@underscoreone , did you apply ED anywhere? If so, what’s the outcome?
As for CS undergrads, don’t stress too much about machine learning or vision or NLP. At most, you’ll take one or two electives in those areas in your junior or senior year. For the most part, focus on the general education and math/CS foundation classes. Agree with @PengsPhils , Northwestern is not known for CS. US News rank its PhD program around 35, similar to UChicago’s. Many public universities rank higher than it. But as an undergrad university, Northwestern offers small classes and close faculty/student interaction. Not bad, if you can pay the price.