<p>I’m a senior, going to a large urban high school in Connecticut. I spent my first two years of high school in Minnesota, then moved. My vital stats go something like this:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9, can’t get it weighted due to transfer
Rank:N/A for same reason, my counselor estimated top 5% at put that in her rec
SAT:didn’t take
SAT IIs:
US History-780
Literature-770
Spanish-690
ACT:33
APs: US history-5. None junior year, due to registration delays during the move. Taking AP Stats, Spanish, and Human Geography this year.
ECs: Baseball 4 years, football-Minnesota years, Senior Choir-Minnesota, NHS, Spanish NHS, Orchestra-Minnesota, Cross Country-Connecticut, Unified Friends (Handicapped student outreach club), tons of church community service
Awards: Southern Connecticut Conference All Conference Academic Award</p>
<p>Recs:
Counselor- said it was the longest she wrote all year. We’re buds. Had to explain my kinda messy transcript and nonexistent class rank, but also put in really nice stuff about how I made a positive social impact in two years.
Teach 1- incredibly positive and personal. Kinda goofy writing style, but its acceptable.
Teach 2- straightforward, mostly academic endorsement. Pretty solid in my opinion</p>
<p>I applied to the School of Education and Social Policy, which is my dream school. Absolutely worshiped it in my Why NU essay and meant every word. I’ve heard SESP is easy to get into because it’s small, but that seems kinda counterintuitive.</p>
<p>Anyway, do I have a chance?</p>
<p>I don’t think that SESP can any longer be considered “easy to get into.” In fact, I thought I read last year that its SAT medians had actually budged aboved that of either A&S or NU undergrad as a whole.
That being said, you certainly “have a chance,” and better; I think you have a solid chance.The 33 ACT is strong, as are 2 of your 3 Subject tests and your GPA. I also like that your ECs range from athletics to music; I just wish that the music hadn’t ceased before your upperclass years.
I am also concerned about just how difficult your curriculum is, because while it’s great that you’re taking 3 APs this year, two of them are among the “softer” ones - Stats and Human Geography. (Let’s put it this way: they’re hardly BC Calc, Physics or Euro history.) Have you taken calc and all the basic sciences (bio, chem and physics) during HS?</p>
<p>When it comes to AP, it bothers me I missed out on the chance to take up to 4 more last year, but I think my counselor explained that in her rec. And I feel like my 5 in US History and my grades in APs this year suggest that I can handle those courses. I’ve taken chem, bio, and anatomy for sciences. Every counselor or teacher I talked to suggested I take either anatomy or physics senior year, and that it doesn’t really matter which. And I agree, the music stopping is a bummer. I was in a highly competitive choir in MN, and actually wrote an extra essay about that experience. But my school in CT doesn’t offer choir, other than as a completely dysfunctional club. Also, football was out of the question in CT because I got into town right before school started, and the team was done with two-a-days and stuff. So I decided to run instead. I’m hoping admissions offices are pretty aware of the changes that have to happen with ECs after a move.</p>
<p>I can’t tell you for sure about NU - or SESP in particular - but I do know that many comparable “most competitive” schools like to see that an applicant has taken Calc and Physics. I assume, among other things (like showing breadth), that they are considered challenging subjects.</p>