<p>White (immigrant from Poland in 1st grade)
Illinois
105,000 family income
Male</p>
<p>Academics</p>
<p>ACT: 32, 35 in Reading and English, 28 in Science and Math
GPA: Weighted: 4.08 out of 4, UW: 3.6/4.0
Class Rank~65/570, One of the top 8 schools in Illinois</p>
<p>Course Load</p>
<p>Freshmen Year</p>
<p>Honors Biology
Honors Literature
Honors Social Studies
Spanish 2
Honors Trig.
Intro to Business</p>
<p>Sophmore Year</p>
<p>Honors Chemistry
Honors English
AP World History
Spanish 3
Honors Geometry
Photography (Art req.)</p>
<p>Junior Year</p>
<p>Honors Physics
AP Language
AP US History
Spanish 4
Honors Pre Calc
AP Government US</p>
<p>Senior Year </p>
<p>AP Biology
Advanced Composition/Contemporary Lit
AP Calc AB
AP Spanish
Ap Economics</p>
<p>Awards</p>
<p>7 Semester Honor Roll, AP Scholar with Distinction, NHS</p>
<p>EC</p>
<p>Club soccer, Spanish Club, Polish School (4 hours a week since 1st grade, top student in class), religion school, producing music. </p>
<p>Your GPA and ECs are a bit underwhelming, but your curriculum has been challenging, which is appealing. I also think that you’ve got a good personal story to tell, so tell it well and you will have a shot.<br>
Are you applying ED or RD?</p>
<p>^^I don’t know how much of a boost ED is at NU, but Wash U is supposedly a comparable top-tier, and I know that ED is a bigger boost there than at any of the other top 16 UNSWR National Universities.</p>
<p>Northwestern has had a longstanding and well recognized unusually open-door policy regarding admissions stats, breaking down for public viewing numbers by individual undergrad colleges, ED vs. RD, median and mean SAT scores, etc. NU adcoms have for years made clear their policy regarding their reasons to favor ED applications and published numbers strongly support this. On the other side of the coin, several other top-tier schools (e.g. Stanford, Brown) have made equally clear there is no “boost” given to ED candidates. That Wash U is mentioned is a surprise as is the assertion about ED. For years they’d been criticized for refusing to publish a common data set. What they do release regarding admission numbers/stats are as opaque as any top 20 school gets.</p>
<p>I would apply ED but I’m just wondering how the aid is at NW? I mean even though my family makes 100000 money is really tight. I don’t want to be accepted and hen recieve a mediocre aid package</p>
<p>My info on WashU ED is not from the school, where the Adcom treats ED stats like state secrets. I know this from Naviance data on WashU ED vs RD admissions from various geographic regions of the US. They are very “forgiving” on ED when it comes to the “numbers” (especially GPA) as compared to what they admit RD.</p>
<p>A parent of a NU alum works at my school, and she said of all the schools her son was accepted to (unfortunately I do not have them off the top of my head), NU was the one that offered them an amount that made them go, “Okay, we can do this”. Other schools left them with enough to pay that they would really have to reach, but NU made the money they had to spend, supposedly, reasonable.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard the same around here. I recall a few people in an older thread mentioning it as generally very reasonable and fills demonstrated need very well. Plus, if you’re excepted ED and the package they offer is truly not enough, then of course you’re allowed to turn down the acceptance for that reason only.</p>
<p>Bala,
I would be very interested in seeing the breakdowns you alluded to in post #6. Numbers by individual undergrad colleges, ED vs. RD. etc. Can you direct me where to find this info? Thanks very much.</p>
<p>Edit: I can find the ED acceptance % in the common data set, but is it possible to find the numbers you referenced by undergrad college?</p>
<p>Apply ED. If you’re in one of the top 10 schools in Illinois, NU is probably familiar with how difficult/competitive your school is so it might be a little more sympathetic towards your GPA.</p>