<p>Here’s the Gist of my situation
I have a pretty top heavy list of Schools that im going to apply to (HPYS Dartmouth, Penn, Amherst) and I my only real safety could be University of Florida. Northwestern is a great school and better in that sense than UF. Can it be like a safety for me or am i being ridiculous.<br>
**My Dad went to Northwestern Undergrad so he thinks i should definitely apply there. ** </p>
<p>Gender: M
Race: Welsh, German, Chinese
Location: Florida, Top 10 high school in nation according US news and world report
(selective public) “Gifted”</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 unweighted 4.8 weighted
Rank: School does not rank
SAT I: 2280 760-Math 740-CR 780-W
SAT II: US HIST-730 Math I-740 Going to definitely take more during Fall</p>
<p>Classes Taken:
All have been honors that are not AP- World History(4) Lang (4) US(5 ) Enivro (4)
Classes next year:
AP Physics C
AP Calc BC
AP Lit
AP Macroeconomics
AP Stat
Chinese II hon
Government hon</p>
<p>I expect recs and essays to be good</p>
<p>ECs/Awards-
Varsity Tennis (9,10,11,12)
Captain of Tennis team (11)
Played #1 Junior year and Won Districts and Regionals and #1 doubles (10,11)
Placed 4th and 5th respectively in state tennis championships
(won various local tennis tournaments that I wont bother mentioning here)
member of Tae kwon do Masters Club
First Degree Blackbelt
1st place in Regional Envirothon competition
National Honor Society Member (11,12)
Mu Alpha Theta Math Club member
<strong>I don’t know if this is relevant but in 2004 i was Selected to the State select all star ice hockey team and won the world championships in Quebec</strong></p>
<p>Internship Stuff
On and off internship from 8th-12th at Global Signal. Studying the business aspects
summer of 2008 went to Saudi Arabia on internship and stayed at the dipolatic quarters
(US Embassy) with Michael Porter to Deliver Porter Prize and also worked on the Saudi Fast Growth 100 studying Saudi Women Entrepreneurs
-Working with Developer of new robotic hand to distribute to injured Mine workers.</p>
<p>Volunteering
Teach tennis for county Program
and tutor ESL students (mostly Chinese kids)</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone can really consider Northwestern a safety, but it is very likely that you’ll be accepted. I’d also like to point out that NU is on par academically with Dartmouth and UPenn, so I wouldn’t say that your chances at NU are substantially greater than your chances at those schools.</p>
<p>Generally, NU will take super applicants but you’re not one of them at this point. NU can’t be a safety for you. If you can be at the top of the Harvard pool, then you can probably consider NU and a lot of its peer schools safeties.</p>
<p>I agree with brebeuff. Its not a safety but more of a high-match/low reach situation. And as far as HYPS, you should really try to find a focus, i see your app and it seems a little all over the place. The main problem you have, IMO, is that so many of the outstanding people around you will apply to those same schools so it will be tough. It would have been easier if you were from a crappier, more rural location (like me) but then again you probably wouldnt have all these accolades then, lol.</p>
<p>You are probably a good match for Northwestern, but there are no safeties in these top notch schools. Even students that score perfect 2400 get rejected from some of the ivys. To think that Northwestern is a Safety is ridiculous. You need to be more realistic about your chances as HYPS,etc. You have the type of stats that can get you into some of them or swept and not get into any. You need to add more match schools and one more safety.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as a safety at this level. My daughter got into Yale and Dartmouth but waitlisted at Northwestern. She was finally admitted and is going there but we were quite surprised by the turn of events.</p>
<p>I don’t know what all this negativity is about. At my former HS, many of the accepted students to Northwestern weren’t that impressive (by which I mean just your average, decently hard working smart students). I’m looking at naviance right now (somehow I’m still in the system), and all I see in the upper top-right corner is green. There is no blue or red below about a 3.7 UW GPA. As far as test scores go, all 36 ACTs got in (I use ACT because I’m from midwest, so more points of reference on navaince). 35 ACTs got in until about a 3.2 UW GPA. 34s all got in until a 3.6 GPA. 33s until a 3.5. So just envision that. And this isn’t limited sample data; in the three years represented on the graph, 139 students got in. So it certainly seems like a 4.0 UW GPA in honors/AP classes and a 34 ACT (equivalent I think), at least from my school, is guaranteed an acceptance. In the past three years (as far back as scattergram goes), no one has been denied or waitlisted with those stats from my former HS. </p>
<p>So, this all depends now on how you define safety. If you define safety as guaranteed acceptance due to stats alone, then I can’t call NU a safety, because nothing is ever guaranteed in holistic processes. But it is pretty darn close, or is one, depending on your definition.</p>
<p>So Northwestern = potential safety, even for non-HYPSM material? Yes. At least in my book.</p>
<p>^yes. I am a tool. Because I gave the OP EVIDENCE (not anecdotal, but hard evidence) that directly answered the question at hand. </p>
