NU Chances, ED vs. RD, etc

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>Hey all! I've known that Northwestern was a really strong candidate for me for a long time. This past week I was able to visit it, and of course fell even more in love! I'm not sure about my chances regular decision, but I think I have strong chances ED. (Although I'm a little reluctant, that's a big decision!!)</p>

<p>My GPA is a 4.23 (higher this year, but it's not factored in yet). My school does a 5.0, an A in a standard class is a 4, in honors is a 4.3, and in AP is a 5. </p>

<p>Freshman Year: English 1 Honors, Environmental Science Honors, Modern World History Honors, Spanish 2 Honors, Geometry, Photo 1, and Metal Arts
Sophomore Year: AP US I, English 2 Honors, Biology Honors, Spanish 3 Honors, Algebra 2, Photo II, and Marketing
Junior Year: AP US II, AP Photo, English 3 Honors, Spanish 4 Honors, Pre Calc, Global Business, and Chemistry
Anticipated Senior Year Schedule: AP Euro, AP Econ, AP Enviro, English 4 Honors, Stat, Spanish 5, Vietnam and Sociology (half year each).</p>

<p>Superscored SATs: 2100 (will be taking again in June)
CR: 710 Math: 700 Writing: 690
Taking three SAT II's as well</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
3 Year volleyball team member (Frosh, JV- Junior year JV Captain)
2 Year club volleyball player in the offseason
Freshman Lacrosse
2 Years of volunteering with an autistic child at the Friendship Circle
3 Years in temple's youth group, 2 as a board member (Positions: Israel Awareness VP and Social Media/ Marketing VP)
Temple Leadership Program
Science, Spanish, and National Honor Societies
Tutor at the middle school once a month for Spanish HS
Project Director/ Board Member for Science HS in charge of the Cell Phones for Soldiers Project
**Running for NHS board</p>

<p>At Northwestern, I'm looking to be in Weinberg, I'm interested in business, history, maybe sociology, so I don't know where that will take me in college. </p>

<p>Do I only have a chance Early Decision?
*Just as a frame of reference, I'll give you the average stats of people from my high school who were admitted to NU. These stats are known to be a little skewed, because of the whole safety school/ likely school thing.
GPA: 4.32
SAT: 2193</p>

<p>What do you think?
THANK YOU!</p>

2

<p>Applying from NJ.
We have a I believe two students currently at NU, a few accepted for this year but as far as I know two are going (one of which go tin ED).
Should I be concerned as a girl that everyone from my HS I know that goes to NU/ got in is a boy?</p>

3

<p>hey volleyball, sent you a message. i’d recommend taking the sat again or the act, that would really boost your chances (your gpa and ec’s are solid)</p>

4

<p>Interesting fact that NU took boys from your HS- same at my HS this yr and in prev yrs. Don’t think gender matters though- but strong demonstrated interest in your app is key.</p>

5

<p>Well, if it makes you feel better, your GPA and ECs are both more involved than mine, and I’ve been accepted RD for the class of 2012.</p>

<p>Like crisps said, if there’s anything extra-unique about you that makes you stand out, that will be crazy helpful in your application. I ride horses, and ended up doing well in competition, so that ended up being my own personal hook (I think). Stuff like that.</p>

<p>I’ve read in some press releases that they’re trying to recruit more students who have NU as their first choice, hence the large ED acceptance percentage. So if Northwestern is your first choice, I think it’ll be really helpful to go that route. Also, they have a list of checkboxes where you can indicate how much contact you’ve had with the school, i.e. campus visit, regional representative meeting at high school/college fair, etc. Pretty much, go to as many of their functions as you can, when they’re in your area. And make sure to take some time with the ‘Why Northwestern?’ paragraph… I suspect that that’s a very important piece.</p>

<p>I doubt that they’d discriminate against “student from x high school” because she’s a girl and not a boy.</p>

<p>Random note: our school’s admitted students graph has an interesting trend. As the admitted student’s test scores go up, their GPA is allowed to go down by x amount without affecting the admissions decision. Nearly perfect correlation. Food for thought!</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the feedback!
After reading your comment about correlation on the graph, I went back and looked at ours. Doesn’t seem to have the same trend, it’s too bad! I’ve also seen that stats that like 40% of this years class was admitted ED.
I plan on writing strong essays (about what I’m not sure haha) and I’ve gone to school visits visited campus, and seen them at college fairs. I also forgot to mention that I’ll be studying at Cornell Summer College this summer.</p>

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<p>Any other ideas welcome :)</p>

8

<p>Be careful with Naviance because some of the data is stale. At our school NU clearly changed its admissions approach following Morty’s arrival. It shifted from being an Ivy backup (accepting 6 to 10 top kids annually – similar to Wash U and Emory – with the hope of yielding two or three) to cutting its admissions down to two or three annually. This year NU accepted 2 ED and rejected all 30 RD applicants. Many of the RD kids were qualified and would have been accepted a couple of years ago. This year NU accepted 40% of its class ED. 40% is still lower than many of its rivals. I anticipate that this will increase and will approach 45% of the class in a couple of years. Also be careful to discount hooked admits since Naviance does not distnguish these kids from the typical candidate. The bottom line is that your chances are substantially better if you apply ED.</p>

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<p>Volleyball—GET TO KNOW YOUR REP. I am convinced that is one of the reasons my D was accepted. She met him at a school visit he made, contacted him via email to tell him that NU was her first choice and had one other time that she made contact to ask a question. He clearly knew who she was. When she emailed him to thank him for his support he stated that her stellar application did all the “heavy lifting” but I believe he knew her and her “story” well. </p>

