<p>SAT: 1320/1990 (720CR,600M,670W)</p>
<p>GPA: 3.7 GPA (2 APs, 5 honors)</p>
<p>Hooks: From Puerto Rico, URM.</p>
<p>Essays: Pretty good I would say, maybe great.</p>
<p>Recomendations: Same as essays. Probably described as an extroverted leader with "potential".</p>
<p>Major: Economics </p>
<p>ECs: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>United Nations: 2012-present, Vice President. 30 minutes per week. Competition about once every 3 months (during school years only). 2 days each competition. 4 hours each day. Here are my results: 1st place twice, 2nd once, 3rd once, 4th once. Twice served as a chair/judge. Have won over 10 different recognition for in total. Acted as a judge during a committee on the Conflict in Mali . Was the president of a committee on the Israeli Palestinian conflict during this month of November. Participated at the Best Delegate program located in University of Florida. </p></li>
<li><p>Boxing / MMA: 2010-2012 (summers, 4 hours per week), 2012-2013 (approximately the whole year, 4 hours). </p></li>
<li><p>Basketball: 2010-2012 (4 hours per week). Starting Power Forward in Trujillo Alto team.</p></li>
<li><p>Political Activism: late 2012-present. Unofficial group since school does not permit political groups. I am the leader of it. We discuss local issues and have participated in several protests. We usually discuss issues for about 30 minutes to an hour. We usually stay in the protests for 3 hours.</p></li>
<li><p>AM Radio: 2011. Participated as a guest at a local AM Radio station. I served as an NBA analyst here. I appeared in the show for about 1 hour per week.</p></li>
<li><p>Community Service: 40 hours at "La Fondita de Jesús" during 12th grade</p></li>
<li><p>Play Guitar</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Same question here - should I bother?</p>
<p>Objective:
- [<em>] SAT I: 2080 (CR 650 M 660 W 770) - so since NU doesn’t use writing, 1310
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
[<em>] Weighted GPA: 3.97
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank, but counselor listed rank as “Outstanding” on the CommonApp
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Language Arts and Composition (5), United States History (5)
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Government, American Art and Experience, Statistics, Chinese 2, AP Literature, Journalism, Advanced Computer Science
[<em>] Major Awards: Short story competition, programming award
Subjective:
- [</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Founder and president of human rights club, managing editor of school newspaper, piano and music theory, college artificial intelligence class, honor council, babysitting
[<em>]Publications: Published on national news website
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: summer intern at major live-streaming network
[<em>] Essays: Great!
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: Great!
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Great!
[</em>] Additional Rec: Great!
[<em>] Interview: N/A
Other[ul]
[</em>] State: California
[<em>] School Type: Independent
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian adoptee
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>]Income bracket: 100,000
[/ul]</p>
<p>The answer is yes! Northwestern does admit a few wildcards every year (and not just athletic recruits, URMs, development cases, legacy, etc.), surprising everybody. If you get in, you were deemed worthy of admission over thousands of other highly qualified students so there must have been a reason for it. If you make it, you make it. </p>
<p>I remember in 2012, a non-URM/athletic recruit/development/legacy student from the local high school (a highly competitive suburban public) was admitted RD with a 1990, and it just completely shocked everyone (not in a bad way…the student was smart, but his score was simply well below average for NU). Over 50 applied, 4 got in (2200, 2300, 2300, and 1990) and the rest were waitlisted or denied with 2200+ and 2100+. The student was near the top of the class though. </p>
<p>Make sure your essays and recs have substance and depth and that your app has a coherent theme.</p>
<p>That’s nice to hear. I just wonder like…why do they admit these “wildcards”? Like…I don’t know, why?</p>
<p>Because they’re interesting?</p>
<p>I know that, but like what kinds of things make people like that stand out?</p>
<p>Thank you! Then I guess I will try! I really like Northwester. The combination of great academics, sports and a solid social scene reaaaally appeals to me!</p>
<p>Additional questions: what do you mean by development cases?</p>
<p>I also have an upward trend this year. I’ll likely finish this semester with a 3.9 GPA (note that my school weighs but has a maximum of 4.0 anyways). Hope this gives me a chance!</p>
<p>Also, since I am a URM, would that be especially looked at, since Northwestern has a considerably low amount of Hispanics and minorities? </p>
<p>Lastly, I think it is worth noting that the average SAT in Puerto Rico is only 1340. The average SAT in my school (which is one of the top in PR) is 1530. Does this all help me even further?</p>
<p>I would re-take the SAT if possible, in both cases. 1320 and 1310 (for math and critical reading) are very low for NU.</p>
<p>Thank God for this thread!! I was so worried that my 2060/1270 would kill my chances, but hopefully my letters of rec, GPA, and essays will keep the dream alive! Good luck to everyone. I’m definitely making sure that I find other schools that appeal to me, though, as I know the odds definitely aren’t in my favor.</p>
<p>To anyone that’s a current wildcat: do you have any other friends that are in the “wildcard” category?</p>
<p>To anyone currently in this thread worrying about having scores too low:</p>
<p>If your grades or SATs are prohibitive and can’t be improved, focus on being interesting. I know someone in my class whose reach school was American University, or something like that. Instead, he ended up coming here. I asked him what he thinks set him over, and he showed me his website. This guy had started a news website with a staff of 15 in his free time. Now he’s very engaged in the political science program. He’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he’s crossed his magazine over to be part of Northwestern and now everything is hunky dory for him.</p>
<p>Further, schools look for people to fill spots: spots on teams, in programs, etc. They don’t want to have any academic programs or student organizations flounder because of not having enough people in. This is the reason they don’t just take people with the highest SAT scores. Egonomics, for example, might be in good shape because of boxing. This isn’t a large part of the admissions process, but in my experience it has seemed to be more so for NU than other schools. Get in touch with the boxing club team at NU to see if it’s something you’d like to do.</p>
<p>Hey, I think you have a good shot overall. Just wondering but, what was your GPA from your freshman, sophomore, and junior year?</p>