<p>I can get it if you’re upset that your fav. school can be considered a safety. Regardless, it’s a fantastic school. The student body there is freakin’ awesome. I’m a huge fan of NU sports. </p>
<p>I liken it to Michigan. That can be considered a safety probably (by which I mean definitely) more than NU can. But it is still a sweet place.</p>
<p>BTW I’m not ■■■■■■■■. All of this stuff is real.</p>
<p>First of all no “op evidence” has actually been given. </p>
<p>And how do you mean “Northwestern students aren’t that impressive”? In comparison to what? Oxbridge students? Einstein? You’re talking about a school that has over 25000 applications, and accepts the majority of the time students who have an SAT or ACT score just under the average at Yale and Harvard. If NU wasnt 4 times the size of an Ivy, it would have a similar 8-9% acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Do you also think that schools such as Brown and Cornell aren’t up to standard either? Or since they are in the ivy they are exempt from your scrutiny?</p>
<p>I gave the OP (original poster) evidence. If you don’t count that as hard data, I don’t know what you consider hard data to be. </p>
<p>And you are interpreting too much into what I said. I stated that NU admits, FROM MY FORMER HIGH SCHOOL, were not THAT impressive (I should have italicized “that” in my first post. my bad). If I only were to read some of these previous posts, I would have recieved the impression that NU students are gods (exaggeration, which I say because you’d probably interpret me literally otherwise), hence no one could consider it a safety. Which is why I used “that”. And I did say that they were hard-working, smart people. In the context of the nation, they are very impressive. In the context of all colleges, they are impressive. But in the context of other top 20 to 30 schools, they are not THAT impressive. And I don’t know what NU admits from other high schools are like. That’s why I explicitly stated that these were admits from my HS. </p>
<p>At my former high school, if you take all honors/AP classes, getting into Northwestern is not impressive. getting into Harvard is. Even if the SAT percentiles are close for the admitted class, I’m sure Harvard rejects so much more people with high test scores and grades (evidenced by the naviance scattergram for Harvard, which was a splotch of red with a few dispersed green spots at the upper right). </p>
<p>
What? Why would I ever mention Cornell and Brown? If you reread my post, the only school I mentioned was Northwestern, which makes sense. That is the school up for debate. You are the one bringing up Harvard, Brown, Cornell. I never even implied that certain schools were exempt from being safeties, or that ivy status had anything to do with anything. </p>
<p>But, if you want an answer, Brown and Cornell admissions can’t be as predictable as NU is, at least at my former HS. It’s like Harvard to a lesser degree. Similar stats get in to all of them. But, high stat students get rejected/waitlisted from those ivy schools. That is not the case at NU. Again, just evidence from my former HS. I’m sure there are some feeder schools out there for Brown and Cornell (northeast) where the exact opposite is the case and Northwestern has some unpredictable admissions decisions.</p>
<p>GG - here’s some hard data - What about this poster from this year who didn’t get in with these stats. In your book he should have gotten in. It’s a Match school for the OP - not a safety. A safety is just that - a safety - no chance at being rejected. OP has a chance at being waitlisted or rejected at NU, so it is not a safety.</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected</p>
<ul>
<li>SAT I (breakdown): never took</li>
<li>ACT: 35 (35 E 34 M 36 R 36 S)</li>
<li>SAT II: didnt send</li>
<li>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7</li>
<li>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%</li>
<li>AP (place score in parenthesis): Environmental Science (4), World History (4), US History (5), Psychology (5), Chem, Spanish Language, Calculus AB, English Lit, US Gov</li>
<li>IB (place score in parenthesis):</li>
<li>Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem, AP English Lit, AP Spanish, AP Calc AB, AP Gov</li>
<li>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): a good amount</li>
<li>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): varsity baseball, wrestling, class officer, involved in several honor societies with leadership positions, human rights club</li>
<li>Job/Work Experience: none</li>
<li>Volunteer/Community service: coached a t ball team since 9th grade</li>
<li>Summer Activities: interned at bronx zoo and westchester environmental student council</li>
<li>Essays: i think they were pretty good</li>
<li>Teacher Recommendation: awesome</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: good</li>
<li>Additional Rec: very good</li>
<li>Interview: I thought it went awesome</li>
</ul>
<p>Other</p>
<ul>
<li>State (if domestic applicant): NY</li>
<li>Country (if international applicant):</li>
<li>School Type: public</li>
<li>Ethnicity: white</li>
<li>Gender:male</li>
<li>Income Bracket: not sure</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): legacy</li>
</ul>
<p>I agree that it is too difficult to be considered a safety, but I would say that you still probably have ~80-85% chance of getting in if your essays are very good and you appear to actually want to attend. I don’t quite get your example though, kleibo, because the OP’s GPA is a bit higher at a school that’s more difficult, with better ECs (as far as I can see).</p>