<p>Rejected. Thanks, URM/legacy! At least they gave my gramps a little shout-out in the decision letter: “This decision was especially difficult in light of your family’s ties to the University.” lolololol.</p>
<p>The acceptance rate for just RD is not a publicly disclosed figure for any school that also has an ED/EA round, so you’d have to factor in the SCEA acceptees (which is more tricky since they’re not binding) for Yale and Stanford to get that RD figure to compare to Northwestern.</p>
<p>For Northwestern Class of 2016,
Total ED Applicants: 2450
Total ED Acceptances: 814
ED Acceptance Rate: 33.2%
(ED makes up 40% of their expected Class of 2016, which in total will comprise of around 2035 freshmen)</p>
<p>TOTAL Applicants: 32,065
TOTAL Acceptances: 4895
TOTAL Acceptance Rate: 15.3%</p>
<p>Total RD Applicants (=Total - ED): 29,615
Total RD Acceptances (=Total - ED): 4081
RD Acceptance Rate: 13.8%</p>
<p>Just FYI: RD Yield, which I think has historically been around 30-35%, hit almost 40% last year. Northwestern only wants around 1220 more students to finish off its class - but I think we can expect a larger class this year as well – what do you think?</p>
<p>Can someone please go over these calculations?</p>
<p>Statistics from:
ED: <a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2012/01/applications-new-high.html[/url]”>Applications Hit New High - Northwestern Now;
<p>RD:
<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2012/03/notify-applicants.html[/url]”>Northwestern Notifies Admitted Students - Northwestern Now;
<p>Decision: Accepted to Weinberg</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t submit
[</em>] ACT: 29
[<em>] SAT II: US History: 760, Math II: 750
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.84
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank… Too small
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH: 5, Chemistry: 4, Biology: 4
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: Mostly Honors and Scholarship classes, one AP
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Native American Pride Club (president and founder), GSA (secretary), Chinese Club member for 4 years, Varsity Soccer player
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Worked at public library for 4 years
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: 75+ hours at Native American Alliance of Ohio
[<em>] Summer Activities: N/A
[</em>] Essays: Short answer was about my volunteering and how it helped me find myself; long answer was about how I learned to shrug off negativity and racism through support groups and sports; Northwestern essay was about how I plan to bring diversity to the school.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: One from US History teacher, one from Math teacher, both were very good I think
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Not sure how good it was, never checked
[<em>] Additional Rec: N/A
[</em>] Interview: N/A
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): Ohio
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Native American
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>]Income Bracket: ~150k
[</em>] Hooks: First generation and URM
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Great Hooks, as well as EC’s and essays that were actually relevant to real life experiences
[</em>] Weaknesses: Test scores
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Honestly, I just applied for kicks. I had no idea that I could ever get into NU, especially since I thought my stuff was a little lacking! I’m so excited!!!
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to OSU, Case Western, Waitlisted from UChicago, still waiting on Duke and Cornell.
