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I don't think it will be a lack of ECs that will hurt you in your chances of getting accepted to NW or like schools. I've known kids with hardly any ECs get accepted there, many of them over the last 20 years, in fact. They had killer stats and that was what did the job, for the most part. ECs, for the most part, a small factor in whether you are accepted or not, unless one of them is a hook that the college wants. 4 years playing soccer is not going to enhance most applicants chances in getting accepted to a highly selected school, while being a recruited soccer player at the college will drastically improve those chances.
The big question these selective schools ask of each applicant as they review the apps, is how that student is going to help that college in what it has listed as its needs and wants.
A 2000 SAT score, coming from the NYC area does not make you prime pick for NW. Look at your school Naviance info for NW, and see what the kids getting accepted there have in terms of stats.
NW does NOT favor IL students. As a top national university, it strives to have diversity in many areas and wants kids from all over the US and the world. Though it might have some boutique programs for underrepresented areas in the state or city as many highly selective schools do sponsor as a community service, any little edge it gives IL residents is more than made up in the sheer number of kids who apply from IL vs any other area. This is the case for any top school. More of those who live closest to the school will be applying. NW could probably fill its class with top Illinois kids and still have close to the same academic stats. It doesn't want to do that.
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