rd chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>m applying to upenn ed but nu is in my top five. can yall please evaluate my chances for admission at northwestern!</p>

<p>I attend the second most competitive public school in Washington state.</p>

<p>gpa- 3.45uw 3.8 w
(6 ap's and 4 honors classes so weighted is close to a 3.9)
sat 2110 (760 v 680m 670w)
im also taking the september act and will likely send in that score rather than the sat.</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>Partial debate record:</p>

<p>National Honors
-One of only 18 debaters (nationwide) selected to attend the Team USA All-American qualifier</p>

<p>-Member of Team USA A-Team. (One of only five 1st team All-Americans)</p>

<p>-Represented America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the Pan-American Championship (western hemisphere debate tournament held in Southern California, October 2006)</p>

<p>-Will represent America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the European World Championship (held in Germany, February 2007)</p>

<p>-Will represent America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the World Championship (held in South Korea, July 2007)</p>

<p>-One of the nation’s first 25 to fully qualify for the Tournament of Champions.</p>

<p>-Finished 5th out of juniors nationwide at the TOC.</p>

<p>-Two time national qualifier in debate (finishing 27th Junior Year)</p>

<p>-Invited to 8 round robin tournaments in 5 states</p>

<p>-Member of top lab at Victory Briefs @ UCLA 2006 and varsity member in 2005 (receiving a merit based scholarship to the camp)</p>

<p>-One of only 6 debaters (out of 300) to participate in camp-wide demonstration debate.</p>

<ul>
<li>National Forensic League speech and debate All American</li>
</ul>

<p>State Honors</p>

<p>-Washington state co-champion of Lincoln-Douglas debate.(first junior to with the 3A state title since 2001)</p>

<p>-First speaker honors at state (first junior to receive award since late 1990's)</p>

<p>-First Junior in history to win 3A title, Top Speaker award, and clear as top seed at the state tournament.</p>

<p>-Only junior from Washington state to qualify for "the tournament of champions".</p>

<p>-First debater in Washington to fully qualify to the TOC</p>

<p>-Only debater to clear at all three "Washington TOC bid tournaments"</p>

<p>-Received "top speaker" awards at numerous tournaments</p>

<p>-2nd at state in extemporaneous speaking (2006) 2nd (2005)</p>

<p>-3rd at state in impromptu speaking. (2006) 4th (2005)</p>

<p>-3A Washington state record for both impromptu and extemp state bids (8 and 6 respectively)</p>

<p>-Only junior in recent memory to win the University of Puget Sound's Charles Battin award for outstanding speaker. (Most prestigious speaker award in the state)</p>

<p>Team Honors</p>

<p>-Two time team captain</p>

<p>-Three time speech co-captain and two time debate captain</p>

<p>-First and only debater from my school to qualify to TOC or Nationals in debate.</p>

<p>-Four year varsity lettermen</p>

<p>-Selected to attend the national qualifying tournament all four seasons</p>

<p>-Voted “rookie of the year” for the 2003-2004 season (my freshman year)</p>

<p>-Voted team “MVP” for 2005-2006 season (my junior year)</p>

<p>I have also done a huge amount of debate volunteer work (500+ hours)</p>

<p>Student Government positions held:
-7th grade class senator (one of only four)
-8th grade class senator (one of only four)
-9th grade council representative
-Freshman class vice-president
-Sophomore class president
-Junior class president
-Senior class president
-During my three years as class president I have lead the c/o 2007 to huge financial success. We are far and away the wealthiest class in history of the school due to our vast amounts of fund-raising and dedicated leaders.</p>

<p>Independent Academic Study:
-Took sixty hours of arabic composition at the Seattle Academy of Languages (Spring 2004)
-Practiced arabic speaking skills independently for 15 hours/week (April-June 2004)
-Enrolled in independent Old Testament studies with local biblical doctorate holder Steven Swanson. Six hours/week. (September 2005-May 2006)
-Completed an American Studies honors portfolio (wrote five essays on American historical figures and their influence on contemporary America) six hours/week. (March-June 2006)
-Read from Frank and Bernanke’s Principles of Macroeconomics in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Four hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*
-Read from Kleiner, Mamiya and Tansey’s Gardner's Art Through the Ages in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Three hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*
-Read from Mahler’s Comparative Politics: An Institutional and Cross-national Approach in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Four hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*</p>

<ul>
<li>I met with a HS faculty member once-twice a week and we would have a seminar or lecture on the material I had just read. The times given are for reading, seminars and homework/week.</li>
</ul>

<p>Baseball:
-Member of Peninsula Baseball Academy (18U All-Kitsap County Team) since age 13.
-Member of American Legion Post 68 Baseball Club (18U All-Kitsap Team) since age 15.
-Member of the 13U, 14U, 15U and 16U Traveling Teams (City-Wide All-Star Team)
-Led the 14U, 15U and 16U clubs in Batting Average and On-Base Percentage.
-Attendee at multiple baseball clinics (both pitching and infield)
-Awarded “first team honors” at both Stubbs’ Infield Clinic and Bainbridge Infield Clinic.
-Led the Freshman team in batting average (.535)
-Hit safely in all 8 Metro Division games sophomore year.
-Was an offensive leader in multiple categories (batting average, slugging percentage, RBI’s, Doubles, Hits, On-Base Percentage)</p>

