Please Chance Me!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>Hello, I am a sophomore at a private college prep high school. I am also a prospective medical student and my top two choices for college are NU and University of Chicago. Let me give you a little background info about myself:</p>

<p>Freshman: 4 Honors (Algebra I/II, Biology, English I, Spanish I)
All A's 1st semester and one B+ (English) and all A's 2nd semester</p>

<p>Sophomore: 5 Honors (Geometry,Chemistry, English II, Spanish II, Western Civilizations)
All A's 1st semester and one B (Geometry) and all A's this quarter, improving Geometry to a 92%</p>

<p>Junior Classes: (Pre-Calc Honors, Chemistry AP, Physics Honors, English 3 AP. Spanish 3 Honors, US History AP) </p>

<p>Senior Classes: (AP Calculus BC, Biology AP, Physics C AP, English 4 AP, Spanish Lang. AP, Psychology AP, Peer Leadership)</p>

<p>I have not taken the ACT in one sitting, however my best individual scores on the math, science, and reading part were: 32(M) 30(S) 32(E)
I'm planning to take it as a junior and expect a 33-35 after a prep class and a few prep books.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: 11+ years of Polish school, Math Team (Regional winners, State finalists in ICTM), Scholastic Bowl Team (Conference Champions), Tennis, Soccer, next year NHS and Spanish NHS, student ambassador, and dedicated volunteer at local hospital.
(I will do each club until the end of high school; also I will tutor freshman next year and do more consistent volunteer work at the hospital.)</p>

<p>Final Note: I am visiting each campus this spring and I am enrolling in a medical camp at U of C over the summer. I plan to do something with NU soon and visit the campuses more than once. </p>

<p>How are my chances looking right now if I continue on this path? Any feedback whatsoever will be high appreciated! Thanks!</p>

2

<p>If you can keep up the good work, you have a good chance at Northwestern. You also will be a pretty decent candidate for UChicago; but, as admissions are so incredibly competitive, it’s hard to say what your chances are.</p>

3

<p>By English 3 AP and English 4 AP you mean literature and language, because otherwise I have no idea what you’re talking about. Depending on how many AP classes your school has, that may or not be the toughest schedule you can take. If it isn’t, then it’s going to hurt your chances. GPA rigor is the most important part of an app. Your grades, your rigor, and your test scores are the most important, so no one can chance you remotely accurately (No such thing, actually, unless we were the adcoms) since you don’t have two years of grades, we don’t know your rigor, and you have no test scores.</p>

4

<p>This is the most rigorous schedule my school offers. Taking 6 AP classes in a college prep high school known for its rigor is not a walk in the park I assure you. Also my school calls them English 3 and 4 AP so I didn’t know about that.</p>

5

<p>At my school that’s a little low because people take them for the GPA boost (Average for the part of the school that has the “smarter” students is probably 7 or so) so that depends on the school.</p>

6

<p>Don’t worry about APs. I’ve taken 4 AP classes and only 1 AP credit.
APs are important but that should’t be the deciding factor. As long as you are shown that you challenged yourself and you got the best out of your high school education, they will be fine with whatever amount of APs you have.</p>

<p>Just make sure you have a strong essay and keep up the good work with GPA and ACT.</p>

<p>Make sure you get good recommendation letter as well.</p>

7

<p>I thought I got this across, but if not, taking the most rigorous schedule available is what matters, kind of like hosu said. The number of AP matters only relative to the school offerings.</p>