My academic stats: 33 on my ACT. 36 in math and 35 in science which should help me as I plan on going in for a science major. Around a 3.9 unweighted GPA with being in the top 2 percent my class of 350 kids. As rigorous as a schedule as my school provides, and success in all my AP and honors classes as I’ve gotten all A’s in them. Of my four AP tests I’ve gotten a satisfactory 3 on all of them.
My extracurriculars aren’t that impressive, especially compared to the average Northwestern student. I am a four year participant of my school’s soccer team, two of those years on the varsity level. I am in my school’s anti-bullying group. I am in my schools NHS and have been moderately active in it. I have worked since my Junior year, around 10 hours a week during the school year. I am in my school’s recycling teams.
I plan on writing a solid essay and I don’t believe that the essay portion will be a weak spot of my application.
I am applying early decision. What are my chances of getting into the school? And what can I do to improve these chances?
At this level of school you have an average chance so 1 out of 5. Your goal should be to get in at least one school like Northwestern and not get emotionally attached.
Make sure you can afford Northwestern by running the school’s NPC.
Also, those “3s” aren’t great scores on AP exams given you had As in the classes. I don’t know the pros and cons of submitting AP scores during the admissions process, but you should research this topic.
3.9 GPA with a 33 ACT is pretty average for Northwestern admits. (that in itself is a compliment)
So – it’s a reach.
Make sure you apply to more reaches, some matches and at least one safety – and make sure you can afford your safety, at least.
The average chance at NU is closer to 1 out of 8.
Yep, about 12%. With very high stats – keep in mind they also let in a lot of D1-level athletes, comparable to Stanford and Duke.
Northwestern, like any other top 20 school, is a reach for everybody. Period.
Any advice on if I should send my AP scores? If I don’t it makes it seem like I did very poorly on them and am hiding it.
If you apply ED you should be pretty solid. For ED admissions they seem to focus a lot on ACT scores (they seem to admit a lot of 33-34+ ACTs with lower grades than you) so you should have maybe a 40% chance. Northwestern has a relatively high ED acceptance rate (over 30%), and while a big part of that is D1 athletes, it is still a huge advantage to show that level of commitment to the school, especially at a school like Northwestern that has to compete for yield rates (often unsuccessfully) with Ivies and other top schools.