<p>pkmontag, I will respond to your added information very soon. If anyone else has any suggestions, I (and I imagine pkmontag too) would really appreciate it.</p>
<p>GrammerNazi & alwaysleah, </p>
<p>I am perfectly willing to concede that things have become unnecessarily heated. For that I will apologize. But to me, this argument is not about Northwestern. Despite appearances, I’m not here to make myself feel good.</p>
<p>To me, there is a very prevalent (and in my opinion, problematic) sense of elitism toward all schools outside of the top 5/10/whatever that seems to crop up in discussions about them on this site. Not just Northwestern. In addition, there is an extreme reverence toward those schools that are in the top 5. And what I was trying to say is that I think that’s actually dangerous. </p>
<p>The reason I think the suggestion to aim higher is “insulting” (and that might not be precisely the correct word) is because: </p>
<p>1, none of us knew what pkmontag was looking to do/major in from his first post. It’s actually possible that Northwestern had a better/more expansive program in that field than the schools being suggested that are ranked higher on a general basis. Or perhaps pkmontag was drawn to NU’s extensive choice of special programs and/or certificates, like MMSS or the Kellogg Certificate, which are unique to NU. Who knows? (We do now, but I think that question should have been asked first.)</p>
<p>2, I feel that the difficulty of getting into NU is being downplayed. phuriku actually said, “As long as you show interest in them in your application, you’re in.” I think that is what set me off more than anything else in this thread.</p>
<p>This is where I think that being a senior rather than a sophomore comes into play. I had plenty of secondhand knowledge when I was a sophomore; that’s when I joined this site. But now that I’ve gone through it all, at a time when many colleges have had their most competitive admissions season ever, I can say that I feel much more knowledgeable.</p>
<p>Because it’s jarring when you see people that have been in accelerated classes since 3rd grade, who have always been high-achieving and recognized for it, not get into the schools everyone expects them too. You should have heard some of the shocked whispers. Perhaps I’m making college admissions seem like more of a horror story than I need to, but I think it’s best to err on the side of caution.</p>
<p>Let’s please just end this on a respectful note, and get back to helping pkmontag out. That’s what this whole thread is supposed to be about.</p>