Will I get into Northwestern school of journalism?

Hi guys sorry for the annoying question but I don’t know if it’s really worth applying with my GPA.

So here are some facts about me.

ACT score: 33
SAT score: 1380 (I’m waiting on a new score from a more recent test to come back)
GPA: 3.8

I’m a junior right now, and I plan to apply ED.
I’m the editor-in-chief of my school paper.
In 2017 a news story I wrote won a national award from a high school press association.
I’m Latina (I plan to reach out to NU’s council of Latino admissions).
I’ve done around 80 hours of local/global community service.
I play the viola and have participated in a lot of solo recitals and competitions, where I’ve ranked highly.
I am a member of the debate team and have won best speaker awards 3 times at debate conventions.
I have participated in poetry recital competitions and was the school champion 3 years in a row.

In general I’m really really passionate journalism and consider myself to be a good writer, so I’m my essay will also be solid.

Hi, I’m a Latina Medill student as well! Northwestern values diversity, so that’s a plus. It also seems like NU really does look at essays - I think mine did make a difference - so I’d definitely put a lot of time into that. Besides the essay, it seems like you’ve got some decent EC’s and a nice ACT score. Be aware that you don’t need to submit your SAT too. If it doesn’t go up, I wouldn’t pay to send it in. You didn’t mention anything about course rigor, but most NU students have taken multiple AP’s. I’d use the rest of this year and next year to add a couple more AP’s and try and get that GPA up. Best of luck - it’s worth it!

Definitely worth applying to NU.

I was accepted to Medill last week and I had similar stats (same act) and similar EC’s - but I genuinely think my supplemental essay was what got me in. Put an emphasis on how much you love journalism in your activities section of the common app (definitely highlight your awards), and I’d try to get your GPA up as well. However, I think you have a good hook - try and get good recs from an english or journalism teacher, work hard on your essays and make them creative, pray a little, and definitely apply ED if thats where you want to go. If I end up at NU I hope to see you on campus in the next years!

In all honesty, probably not. Medill applications have skyrocketed more than 20% and the acceptance rate this past cycle plummeted. However, it’s still worth trying!

definitely worth applying! my gpa was a 4.13 when i applied (which sounds high to some people but i wasn’t even in the top 10 percent of my class). i think my act score helped a lot (35) and my common app essay was also creatively connected to my journalism major.

one thing that’s important to note since you’re just starting the process – rejections and acceptances will seem completely random. i didn’t understand the extent of it until my friend with a 4.7 gpa got rejected from all her top schools, another guy with similar stats to me got rejected from all his schools except uofa, and i got rejected from my top 3 (berkeley ucla and usc) but got into northwestern which is more competitive. the point here is to apply to a LOT of schools and not get set on any of them too hard! this is especially true with journalism, which is considered kind of a talent-based/arts major at some schools. good luck!!!