<p>I think you’re destined for an incredible university. Keep your head up and keep applying to more schools and you’ll get in somewhere incredible. People all around the country would kill for scores like you have.</p>
<p>I waived my rights to see the letters but my recommenders shared them with me anyway.</p>
<p>My list includes most of the top 20 plus some matches and safeties. I decided to add on some match schools due to the unpredictability of admissions.</p>
<p>Not comfortable sharing my state for anonymity’s sake. Hope you guys understand.</p>
<p>Time to work hard on those other apps!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your support. Again, I don’t mean to sound entitled. Maybe I’m just not well-versed enough with admissions to know that even a really strong profile can get denied early outright.</p>
<p>I don’t think you sound entitled. Its tough to look at the stats when choosing places to which you want to apply, believe you are within range and have a strong app, and be denied. Then it makes you question- and if it doesn’t that’s when there is a problem since you need to be realistic. That said, I truly believe that if you thoughtfully select schools to which you apply, a year from now you will be coming home after a successful first semester, in love with the school you are attending and eager to get back for a new slate of classes and to see your new friends. Have faith. It will work out and this rejection will simply be a memory.</p>
<p>I don’t think OP was a shoo-in for NU, but there could be few reasons for outright denial, 1) they have too many applicants like OP already, so instead of deferring him/her, they decided to do a mercy killing instead so OP could move on, 2) there is something wrong with OP’s application or LORs.</p>
<p>If OP was my kid, I would talk to the GC right away to find out what could possibly have gone wrong, and I would also get few knowledgeable adults to read through OP’s app and essays to make sure the app/essays all tie in together, nothing offensive, and are as strong as could be.</p>
<p>I know my youngest nephew, who just got into Cornell last week, originally wrote his essays sounding just like my brother because he got a lot of his essay ideas from his father. I asked him, “Where are you? I am not getting who you are. You sound like a robot. After they read your essays they should feel like they want to get to know you better, have a cup of coffee with you, and just hang.” He did rewrite his essays a week before the deadline.</p>
<p>As others have said before, all of the top tier schools should be considered reaches. My daughter had SAT scores that were higher than the OP’s scores, and many more APs, all with scores of 5. She had many extracurriculars, many with leadership positions. Of the schools she applied to, 3 were top schools for which she was fully qualified. She was denied at 2 of them but now happily attends the third. Who knows why she was rejected? It is impossible to know. And for what it is worth, I attended NU many years ago, and although I had a wonderful experience from a social standpoint, I am convinced that I would have had as good, or perhaps a better, academic experience at many, many other schools. So to the OP I say, hang in there. Don’t dwell on the denial because I am sure an acceptance to a great school is around the corner.</p>
<p>My brother was outright rejected from NU ED two years ago, and he was the salutatorian with a SAT of 2350. His subject tests - Math II, Chem and Bio E - are all perfect. But he got into Rice and Wash U!</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad 
Focus on the others. One university’s loss is another’s gain.</p>
<p>Question: did they outright reject you or did you get “deferred”? Also, did you apply early action or early decision?</p>
<p>When top students like you get rejected to their target/reach schools on early action, they will often panic and wonder if something went seriously wrong. There are a few reasons:
- you chose a major that is way over impacted. Thus, it is not that you are not good, it is that there are others who are just a bit better (if you can imagine that). Just remember that most top colleges only will fill about 10 to 25% of their slots in EA. You actually have a much higher chance with RD.
- you did indeed make some error in your applications. I know someone who accidentally submitted his Amherst essay to Georgetown. So check and double check your app and essays.<br>
- 99% of the administrators of the top college will deny this: they routinely rejects top candidates on EA because they don’t want to be the fall back school. Top colleges want you to as committed to them as they to you.
