Chance for Chem at Northwestern! :)

Colleges & Universities Northwestern University
1

<p>Background Info:
Junior, 15 years old (Skipped a grade)- cant apply for job :frowning:
Glastonbury, CT
Have about 10 or so kids going to Ivyleagues + Stanford and MIT
Have another 15-20 kids going to top tier schools (Tufts, Notredame, RPI, WashU, Johns Hopkins, Amherst, BC, Carnegie Mellon, UVA, and Georgetown etc.)</p>

<p>Race: Indian American</p>

<p>Grades:</p>

<p>GPA-
Weighted-4.5
Unweighted- 3.7ish…Our school does not do Unweighted, UPWARD TREND from freshman year
This year I have a 4.676, Straight A’s in every class…and then history (B-, but only 1 person has an A average in our AP History Class)
I am currently taking 4 AP Classes and rest honors + mandatory classes (gym)
Note- GPA of our valedictorian is 4.74
Very rigorous class schedule- took most number of AP’s and honors class in sophomore and junior year. No AP’s are available to freshman</p>

<p>Class Rank – Currently 19/540ish- top 3.6% (Went from 75 in freshman year to 37 in sophomore year to 19 in junior year).
-Will increase after senior year first 2 quarters</p>

<p>Standardized tests:
AP Exam Scores (predicted and received) – Stat 4, Bio 4, Chem 5, Calc BC 5, Calc AB Subscore 5, Lang 5, Hist 3 <a href=“Will%20this%20hurt??”>B</a> **
SAT – 2110 (Super scored)
ACT – Taken cold, just taken it for first time in June, (Predicting around 33, that’s what Ive gotten on my practice tests)
Planning on taking ACT again (after I work on it over summer), maybe SAT but not too sure
SAT Subject– Math 800, Chem 780, Bio 710 (not submitting)</p>

<p>Next year will take:
-AP Physics C: E+M
-AP Spanish Lang
-AP English Lit
-AP Comp Sci A (Self study)
-AP Psych (Self Study)
-Multivariable Calculus
-Quantitative Analysis of Chemistry (3rd year chemistry course in undergraduate, sophomore/junior chemistry college course)
-Advanced Research Mentorship </p>

<p>Extracurriculars (Divided into section)
Note: School only allows one president position</p>

<p>Science:
-Science Quiz bowl- 7,8,9,10,11,12
B Team 7th, A team captain in 8th, C Team 9, B Team 10, B Team Captain 11th, Will be A team captain next year
Our science quiz bowl team has gotten 1st in state for the past 4 years and made it to nationals. I will hope to continue our schools achievement of qualifying for nationals each year.
-Part of Chemistry National Olympiad Team from Highschool ( we got 1st place in state)
-Completed Chemistry Research with a nearby professor at a college – 125 hours
Research was successful (something a pHD applicant would submit), will be published in chemistry journal

  • Junior Humanities Science Symposium, will present research next year
    -Another research project next year (another 120-130 hours, just love doing chemistry research)
  • Total: 250 hours of research done
    -Will submit project to INTEL
    -Same for Siemens next year
    -State science fair
    -Science National Honor Society
  • Helped younger kids conduct science experiments during summer at local library (2-3 hours a week)</p>

<p>Math
-Math team for 4 years , 9,10,11,12
-B Team for 9,10 and A Team for 11,12

  • Total of 55 members in Math team, only 5 members on A Team
    -3rd highest scoring Junior in State for Math (11)
    -1st place in our division (total of 2 divisions), beat the next closest team by 40 pts
    -Our team got 3rd place in state, qualified for NEAML
    -Part of NEAML team
    -1 of 5 juniors to take Calc BC this year
    -Helped out for 4 years in Math Counts competition as a proctor and for 9,10 and “head proctor” for 11,12. I did this competition in 6,7,8 grade and now I help out
    -AIME (Next year, expecting), missed cutoff this year by very little
    -Math National Honor Society</p>

<p>Languages
-Foreign Language Honor Society
-Tutor for students who require help in Spanish (10,11,12)
-Latin National Award- Cum Laude
-Languages are not my forte and will not be emphasized in my application</p>

