What are my chances of getting into Northwestern or Cornell?

Hello, I am currently a Junior at a pretty competitive high school. I am quite unsure about whether I will be able to get into some of the colleges I like. Northwestern has been my dream school for as long as I can remember, and recently I have taken a liking into Cornell after I visited the campus. For those reasons I was wondering what you think my chances are of getting into these universities. Within Northwestern I am also wondering if I could get into The Honors Program in Medical Education (HPME); it a highly competitive fast track med program. If you have any suggestions I am open to hearing them as I value your opinion. Thank you.

High School Type: Public
Location: Texas
Race/Gender: Asian Female
Prospective Major: Pre Medicine

Unweighted GPA: 3.95/4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.47
Class Rank: 40/870 (I realize it is quite low and I am working on improving it.)

PSAT Score: 1480/1520
ACT Score: 35/36 (English:36 Math:35 Reading:34 Science 34)
SAT Math 2 Subject test: 800/800
SAT Chemistry Subject test: 760/800 (I realize this is low as well.)
AP/IB Scores: AP Human Geography:4 AP World History:4 AP Psychology:5 AP Physics I:4 AP Biology:5 AP Statistics:5 IB Economics SL: 5 (I will be taking 5 other IB exams and 1 AP exam senior year )

Courses and grades:
9th Grade
AP Human Geography (SEM1:92 SEM2:95)
Honors English (SEM1:96 SEM2: 97)
Honors Biology (SEM1:90 SEM2: 95)
Honors Spanish (SEM1:93 SEM2 93)
Honors Geometry (SEM1:89 SEM2:92)

10th Grade
AP World History (SEM1:98 SEM2:95)
Honors English II (SEM1:99 SEM2:98)
Honors Algebra II (SEM1:97 SEM2:97)
AP Physics (SEM1:89 SEM2:94)
Honors Spanish III (SEM1:94 SEM2:95)
Honors Art (SEM1:97 SEM2:97)
AP Psychology (SEM1:90 SEM2:90)

11th Grade
IB English III (SEM1:97 SEM2:98)
IB Advanced Math I (SEM1:90 SEM2:90)
IB Chemistry I (SEM1:94 SEM2:95)
IB History of Americas I (SEM1:92 SEM2:93)
AP Biology (SEM1:93 SEM2:94)
AP Statistics (SEM1:97 SEM2:98)
IB Spanish IV (SEM1:94 SEM2:94)
IB Economics (SEM1:94 SEM2:95)

12th Grade (These are courses that I will/may take.)
IB English IV
IB Advanced Math II
IB Chemistry II
IB History of Americas II
AP Physics 2 (not sure about this one especially after how my last physics course went)
IB Spanish V
AP Computer Science
AP Environmental Science (I heard this course is any easy GPA boost, but I don’t think it will be useful. Am I wrong?)

Online Courses:

MIT Launch X- Becoming an Entrepreneur — Massachusetts Institution of Technology
Google Business Consulting Program — Google
Stanford Design Thinking Course — Stanford University
Business and Technology Emerging Trends Course — McKinsey and Company

HONORS & AWARDS
3rd Place: Science Olympiad
National qualifier: State DECA Finance Competition

1rd Place: Regional Brain Bee

2nd Place: District DECA Finance Competition

2rd Place: District HOSA Competition (Dental Health)
Gold Presidential Service Award
Finalist: State DECA Finance Competition

3rd Place: Regional Brain Bee

2nd Place: District DECA Finance Competition

3rd Place: District HOSA Competition (Public Health)

Honorable Mention: 10th grade Math Kangaroo Event

Service Award for Emergency Response Team

Bronze Presidential Service Award

Silver Barbara James Recipient

1st KGS Speech Competition

2rd UIL Number Sense Competition

4th UIL Calculator Application Competition

5th UIL Science Competition

Honorable Mention UIL Spelling Competition

3rd UIL Mathematics Competition

PACE Award Recipient

Extracurriculars w/ Roles:
Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA)
Treasurer: responsible for keeping accurate books that to give a full financial report for the club
Distributive Educational Clubs of America (DECA)
Event Organizer: organize seminars/events with special financial speaker
Red Cross
Blood Donation Group: aid with the locations and carry out of blood donations in the local area
Science UIL
Member: Participate in the Science UIL competitions and study with other club members.
Math UIL
Member: Participate in the Math UIL competitions and study with other club members.
Spelling UIL
Member: Participate in the Spelling UIL competitions and study with other club members.
Emergency Response Team
Writer: Write articles about recent activities for the club blog.
Spanish Club
Photographer: Take pictures at events and activities hosted by the Spanish Club.
National Spanish Honor Society
Member: Participate in activities and volunteer with club members at Hispanic/Latino cultural events.
National Honor Society
Historian: Participate in activities and volunteer individually or with club members.
World Scholars Club
Treasurer: responsible for keeping accurate books that to give a full financial report for the club.
KGS Youth Organization

Co- Vice President: Tutor kids, organize volunteer events, and plan KGS seasonal competitions.

