<p>Boy-tough call. You know your GPA will ‘cause them to pause’ and hopefully your essay will succeed in getting them to put your app into the next round for review. Your test scores suggest you have the ability. From your post, the ECs do not demostrate a passion/area of specific interest outside of the classroom. Take time to develop that as well in your app. G’Luck-and give my piece of banana bread to your mom for me!
APOL-a mom</p>
<p>your Personal Essay about a side of you unable to be conveyed through the rest of your application explains…the discrepancy between GPA and test scores? I would recommend that you pick a more creative essay topic, as I doubt adcom’s want to hear more about grades and test scores.</p>
<p>^ I agree. Maybe you could talk about that in the ‘additional information’ section of the application? The personal essay is supposed to center on you as a person, not you as a set of statistics.</p>
<p>I think that you are a very strong candidate for admission if you write a convincing “Why Northwestern University?” essay. If there is a match, then you are likely to be admitted. If there is not a match, it wouldn’t matter if you had a much higher GPA.</p>
<p>I don’t actually mention GPA and scores directly in the essay. It details events and circumstances that could be attributed to doing poorly in school. It’s an essay about music, not numbers.</p>
<p>Your test scores are obviously great, and if you have a steep upward trend in your GPA that might get you past the problem of its being only a 3.35. I agree that your ECs are underwhelming. Still, I think that you have a solid shot, especially if you write a good why NU essay.
Have you been to visit?</p>