<ol>
<li>have an 1840 SAT (hoping to get it to at least 2000)</li>
<li>play 3 sports, 2 are varsity, and I am a team captain for one of them</li>
<li>chosen to present a project of mine in front of the Board of Education</li>
<li>provide free school and SAT tutoring to those who need it in my school</li>
<li>involved in a club</li>
<li>3.8 GPA unweighted</li>
<li>Volunteer in a soup kitchen every week</li>
<li>single parent home</li>
<li>low income</li>
<li>first generation college student</li>
<li>top 10% in my class</li>
<li>pretty high performing school in NJ (in top 1000 of all high schools in country)</li>
<li>and I'm black (just throwing that in there)
what are my chances of getting into Northwestern?</li>
</ol>
<p>Where you are right now, I could say you have a less than a 50% chance.</p>
<p>Have you taken any AP honors classes?</p>
<p>That no. 13, that you’re just throwing in, could be the thing that moves you from “unlikely” to “possible.”</p>
<h1>13 just made you possible again after #1 cancelled you out.</h1>
<p>If you’re going in on sports, you’re chances are fine I’d say.
Though, we do need some information on APs and SAT2s.</p>
<p>Some people are saying that 13 is what could bump him up. Did you not read 8-10 either? Those will all help too. Low income, single parent, first generation college, and black. You sound like you have a good chance based on those all being at least minor hooks (with black being a large hook). And burdened, SAT2’s are just a boost, they don’t actually matter too much.</p>
<p>While I would normally agree, SAT2s are required for some majors. If suppose he hasn’t taken them, his chances are actually 0.</p>
<p>Except, if you payed attention, he is asking about Northwestern specifically, where SAT2’s are NOT required, and therefore what you said is irrelevant.</p>
<p>Hard to tell… you’re well hooked but your SAT is a killer. Also depends on your AP classes and M+CR combined score, disregarding english.</p>
<p>You sound like a good guy. At this time I think you have a good chance at getting in (with a strong essay), but if you can I’d suggest retaking the SAT. Put in some hard work and see if you can raise that score up to at least 2000.</p>
<p>question:</p>
<p>how are you SAT tutoring with an 1840</p>
<p>Statlanta, I was helping my cousin with math with only a 2000 because a lot of it was my math. Granted that was my sophomore score, but plenty of people only get a 1300 with 3 sections that an 1840 could be a lot better than other people.</p>
<p>Edit: Just reread and saw that it’s a high performing school. Hmm, that makes me question it now too. SAT Tutoring with a 1840 at a high performing school?</p>
<p>@Crimsonstained7</p>
<p>I agree with most of what you said, except that part about #'s 8-10 all increasing the OP’s chance of admission. NU is need-blind, so #9 won’t even be a factor until after admission, and in my opinion, there are enough applicants with #8 that any theoretical admission boost will be diminished. Besides, where would you draw the line between “single-parent household” and “divorced-parent household?” There are a lot of extenuating circumstances involved, especially since children with divorced parents may be subject to emotional trauma due to arguments and abuse. Furthermore, for some children of divorce, life is comparable to single-parent children. Will we soon be saying that having divorced parents will increase an applicant’s chance of admission? I doubt it.</p>
<p>That being said, you are absolutely correct about #10.</p>
<p>@Burdened</p>
<p>SAT Subject Tests are not required for some majors, but rather for very specific programs or circumstances, i.e. HPME, ISP, or home-schooled applicants. A lot of applicants apply and are admitted without having taken SAT II’s, myself included.</p>
<p>9 would be important for the extenuating factors section. To struggle though (What I’m assuming is very low income) that little money and still succeed academically, and in extracurriculars shows extreme determination. And 8, depending on circumstances, could also fall in the same category.</p>
<p>Divorced family households vs single parent is a huge difference. Single parent usually (As in I’m generalizing quite a bit) implies lower education, lower income, and often minority (Unfortunately that’s the way our society works), while divorce takes a lot of money, and therefore is often middle class or wealthy people.</p>
<p>@Crimsonstained7</p>
<p>I understand your point, and I’m by no means trying to glamorize life in single-parent households. All I’m saying is that you can’t know the quality of life led by children in single-parent households versus children of divorce without making the generalizations you mention above. Perhaps a child was born into a family of moderate wealth, and one parent died, leaving a truckload of money to the remaining parent and child. On the other hand, perhaps a divorce was particularly messy, and the victor succeeded in procuring most of the family’s money all while removing themselves from the lives of their former loved ones. Regardless, since NU is a need-blind university, income data will not be looked at while making an admission decision and, thus, it is impossible for adcoms to know for certain the circumstances surrounding an applicant.</p>
<p>Now, that’s in a perfect world. Will adcoms be swayed emotionally by applicants from single-parent households, especially if they excel both academically and extracurricularly? Probably. Regardless, I still don’t think it’s as big a hook as #10 and especially #13. Hopefully we can agree on that last statement.</p>
<p>Right, but I’m generalizing and guessing that HE was what I described, and therefore it’d be a hardship he could talk about. But, absolutely not nearly as much of a hook, if it is even one. But the combination of all that could be an offer they can’t refuse. I read somewhere the average “SAT Boost” for minorities, as to what they got compared to caucasian people. It was like 400 or so for blacks, 200 for hispanics, and then - something for asians, as in it’s harder. Those numbers may not be totally correct (It’s been a while since I read that) but, basically at a top university it’s a huge boost (Which makes sense since, and this is another broad generalization, Whites on average are richer, and richer people on average have more opportunity to thrive in their intelligence). So, my SAT is ~2370 from being Hispanic :-D</p>
<p>@Crimsonstained7</p>
<p>Well hey, even without the “boost,” that’s still a great SAT score! Good luck to you and everyone else, including OP; decisions should be out in the next week or two!</p>
<p>Well, my score sounds a lot better when it’s only two parts, haha. My writing is extremely low, comparatively, so 1520 sounds a lot better than 2170. I can’t wait to see what happens!</p>
<p>That is what ends up happening at school a lot because my total is 2150 and when my friends or teachers ask me what I got I just say 1510 instead.</p>