Chance me Northwestern ED

Chance Me / Match Me
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United States, Pennsylvania, Public High School, No legacy, Male

Intended major: economics

GPA + SAT:

GPA: 3.85 UW (4.12 weighted)

SAT: 1510 (710 english 800 math)

Classes:

Freshmen year: Bio(H), Band, English(H) A, HS 101, Business, History(H), Phys Ed, Precalc (H), Spanish 2, and Health

Sophomore year: Accounting, AP Calc AB, AP Euro, AP Micro, Chem(H), English(H), PE, Spanish 3(H), Wind Ensemble (H).

AP Calculus AB: 4

AP European History: 3

AP Microeconomics: 4

Junior year: AP Lang, AP Macro, AP Stats, AP US History, Career Dev, Spanish 4(H), Wind Ensemble (H)

AP United States History: 4

AP Language and Composition: 5

AP Macroeconomics

AP Statistics: 5

Senior year courses: AP Literature and Composition, AP Government and Politics, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Human Geography, Anatomy and Physiology(H), Physics(H), Business Finance, Wind Ensemble (H)

Awards:

John Locke Essay Competition Finalist with High Commendation (Finalist top 18% out of 63k internationally; High Commendation top 3% out of 63k internationally)

All State Band (2x) (Only 24 in the entire state)

President’s Volunteer Service Award (Gold 2x, 250+ volunteer hours)

Leadership Award for a Korean Association

Region Band (2x)

District Band (2x)

Extracurriculars:

Head of Clarinet Department for Non-Profit Organization

Music teacher internship at Korean Language School #2

Teachers’ Assistant for Korean Language School #1

FBLA regional winner

FBLA state qualifier

Youth Orchestra #1 Member (Sophomore year)

Youth Orchestra #1 Section Leader (Sophomore year)

Youth Orchestra#2 Member (Junior year)

Youth Orchestra #3 Member (Senior year)
Marching Band Member

Worked as a server for a senior home

Essays:

To be continued…

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Have you checked on cost - are your parents willing to pay near $400K or have you checked the net price calculator?

If I had to guess, I’d say unlikely.

Your GPA is ok, maybe low.

Why did you stop math after Calc AB? Stats doesn’t count.

Your SAT is a bit low (at the 25th percentile) but the math is stellar.

If it’s your top choice and you have no other privates that have Early Action, it’s worth a try. If you have privates and they have early action, I’d probably apply RD.

You’re a fantastic student but I think NU might be a tad a stretch. But I’m not an AO so I could be wrong.

Best of luck.

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Have you checked on cost - are your parents willing to pay near $400K or have you checked the net price calculator?

They are 100% supportive and willing to pay full price

If it’s your top choice and you have no other privates that have Early Action, it’s worth a try. If you have privates and they have early action, I’d probably apply RD.

You mean early decision? Most privates I am applying to only have early and regular decisions.

You’re a fantastic student but I think NU might be a tad a stretch. But I’m not an AO so I could be wrong.

Thank you for your honest input. Would you consider schools such as Umich/NYU/UVA/Georgetown more up my alley (I would apply to the business school for these schools)—I applied for economics at NU because it does not have a business undergrad degree.

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I mean Early Action.

In other words, if you had, say Case Western on your list and you get a big lift for applying early, you can’t - if you apply ED to NU.

If your other schools only have ED and RD, then applying ED to NU not an issue.

But if your privates offer EA, I think you’d be better off doing that and RDing to NU - because I don’t think you get into NU - and I’d hate that you’d also lessen your chances at those other private schools too - if that makes sense.

If I wanted to major in business, I wouldn’t apply to a school for econ at all. The majors are vary different.

What major in business?

Just because I don’t think you’ll get into NU doesn’t mean I’m wrong.

I think all those would be a no but it doesn’t mean I’m right. As you know, UVA has secondary admissions for business.

I think Indiana would be more likely - last year it’d be an auto admit but now they’re holistic but I’d assume you’d be in good there.

Besides a rank, what are you looking for in a school? In other words, what type of school do you seek - and what’s your ultimate outcome?

Certainly you’re worth of an app to all these schools - you have a great record.

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Finance

So I have no shot at any of those schools? Leaning more towards UVA.

East coast location. My ultimate outcome would be working in finance. Leaning towards investment banking or some type of investing job later down the line, such as asset management, trading, or hedge funds.

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I didn’t say you had no shot - and I’m not an AO.

I thought you are leaning toward NU - that does have a business minor.

ED at NU doesn’t impact UVA. But if you were applying to a private with EA it would?

Others to consider - CUNY Baruch, BC (if you like Gtown but it has the religious angle), Fordham, Babson Bentley, and Richmond.

One parent wrote recently that they know kids at a non-target, they busted tail and got IB jobs. If you look at schools on linkedin - from Penn State to Va Tech to Bama to wherever - you will find kids in IB. Google Bucknell + investment banking + linkedin - you can do this for most any school - you’ll see what I mean.

I’d hope you’d find a school that fits you - vs. just a big name although understandably the name does matter. IU is the school that in the past - kids applied to - whether it was Gtown, Cornell, Michigan, etc - it was the fallback.