[/ul]General Comments: If you put your mind to it, anything can happen, just look at me! The one thing I hope for is a lot of scholarship money. Even though we’re moderately wealthy, I still hope to qualify for some URM scholarships (does NU offer those? I actually haven’t done much research into the school).</p>
<p>Decision: Waitlisted</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2210 - 730CR/ 760M/ 720W (one sitting)
[</em>] SAT II: Spanish: 800, Math Level 2: 800 (one sitting for Spanish, two sittings for math)
[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.84 (weighted: > 4.20)
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/ 14 (not reported, but class GPA range reported, so obvious)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): May 2012 Candidate – Predicted: 44/45 with HL776
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: IB History HL (pr.7), IB English A1 HL (pr.6), IB Spanish B HL (pr.7), IB Math SL (pr.7), IB Chemistry SL (pr.7), IB Bulgarian A1 SL (pr.7), IB TOK (pr.3 with EE)
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):[/li]Two international awards from one of HYP for politics
Winner of an international essay contest for politics, including more than 1500 people from all over the world (but update was sent very (!) late so might have not been taken into account)
Twice Best Delegate, once Honorable Delegate and two more awards from one of the prominent international MUN conferences in the Middle East
One of few, if not only, high school student involved at high-level national politics
Full four-year merit based scholarship to attend the only international school in my country
All four years on the highest honor roll for academic excellence</p>
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): MUN (look at awards), Interact Club at School (President, Past-President), District Interact Committee of my country (Secretary for two consecutive years, highest position available to a person my age), Youngest Moderator on of the largest country forum, Only high school member serving in a certain political organization, Junior Achievement club member, performed in plays for orphans and children with cancer
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: N/A (nearly impossible to legally find a job under the age of 18)
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Hours? More than 300, look at extracurricular activities for details
[</em>] Summer Activities: 2010 – Spanish classes for 5 hours a day, 2011 – a competitive summer school in the USA for…politics
[<em>] Essays: Common app – extraordinary, provocative, attention-grabbing and revealing what matters to me through the way I think; I think the topic has never been addressed in that way before; Supplement – about MUN, but very personal and relaxed;
[</em>] Teacher 1 Recommendation: Awesome (Counselor: “The best one I have seen in my career.”, but I haven’t seen it)
[<em>] Teacher 2 Recommendation: Very, very good… (Again, I haven’t seen it)
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Pretty good, too (I haven’t seen this one either)
[<em>] Additional Rec: Very specific, honest and revealing a side of me the other 3 recs were not
[</em>] Interview: N/A</p>
<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[</em>] Intended Major: Political Science/ Government
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): N/A
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): Eastern Europe (not to be too specific)
[<em>] School Type: International
[</em>] Ethnicity: Eastern European
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None, I guess?</p>
<p>[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: essays, awards (in context), SAT II’s, full IB with 44/45 prediction, dedication (read: no jack of all trades), rank, recommendations, standardized tests taken only once, international schooling;
[</em>] Weaknesses: GPA, SAT I, no sports, had to drop a class due to a specific set of circumstances, international applying for lots of aid;
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: see weaknesses
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted:
Waitlisted: Vassar, Wesleyan, Northwestern, Colby
Rejected: Colgate </p>
<p>[/ul]**General Comments: After 4 waitlists I have lost hope. Colgate was expected. Congrats to all those who got in. 
I don’t know whether I will be taking my place on the waitlist - Thursday will determine that. I feel super disheartened though. **</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted to Weinberg</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I: 2110
SAT II: Math I: 710, Biology: 740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): I did a self-study on AP Biology and AP Literature (got 3 on AP Bio) -my school offers only one AP
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: One AP, one honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): I founded my own club, which is about something I am truly interested in; member of Science club; student council; basketball; soccer; I did an internship at a company
Volunteer/Community service: I initiated a community service project and raised money by myself to help a local school in my country. I spent a tremendous amount of effort and energy into this project (but I am not sure if my application communicates that well or not). I am also involved in many other community service projects. I really enjoy getting involved in these activities.
Summer Activities: N/A
Essays: I like my essay. Although it is a bit bizarre, I feel like it is me.