<p>Tennis:
-One of only two individuals in the Metro Division to finish the 2006 regular season with an undefeated record. (11-0)
- Played as high as number 4 for my high school squad.
-Finished 3rd in the Metro Tournament (Greater Seattle Area) knocking off the 2nd 3rd and 10th seeds at the tournament.
-Finished with the highest winning percentage on the tennis team, (14-1, .9333) dropping only 2 sets all season.</p>

<p>Running/Cross Country:
-Member of xc team's “500 Club” (ran 500 miles over the summer)
-Ran number two consistently for the xc Squad.
-Averaged nearly 50 Miles a week in pre-season training
-Trained for and competed in the Seattle Half-Marathon
-Trained for and will compete in the Toe-Jam half-marathon
-Was a top-finisher for my age group in the 2004 and 2005 Winter Solstice 5K’s in seattle.</p>

<p>thanks again!</p>

2

<p>Penn ED: Deffered, Rejected
Northwestern RD: Accepted (Not 100%, but pretty good shot)</p>

<p>I am very interested to see where you get in. This is namely because of your low GPA. If you get in, it shows that ECs can compensate for less than adequate grades in High School. Lets be honest, the most important aspect of your app is GPA/Transcript Grades. 3.45, while ok, is not really private school material. Infact, it is on the low side for many top state schools. However, your debate awards are impressive as well as extensive. As far as some of the athletic stuff listed: I would leave most of it off. Colleges really don't care that you ran 500+ miles over the summer, you did 50 during the season, you batter whatever on baseball team, and how you placed at a tennis tournament. Those things are not only insignificant, they clutter your resume and detract from what you really want colleges to see. For Penn, I think your grades will be your downfall, and I haven't seen anyone with a GPA that low get accepted to any Ivies (And I do know a few people who have tried, boasting similar ECs all the while). Suffice it to say, you have some interesting passions and I wish you luck.</p>

3

<p>halopeno2, I doubt the applicant really has a chance for Northwestern RD if he's not at the level to get into Penn ED. While his debate EC's are impressive, you have to remember Northwestern has the #1 debate team in the country. Northwestern extensively recruits the best debaters in the country, and debating won't be really a hook unless he is recruited.</p>

4

<p>I wasn't speaking in terms of recruitment, but that is always the great equalizer.</p>

5

<p>Hey, I'm in the class of 2010 at NU. I'm from WA stata too. What "second most competitive school in Washington state" are you referring to?</p>

6

<p>bainbridge hs (based off wasl scores not newsweek or comprehensive rankings)</p>

<p>so recruitment is imperative to crack nu ed....?</p>

<p>im interviewing at the school in mid-november and will meet with the debate coach as well and will likely get a rec from him.</p>

<p>what else should be taken off the app to avoid cluttering... should it just be debate stuff and then bare awards for the other stuff.</p>

7

<p>don't think you can fool admin officers. things like second most competitive, or 7th, 8th grade whatever. It just shows that you are a little obsessed, maybe that is what you are trying to portray. Hey maybe that is good for a debater. </p>

<p>BTW if you are really a good debater, NU will accept you no matter what your GPA is. Same with Harvard, Mich, Berkeley, or any of the big debate schools. Tristen Moralas was NU’s acquisition my 2nd year, and the guy is a beast winning the national debate tournament his freshman year. NU is a debate school. They are going to know exactly what “blah blah blah” means in terms of how good a debater you are. </p>

<p>If you are really good, be honest. If you aren’t, you need to portray that you are serious at debate, and was able to manage all your other activities…that’s what makes you awesome.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

<p>Northwestern senior, Honors Program MMSS.</p>

8

<p>biggest- im in no way fudging anything on the presented debate record nor am i insecure about anything ive done in the activity. i am no compensating for a poor record... i try to give an accurate description of the significance of each of my awards</p>

9

<p>Taking athletics off would be a huge mistake, actually the dumbest thing i have ever heard. NU and other top schools have enough brains who are complete idiots in every other aspect of life. Sports and other ec set you apart. As for cluttering your application, i sent an extra resume of sports, mission work, and academic awards. In looking through my file at NU my soph year i saw a comment on how they truly enjoyed the fact that i added it. I agree that your debating accomplishments will help you with regards to your gpa...you still need things to set you apart, have a diverse app that shows strong and consistent characs all around. i forget who said above, though, you dont need things form 7th and 8th grade or that you ran 50 mile a week. Those are minor details, you want to only include highlights.</p>

10

<p>i would recommend reaching out to the NU debate team coach. If you're as good as you say you are, he may "pref" your application. I got into NU with good-not-great grades and just top 15% in HS class....had great ec's and SATs tho, so grades aren't everything for NU. as an earlier poster said, NU has plenty of quant-jock brainiacs, what they look for is someone well rounded who the student-readers looking through your app would consider having a beer or two with.</p>