please help :)

<p>ok i'm posting this here b/c i figure if you're going to Northwestern you're one of the smart kids and can give me some good advice ;)</p>

<p>i'm a junior in high school and i get good grades and all but nothing special. my gpa is about a 3.5 and i realize that's probably not good enough for northwestern. (my sister had a 4.0 and didn't even get in)</p>

<p>but i still really want to go to a school in chicago and i'm really stressing because there are a lot of choices and i want to make sure i go to a "good" school. </p>

<p>Roosevelt University
Chicago State
Loyola
North Park
University of Chicago
DePaul
University of Illinois @ Chicago
Columbia University</p>

<p>basically i have to narrow the above list down to about 3 to actually go and visit, so based on reputation, location (i'd like a school located either in a nice area downtown or a nice suburb close to the city like evanston), ect. i would greatly appreciate if anyone has any advice for me :)</p>

<p>i've done research on the basics like cost, majors, acceptance rates, ect. -- but i would like to know a little bit more about the atmospheres of the school.</p>

<p>If you actually do want to go to Northwestern, don't let one flaw in your accomplishments let you down. I had a 3.8 and I got in.</p>

<p>Why are you so intent on getting into a "good" school? Are you just up for the rep? The schools you listed are drastically different from each other? I'm going to go out on a whim and assume you're looking to major in journalism, since two out of the eight schools you listed offer that major, along with Northwestern...</p>

<p>Loyola. I considered this, but their headquarters or whatever are in New Orleans. They have an okay j-program (I think like... eighteenth in the nation?) and they have a fairly high acceptance rate. My sister lived in New Orleans until very recently, and she said Loyola is known as a good school, but it is also known as a major party school.</p>

<p>University of Chicago. Very academic. The campus looks like Oxford or Cambridge. Part of it was the setting for the movie 'Proof' with Gwyneth Paltrow. (The science department of Northwestern is also in 'Proof.') There is no journalism program, and I think they're better known for sciences and law. It's where the first atomic bomb was designed, or something like that.</p>

<p>Columbia. All I know is that it's incredibly hard to get into, and that they're journalism program battles Northwestern for number one every year. Columbia, however, doesn't have a very good job placement program, and I hear you really have to dig to get an internship - whereas internships are required in Northwestern's program. Plus, their journalism program is a graduate program.</p>

<p>Hope I helped a little.</p>

<p>do you think if i applied early to northwestern it would help my chances? i just couldn't see them accepting someone whose usual report card consists of straight Bs and a few As. i'm hoping to score high on the sats, anyways.</p>

<p>if you haven't noticed i'm pretty naiive when it comes to the whole college thing...i don't really know what i mean when i say i want a "good" school, i guess i just mean a place with overall good professors, nice students, ect.
i just don't want to end up in like...the ghetto ;) because i'm from a small town and i know there's going to be some culture shock anyway.</p>

<p>as for loyola, go figure they do offer journalism as a major, but that's the school i've already had about 4 people tell me to stay away from it. and i also heard that if it was put 5 miles down the road it wouldn't even have a chicago address.</p>

<p>you might be thinking of the wrong columbia because on collegeboard it says the acceptance rate is 91% :)</p>

<p>and yes you did help, thank you very much for your help</p>

<p>The ivy league columbia university is ridiculously hard to get into.</p>