keep us all posted on the interview…no word here on the east coast…
I survived midterms so it’s all good here on out…with the exception of the AP’s in April…but I have time to freak out about that later =))
@Seacoast aren’t AP’s in May?
Yeah but reviews start in April…lucky me I get to spend all of my Spring break studying, they start the Monday I get back
Luckily I have 2 the first week and 2 the second week…ugh.
when do you think we will hear decisions here?
I set my countdown (optimistically) for March 16 because last year the 2020 thread got results on March 17, the 3rd Thursday in March.
I’m worried. I live an hour away from NU but no email regarding interviews. Is this a bad thing?
If I miss the interview request deadline, is there any way to still request an interview?
@scolton99, this may not make you feel better, but even 5 years ago, you would have been a sure admit ED at NU, IMO, so all those NU alums who’s admission experiences are from years ago had good reason to think you have a good chance.
What this shows is that even NU ED has entered the crazy territory where super-qualified folks are squeezed out because it’s a numbers game and they can fill the ED quota with kids who have great stats as well as have special talents/attributes to round out a class (don’t think they have a LBGT number they try to hit) or expressed a ton of interest.
I’m curious to see if the NU ED admit rate is close to 20-25% this year rather than around 33%.
@PurpleTitan: 26%. https://dailynorthwestern.com/2017/01/05/campus/northwestern-acceptance-rate-projected-to-fall-below-10-percent/
@JBStillFlying , thanks. That explains it to a degree. If you assume that half of ED applicants are qualified and half of ED admits are hooked (or have some special talant), 33% admitted means 2/3rds of the qualified (half of unhooked qualified) are in.
25% admitted means half of qualified (1/3rd of unhooked qualified) are in.
@PurpleTitan, According to the article, 21% are hooked demographically (the 15% needing Pell Grants are probably a subset of this group), and 12% are internationals (most likely unhooked and qualified). That’s 33% total or about 320 kids (3700 * .26 * .333). That leaves another 650 or so who are domestic applicants, non-hooked demographically. Some are merely qualified (or super-qualified), some have a special talent. How would you break down the 650 into those two groups?
@JBStillFlying, the 15% who need Pell grants almost certainly aren’t in the demographically hooked group as the percentage of URM at NU is actually a little above 21% and I’m certain there are non-URM who require Pell grants (and URM who do not). Then there are those with talents (athletes and musicians, etc., though having multiple talents like being good enough to help the fencing/Ultimate Frisbee club teams and be the lead in school plays no doubt does not hurt).
There’s overlap there but in any case, you’re left with several hundred spots for those who are qualified but not hooked/special talents. Hard to say how many hundred, and among that set, it probably comes down to essays and expressed interest.
@PurpleTitan - you could be right about little overlap between the demographically hooked and Pell Grant recipients. I was going off the following information from the article which seems to link the increase in diversity with the Questbridge program and those families are obviously candidates for Pell Grants:
“The newly admitted early decision class is one of the most diverse the University has had, Mills said, with 21 percent of students identifying as black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaskan native. International students make up 12 percent of the early decision class.
Mills attributed the increase in applications to Northwestern’s relationship with the Questbridge Scholars Network, a program that helps universities identify high-achieving low-income students.
Mills said 15 percent of the newly-admitted students are recipients of Pell Grants, a federal grant for low-income families. University President Morton Schapiro announced last winter that the University aims to have a freshman class of 20 percent Pell Grant recipients by 2020.”
BTW, if they are shooting for 20% Pell Grant recipients by 2020, then being a high-achieving low income applicant will be a hook, regardless of demographic, although there is undoubtedly an overlap (even a large overlap) between the two.
The incoming class of 21% of URM’s (from the article) is actually larger than the school’s overall % of the same groups, according to the Common Data Set (about 17%). Perhaps you are looking at other information in order to have concluded differently?
@JBStillFlying, I recall the demographics of a recent NU entering (freshman) class being something like 24% URM.
There may be fluctuations year-by-year (and may be increasing).
The change in Pell grant recipients will certainly help applicants who need Pell grants (specifically, Questbridge applicants who apply ED). But as full-pays will be even more needed (to make the finances work) and admissions for Americans at NU is need-blind, that almost certainly means that the number of full-pay internationals will go up. Internationals who need fin aid will have an exceedingly difficult way in.
@PurpleTitan agree regarding the internationals.
Annoyingly, often times the Asian demographic is represented as just one group, while in reality there are groups of various degrees of representation (some clearly under-represented). And there are URM’s two or more ethnic make-up. So that might put the number toward your stat (although 24% seems a bit high).
NU cannot truly be need-blind admissions, if they have a target number of Pell Grant recipients! What they can do is work through QuestBridge and similar to identify those students of promise so that it’s not directly linking need - or ethic demographic, for that matter - to admissions.
@JBStillFlying, I think many colleges play that game (of finding characteristics of those who are full-pays or need Pell even if they do not factor in need directly) as you’ll find that the percentage of full-pays stays very consistent year over year at every school. Or maybe they adjust their International admit pool to get the number of full-pays they need.
@Seacoast there are interviews on the east coast
@allima probably not where I am…Maine/NH/MA border area. I haven’t heard of any. Thanks though!