- For some colleges, they like to use a GPA/SAT cut off for EA. In other words, if your SAT is 2400 but GPA is 3.89 but their cut off is 2200 and 3.90, you are out of luck. Obviously for RD, they will not use that blind cut off, but for EA, sometimes they do. </p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Maybe i was a little too blunt, but I think there are a bit too many misconceptions about the admissions, especially early decision and to highly selective schools like NU. </p>
<p>Nothing went “wrong” except the fact that you didn’t get in. You have outstanding credentials and the rest of your application is fine. You’ll get into good and great schools; don’t worry.</p>
<p>But to answer your question, SAT scores and grades don’t really do much besides making you a serious contender for top schools, which yours do. Then it comes down to your essays, recommendation letters, ECs, etc. </p>
<p>Essays: You and others may have have thought your essays were fine and good but it’s ultimately up to the admissions officer reading it.</p>
<p>Recommendation letters: You probably don’t have experience reading recommendation letters. While they may sound ‘glowing’ to you many many other applicants will have gotten rec letters from teachers who knew them best and will probably written ‘glowing’ letters for them too. It is uncommon for recommendation letters to truly stand out. </p>
<p>ECs: You have good ECs and certainly show dedication to sports and some leadership, but they are not outstanding by any means and above average at best. Remember NU gets a talented applicant pool. </p>
<p>In conclusion, to me you’re an applicant that had about a 50-50 shot at Northwestern, but unfortunately didn’t get in.</p>
<p>"What could have gone wrong? "</p>
<p>Asian?</p>
<p>yaujar - NU is an ED school. NU’s A&S school does not require students to declare a major.</p>
<p>Northwestern’s new admissions director previously held that position at Princeton. Since he took the position, NU admissions is getting tougher and tougher to predict.</p>
<p>To answer your questions, I’m actually white.</p>
<p>Yaujar, Northwestern is Early Decision.</p>
<p>Undeclared major. Maybe I should’ve declared one? But I’m truly undecided.</p>
<p>Kkakaka, I’m applying to Rice and WashU too so I hope to have better luck with them.</p>
<p>Counselor said Northwestern is unable to give me a definitive answer as to why I didn’t get in. My counselor and I looked over my entire application again, and there are no red flags we detected other than that my profile lacks diversity or “interest in diversity” (definitely not intentional, I love diversity!) and makes me seem too vanilla and maybe sheltered? My counselor said the other admitted students in my class (one with slightly lower numbers, also white and another who’s Asian with slightly higher stats) seemed “edgier.” Who knows…these are broad conjectures.</p>
<p>wildroses2017, the simple answer is that many more well qualified students apply to NU than can be accepted.</p>
<p>I got into UChicago EA! Hallelujah. Dropping all of my safeties. I’m applying to Duke, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Penn RD…come on please…just one of those and I’m golden.</p>
<p>“I’m applying to Duke, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Penn RD…come on please…just one of those and I’m golden.”</p>
<p>Are you kidding? You wanted NU (ED) but got into Chicago (EA)? And now you are going to apply to Duke and Penn? What for? Pick the one Big Three you like the best, apply there, and be done with college applications.</p>
<p>“junior prom queen” did the trick at Chicago!</p>
<p>wildroses2017, I think it’s rather amusing that you were bummed out when your first love rejected your advances, but now that your second has said yes, you’re not satisfied with her. </p>
<p>I can understand spreading a wide net in RD when you only have one shot – but why apply EA/ED to a school that’s your fifth choice? Is this one of those Groucho cases where you don’t really want to join a club that is willing to accept you as one of its members?</p>
<p>^^, ^ lol, imagine if you were dating this girl… i think before people were really cheering for you and I’m sure you didn’t mean to come off as an unappreciative brat but it’s very off putting. and besides, uchicago blows duke and penn out of the water so i dont even know what you’re applying there for, looking for more disappointment?</p>
<p>Guys, I think you might be overreacting a bit. I like UChicago, but I want to have options too. Given the difficulty of admissions, it’s just right that I cast a wide net. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Like I said, I already finished all of my applications so I might as well send them to all of my reach schools. I will be okay if I attend UChicago, but I just think I would fit in better at Penn, Duke, Harvard and those other schools.</p>
<p>If Penn was on the list why did you apply to NU ED? Shouldn’t you have aimed for the highest ranked school on your list for ED?</p>
<p>If you had gotten in NU, none of these would have been choices.</p>