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE w/ Number of Years
Stewpot @ the Bridge (5 years)
Volunteer by serving food and tutoring kids at this homeless shelter ever Saturday for 2 hours.
KGS (5 years)
Volunteer as a tutor for students in math from kindergarten to 7th grade every other Friday for 1.5 hours.
Habitat for Humanity (3 years)
Volunteer in this program (though HOSA) as a blueprint editor and ground level foundation designer.
School Blood Drive (2 years)
Volunteer in 4 different school blood drives by checking the forms of potential blood donors.
Nationwide Hospital (2 years)
Volunteer in a cellular pathology research lab as a data tracker and specimen organizer.

SUMMER ENRICHMENT
iStart Valley Summer Internship Program
Ten-week program for aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their creative ideas into growing Tech Startups. The program
partnered with investors to help fund the startup ideas. Affiliated programs include Microsoft BizSpark, 1M\1M Silicon
Valley, F6S, Startup Weekend, and Google for Entrepreneurs.
University of Texas at Austin (Biochemistry Lab)
Worked as a research Intern under Dr. *** Hudson, Ph.D. Published a journal about Photoactive proteins and their
effects on the inner retina and outer cornea.

You look great! Good EC’s, good grades, and AMAZING test scores!!! I don’t know about the honors program at Northwestern, but you seem like a probable acceptance there. Cornell is tougher to get into, but your application lines up with their typical accept. My friend is going there and did not look as good as you (although he applied ED). I think as long as you show some sort of passion, you have a great chance!!! Good luck! Please chance me back!

And although you believe your class rank is low, I don’t thin that it matters that much. It surprises me that you are ranked 40th with such a high GPA. That may raise some red flags for admission officers about your school. Our past class valadictorian had a W GPA of 4.42…

@GAB444 lol whaaat are you talking about. northwestern is most definitely harder to get into than cornell. 9% acceptance rate this year vs a 13ish for cornell. also HPME is quite possibly the hardest program for graduating seniors in the US to gain acceptance into. it has less than a 1 percent acceptance rate and people who get into it regularly turn down harvard, priceton and stanford…

@GAB444 Yeah the people at my school are crazy smart. Like if you get one B you’re automatically out of the top 20 people. And yes I will make sure to show some sort of passion. Thank You.

YES you’re definitely on track to getting into either or both! Although I’m surprised you’re only 40th in your class with such a high GPA…

@KaylaBella001 Thanks! And it may seem surprising that I am ranked 40 in my class, but within my school it is really not because the top twenty people all have extremely high A’s and many APs or IBs , but I’ve had 2 B’s and some of my A’s are low compared to the grades that people ranked higher than me have.

@KaylaBella001 When ranks came out I thought I would be ranked in the 60s with my grades, so I’m pretty lucky. But I am working on improving it with my Senior IBs and APs.

@GAB444


Since when was Cornell easier to get into than NU. Just because it’s an ivy doesn’t mean much.

On topic: @lmao88

You are a High Match for both. An over all great application. Apply ED to NU.

I missread. Thought it was Northeastern not Northwestern. Sorry. @VANDEMORY1342 @jaecha

Wait… how is your GPA so high if you got 2 B’s? I have never gotten a B and my GPA is a 4.03.

@GAB444 My weighted GPA is that high because I got a B in only one semester of the two courses (AP Physics and Honors Geometry) the other semester I got an A. And the 8 AP/IB (5.0 weighted) courses in my junior year made up for the those grades. And I also took an AP Gov course over the summer at a college, and I got a 94 SEM1 and 95 SEM2 in that course. Hope that explains.

You will definitely be competitive for NW and Cornell. Just remember those are dreams schools for a lot of talented students, so be sure to apply to a safety! Best of luck.