To chance, or not to chance? Chance (me).

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>I have a friend at NU who really pushed me into applying (guy made me briefly obsessed about NU... after a mere 2 hour Facebook chat!). Hopefully adcoms reciprocate my excitement? </p>

<p>Applying to Weinberg as an economics major.</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT I (breakdown): 2270: 740CR, 740M, 790W (superscore)</p>

<p>SAT II: 800 US History, 800 Math II, 760 World History</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8 (kind of nervous about this - a number of A-s and a B- in calc 2nd quarter of senior year)</p>

<p>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No ranks or deciles of any sort</p>

<p>AP (place score in parenthesis): US History (5), English Lang. (5), US Gov’t (5), Macroeconomics (5)
Self studied APs: World History (4), European History (5), Psychology (4), Comparative Gov’t (5)</p>

<p>Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics B, AP Environmental, AP Calculus AB, AP English Lit., AP Latin, AP Human Geography, Photography Skills, Gym/Health</p>

<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, Commended PSAT Scholar, silver medal for National Latin Exam, cum laude certificate for National Latin Exam, and honorable mention for an essay contest hosted by an organization with whom I volunteer</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Human Service Club (Vice President), Latin Honor Society (Vice President), Academic Team (Captain), 3 years of JV Bowling, FBLA (Treasurer; cancelled this year), NHS (economics/history tutor), student rep. on a committee made to improve school performance</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Tutor at Kumon (3 years)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: Hindu rights group volunteer, Hindu Youth Group (in-charge of meals), head teacher for afterschool program chess class</p>

<p>Summer Activities: JSA Princeton (summer after 9th), Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar NJ (10th), Boy’s State (11th), Ivy Scholars at Yale (11th), internship at a prestigious political/business/economics publication on par with Time/Forbes (had a small article published in the print version) (11th)</p>

<p>Essays: CommonApp was memorable, albeit somewhat facetious; NU supplement I thought was uniquely taken (letter about school at NU to my parents), and definitely showed some good research of NU life.</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation: From my AP Gov teacher (should be good and I don't think he did any recycling of any sort on it), AP Lang. teacher (she's known to write good LoRs although recycles good chunks of it)</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: Good? I mean, don't think it matters much</p>

<p>Additional Rec: my boss from my internship (likely very strong)</p>

<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): New Jersey (rude drivers, pollution, and doesn't help chances... nice state, eh?)
Country (if international applicant): 'Merica
School Type: Run-of-the-mill public
Ethnicity: Asian - Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $120k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Beautiful hair?</p>

2

<p>Is this what this website has become? I used to check this place out for info about life at the college I actually got accepted into…</p>

<p>Kid, calm down. The fact that you’re even here posting your entire life as if anyone cares or has insight into whether you’ll get accepted is kind of ridiculous, and I know we Northwestern students are quite nerdy, but the best thing about [most of] us is that we’re normal, well-rounded people. </p>

<p>If you do get in, you’re gonna look back at this thread and probably be embarrassed. You sent in your materials; the only thing that will let you know if you got in or not is word from admissions. The only reason I replied to your hilariously self-serving thread is because no one else had, and I wanted to give you some insight into why.</p>

<p>Thank God I’ll be graduating soon. You kids get weirder and weirder each year.</p>

3

<p>That was so helpful! Good job hunting down a month old thread and telling them you think their post was stupid. That “kid” is graduating soon too, so you really aren’t avoiding anything. It calms the nerves to know whether people think you have a chance.</p>

<p>Honorlions, since no one responded, I think you have a pretty good chance. Good scores, good GPA. You have pretty much as good a chance as any non-hooked person can have at NU.</p>

4

<p>@chickchee- I’m gracious for your response; seldom do I expect such a humble edification from a CCer.
Yes, I am indeed aware that my app’s in, and I know everything’s out of my control at this point. Sadly, I was never aware that Northwestern students must never be even a little anxious about the ever so competitive admissions game and must never find some comfort from some honest opinions from a chance me thread. But you’re right - me starting a chance me thread is an obvious indicator that I’m not a “normal, well-rounded” person like you.

I happen to be graduating this year too, “kid”. Perhaps instead of condescendingly chastising me for starting “self-serving” threads on CC (as if people start threads to be altruistic), you yourself should learn a thing or two about how to deal with people, even strangers over the internet. </p>

<p>@Crimsonstained7- Thanks for the chance. An average shot’s all it takes in the cut-throat realm of college admissions these days!</p>

5

<p>I would say you have decent chances. I’m a freshman at NU right now and I did better than you on the SAT (although only marginally, I got a 2320) and I was a National Merit Scholar but I feel like probably the only reason I got in was because of being a National Merit Scholar (they ask you to submit your top two schools and one of mine was NU so clearly I showed that I had a lot of interest and I wasn’t likely to turn down admission if admitted) and because I was 2nd in my graduating class. I think you probably have better chances than I did because you aren’t like a typical pre-med Indian kid like I am and you also have internship experience!</p>

6

<p>What is the definition of a typical pre-med Indian kid?!!!</p>

7

<p>I was just referring to the stereotype that Indians are all pre-med or engineering students.</p>

8

<p>That stereotype is actually caused by the first generation Indian American parents, which will change with the second generation onward :-)</p>

9

<p>@rastogr: its actually sad. Many people back here in India still follow that stereotype, so much so, that many of the kids who go to engineering colleges have no clue what they are doing and end up hating what they study. Indians who apply to colleges abroad claim to do so to explore the other subjects, but end up studying engineering, econ, or mathematics instead, thus giving rise to the said stereotype.</p>

<p>@NorthwesternDad: we can only be hopeful that it changes!</p>

10

<p>Stuff like this makes me feel like I’m an underachiever, and I’m already at NU. Awks.</p>

11

<p>Not sure why you responded so cheekily to chickchee. Though he/she was blunt with the post, you can’t deny that there is some truth to the theme there. You say, “you yourself should learn a thing or two about how to deal with people, even strangers over the internet” but to that I say, it IS the internet. Chickchee was very straightforward (and with good reason in my opinion) but you have no need to get offended and respond with such sarcasm, which only shows more of your own character and not in the best light.</p>

<p>That being said, I think you know how well your portfolio is, but you just want confirmation from others, which is okay. Sure, it’s not perfect, but you’ve achieved a lot and your stats are very good and solid. Not saying to get all peppy and optimistic but you know… I don’t think you think you really need someone else to chance you. </p>

<p>While I think chickchee could have been less… blunt, I think personally that there is some good advice there. What happens happens. You have a chance. Good luck though!</p>

12

<p>Honestly, I think it is a total crap shoot if you are a top 1% student, have a ton of volunteer hours and have been involved in sports/activities in high school. My daughter applied and was accepted last year. We were actually kind of surprised that she was accepted. She was valedictorian of her small high school, volunteered at one particular place since middle school and did cheer/golf in high school. She applied to the journalism school so I don’t know if that made a difference. She had a very nice interview (at Starbucks) with an alum. She was differed early action from Yale, but denied admission at regular admission. In the end she chose Mizzou and attends there now. It was the best decision for her. She already has a very high profile internship with CBS this summer (they never offer them to freshman.) I really think there are so many more factors than just grades, class rank, community service and extracurriculars. What state you come from, your intended major, etc. play a very important part in the admissions process. I feel that they want a very diverse group of students.</p>

13

<p>Your intended major makes no difference; just your intended school. And even then there is not much of a difference in the acceptance rates. But obviously you have to be a good musician for Bienen, extra good writing for Medill, etc. But the rest of what you said is absolutely correct. They like geographic diversity, and other things that people can’t plan.</p>