<p>Well, if you want to pursue an undergraduate degree in journalism, out of your list there is no better school than Northwestern. Heck, out of any list there’s probably no better school for undergraduate journalism. Overall, I think you are a good, competitive applicant. Your SAT is clearly good enough for Northwestern or any school really, and I’m not the most familiar with the 100-point scale GPA system but that calculates to about a 3.8 right? Certainly that’s not mind blowing, but it’s competitive nonetheless. I think GPA is really relative to be honest; some schools don’t have anyone with a 4.0 and others have ten - but yours is still good regardless. </p>
<p>Your list of ECs isn’t the longest, but I like devotion to some activities such as theater and newspaper and orchestra. Sometimes it isn’t about how many easy and meaningless ECs you have but rather it’s about having several that have your steadfast dedication - I don’t see any throwaway activities here. Your summers seem to be spent well also. I actually think political campaign work fits quite well and meshes with journalism. It’s almost a given if you are applying to Medill that you need to be on your HS newspaper, and there’s a big check mark there. I’m glad that you’ve researched the program, and while I’m no expert, I know that Medill is incredibly selective - whether that’s any different from the main schools of NU, I don’t know. What I do know is that they (usually) place a lot of weight into ECs and essays - perhaps more than another school like WCAS. What I noticed in your resume is that you also happen to be taking a journalism course at your school - I think that looks great when applying to Medill. </p>
<p>These things are so hard to determine, but to repeat myself I think you have a good chance of being accepted, but you must absolutely write great essays. College admissions are so hard you need to make your application sizzle. On applying ED, it only helps. With admissions today, you have to decide on whether NU is your first choice school. You could very well get in RD, but these things are such crap shoots. It’s a fact that ED boosts your chances, and if you “really want to go here,” you have to determine whether or not you want to take the chance going RD where applications get even more dicey. Think that over.</p>