Northwestern Fanatic

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>Northwestern is my dream school, and although I'd like to apply ED because the increased acceptance rate would help my application significantly, there is no way for me to afford it without an extraordinary aid package :(</p>

<p>I'm just wondering how my resume is looking to all of you CC experts, and suggestions what I can do in the next 6 months to better it?</p>

<p>3.7 UW 4.3 W
Full IB Program</p>

<p>SAT CR 660 M 670 W 650
ACT 34 (Taking again in September in chase of a 35)</p>

<p>-I have worked at Outback Steakhouse for 2 years (Recently got promoted to Take-away)
-Co-Creator of Habitat for Humanity club at school (Now Vice President)
-120 Volunteer hours (As of now; this number will be around 200 by the time I apply)
-School Newspaper Editor (11th & 12th)
-School Newspaper Photographer (11th & 12th)
-I've had 6 photographs published in a local, for-profit newspaper
-Currently interning with a professional photographer, (will start my own small business for senior spreads, christmas photos, etc. at the end of summer)
-Varsity Swimming 3 years (9th, 10th, 12th)
-Cross Country (11th)
-NHS (11th&12th)
-SNHS(12th)</p>

<p>I have other ECs but they are more in the field of service hours included in my 120 hours</p>

2

<p>BTW- I am interested in Medill and the School of Communication.</p>

<p>Any suggestions on what I can do to help get into my dream school would be great!!</p>

3

<p>I know someone out of my 32 viewers has an opinion!</p>

4

<p>Just to start out, you have to apply to either Medill or the SoC - they are two separate schools. You included an “and” in between them so I’m just clarifying. You can’t double major between the two so you would have to choose. You seem greatly interested in photography and journalism, so I think that you would be applying to Medill. Correct?</p>

<p>Your GPA is a tad on the low side, and your SAT is way too low. Fortunately, it is counteracted by a terrific ACT score. Whether you get it to 35 or not, it is a great score to have when applying. I’ve always found the SAT to carry more significance than the ACT, but I’m east coasted biased where the ACT is a secondary test here. Also, if you plan to apply, you should really have a few SAT II Subject Tests taken - almost everybody applying has 2-3 taken in some area or another. Unless you already have taken them, I would plan out October/November as a necessary time to take at least two. But I digress haha. </p>

<p>Having a stable job for two years is good on your application and so is the 200+ volunteer hours. What looks a little off to me is the fact that you don’t really have any school ECs outside of your paper. Cross Country for one year in 11th grade is not something you should be putting on there - top schools like continued activities for all 3-4 years of high (a lot of people can be hesitant when freshmen but join a bunch of activities after their first year). NHS and SNHS aren’t really ECs - I think they are more Honors/Awards. Unless you are an officer, I wouldn’t count that as an EC. Your Varsity swimming is very notable even though you skipped it your junior year. But aside from swimming and Habitat for Humanity, you only have two other ECs that revolve both around your newspaper. While it’s great (its actually almost necessary) to be devoted to your high school paper when applying to Medill, your ECs in a holistic sense are strongly lacking. Even your work on the paper has been only for your years as an upperclassman. I don’t think that will cut it for school activities. </p>

<p>SAT II’s aside, your ACT score is unquestionably good, and your GPA is low, but I just don’t see your resume as anything but hurting your cause. The three or so activities you’ve done in school for the most part seem to have been done as an upperclassman which on an application looks shaky. That may or may not be the case, but it’s just how it looks for someone reading the app. If you were applying Early Decision, I’d say that it would be a definite long-shot; applying Regular Decision, well, even more so. I’d say that if you want to improve your chances at all, make an admissions officer see your passion in journalism through your essays. Medill is ridiculously hard to get into (Northwestern as a whole is too), but your essays might be your saving grace. College application essays are the great equalizer.</p>

5

<p>Wow, thank you so much for your honesty. I took Journalism as a pre-req to be on the paper sophomore year. I was very involved in club swimming my freshman and sophomore year, (10 practices a week, 4 of those being at 5 AM before school), and after the untimely death of a coach I quit for my junior year, which freed up a lot of time to get more involved in my ECs. I know this isn’t a plausible excuse for why I wasn’t involved fresh & sophomore year but it is the reason. The team I swam for wins Y nationals every year, and everyone that makes it through gets a full ride to practically the college of their choice. Since I was on track to continue all 4 years and swim in college, I didn’t understand the importance of building a resume. </p>

<p>Regardless, I’m doing my best to make up for it now, and once again THANK YOU for your honesty! I’m going to spend a lot of time on my essays.</p>

