Regular Decision Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>So I know people absolutely hate these, but I just want to know if I have a reasonable shot. </p>

<p>Background:
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
Grade: Senior
School: Illinois Public, Sends a few people to top schools.
Major: Psychology (WCAS) or Human Development/Psych Services</p>

<p>Objective:
ACT: 33 (36 English, 34 Reading, 31 Math, 29 Science, 10 Writing)
SAT II: 760 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank: 10/323 (top 4%)
AP: Euro-4, US-5, English Language-4
Senior Year Course Load: Government, Consumer Ed, AP French, AP Psych, AP Bio, AP Calc AB, AP Literature
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Does AP Scholar count?
PSAT: 200</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Peer Mediation (CoPresident), Key Club, NHS, Freshmen Mentoring.
Job/Work Experience: Kumon for 2 years tutoring kids.<br>
Volunteer/Community service: NHS/Key Club, Hospital Volunteering on my own
Summer Activities: Northwestern CTD 6 Summers in a row, Northwestern CPP, Latin Convention, Leadership Convention.
Essays: My CommonApp one is mediocre and pretty short. My Why NU one is stellar.
Teacher Recommendation: One extremely good one and one okay one. I'm thinking about replacing the okay one with a reccommendation from my boss though.
Counselor Rec: excellent
Additional Rec: Possibly my boss?
Interview: I have to wait until Jan 5 to sign up, but yes. </p>

<p>I absolutely love Northwestern and it's my number 1. I didn't apply ED because my parents didn't want me to be bound to a school they weren't sure they could pay for. (they're afraid that we won't get adequate financial aid and we'd have to pay 40k-50k a year), I was very upset but I understand where they're coming from. I know i have a WAY less of a chance RD though.</p>

2

<p>I think you’ve got a pretty good shot</p>

3

<p>You can withdraw from the almighty binding power of Early Decision under the following circumstances:

  1. not enough financial aid to afford to go
  2. you died</p>

<p>No one out of the million college application sessions at my high school (and former high school) mentioned that part of early decision, so I had to find out by scouring the tiny font of the actual early decision agreement terms. I heard some colleges are less willing to offer aid if the applicant is bound under early decision since there’s no need to compete to get the student against other colleges, so I can see where your parents are coming from. </p>

<p>But fear not. I think you’ve got a very good chance. =)
Great ACT, ranking, extracurriculars, etc.</p>

4

<p>You’ve got a pretty decent shot. Frankly, my only real concern is that you describe your own common app essay as “mediocre.”</p>

5

<p>thanks! This makes me feel so much better. I just hope it won’t look bad to Northwestern because when I did my original application I applied Early Decision and a week later I had to email them and tell them I am moving to regular decision (I didn’t even send my agreement form in). Now I’m afraid they’ll think that I’m not serious about coming to Northwestern.</p>

6

<p>Read this: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/strategy.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/strategy.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>Yeah, I know. :frowning: But at the time I thought withdrawing ED was only for the most extreme cases and I’m not sure if we would qualify.
It’s kind of a lose-situation for me either way.</p>