I am an Iraqi male, from Northern VA, I will probably apply to the ED college or arts and sciences, undecided mhahor
gpa: 3.85 ish uw, will have 7-8 APs, 5-6 honors classes ( junior, had 3 APs, and 1 honors) by the time I graduate.
- in the top 10 % of graduating class of competitive public school ( sends many kids to top 30 schools regualarly)
Sat 1: 2000 ( ouch)- 630 math ( lol, didnt have calc, spent too much time on problems), 660 verbal, 710 writing. ( i am gonna take the ACT, college board messed up my scrore blah)
sat2's: Math 1- 600 ( didnt have calc)- will this kill me, and is it worth retaking?
bio- 670
( took sat2's same week as AP exams- didnt have time to etudier..blah)
EC's:President, math honor society
-President, Studetns against drunk driving
-VP of radio club
-NHS
-Volunteer work at a hospital, >200 hours
-Senior Math team
-Presidetn, HOSA( health occupation student association)
-Coached a CYA basketball team
-Also was on jv lacrosse for two years, was cut from varsity), won scholar athlete award both years, and also had the " hardest working player" award- yet i sitll got cut lol
-Will attend NYLF forum on medicine at GU
-Amatuer stand up comic: I have done a few talent shows( at the mosque), and will be doing some open mike nights when I turn 18
you should try upping your test scores, and calc isn't needed for sats, sat1 goes up to alg2, math2c goes up to trig, just review a bit and you should be okay
i think nu's goign to be a reach, but try to get good recs and essays and definitely try to get an interview
it cant be all SAT's eh? College board f'd up my score big time, and isince i got it 2 months later ( i was overseas in iraq) I couldnt get them to change it.
I wouldn't be shocked if you got in. Not at all. Work on the test scores. No one's telling you anything new there- you know that's your weak spot. Your classes and grades are really good. Your clubs are fine. I hope you can write; you could really redeem yourself on the essays.
I don't know if I would send those SATII scores though.
Hooks can be anything. Your stand-up talents may work, an interesting job, overcoming hardship, starting a service group, anything like that.
Bball87- there's the way to say things so that they're helpful, and then there's the way to make you sound pretentious and childish. There's no need for some of the attitude on this site.
i am trying to be nice, but honestly, i wouldn't get my hopes up, there is just a lot of emphasis placed on test scores, more so than colleges will admit
abdulk- first, you don't need calc to do well on the SAT. Niether do you need it for the SAT II. I didn't have it and I did fine. Let me just caution you about ED to Northwestern. You seem like a competitive candidate but in the ED pool, schools like to take students with top standardized test scores so that their schoolwide averages of academics increase. That being said, your low scores put you in jeopardy of not being accpeted. That being said, Northwestern is one of the very few schools that doesn't deffer. They either admit or reject. That means if you don't get a "yes" on dec. 15, you won't be attending NU. If you want to risk it, be my guest. I would suggest applying RD and trying to improve scores and write some good essays.
If you are applying to a highly selective school like Medill School of Journalism, they take most applicants from the ED pool. But I don't think you sound like your interested. I'm just saying for special programs ED does help a bit.
...in the ED pool, schools like to take students with top standardized test scores so that their schoolwide averages of academics increase.
halopeno2, I've never heard that NU takes this approach. On the contrary, I've heard that since NU loves students who love NU, and will accept somewhat lower scores if a student is committed to attending. However, what you are saying could be possible, so I'd be interested in seeing stats or other info indicating this actually does happen at NU.
btw, abdulk, if you are not a U.S. citizen, you may already know, but have an other decision to make. International applications are split into two groups, those applying for financial aid and those who are not. Financial aid for Internationals is new at NU, and works differently than regular finaid. It's not need blind, and those applying for aid are considered separately from those who don't. Competition is much stiffer in the finaid group.
nan, I have the NU application right in front of me, so I'll write what it says:
"Northwestern does not defer Early Decision applicants into the Regular Decision applicant pool. If you are denied admission under ED, you may not reapply under RD..."
This comes straight from this year's application that I recieved in the mail some time ago. I'm not exactly sure how much higher the test score average is for ED, but I have the viewbook somewhere and I know it is significantly higher. I'm just saying to consider all options becuase doing ED at NU could be B-A-D.
Originally Posted by halopeno2
abdulk- first, you don't need calc to do well on the SAT. Niether do you need it for the SAT II. I didn't have it and I did fine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bver100
you should try upping your test scores, and calc isn't needed for sats, sat1 goes up to alg2, math2c goes up to trig, just review a bit and you should be okay
I'm pretty sure he didn't mean calculus, but rather a calculator. Not having a good old TI-83 (84, 89, whichever) for either the SAT I or SAT II math would put a guy at a huge disadvantage. So abdulk, get yourself a calculator and retake those tests.
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