At first I thought about applying to engineering at Northwestern, but then apparently there is a quota for admission at McCormick. I was wondering for the RD round, is engineering more competitive than arts and sciences? I’m an international applicant from Canada which makes me at a further disadvantage.
My stats are below:
ACT 32 (english 33, math 34, reading 29, science 31–but another time my highest for science is 32). i’m expecting to get a superscore of 33, if not 34
sat math 760
sat physics 750
i don’t really have a preference as to whether or not i go into engineering or arts and sciences, though engineering does sound more appealing. In terms of statistics, engineering is probably less competitive (correct me if im wrong), but again, all applicant pool applying for engineering are pretty strong.
I’m just confused as to if there is a significant difference between admits from either schools. Any help or advice would be greatly appreicated thanks!
NU doesn’t have a min ACT/SAT or GPA requirement. They take a holistic view (like all top tier universities). I have an ACT comp of 32 and a 3.5 GPA from a competitive private high school in Chicago and I have essentially zero chance of getting in. The people who I know got in McCormick and enrolled were unique in a sense; they were awesome at math and science but also accomplished musicians. They were not your typical left brainers, they were social yet good at everything. One helped found a charter school here in Chicago. They never said I was bad at this so I will major in that… I believe they both got a 35 on their ACT and never took the SAT. Not sure what their GPA was. So I suppose you have to just apply and see. People with near perfect ACT/SAT scores get denied from schools like NU. You need to have strong out-of-class accomplishments. Good luck!!
thank you for your feedback! Are you aware about if there is a quota for engineering school? I’m afraid that i’d apply to the wrong school within northwestern given if there is a difference in admissions–since i can’t seem to be allowed to indicate a second major choice either.
Just to put it out there, it is very easy to change schools once you get to Northwestern. Not to say you should just apply to the school you think will give you a better chance to get in, but you don’t have to worry about making the wrong choice and being stuck with it…
@MayiqueCynthia there are a couple other posts on the topic of ease of admission to McCormick vs. Weinberg, and I think their conclusion was that students are admitted to NU, not to a specific school (except Bienen and some other programs like RTVF and Theatre), so it doesn’t matter to which school you apply.
That being said, my opinion would be that you should apply to whichever school you feel more passionate about, since your passion would shine through and, even if there were a school that was slightly more difficult to get into, overshadow any such difference.
ok great thank you! Do you think applying to a different type of engineering will have any impact? For instance if a lot of students are applying to industrial or biomedical would it be wise to pick another major?
And also i saw on your profile that you are a current student. What do you think of my test scores in terms of engineering admissions? I am an international applicant from Canada.
Mayique: For test scores & stats - use Common Data Set: http://enrollment.northwestern.edu/pdf/common-data/2014-15.pdf. BTW - what Blake said up-thread is right on, and you should never change your choice(s) based on what you think some AdCom MIGHT be looking for. Do what YOU want to do. Good Luck.
The info above is incorrect; you do get admitted to the certain school to which you apply. It is very easy to switch schools (with the exception of a few programs), but admissions are still to whichever school you apply. If accepted, when you start as a freshman, you go through a specific orientation and program depending on the school you were admitted to. I don’t know about quotas, but I can tell you that if your ECs and interests are all about math/science stuff and you apply to weinberg because you think it’ll improve your chances, the admissions committee will see through it. Just apply honestly and do your best.
From what I know about McCormick, I would guess (not know but guess) that it has more competitive admissions than Weinberg. It has far fewer students and the ones there are really strong.
When I went to an admissions session on campus they said they admit to the university not school, and only look at which school you picked to see if your ec’s match your major choice.
I am a current student and that information is false. Orientation is geared entirely to whichever school you are in, and if you are in Weinberg, you start with a freshman seminar not offered in other schools. So if you transfer out of Weinberg you have a useless class and if you transfer in, you’re short a credit in a required class. That’s not to say there are set quotas that would disqualify you if you applied to, say, SESP, but you absolutely are admitted to a specific school and immediately enter a specialized program.
Orientation may be done by school, as is most of the rest of the other stuff you’re talking about, but that does not necessarily mean that that is how they judge incoming students, only how they treat them after they make the decision.
