Hi everyone,
To those who have some background knowledge, I was wondering, based on the information below, whether or not it is likely that I will be accepted into Northwestern. I come from a middle class family, and it has been my dream to go to this college. I am currently a freshman in high school, but these are the classes I have taken/ am planning to take
I want to be in a career involving both art and business, such as interior design or event planning
Academics ~
- 7th Grade(High School Credit) - Honors Geometry
-Eighth Grade(High School Credit) - Honors Writing Foundations, Honors Algebra 2
- Freshman Year - Drawing and Painting I, Honors PreCalculus, Honors Public Speaking, Honors Writing Skills, AP Human Geography, Intro to Culinary Arts
- Sophomore Year - Advanced Public Speaking, Intro to Marketing, AP Calculus, AP US History, Honors British Literature, Painting II, Interior Design
-Junior(Not all planned out yet) - AB Calculus, AP Literature, AP European History, AP Psych, and I’m not sure for the rest.
- Same with Senior year - AC Calculus, AP World History, and I'm not positive for the rest
Extracurriculars
- Forensics(Public Speaking Competitively)
- Driven(Leadership Group)
- KEY Club (Kiwanis Encourages Youth; Volunteer group)
- Honors Art Society
- Stage Crew for musicals
- National Honors Society
Accomplishments
- Poetry Contest Winner 3x
- 1st Place in Kiwanis Art Show
- 3rd Place in Forensics meet
I know I don’t have much so far, but right now I am a freshman, and am still looking for more opportunities.
Too early. Northwestern does have one of the nation’s best forensics teams.
You have all the time in the world to worry about that. Right now, go hang out with your friends and do 15 yr old stuff!! 
Also, don’t get hung up on one college. There’s 3000 to choose from. Far too often, I see seniors so hung up on “dream schools” that they lose sight of their real dreams and ambitions. They get to their dream school and find out that it’s a lousy fit when they decide what they really want to do.
My suggestion…while you’re growing-up, spend some time soul searching and develop your talents. If you go in with direction and ambition, you’ll find that the college won’t matter all that much.
No one can tell you your chances at this time. It’s much too early - you’d need several semesters of grades and test scores at a minimum.
Northwestern accepted 9.3 percent for the Class of 2021 and about half the class was admitted Early Decision. The middle 50 percent of admitted students scored 32-34 on the ACT or 1440-1540 on the SAT. http://admissions.northwestern.edu/documents/Class%20of%202021%20Facts%20and%20Figures.pdf Notice the low acceptance rate - even among students who have good academic stats, it’s very hard to predict who will get admitted.
Work hard, take challenging classes (you didn’t list your science classes), get good grades, prepare for the tests when the time comes, and do things you’re interested in. Apply to a list of schools that fit your academic stats as well as your interests. Here is an article that nicely sums up a perspective on preparing for elite college admissions: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
This is pretty late after your post date, but I thought I’d offer some perspective as a current Northwestern Undergrad.
I’ll filter my thoughts down into a few categories:
ABOUT YOU:
- It's AWESOME that you are thinking about this now - the fact that you are engaging with the process now is a great first step, and an indicator that you'll do well in your applications
- You want to combine art and business - also awesome! Our marketing slogan goes, "AND is in our DNA" and there's a lot of truth there. Northwestern is perhaps THE best place to double major or minor and explore two or more different interests. Play this up. I'll get more into this later down the thread.
ON GRADES, TEST SCORES, AND METRICS:
- Northwestern is an incredibly competitive school - you know this, and that's why you're asking the question, "Will I be accepted?" To that end: no matter WHAT your test scores and GPA are, there will be THOUSANDS of applicants who are numerically identical to you. There is no magic number or hard cutoff at which you will be accepted or rejected. Do not obsess over getting exactly a 3X or 21XX on your SAT. The middle 50% range in the "Class of ___" statistics is a good target to aim for. Obviously, higher is better, but personally, I don't see the value in retaking the ACT to bump yourself from a 33 to a 34 or 35 just because that's the number you have in your head.
