IS Northwestern a Reach for Me?

Colleges & Universities Northwestern University
1

<p>State: Illinois
Sex: M
School Type: Public, Morgan Park High School (We were ranked number 493 out of over 20,000 schools)
Ethnicity: African/Native American Descent</p>

<p>Reaches/Top choices
Northwestern
Cornell
Brown
Dartmouth</p>

<p>Top Choices/Matches
University of Michigan
University of Pittsburgh
University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)</p>

<p>Safties
Howard University
Loyola University
Northern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University</p>

<p>Major: A Double Major of Poltical Science and History. I hope to become an environmental/human & animal rights attorney. </p>

<p><b>Academics</b>
W. GPA of 4.5
UW GPA of 3.5
ACT: 29
SAT w/o writing: 1200/1600
AP Test Environmental Science: 3/5</p>

<p>Junior Year Schedule
IB English I
IB Spanish IV
IB European History
IB Maths Studies
IB Biology I
Theory of Knowledge I
IB Psychology I</p>

<p><b>Senior Year Schedule</b>
IB English II
IB Spanish V
IB European History/Twentieth Century Topics II
IB Psychology II
IB Biology II/Biochemistry
Theory of Knowledge II
Art I
PreCalculus (taken over the summer for an extra credit…This followed IB Maths Studies)</p>

<p>ExtraCurricular
Cross Country, Debate, Drama, Mock Trial</p>

<p><b>Volunteer Work</b>
Worked at the Beverly Arts Center in Beverly Hills, Chicago as a summer intern. I was not paid but helped out alot!!! Worked at homeless shelter, joined an Environmental clean up group, spearheaded the making and promotions of many environmental events such as Earth Hour. </p>

<p><b>Other Accomplishments</b>
You can tell by my senior schedule that I am an IB Diploma student. I am also a People to People Student Ambassador, and I completed IB Middle Years with the Highest Honor and had my Personal Project evaluated in China. </p>

<p>I also will have a letter of recommendation from two Northwestern alumni</p>

<p>SAT II Subject Tests</p>

<p>US History - 585
English Literature - 600
Spanish - 580</p>

2

<p>Yea, not to be rude but I would call all your “reaches” BIG reaches even with URM status. I think your match schools are very well selected, however, and you could very well get into all of them. So yes, I would call NU a reach for now.</p>

3

<p>lol what kind of class is Theory of Knowledge II</p>

4

<p>Your reaches and matches are actually all reaches.</p>

5

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<p>Perhaps, but maybe you overlooked this:</p>

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<p>And I’m not so sure I’d put UPitt in the same category as Michigan and Illinois. Pitt is closer to a Loyola than to a Michigan.</p>

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<p>This is a very interesting career ambition. If you want my opinion, I would certainly discuss it on your application, as well as any things you have (hopefully) already done to exhibit this interest.</p>

6

<p>

If I’m not wrong, I think the OP’s schedule is like this: TOK I is only one semester during junior year and then TOK II is another semester during senior year. This splits up TOK (which usually is a full year class) into one semester junior year and another semester senior year.</p>

7

<p>While anything is possible given your background, I would consider NU and all of your top schools substantial reaches.</p>

8

<p>yea i know but i was wondering what they learn in TOK I+II</p>

9

<p>ur test scores mite bring u down. i would apply early decision to ur fav school. ur background helps a lot!</p>

10

<p>“yea i know but i was wondering what they learn in TOK I+II”</p>

<p>TOK stands for theory of knowledge, which seriously and thouroughly examines the root of human knowledge. a mixture of psychology, sociology, and philosophy. we often answer questions that ask - why do you…? or what would you do and why…?</p>

11

<p>Grant it–as you may have surmised—a 3.5 GPA, a 1900 SAT are both statistics that typically do not bode well for admission to Brown, Dartmouth or NU. If you consider these schools as “reaches”, and include applications to Likely and Safety based on your stats and those stats of accepted students you will benefit. It is not to say you won’t get accepted, you do have your EC’s and your abilities to craft a strong essay that could put you over the top. Just be sure to include others as well. G’Luck-APOL–previous post from your April inquiry…</p>

12

<p>I would say that although I’m sure you know that your test scores are a little low, you definitely have challenged yourself through your classes. Your ECs are really good too. Although I think that your reaches are in fact reaches, your likelies are good matches. Who knows? With a good essay you might get accepted to all of your reaches. Good luck.</p>