Northwestern is and always has been my dream school. I am a QuestBridge finalist and so far, I have ranked 3 more colleges after Northwestern. But now, I’m starting to question whether or not I should remove those 3 colleges from my rankings (it’s possible to do so). I realized that if I happen to get matched with a school other than Northwestern, I MUST go to that school, which I don’t think I’ll be very happy about because I’ll never know if I could’ve gotten accepted into Northwestern had I applied there through normal early decision (Northwestern lets unmatched finalists apply early decision again). I really really really want to attend Northwestern. What should I do?
**My stats:
*My family’s EFC is 0. This is important, as I’ve heard that colleges tend to match students who really have EFC’s equal or close to 0. Even though a very low number of finalists (roughly 700 out of 5,000) get matched to a school, having a low EFC means I may have a better chance at getting matched at Northwestern, but then that also means I have a better chance at any school that I rank…
GPA (weighted): 4.13 (out of 4.0)
GPA (unweighted): 3.8 (out of 4.0)
SAT Composite: 1310 (essay score is a 19/24)
ACT: Not reporting
Yes, I have low numbers on my application. But…
**Hooks: QuestBridge finalist; legacy (sister); took a summer program (CTD) there while residing in their dorms; I know a lot about Northwestern, so my writing supplement really reflected my knowledge and desire to go there; really good Common App & QuestBridge essays; (probably) really good teacher recommendations that talk about my positive and driven personality (one is from a Northwestern alumni, not sure if that is made known to the admissions officers), I’ve also made it clear that I had been abused by my grandfather when he moved into our house, which might explain my bad grades in junior year.
Notes:
- I’m applying to The School of Education and Social Policy to become an elementary school teacher (as reflected in my essays).
- Northwestern LOVES legacy, from what I’ve heard.
- Northwestern’s normal ED rate is about 26%, maybe even higher. It’s RD rate is about 9%.
Ideally, I want to keep the other 3 schools (USC, Rice, & Emory) on my rankings. But I really want to fully maximize my chances at Northwestern, which means applying several times. Please give me some advice!