Northwestern is my dream school and I really regret not applying early.
My stats:
GPA: 3.89 UW, 4.21 W
Rank: 16/400
ACT: 34
SAT 2: 710 Math 2, 710 U.S. History, 710 Bio
Extracurriculars:
-Key Club publicity (member for 4 years)
-VP of a group that performs music for senior citizens (4 years)
-coordinated and taught a camp of autistic children how to play piano (1 year)
-coordinated benefit concerts to raise money to buy pianos for nursing homes (4 years)
-co-founded a team to uproot plants to improve the biodiversity of our local mountains (1 year)
-competitive flutist (8 years)
-got in government sponsored summer camp for music
-went to Boston University’s summer program and took courses in economics and business
in National Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation
Common app essay: solid, but not AMAZING; probs 8/10
Supplement: I spent a lot of time researching and editing it 9.5/10; I think it really showed that I wanted to go there and I felt like I wrote it in a very Northwestern personality way (idk if that makes any sense)
Fin Aid: yes
Income: $60,000
State: California
Race: Asian
Hook: first generation, does knowing 4 languages help? haha
Applying for music performance and environmental science dual degree.
I’ve seen everybody rate their recs or essays at 7 out of 10 or higher. However, you are probably a poor judge of this since you can’t see the rest of the world’s essays. Given that you are competing with a bunch of other people who think their essays are similarly as good, some of you are wrong about your essay quality. Not everybody can be in the top 1/3 of applicants in terms of essay quality. I wouldn’t worry so much about giving us an arbitrary number out of 10 unless you know the essay actually stinks. The topic and how that fits in with the rest of your application is probably more valuable information for these types of posts if you want feedback.
@pacepea From the NU students I’ve talked to, I’ve gathered that a typical “NU personality” is one that is ambitious, competitive, spirited, in love their school, laid back and fun. Yes, I can’t simplify everyone at NU’s personality into a few adjectives, but from how the students describe their peers and how they were themselves, I’ve gotten a sense of what a typical student there is like. They are the smart “normal” kids.