- GRADES: every high school is different - same idea as above; you'll see a ton of kids on this site posting their specific GPA's and curriculums; these do not apply to you. You do not go to their high schools. What you need to focus on is exploring the most challenging curriculum you can find AND THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN. If you don't like chemistry and don't plan on going pre-med, etc, don't take AP Chem if that class will put extreme stress on other areas of your life. If you are even slightly curious about the subject, absolutely go for it. If not, skip it. I know that runs contrary to a lot of the advice here, but in hindsight, it is absolutely true.
- CLASS RANK: ...is a nice to have feature. Push yourself to the best of your abilities, and the chips will fall where they will. I got in RD and was actually a few slots out of the top 10% of my class. I did not go to one of the more "prestigious" high schools in my area, either. Do not stress about this, or any other specific metric. What should dominate your thoughts, however, is being an interesting, passionate human being. This is a good segue to your application.
ON YOUR APPLICATION
- I said this above, and will say it again: no matter what your scores are, there are THOUSANDS of kids who will be numerically identical to you. Your grades will not swing you over the edge into acceptance. They are your ticket to the fight. What you need to do is craft a cohesive story about who you are as a person. Northwestern admits HUMANS, not collections of statistics.
- EXTRACURRICULARS: choose the things you like to do BECAUSE you are passionate about them. If you do not enjoy Key Club, do not participate in Key Club. Extracurriculars are great because they give you talking points for your essays and interviews. If you cannot articulate why you are doing something other than "because it looks good on a college application," you should seriously evaluate whether that thing is worth your time.
- EXTRACURRICULARS (2): In crafting a story for yourself, it's important to find unique twists to spin on what you do. There are 1000's of varsity athletes and theater actors on the waitlist. Example: in high school, I was really into photography - not only was I the only on-staff yearbook photographer, but I also started a fairly profitable photography business, donated my time taking family portraits at a local free clinic, and begged my way into an internship with an area commercial photographer (who wrote a great letter of rec) - do you see how that's a more cohesive, fleshed out story than "I did theater for four years" or "I played a sport for four year"? Specifics are important. Build your resume as such.
ON NORTHWESTERN:
- Northwestern is actually a fantastic place to study design - it was one of the first universities in the country to require that all freshman engineering students take a design thinking sequence. For your future, you should consider a career in design. Don't lock yourself into just interior design either: User Experience design is a wholistic, human centered approach to design that takes real customer needs into account to solve business challenges. Maybe you'd enjoy interface/digital design. Maybe physical product. Maybe even interiors. Any way you slice it, you'll need both your visual, artistic eye to communicate your ideas and a business mindset to convince others that your ideas are worth pursuing.
Not to mention, with a solid portfolio, there are A TON of well paying (anywhere from $65,000-$100,000 right out of school depending on the city and industry) design jobs out there.
- AP credit - super valuable here! I took Calc BC in high school and tested out of TWO QUARTER of math - that saved me so much work. The intro calc sequence here can be kind of brutal, especially if, like me, you learn STEM subjects best in small groups. Take all of the tests you can. Best case scenario, you can graduate maybe even in three years. At the very least, you can avoid a large intro class.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Ultimately, it boils down to this: yes, it’s a hard school to get into. When you apply, the RD acceptance rate will likely be somewhere between 7 and 8 percent. Don’t let that stop you. Obviously, it’s important to do well and get good test scores, but it’s EVEN MORE important to be an interesting, passionate human being with a cohesive story.
Do what you like to do, push the boundaries of what you can do with those things, and keep your metrics within the average range of the Class of ____, and your acceptance should follow.
It is also worth noting that Northwestern is NOT the only school for you - HS guidance counselors like to have you narrow down your applications to just a few “reach” schools. This is wrong. Flip the pyramid on its head; apply to just a few safety schools, and spread your applications wide at the top.