<p>I'm currently a high school senior and am pretty much set on Northwestern. My parents would never let me ED there, though. They think that I have a shot at schools like Princeton and Columbia and would just about die if I ever picked NU over the slightest possibility of getting into MIT or an ivy league. They also want to keep me as close to home as possible.</p>
<p>I've even considered ED-ing without telling them and figuring out later (not the best idea). Should I continue trying to convince them (there is maybe a 1 in a million chance they would let me) or should I just RD and hope for the best? Will it hurt my chances if I RD instead of ED?</p>
<p>For reference:
- College and Program: McCormick (Chem Engineering)
- SAT I (by section): 700cr/750m/800w (going for higher math score in October)
- SAT IIs: Chem 750, Math II 760
- APs: three 5s, one 4
- GPA (UW, W): 3.93, 4.42
- State: New York
- Ethnicity: Asian
- Gender: Female</p>
Northwestern engineering is better than Columbia and has nicer and bigger facilities (there is no way Tech and Ford buildings can fit into Columbia campus).
ED rate is significantly higher than RD rate (about twice or more).
Without considering your ECs, your M+CR alone puts you BELOW the median of McCormick. Your SAT II are good but not outstanding, especially for engineering. That makes the boost from ED even more precious. </p>
<p>Try to convince them how it’s unrealistic to get into MIT/Princeton/Columbia with your school’s past experience or your advisor’s assessment; tell them if you don’t grab this ED, you have a good possiblity of ending up at some school outside the top-20. That would really make them feel embarassed as the prestige obssesed Asian parents in NY. ;)</p>
<p>I’m sorry tougis, but I disagree. A lot of colleges like having ED options so that they know exactly who really wants to go there. While the percentage of people being accepted from the ED pool is higher than that of the RD pool, the fact that you are applying RD will not hurt your chances. They only reason why that ED percentage is higher is because those ED students have already made a commitment.
oneswehail, I agree with your parents that you certainly have a shot of getting into MIT or an Ivy, but what good is an Ivy league education if you aren’t happy there? You may perform at less than your full potential because it is not the right place for you. If Northwestern is your end-all-be-all, you’ve visited, sat in on classes, talked with students who go there, and have decided that there is nowhere else you’d rather be, then push for it. Keep talking to your parents about it. Don’t scream, pout, cry, etc. just talk calmly like an adult and show them your point of view.</p>
<p>For ED, it does have some advantage if your credential is at or above admission average mainly because of the binding commitment. Also, there are less applicants for ED as there is a limit of one per student. For the RD, there is no limit for application and there are much much more applications (including those rejected or deferred from other ED) competing for the remaining spots. The chance is obviously lower. But if your credential is below admission average, there is little reason why a prestigious would accept less qualify students early as they know there will be more high quantity applicants coming for RD.</p>
<p>Hunnyfield, I have no idea what you’re saying there. The one thing that’s perfectly clear about college applications is that it always boosts your chances to apply ED. Many things are controversial in this world–that is not.</p>
<p>Oneswehail unless you have a hook you haven’t mentioned your chances at NU are very uncertain. A 1450 M+V is below the average admit these days. You would have good shot at ED but much less RD. Applicants without hooks getting into the top Ivies approach 800 in verbal scores and sadly the writing section counts for very little. I know many students with far higher stats rejected from all top schools including NU so your parents may need to rethink the plan.</p>
<p>Everyone’s chances are uncertain, but I’m going to have to disagree with SAY. I think for NU you have as good a chance as most people do with NU (especially with a higher score that you’re hoping for on the SAT). However, for the other schools, your parents should rethink their pushing for it, because for the top schools like MIT and Princeton it’s a crapshoot normally, and your SAT CR+M will still not be the top most likely. Plus, NU has more variety, and the more you’ve experienced, the better you’ll come out of college.</p>
<p>Crimson what exactly are you disagreeing about? I said there was a good chance for ED and that RD is a crapshoot. The applicant is an Asian female with good but below average test scores for NU. A very large percentage of such applicants get rejected. A higher test score would of course improve her chances. At the other schools she mentioned her chances are slim at best without a big hook.</p>
<p>For some reason I glossed over the “good shot at ED” part and thought you were saying she had a poor chance all around. Sorry, I was arguing that she would have a good ED chance because I missed that</p>
<p>While you would have a better chance of acceptance at Northwestern by applying ED, you must remember that ED acceptance is a commitment to attend. Financially you need to be able to do so and hard to make that commitment without your parent’s approval. In fact at the high school that both of my d’s attended in Nassau County, any ED application requires a meeting and an agreement between the family and the guidance department. The guidance department is sending the transcript and application materials along with your resume/activities list as well as their own personal recommendation/assessment of you as a candidate so it would just about impossible to apply without family agreement.</p>
<p>Remember it reflects badly on your high school and hurts chances for any future applicants from your high school to have to back out of ED acceptance unless there are extenuating circumstances beyond “my parents won’t let me go there”.</p>
<p>Financial is a very critical consideration before apply ED, however, NU has pretty good financial aid for students with need. One should worry less about that. However, you do not have a chance to compare financial aid package with other schools as you need to make decision much earlier. In other words, NU is most likely affordable (perhaps with loans and work study) as they have 100% need met, but you cannot find out if you may pay even less out of your pocket for other schools by the time you respond to NU.</p>
<p>SAY - you commented that SAT of 1450 CR+M is “below the average admit these days” - the profile for the class of 2014 has middle 50% of 660-740 for CR and 680-770 for M, so a 1450 is not below the average</p>
<p>cba- the other thing to keep in mind is that the hooked students bring down this average such that average SAT for non-hooked RD applicants is even higher.</p>
<p>^^ yes but if 50% of admitted students fall between 1340 - 1510, 25% of students are even lower than 1340 and that is where some of the hooked students’ scores may fall. So again, a 1450 is well within the 50% range</p>
<p>Of course many students get in at 1450 and below but many of them have hooks. This poster is an Asian female and statistically they receive acceptances at a much lower rate with the same SAT scores as students of other races.</p>
<p>The latest available range for ENROLLED students is NOT 1340 - 1510 (actually even that was wrong according to common data set; you’d have to go back to the 2006-07 cycle for a similar range); it’s 1390 - 1550.</p>