If you’re looking as far as Chicago for ED, then how about Dallas - SMU places.

You may very well get into any school you mentioned - but where’s your fallback?

None of the schools you mentioned are likely.

Good luck.

Top Feeders to Wall Street

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This is not true, you can apply EA to any schools you want. Applying ED to one school still allows you to apply to other schools EA.

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If Northwestern is your top choice then go ahead and ED. Northwestern is very open about the fact that applying ED is the best way to get in. You can still apply to other schools EA (including privates.) Do you have a 2nd choice school that does ED2? You could apply somewhere else ED2 if you get denied from Northwestern. Northwestern is a hard admit for everyone, but you have a chance. Your GPA is a little low and you should have taken more math after Calc AB, but if it wasn’t offered at your school they may overlook. Your SAT should be fine. Good luck!

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This is true, except for the small number of privates that have Restricted or Single Choice Early Action like Stanford, ND, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.

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OP, after reading this and your other threads, you seem to be having difficulty figuring out where to apply ED. You’ve mentioned Michigan, UVA, Williams, and now Northwestern. Have you visited all of these schools? Really looked at their programs and identified which suits your interests best? Or are you just looking for a name? I suspect it’s the latter.

You have less than a month until ED applications are due. If you don’t have a clear first choice school, you probably shouldn’t be applying ED. Each school has essays that ask why you want to attend that school. Sounds like you don’t really have this figured out.

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I completely agree with @Momofthree24 that if you haven’t been to these campuses, and don’t have a clear 1st choice, do not apply ED! The schools you’ve been contemplating are incredibly different. Really big to really little. Very rural to adjacent to one of the largest cities in the US. In one post you say you want to be on the east coast. Neither NU nor Michigan fit that criteria.

NU is on a very fast moving quarter system that touts the ease of double and triple majoring. More than 70% of NU students are double majors. Is that an interest to you?

Also note that NU’s Econ major is very math heavy: “Although only MATH 220-1 is required, majors are strongly urged to take MATH 220-2 Single-Variable Integral Calculus, MATH 230-1 Multivariable Differential Calculus, and MATH 240-0 Linear Algebra​. Majors considering graduate work in economics are strongly advised to take additional mathematics courses and perhaps a second major in mathematics.”

As such, I too am concerned that you didn’t take BC calc that was available to you in your HS, and more worrisome is no math on your senior year schedule.

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Northwestern is a tough admit - if it is your favorite (and you’ve visited) you should apply there early. ED is definitely your best shot (for reference, my S24 was WL there during RD - he had a 3.98 UW/4.64 W and a 1580 SAT). While I think your gpa is a little low for Northwestern (relatively speaking - in reality it is very good), you miss all the shots you don’t take. If you are looking for a more realistic ED choice, I’d say NYU - especially if you are full pay. UVA is a very tough admit out of state (that is where my son goes) but if you are interested, you can still apply there EA along with ED at Northwestern. Make sure you have some more likely schools on your list as all the schools you have mentioned are reaches for everyone. Good luck.

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OP, you might want to run the net price calculator for each of your candidate ED schools as soon as possible. Although your parents are able to afford $400k, it is possible to have “pleasant” surprises when you see the NPC results. Depending on your family finances and a school’s financial aid formula, you might end up having to pay only a fraction of the school’s sticker price. For some families, every bit helps. Even if you expect to get $0 need-based aid, it’s still good to know that you have explored it and will be making informed decision on where to ED. And in the (perhaps unlikely) event that you do get some aid from some of your candidate ED schools, the new costs of attendance might change the way you and your parents see them.

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My mistake - sorry @librarymom3 and @SaintRice

I got this confused with others that don’t allow EA to privates.

My apologies. I should have reviewed before stating.

If there are no restrictions and it’s your top choice, it makes sense.

Do you have a 2nd favorite? You can have it ready for possible ED2.

Thank you for the correction.

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Within the past few years, U Virginia invested a lot of money in its’ Data Science facility/program/major. It might be of interest to you as a major or minor. If I read correctly, only Calc 1 is required, but your 800 SAT math score should alleviate any concerns about your ability in math:

U Virginia’s data science facility opened in April, 2024.

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I would be interested for sure but I have almost no coding experience at all. I took ap stats and got a five but it was lowkey too easy so I’m not sure if a major would be the best idea. Possible a double major but more likely a minor would be a better fit for me.

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I might be unique here but depending on how the 3.85 looks on the official transcript, I think getting 0-2 B’s in 4 years is exactly the kind of student Northwestern takes. Similarly, your SAT’s are about right. Given that I do not think you will be eliminated by your academic and test profile, it really comes down to how they perceive your extras and applications as well as whether you get judged by your AP scores (which I think you will be required to submit). I think that is where the risks are for you. It is a reach, but not an impossible one IMO.

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I think admissions to those would be every bit as challenging as Northwesten. My advice would be to go econ at U Mich and NYU (or an even easier major if you can find one you like). Assuming you would go EA at UVA, I would expect you will be deferred. Note that I am pretty sure you can’t apply into the business school there. Georgetown may be your most likely. Although still a reach, I think it is a very thin hair easier than the others. Good luck.

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I hope OP has thought about - who else ?