<p>I'm a current junior at a prep school in SE PA. I didn't take school seriously until this year. I will address that in my college essay. Also, does NE have a form of GPA forgiveness, such as putting emphasis on my Junior and Senior Grades? Will they notice my upward trend, and will is sway them into a decision? Should I apply as early as possible because of rolling admissions</p>
<p>My Cumulative GPA going into my senior year will be around 2.95-3.05 (Will continue getting good grades senior year)</p>
<p>Have not taken the SAT or ACT yet, my guidance counselor thinks i'll do better on the ACT though. Because of my science and math grades.</p>
<p>PSAT: 187</p>
<p>Awards: 9th Grade Academic Achievement award in Programming, 10th grade JV hockey all star, JV hockey coaches award</p>
<p>Leadership: Head of Programming robotics team</p>
<p>ECs: FIRST Robotics, academic competition, March for Life club, varsity ice hockey, Theatre Society, stock market club, intramural soccer and volleyball, Club ice hockey, eBay powerseller, jv lacrosse, and 250+ hours of community service.</p>
<p>Other Schools Im Considering:
Drexel
Temple
Pitt
PSU (Summer Session)
Fairfield
Hofstra
Purdue
Syracuse
RIT
Boston University</p>
<p>It will definitely be an uphill battle if you decide you want to come to Northeastern. believe they will look at upward trends, but you’re going to have to make a really, really strong case for yourself in your essay.
Northeastern doesn’t do rolling admission, but it does have a non-binding early acceptance program, which you could give a go. (I’m not 100% sure, but this year I think they deferred a number of people who applied EA to the regular decision from admissions.)
It’s hard to say without having an ACT or SAT score. Your PSAT at 187 suggests a 1870 on the SAT, and the middle 50% for SAT this past year was 1890-2140. Do you how you did on the PSAT was an accurate reflection of your ability?
I would say that Northeastern is definitely a reach for you. You’ll need to play up your strong points, like community service and your commitment to improving your grades. If you are taking challenging classes, note that as well. Other than that, study hard for the ACT and good luck!</p>
<p>You should really look at some top Canadian universities. They mostly look at your latest year and test scores. I know someone who did terrible throughout school until his junior year. He got into his reach school when other students with better overall backgrounds had to settle for their safety schools in the US. Also, ECs and volunteering don’t count for much in Canadian colleges.</p>
<p>If you go to a good Canadian college and do well, you could always transfer to Northeastern in your second year. However, I suspect you will probably end up staying in Canada for the full degree. Most students who go north seem to be very happy with the education they are getting.</p>
<p>Some Canadian schools to consider:</p>
<p>Queens
McGill
Toronto
Memorial (ridiculously low international tuition)</p>
<p>Oh, I almost forgot to mention: Since you are into hockey, Canada is almost a no-brainer.</p>
<p>Why would your parents be against it? Canadian universities are no different than American ones. The only difference is that the drinking age is 18 or 19, instead of 21, which means that there is less binge drinking on campus (a good thing, IMO). I believe you can even get US federal student aid in Canada.</p>
<p>Laxdude - Ask you parents this: Given your relatively poor high school performance, would they prefer you go to an elite Canadian university or a mediocre US college? Because based on what you have said so far, those are your choices, assuming your grades continue to climb.</p>
<p>Rodney is right. It is always best to have a goal in mind and focus on it during your application process. Admissions people like it when students know what they want and how they plan to get there. It won’t be enough to compensate for low grades and/or test scores, but anything that helps is worth considering.</p>
<p>Plus applications are determined by college, and within that by major. So often programs like psychology or communications are way more competitive than they should be, because a HUGE amount of students apply to them and the major can only accept so many. Undecided is the worst for that. You’re much better off putting down an actual major.</p>
<p>You should apply to whatever you think you’re most likely to enjoy. Biochem and computer science are in different colleges here, so it matters a lot which you go to. If you change your mind, you’d have to internally transfer, which can be a pain.</p>
<p>I agree with neuchimie. Pick a major that you think you will like. You can transfer later, but you may decide not to. Don’t pick a major just because you think it will be easier to get into. Other than the super competitive ones, like nursing, it won’t make a HUGE difference in your acceptance chances.</p>
<p>Hi, I just recently got accepted off of the waitlist at NEU and I have a similar story to yours! I was accepted to schools such as Drexel, American U, and Depaul University, but I was waitlisted at NEU. The other day I got the email offering me admission and immediately put down my deposit :D.</p>
<p>Anyway, I had a 2.8 freshman year, 3.05 sophomore year, and 3.3 junior year. Senior year I had a 3.9 by the time of my EA app to NEU and hold a 4.0 right now. I think that the important thing to do in this situation is focus on achieving really good standardized test scores while ensuring that your grades stay as high as possible. My ACT score was 31 with low science and reading scores and high English and math scores. I also took a lot of AP courses which I would recommend you do if it won’t affect your GPA much. Rule of thumb is a B+ instead of an A- makes it worth having taken the AP class.</p>
<p>Make sure that you write a stellar essay. My essay was 100% true and that made it easy to write. I wrote about the summer between junior and senior year. I focussed on a video that I saw on YouTube that was a promotional video for NASA with Carl Sagan in it. I said that this video made me do a complete 180 in terms of motivation and where I stood in my outlook on my life and future. I said that the depth of computer science (my intended major), finance, and physics fascinated me and set my heart on fire (passion).</p>
<p>The key things to take away is that you should focus on explaining your (newly realized) passion in the things that you love. Explain how your now motivated and are going to carry over the spirit of your last two high school years into your college years. With a great essay, some dedication from you, and a little luck, you should be able to get into NEU, Syracuse, or even BU. Keep your mind focussed on the prize and everything will be a lot easier for you. I wish you the best of luck, if you want to know anything else about my application process just ask on this thread or PM me. I think we have relatively similar situations so if I can help, I’d love to.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, and congratulations on your acceptance. I am taking 3 AP classes next year so that is very helpful. The entire curriculum here is that the lowest classes are CP classes so my GPA does have some weight on it. After hearing this I now feel like I have a decent chance at some of my mid to high reach schools. (NEU, BU, UMD, Syracuse)</p>