Teacher Recommendation: My teacher told me he wrote an excellent recommendation for me… I believe he did so
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec: from the Managing Director of a company I worked with (my internship)
Interview: N/A
Other
State (if domestic applicant):
School Type: private (my school is really small and not well recognized, but I guess I managed to make the best use of the resources available at my school)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket:
Hooks: none
Reflection
Strengths: I do things that I love to do and I think I communicated that well in my application
Weaknesses: Test scores, no APs, no major awards
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: my application does reflect who I am. Moreover, throughout my high school years, I put my passion into everything I did.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
General Comments: I am quite surprised to get accepted at NU. I never thought that I would come this far. There were times when I read ppl’s stats last year and felt so discouraged, because I did not know how to stand out among all the strong applicants. I decided to do things that I like to do. If you are a creative person, show creativity in your application. If you are a prudent person, show prudence. There is always a way to stand out in your own unique way. Think about what you really like to do and make it “something.” If you are interested in something, share it with others – this is how your passion is put into work. Congrats to all who got accepted.</p>
<p>Maybe late to the game on the popularity of Northwestern but as soon as I saw they had over 30,000 applications, I realized that NU was not using the traditional application review process. Even if there were ten admissions reviewers, each would have to review over 3,000 applications in a three month period. Sure, they can eliminate some via scores but still. I think the reason the decisions seem so confusing is that NU may be using data mining to increase their yield. NU’s problem is that it doesn’t get all the students it wants and data mining is a way to optimize selection of people who will ultimately attend. In data mining, tons of information is used and hidden variables may emerge that predict which people should be selected. A hidden variable could be something that is not obvious, like having low income and going to a private school together make you more likely to attend NU. The Common App asks a lot of information that could be used in data mininge (sibs’s colleges, parents’ profession etc.) I imagine the vast increase in quantity in applications due to ease of Common App has led to this more statistical approach.</p>
<p>Just looking at this website, most of the people accepted seemed to be planning to attend. I happened to look at Emory’s forum and a lot of people who were accepted said they were planning to go elsewhere. So NU may be doing something different.</p>
<p>The bottom line is probably Early Decision is the way to go to improve your chances of getting in.</p>
<p>cpdoc, that sounds like pure conjecture.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~juliano/csci693/Presentations/2008w/Materials/Lobban/DOCS/predict%2520college%2520admission%2520yield.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~juliano/csci693/Presentations/2008w/Materials/Lobban/DOCS/predict%2520college%2520admission%2520yield.pdf</a></p>
<p>Such kind of data mining is probably used often in state Us (read again the title of the article by the way) because their admission is more numbers driven and less holistic and they tend to have fewer resources. I highly doubt elite privates like Northwestern would use such tool.</p>
<p>Even if data mining was used by schools like NU (I have NO inside knowledge of their process) I wouldn’t see a problem. All highly-selective schools want to build the strongest possible incoming class. Clearly NU turns away A LOT of amazing students (I remember seeing numbers last year about the thousands of kids rejected with ACT scores of 35+), so they obviously look beyond test scores for holistic indicators of a student’s potential contribution to the NU community.</p>
<p>Given last years’ amazing rate of Fulbright awards (second only to a school 5X larger), 97% retention rate, etc… whatever NU Admissions is doing seems to be working. I say “keep up the great work”!</p>
<p>[ size=+1][ color=yellow][ b]Waitlisted[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>
<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *]SAT: 2290 (CR 770, Math 800, Writing 720)
[ *]SAT II: US Hist 790, Math II 800, Chem 800, Bio M 800
[ *]GPA: 3.9ish
[ *]Rank: 5/450ish
[ *]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Chem, US Hist, Calc AB, Stat, Compsci A, Bio: All 5’s</p>
<p>[ /list][ b]Subjective[ /b][ list]
[ *]Essays: Common app: 8/10, Supplements: 6 or 7 out of 10. They were mostly cut and paste, but maybe I’m being modest
[ *]Teacher Recs: Should be great, didn’t really get to see them.
[ *]Counselor Rec: Should be excellent, I’m probably one of her favorite students.
[ *]Supplementary Material: Didn’t send any
[ *]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): None. Antihook: Asian male with no exceptional EC’s going into engineering :’(</p>
<p>[ /list][ b]Personal[ /b][ list]
[ *]Location: PA
[ *]High School Type: Public
[ *]Ethnicity: Asian
[ *]Gender: Male</p>
<p>[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *]Extracurriculars: Nothing special. Orchestra, Mock Trials, Electric Car Club, Intern at a chem lab for 4 years (my strongest one probably. Sent in a pretty good recommendation from that)
[ *]Awards: Distinguished AP scholar, National merit finalist
[ *]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[/list] Congrats to all those who got in!! I really mean that from the bottom of my heart. Whatever will be will be :D</p>