What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I am a rising senior in high school, in Fairfax county (one of the best public school counties) and Northwestern is my first choice/dream school. I am applying early decision and wpuld live to know what you think my chances are!</p>

<p>SAT-1950
Cr 670
M 600
W 680</p>

<p>I know this is relatively low for nu, this was only my second time taking it and i have a tutor and am going to take to take it again in the fall, along with subject tests.</p>

<p>ACT - 30
english 35
Math 27
Science 27
Reading 32</p>

<p>This was my first time taking it with no prep, and i am going to take it again in the fall after tutoring in pursuit of a higher composite score.</p>

<p>My school is an IB school, and i have taken all ib classes since freshman year, making honor roll every year. However, I did not pursue the full IB diploma because I did not think i would do well along with all of my ecs.</p>

<p>ECs:
-Varsity lacrosse four years, captain for j/sr year
-Jv field hockey fr/so year
-Xc jr/sr year
-Indoor track so/jr/sr year
-3 year Writing center tutor/ statistical analyst
(our high school was the first writing center in the county and many high schools have modeled us) the writing center is paired with a class, advanced composition and i have taken that for three years as well.
-President of the student government association sr year
-representative of the student advisory council sr year
-selected to attend the west point leadership and ethics conference, where my skit for ethical resolutions won 1st place
-committee chair for the march of dimes fundraiser through key club ( key club for so/jr/sr year)</p>

<ul>
<li>i am currently pursuing my dive master scuba diving cert, and am considering using my dive experiences in my essay. </li>
</ul>

<p>One other thing, at my school tutorial learning blocks are offered instead of a class, most jrs and srs take them because it serves as a break to catch up on homework or go home early. I have opted out of this for both jr and sr year and therefore am graduating with 2 more classes taken than most everyone else. I'm not sure how significant this is but I think it will really help me prepare for college. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance for the feedback!!</p>

2

<p>I forgot to add National Honor Society, I’m and advanced diploma candidate, and I am in a leadership class which is almost exclusively student run and does service projects throughout the year such as reading to first graders once a week, sending packages of toiletries to soldiers, and so on. Thanks again!</p>

3

<p>Shannon, I didn’t see where you posted your GPA and class rank or approximate decile? You’ll probably still need to increase your ACT (the better test result) score by at least 2 points to be more competitive. Best of luck to you.</p>

4

<p>3.9 uw. Sorry about that! My school doesn’t really do rankings but i have a medium sized class and i would say im probably close to top 10%</p>

5

<p>Hi Shannon-
Your GPA-solid. Your test scores-low end. Your EC in LaCrosse could be a hook.
Your essay may tip the scales in your favor.
G’Luck!-APOL-a Mum</p>

6

<p>Your transcript and ECs are very solid and competitive. Your test scores are quite poor for NU. Your sports (especially the Lax, as noted by APOL) could be the hook for you, but you’ll certainly be better off if you get either the SAT or ACT up. One or two points on the ACT would be huge for you.</p>

7

<p>Okay so I’m super confident that I can boost my Act score by a few points, but with the sat im hoping to break 2000. Would it be better to just submit my act score when i go to apply if I do indeed get a higher score?</p>

8

<p>First double check to see whether NU requires you to submit all scores of the SAT and ACT. I don’t think they do, but am not positive. I’m sure that someone else here knows this.</p>

<p>Assuming they don’t you can easily compare your ACT and SAT scores. Here is a link from ACT. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/pdf/reference.pdf[/url]”>http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/pdf/reference.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If one set of scores was materially better than the other, I’d only submit the better ones. If both are close – say within one ACT point, I’d probably submit both.</p>

9

<p>This past year, my school, which normally has like 20 kids end up at Northwestern (top chicago school) had a lot of Lacrose players accepted.</p>

<p>rumors were that they were looking for lacrosse players maybe and thats why those kids who weren’t all that great got in.</p>

<p>good luck</p>