<p>Re. being a girl going through the process, here is someone’s perspective(which I think is from the Daily Beast)</p>

<p>The Curse of the Well-Rounded White Girl?
And why are “unhooked white girls” finding it especially tough? “Because there are so many high-achieving … girls who have studied hard, participated in all the right activities, and expected the top colleges to appreciate their efforts,” said Scott Farber, president and founder of A-List Education and a test-preparation and admissions expert. “Do they deserve to get in? Sure. Would they do well if admitted? Absolutely. But colleges are not looking for the well-rounded kid; they want the well-rounded class. And unless you are a superstar in some area, you’re just one of thousands of smart, all-around, but unhooked white girls. It may be unfair, but that’s life.”</p>

<p>My D is a well-rounded white girl with some sharp edges :)</p>

10

<p>Yeah, I have noticed some shifts on Naviance. It would be super helpful if it told you what year it was from.
What are some examples of hooks? (I know like first person in family to go to college, etc.)
And thank you Calmama! I attended a session by the rep at my school last year, and plan on going again this year and introducing myself this time!</p>

11

<p>Hooks include anything that makes you extra-special and desirable. The things that make you a special snowflake, as it were. I got a third in my horse’s world championship competition. Other people serve as research assistants, or TAs at local colleges. Others play a particular instrument, or have a particular talent for drama. Maybe someone else has a long family history of attending a specific school. Another person might have gone through some incredible life experience that would add to the student body. It depends on what the admissions office thinks the college needs, as I understand. Apparently, this year, they wanted a male applicant that likes horses?</p>

12

<p>I’d add to Toast’s comments that a hook can be anything which demonstrates passion in your app. Often, if you’ve been engaged in the activity thruout HS where you can show strong commitment &/or leadership, admissions reps like to see this as it stands out. It seems a student with a singular passion stands a better chance of being noticed than the well-rounded student who has dabbled in many things, but has no real “story” to tell-</p>

13

<p>Honestly, this year ED vs RD was rough. </p>

<p>And the RD decisions seemed to make no sense. I saw kids that I know (so I was able to compare their grades etc.) and sometimes someone on the NHS E-board, almost all A’s, extacurriculars, E-board for more clubs didn’t get in while others who also didn’t do any sports, no e-board positions, bad grades (really…) got in. It was interesting. It’s unlikely that essays had that much to do with it so you should know that Northwestern (although random sometimes, has been a lot rougher with RD).</p>

14

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<p>D has commented that EVERY student she’s met at NU this year has at least one amazing accomplishment or life story to share.</p>

15

<p>I think you have a decent shot at ED, but not really RD. The new administration is wanting to get more ED apps and acceptances, thus lowering RD too, so RD is very competitive now. </p>

<p>Your grades and test scores could be better, but you have good ECs. The key for you is to really show your interest. Remember specific things from the tour or information session or anything you saw on campus-- things that you can’t find online, and use them in your essay too.</p>

16

<p>I think you have a decent shot at ED, but not really RD. The new administration is wanting to get more ED apps and acceptances, thus lowering RD too, so RD is very competitive now. </p>

<p>Your grades and test scores could be better, but you have good ECs. The key for you is to really show your interest. Remember specific things from the tour or information session or anything you saw on campus-- things that you can’t find online, and use them in your essay too.</p>

17

<p>So coming back to your core question, ED is your best shot and based on numbers alone your shot maybe below the average for ED applicants – not impossible just below the average even in a holistic process. NJ is a competitive state for NU (particularly if you coming from a suburban public school) and your stadardized test score is on the low side if you are an unhooked applicant. Focus on getting your SAT (M and CR) or ACT closer to 1480/33 and really show demonstrated interest in the school when you write your essay. Also, try to keep track of how many kids are applying ED from your school and if any of them are hooked. If there are a couple of legacy kids with similar statistics or unhooked kids applying ED with substantially better statistics, consider that in your decison on whether to use your ED application for NU. While there is randomness in the “holistic” process, a fair amount of of this is driven by your numbers and precisely who you are competing against from your local community. Also, Naviance does allow you to separate the statistics for ED applicants. It is sometimes quite tellling, as you can see where the different lines are drawn for ED v RD. For example at Ds school kids with an ACT of 32 or 33 and good grades were regularly admitted ED at Duke but rejected 100% of the time RD. (Duke was particularly transparent). Good luck. Follow your heart but use your brain in this process. It’s no different than anything else in life.</p>

18

<p>Thank you!
Update: scored 770 on US History SAT II. Got a 650 on another one but I’m thinking that’s not good enough to use. I’ll be taking college courses this summer at Cornell, so that should help.
hook —> I wrote a kids book when I was younger? It’s nothing special though.
This past weekend I visited Duke, which I thought was my other top school. It’s nothing compared to NU and I’m thinking Northwestern ED all the way!</p>

19

<p>Also took the SATs again in June, I’m hoping that helps. I’ve been reelected to my youth group’s board (continuing that leadership). As far as I know, two kids applied ED from my school to NU and they both got in.</p>

20

<p>

NU doesn’t fall for hooks easily. Keep in mind that the way you express yourself in your app matters a great deal. NU doesn’t want to admit people who think they’re special snowflakes (quite frankly, I think it shows a great deal of immaturity). They care far more about your passion for an activity than the activity itself. Just because somebody rides the unicycle doesn’t mean they will automatically enhance campus life. It’s the passion, thoughtful self-reflection, and story that go into that activity that count far more.</p>