<p>Sports
Have been playing Tennis(4 years):
Played tennis in local club, 10,11
-Varsity tennis Next year, I could not make the team even though I tried out every year!
We only have a varsity team
Our team is ranked #1 or #2 in state</p>

<p>Table Tennis(5 years): Huge time commitment!
-Started a table tennis club in school
-President of Table Tennis Club
-Spend 20ish hours each week practicing/training table tennis in 3-4 clubs
-Won multi-state table tennis tournament (Under 1750, 2000 is considered a professional)

  • Current rating is 1767
    -Top ranked junior (#1) in Connecticut
  • Went to many tournaments and performed quite well, at every tournament my rating kept increasing and never has decreased thus far
    -Participated in International Table Tennis Tournament (Over 10,000 people), our team got 2nd in Division 10. There was a total of 10 teams in division 10.
    -Ranked 41th in nation for my age
  • Ranked 179th in USA for Juniors (Under 18 years old)
    -3rd place team in Division B at MIT Table Tennis Tournament
    -Will be on A team next year
    -Still working on table tennis and hoping to improve more</p>

<p>Chess (8 years)
-Less emphasis after entered high school
-Chess Club 9,10,11,12
-1st place team district chess champions 10,11,12
-Co-Captain of team 10,11,12
-Have received over 20 trophies for tournaments, but most are before high school
-Received 5th place state award (when I was younger)
-Taught chess to kids during summer in local library for 3 hours a week</p>

<p>Volunteer
-Key Club 9,10,11,12 (Do around 20-30 hours an year)
-INTERACT Program, 9,10- Help Seniors (60+) get acquainted with computers
-Camp Sunrise (Help special need kids for 2 weeks in summer) -60 hours

  • Tutor middle school students once every week 10,11,12
    -Help out at local school fairs and events (9-12)
    -MLK African American event
  • Big Brother Big Sister Program -12th grade
    -Helped out at elementary school special Olympics 11,12
    -Total before applying to colleges: 200+ hours of volunteer service</p>

<p>Cultural
-Part of TYCT, cultural group that volunteers and helps out the needy people
-Head Tech Crew Manager at invASIAN, an Asian cultural dance show (60-80 people came and watched)
-Indian event helped out at High school, 10,11,12</p>

<p>National Honor Societies:
-NHS
-NSHSS
-FLHS
-Science</p>

<p>Leadership Positions
-Are intertwined within my EC’s…</p>

<p>Jobs: HSCL (High School Campus Leader) – Got recruited by Ivy Insiders
Recommendations:
Excellent recommendations from AP Chemistry (known for 3 years, appointed me as captain of science quiz bowl team) and AP Calc teacher (Known for 6 years, since Middle School)</p>

<p>Essay:
Essay about how a table tennis event changed my view on our society. Teacher approved of it and said it really showed my passion for table tennis and showed how I can can take one small event and think critically about it.
-I consider myself to be a good creative writer, but not very good at writing about certain books</p>

<p>Final Notes/Information:

  • Thanks for the chance (I know this is a long post…)! I would appreciate if you would say why you said what you said.
  • I hope I did not simply have a laundry list of EC’s, I think I have focused on 3-4 major places (Science, Math, Table Tennis, Community Service). I am not including all the other things I have participated in or done since they are not my passion.</p>

<p>Hoping to pursue chem at NU!</p>

2

<p>-AP Scholar with distinction</p>

<p>Info on family:
-Dad lost job this year…income is around 20k per year (mom works part time). However, we wont be needing financial aid since parents saved up. Previous pay for dad used to be fairly high (150k+).
-was born in India- moved here when I was 2 years odl</p>

3

<p>No one is majoring in chem at NU?
Someone chance?</p>

4

<p>You’re a very very strong candidate. </p>

<p>Make sure to emphasize your research & good luck!</p>

5

<p>^^^^Thanks for the reply. I do know that my EC’s are pretty good but do you think that the GPA + Standardized Test Scores are good enough? For RD? ED?</p>

6

<p>Im basically just worried if the 3.7 UW GPA would hurt me (upward trend, top 3.6% in class)</p>

