threads already regarding this question.</p>
<p>Pretty simply, once at Northwestern, transfering between WCAS (Arts and Science), SESP (Education/Social Policy) and Communication is easily and frequently done. Not so Medill. They typically have a very high freshman retention rate (about 98-99%) so very few spots open up yearly and the school tightly controls it student body count due to a number of writing and production classes that limit class size to 12-15. When spots do open (as they do every year) those accepted in are almost always from other NU colleges, not transfers from outside institutions.</p>
<p>The standing rec: If you think you want to do Medill, apply up front out of HS. Once there, it you find it's not for you, switching to other NU divisions is easy. Overall admissions difficulty is similar to Arts and Science but extracurriculars - especially related to writing and journalism (surprise) - will carry more weight than typically the case in an application to WCAS.</p>
<p>I just applied to NU and got into Medill. Mind you, I have no experience in journalism. I probably would transfer out, in the event I went to NU. The admissions criteria isn't, in my experience, at all slanted towards writing/english/journalism experience. All of my extracurrics are science or human rights activism related. All my awards are science or MUN related. I wrote my "why NU!" essay on how it made no sense that I was applying to Medill as a super science student. But I explained that it is more important in our world to study communication alongside science to bridge the gap between scientific jargon and common knowledge. I guess that's good. Point is... you don't have to have a journalism background. You just have to make a compelling argument for why your non journalism background drives you to seek a journalism education.</p>
<p>If it helps, my stats are in the 2012 thread.</p>
<p>I think in many cases it's best if you don't have a huge journalism background -- unless you are 100% certain that you want to do journalism and (almost) nothing else. Otherwise I think you might burn out. I certainly did. I spent 4 years working at my high school weekly and at a daily in my city and by the time I got to Medill I was warn out. Not saying that everyone gets like that, but I definitely think being new to journalism can have its advantages.</p>