Northwestern

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi guys.

I want to know what my chances are of getting into my dream school, Northwestern University.

Please let me know what you think!

Thanks!

Objective:
-SAT: Composite=2390, M=800, CR=800, W=790
-SAT Subject Tests: Math II=800, Chemistry=800, Biology M=760
-GPA: 4.0 out of 4.0 (unweighted)
-Rank: 3 out of 388
-AP Scores: All 5’s on AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP US History, AP English Language, AP Chemistry

Subjective:
-Extracurriculars: Marching Band for 3 years, JV Track for 2 years, Math Team 2 years (Co-Leader) (Team placed 4th at a -State level competition), National Honor Society for 2 years
-Research Internship at a Children’s Hospital in for one summer- Lead Doctor would write a good letter of recommendation
-2 time National Finalist for the American Chemical Society Chemistry Olympiad, 1st place in Regional Level Junior Year
-About 300 hours of volunteer service (received Teen Volunteer of the Year Award)
-Participated in a selective (30 students out of all of Central Ohio) summer program at Children’s Hospital learning about various diseases
-Ohio Music Education Association Superior (the highest) rating for piano, 2x (is actually not that big of a deal and is not included in most of my apps.)
-AP Scholar with Distinction
-National Merit Semi-finalist (applying for Finalist standing)

Others:
-Gender:Male
-Ethnicity: East Asian (I know)
-Upper middle class (income around 150k)
-Good recommendations from teachers and guidance counselor
-No criminal record or disciplinary incidents

Please let me know!

2

I applied to Weinberg. However, I did not apply ED, as I applied to Yale early (a reach), with their SCEA option. How badly does that hurt my chances?

3

Your application looks amazing. NU would be lucky to have you. I’d say you have above average chances.

4

You are definitely competitive for NW:

NW - match
Yale - low reach (as everybody is at best)

5

If your research internship involves ‘real’ research, you have a very good chance of getting into Northwestern. What major did you apply for ? Yale, of course, as any ivy league is a reach for most of the high achieving kids. Good luck

6

No one has “a very good chance” at getting into Northwestern unless they are the child of long time faculty or children of famous parents. You are competitive for NU. And you shouldn’t listen to anyone who calls a college with a sub 20% acceptance rate a match.

7

Yale: Very low chance

NW: Solid chances

8

@CaliCash you may be right in some sence (in regard to the OP chances for NW). Some schools may reject some applicants because they may think that (s)he is “overqualified” for them!

9

I doubt any school in the top 10-15 considers many applicants overqualified. OP has an impressive profile, but it takes a lot for a top-tier school to say “Yup, this kid is getting into HYP. Yield protection time.”

@CaliCash is, I think, making the point that calling Northwestern a match is like calling Cornell/Dartmouth a match: the usual “You’re a strong applicant, but nothing’s guaranteed” caveat makes it dicey to call Northwestern a match for any applicant who doesn’t have a name starting with ‘Malia’ and ending in ‘Obama.’

I’m surprised that OP would apply SCEA to Yale instead of ED to Northwestern if the latter really is his “dream school.”

10

I applied to NW regular bc I am also applying to the HPME program there, and they only accept regular.

I am aware of the low chances for HPME, but I would go to Northwestern anyway if I got rejected by HPME but accepted by Northwestern.

Thanks for your guys’ comments, btw. I appreciate it. So I guess it comes down to my essays, then?

11

You are a competitive applicant, so yes, if you have great essays, that will only help your chances!