7

<p>If your school is highly competitive and has a good relationship with Northwestern, then a 3.7 upward trend should not hurt you. In fact your situation was very similar to mine a year ago, except I was doing worse than you. Just keep on getting near perfect grades and you should be a very strong candidate.</p>

<p>I hear that NU chem is very rigorious; good luck!</p>

8

<p>I know my school is competitive but I’m not sure if it has a “good” connection with NU. Also, do you currently attend NU?</p>

<p>Rigorous huh? That should be fun ;)</p>

9

<p>im going to be a biochem major next year i think u have a pretty good chance at getting in i had an upward trend gpa too but ur SAT and gpa mite be a little low but ur ECs sound rly nice</p>

10

<p>@izy- exactly, that was my concern as well. god ************ it, oh well, even if I dont get in, it wont be that bad.</p>

<p>if i do somehow get the 33 ACT, is that still too low?</p>

11

<p>@WongTongTong,</p>

<p>If your school sends more than one kid to NU each year, then I would say that it has a good relationship with NU. Seeing how many kids your school sends to top schools, I have no doubt that it has a strong relationship with NU.</p>

<p>Listen, you are a solid candidate - stronger than me (except scores). All you need to do keep your grades near perfect, keep beasting your extracurriculars, and try to get better standardized scores (I think they are kind of on the low side, although nothing that would eliminate you). Also, write a very strong essay - I cannot stress how crucial this is. Get it revised at least three times and try to get all your stuff in early. Don’t procrastinate like I did, and you can get into NU and other top tier schools.</p>

<p>Final piece of advice: take what people say on these boards with a grain of salt - including me :P</p>

<p>I am an incoming NU freshman.</p>

12

<p>I think, ACT-wise at least, a 33 is solid. SAT-wise a 2200 should do. Also consider early decision, where u can get away with lower scores.</p>

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<p>hmm i had a firend who got waitlisted with a 3.75? gpa upward trend and a 2380 on his sats butt it sorta all depends u def have a good chance but ultimately you cant predict these things :p</p>

14

<p>^^^^^^^</p>

<p>o.o</p>

15

<p>I’m doing chem at NU, which is difficult so be warned. As far as I know your major will not count much in the admissions process in WCAS. I got waitlisted as #2/750 in my class and ACT of 32 but things are getting much more difficult.</p>

16

<p>OP - I was going to post and say you are a shoo-in, but then I read nu2011’s post and just told my kid to get off the 360 and open a damn book!!! He’s a soph too, with a 32 ACT, with #7 rank of 536. Will be taking multi-variant math Sr year, and all AP’s Jr and Sr year.</p>

<p>re: 3 in AP Hist… Obviously, you will get no credit for a 3 at NU, but I don’t think it hurts your chances considering your GPA. BUT, remember I’m not an adcom, and on the other hand, you got LOTS of EC’s. Bottom line for me, I say you get in. You heard it here first and if you room with my son, you owe me a coke.</p>

<p>Good luck. And turn off that 360!</p>

17

<p>You are the me equivalent like 5 years ago haha. Excellent ecs but ok grades in terms of northwestern standards. That said in 5 years the competition has grown immensely and at times I doubted I’d have gotten in later. </p>

<p>I’d say my biggest hook was my all around factor. Not just being well rounded but excelling at everything I did. I think this really differentiated me and separated me from similar candidates. </p>

<p>Don’t fret about not getting a 33 ( that’s what I got) because if you’re up to par academically I think that personality and fit really come into play. </p>

<p>Good luck and pm me with any questions</p>

18

<p>WongTongTong, you should be careful what you post online. I am also from a high school in Connecticut and I think I know you from the Chem Olympiad.</p>

19

<p>I got a 3 on euro and us and I don’t think it really mattered. </p>

<p>I don’t think he is a shoe in because at this point no one really is unless you’re the child of someone</p>

20

<p>@ripe- congratulations.</p>

<p>@NU Raider + rest- Thanks for the input guys, but I am not positive that I will apply to NU anymore since our school’s valedictorian is applying there as well and his stats just make mine look dumb.</p>

<p>So now, I would either apply ED (maybe) not apply at all.</p>