Northwestern Waitlist

Colleges & Universities Northwestern University
1

<p>Alright. I want NU and I’m on the waitlist.</p>

<p>Decision: Waitlisted at School of Communication</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] Deferred EA? No
[</em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2390 (M: 800; CR: 790; W: 800; 12 Essay)
[<em>] ACT: DNR
[</em>] SAT II: MIIC, 800; Lit, 700
[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.6
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): DNR
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Physics C, AP US Government / Economics, AP Statistics, Speech & Debate, Teacher Aide
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): California State Speech and Debate Finalist in Original Prose and Poetry along with 13+ District/Regional Varsity Awards (including Championship Awards)
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Speech & Debate (President, Historian); Amnesty International (Treasurer), Freelance Artist 12+ Years, LGBT Activist (Orator and Writer), XC (JV), Senior Men & Women Community Service Group (Select 40), Freelance Photographer
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Office Clerk C&T Japanese Engines International Inc., Tutor in Physics + SAT
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Annual Fundraiser for Cancer Research + scattered other things
[</em>] Summer Activities: Reading, Studying, Working, XC Training, Writing, rather trivial things.
[<em>] Essays: Strong, from
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: Strong. From my Speech Coach / English Teacher
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Strong. Understood my extraordinary circumstances.
[</em>] Additional Rec: From Speech coach.
[<em>] Interview: Pretty good, talked about LGBT Rights, etc.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[<em>] Country (if international applicant): US
[</em>] School Type: Competitive Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian (</em>sigh<em>)
[</em>] Gender: M
[<em>] Income Bracket: 150K+
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None really.
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Test Scores
[</em>] Weaknesses: GPA
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: GPA[/li][/ul]General Comments: Rejected at UCB, UCLA, Stanford, Cornell, Columbia; Waitlisted at Northwestern and U Chicago; Accepted at UCI, UCSD, NYU, USC, Occidental College</p>

<p>Probably going to NYU, should my waitlisting attempt not work.
I’ve visited Northwestern before, and if I need to, I will again. At this point, I just don’t know who to contact, what I should do, whether to send extra things, or to just hope. Any advice or information would be great.</p>

2

<p>We need more gay Asian males, seriously.</p>

3

<p>^ I actually know one who is at NU right now.</p>

<p>EDIT: I actually used “actually” twice in the same sentence…and I did it again.</p>

4

<p>The good news is that you are probably at the top of the waitlist. My best guess is that Northwestern University’s popularity has soared during the last several years and that applicants applying Early Decision are taken much more seriously than those with HYPS stats who apply RD. And the reality is that Northwestern loses cross-admit battles with Harvard, Yale, Princeton & Stanford.</p>

5

<p>What I’m wondering right now is if I should send in more material to reinforce the letter that I’m going to send to the admissions office (and if anyone can tell me who specifically, it would be greatly appreciated). It says quite clearly in the letter that I was sent not to submit anything additional as it was “discouraged.” Also, I’m not entirely sure I can call my stats HPYS stats (especially with my GPA and courseload) so are my chances good?</p>

6

<p>Maybe the gay Asian male quota has been fulfilled and we just don’t know about them? Schools don’t like too many of them in one place because apparently, they could get extremely FEROCIOUS with each other.</p>

<p>I’m actually an LGBT activist for Amnesty International (combining two of your ECs). Maybe Northwestern thought your profile already exists here.</p>

7

<p>I don’t know anything about waitlist regulations, but if NU is your first choice right now and you will attend if admitted, you should definitely let them know that (be explicit about it).</p>

8

<p>Are you being serious about that SAT score? Cause you should have been admitted in my mind…</p>

9

<p>^ Dead serious.</p>

10

<p>Dang man. I don’t know what to tell you. Call them and ask what they though was a weakness in your application, then you might be able to explain it a bit further. As far as I’m concerned you should be a shoo-in for the waitlist…assuming they take some people from it =/</p>

11

<p>No one is a shoo-in simply because of high test scores. The waitlist is unranked; the kinds of people they take will probably depend on institutional priorities as well as student interest.</p>

<p>Btw, alta, what were the “extraordinary circumstances” that your counselor noted?</p>

12

<p>The “extraordinary circumstances” involve the clash between being gay and being in an Asian-dominated community. As you can imagine, coming out wasn’t fun (I seized at one point). What really gets me though, as far as college admissions go, these circumstances may no longer be “extraordinary.” Especially if what you say about the quota is true sanjenferrer.</p>

13

<p>write a letter, send in extra recommendations, and call the admissions committee (and thank them for waitlisting you but ask them if there are any weaknesses in your app). and pray. lol</p>

14

<p>^^It sounds like Northwestern already explicitly stated not to send extra materials. Alta might just tell them that you would definitely attend if accepted off the waitlist.</p>

15

<p>Okay I don’t believe that you got rejected with a 2390 score. There is something wrong here. Did you take it more than once or something? Plus we can’t really analyze your GPA unless you tell us your entire four years worth of classes. We all know senior year doesn’t do that much to affect admissions. Maybe your GPA for the classes you were taking weren’t high enough unfortunately? Plus you only got a recc from your speech coach plus english teacher? Don’t you need two core class teachers not one core plus one elective? Maybe they couldn’t take much from an elective teacher who hasn’t seen your academic ability at hand. Unfortunately I don’t think being gay and coming out in your Asian-dominated community is too much of a hook because there are so many other extraordinary hooks out there applying to schools like these. Anyways try your best but don’t be too forceful on the admissions or else it might come off as too demanding and that can never turn out good :]</p>

16

<p>I’m just kidding about the quota, btw, so relax! </p>

<p>You are right in that coming out is no longer considered an “extraordinary circumstance” in light of students who are in much graver circumstances (lack of educational resources, gang violence, cancer, etc.). Presenting your application in this angle was certainly risky.</p>

<p>If the committee discourages submission of additional material (do they make an exception for grade updates?), I would heed that advice. However, that doesn’t preclude you from sending a letter of interest saying you will attend if admitted (if that’s indeed the case) and having your GC call to reiterate what you said in the letter (to legitimize it, but you have to keep your promise if you do this so your GC doesn’t lose credibility).</p>

17

<p>Northwestern must hate State Debate Champions. I was State Champion in Extemp and was waitlisted. Granted, my SATs weren’t as high, but our EC’s were along the same lines, except I was all-region for cross country and went to State.</p>

18

<p>^ Which is strange considering how awesome their Debate team is (and I could never do Extemp, the closest thing to FX or NX I can do is LD). It is very true, my circumstances are no longer “extraordinary” (which is actually a little heartbreaking, considering the gravity of such circumstances with a large number LGBT individuals) and yes, it was the angle that I took when I applied. But it seemed consistent with my background in Speech and thus communication (which was also my focus, as I was applying to the School of Communication in Communication Studies). It tied in with my work as an activist and an orator competitively and in advocacy. </p>

<p>For now, the plan is to send in a letter saying that I want to go to NU. Which individual exactly (to the admissions office itself or to the dean of undergrad admissions?) I’m not too sure. Thanks for the advice everyone, please keep it coming, I really do appreciate it.</p>

19

<p>where does it say that NU doesn’t want any additional materials?</p>

20

<p>I was wondering how much Northwestern goes to its waitlist. It hasn’t had the highest yeild historically, but this year was brutal for a lot of people.</p>

<p>Anyways, any guess on how likely someone will get off the waitlist this year?
Does anyone know if they waitlist a lot of people?</p>