I’m going to be a junior in high school this fall, so I may be doing this a bit early, but I wanted to post this just to get a feel for where I’m at right now. A bit of background on me: NU is my dream school. My mom, who passed away six years ago, was an NU graduate with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in journalism from Medill. I also want to be a journalism major (more on the broadcast side). I’ve visited Northwestern for an official tour, both of the university as a whole and of Medill specifically. I’m from a small town in northern Kentucky.
GPA (unweighted) - 4.0
GPA (weighted) - 4.81
ACT Composite - 34 (this was the first time I ever took the test)
APs:
- Freshmen year: 5 on AP Human Geography
- Sophomore year: 5 on AP Seminar, 5 on AP Psychology, 4 on AP World History
Junior year, my courseload includes AP European History, APUSH, AP Calc AB, AP German, AP Lang, Advanced Chemistry, and Video Productions. I’ve taken film classes for the past two years as well, and I’m the director for my school’s live football broadcasts. I’m also a well-established student activist in my hometown, as I was the co-founder (and am now the head) of my city’s March for Our Lives chapter, Kentucky state lead for the U.S. Youth Climate Strike, and I serve on the executive board of the KY High School Democrats as the Membership Director. I received the Civic Leadership award from a local organization in my region last spring. I also participate in mock trial (I have been on the varsity team since my freshmen year as an attorney and I’ve attended Yale’s Bulldog Invitational), as well as serving in leadership positions (such as sound designer) within my school’s drama department for the past three years and eleven productions. I’m also my school’s Lead Critic for our Cappies team, a high school theatre critique program in which critics write reviews, and the top ten pieces from every show are published in the Cincinnati Enquirer. I’ve been published multiple times and received the “Up and Coming Critic” award at the Cappies Awards Gala last May. In addition to these accomplishments, I also volunteer frequently for civic engagement-oriented organizations such as Kentuckians for the Commonwealth doing voter registration and organizing work, as well as for local, state, and national campaigns canvassing and working phone banks.
I absolutely love politics, and I also love broadcast video production and writing. Attending Medill for a journalism degree is my dream, and I’d like to think I would be a competitive applicant even at this age. I would like other peoples’ honest opinions about my situation, in addition to answering a few questions.
- Is my lack of journalism specific coursework going to hurt me? My film/broadcast classes have always filled that role in my head, but I worry that I haven't been in my school's journalism class (which is more focused on producing the school yearbook, less focused on newspaper writing, etc.).
- Is my legacy status going to have any effect whatsoever on my admissions decision when I apply?
- Should I apply ED?
Thanks in advance for any advice provided or any answers to these questions. I still have a couple years of high school left, but an early start to the research process never hurt anyone!