6

<p>I’ve never heard of someone having to take a pre-req to be in an EC, but if that’s true…you might as well say that you were on the paper in sophomore year as well. Technically, you were, and that looks MUCH better on an application especially since you’re the editor. People should not lie on their applications to colleges (although many people will undoubtedly do so in a desperate plight to gain some malign edge), but I don’t think that would be the case in this situation. You should be safe putting the paper down another year on your resume - it makes more sense to me that way. Doing “work” in order to “work” on the paper is, ergo, “working” on the paper. </p>

<p>I’m sorry about the death of your coach. I figured that if you swam for 9th, 10th, skipped 11th, but rejoined the team in 12th, it wasn’t a lack of motivation but probably something uncontrollable. But that point aside, I do see a real interest in journalism in your application. You are editor of your paper alongside being a photographer, have a few pieces of photographs honored by your local paper, and you are pursuing an internship with a professional photographer in the hopes of starting your own business this summer. That last one really pops out. </p>

<p>A 3.7 in full IB is not shoddy, it’s pretty good. Not great but good - a tad low for Northwestern but nothing you should cry over at the thought that it is completely insurmountable. Your ACT is great. You didn’t reply about the SAT IIs, but if you didn’t take them yet, you need at least two scores of above 730 or so to help you out. The way they’re curved though, most top applicants who know their stuff probably get in the upper 700s. Really think about SAT IIs because they’ll be right on your doorstep around October and November - you could take two in October and retake them in November if one or both are not to your liking. Retake your ACT in September if you honestly feel you need to. </p>

<p>The rest of your ECs aren’t the best, but you do show a passion for journalism - and you’re applying to Medill so that’s probably tantamount to anything. Northwestern’s acceptance rate will probably be in the mid teens this year, so it’s a crap shoot for everybody. Medill brings a very self-selected bunch in terms of journalism, so make your essays sizzle to the point where they HAVE to look at you. They may see something that goes beyond a simple test score. But make it personal - not a cliched essay taken verbatim from one of those college handbooks…personal.</p>

<p>Oh, by the way, you mentioned how your swim team is on the level where it wins nationals. Well, if you happen to be on this team, you’re probably an amazing swimmer, correct? Have you considered contacting the coach at Northwestern? That may be a great idea if you’re as good a swimmer as you sound. It couldn’t hurt.</p>

7

<p>Thanks, again, for your insightful post. I plan on taking the SAT IIs in October for sure. I really do love journalism and especially photography, I’ll make sure I make my essays particularly unique and centered around those subjects. As for swimming, taking a year off is one of the worst things you can do, as it takes about another year to get back to where you were. Therefore I know I won’t have much of a chance in the recruitment process especially because junior year is critical. Thank you for the thought though! I’m joining again only because I love and miss it.
I’ve considered entering some of the infinite online Photo contests, would winning any of the minor ones be considered as an EC at all?
Also, would it at all be beneficial to start up/get involved in any new club my senior year? Or will that just look like a resume-stuffer? I was thinking of trying to create an Online newspaper-type thing for my school, seeing as the journalism world is slowly going digital, and kids don’t seem to be too interested on our Newspaper distribution days. If I was able to get authorization and participation from my newspaper class to create such a thing before December, would it stand out at all? Or just simply look like the mentioned “resume-stuffer”?</p>

<p>Thank you AGAIN in advance! Really, you are probably the most helpful person I’ve encountered on this forum</p>

8

<p>Don’t submit the SAT Reasoning if you don’t have to. You’re in decent shape for Medill (or school of comm).</p>

9

<p>You see bluesclues, this is what is so great about Northwestern. At most other tippy top schools, you don’t get the undergraduate diversity that’s so evident at NU. Yes, we have a great engineering department and college of arts and sciences, but it’s our music school, our School of Comm. (including film/theater), and our School of Education & Social Policy that set us apart. Perhaps you wouldn’t get into Weinberg, but your passion is deeply rooted in the field of journalism, and Medill fills that drive. Those specialty schools may be even harder to peg down who will get in/get rejected because they are looking for something very particular on top of ECs and stats. Maybe they’ll find you have that something. </p>

<p>To answer your questions, I think that online photography contest, granted you win anything, would fit more under the Honors/Awards section of the Common Application. I’d also put your NHS work there too as I mentioned previously. </p>

<p>As for your idea for an online newspaper, I think that it is a great idea. A lot of kids may join a club or two in their senior year to desperately fill up an empty resume, but I don’t think that I’d relegate you to that category should you decide to go ahead with your plans. First of all, you’d be putting down Editor/Founder for the club which implies you put a lot of work forth in order to create this club almost as a senior farewell gift to the school; maybe some younger students on the paper could continue your club and…voila! Secondly, it’s not like you just started a random club for video games or Dungeons and Dragons haha - it’s a respectable idea. You are already editor of the print publication, and this only seems natural in following suit. If anything, it reinforces your interest in journalism.</p>