Will my class rank/GPA ruin my chances at Northwestern

Chance Me / Match Me
1

So I’m from Germany and at my school you choose to commit to the HS Diploma or Abitur (german diploma) after 10th grade. My class rank is top 20% with a GPA of about 3.8 UW, 3.5 UW, 4.0 W, and 4.3 W, although we can’t take any honors courses for those first two years and every year there are mandatory UW classes. The German system grades based on ability, so I received a C- in art because I can’t draw/paint and a C in table tennis (haha lost my honor’s diploma to table tennis) because I had a weak backhand. German teachers are just like that because in Germany you can choose to wipe those grades. My course rigor is the highest possible and my grades besides these are all great, especially bio/chem with A+/A’s. Without sport/art I would have a GPA spread of 3.9, 3.9, 3.7, 3.8 UW. Do top schools consider GPA and class rank separately? For example most schools get rid of sport/art/music when calculating GPA but my class rank will still be the same. My rank also dropped because all the abitur students can delete bad grades, but lose credits in the process.

My ACT composite is 34 (36, 31, 36, 32, 34) and my essays/recommendations were all great. EC’s include German interpretation as a job, 2 week apprenticeship (80 hours) at a pathology lab, 90 hours volunteering over the summer at a hospital, peer mediation for 2 years, and plenty of tutoring. One of my recommendation letters comes from the teacher whose nephew I taught German.

Thanks for any responses!

2

It will be challenging for Northwestern to translate your German HS transcript although they have enough international applicants that they must be pretty good at it. I don’t know if your school will provide the equivalent of a “school profile” but if they did that would be helpful as it would help Northwestern understand how academically strong your HS is. Most highly selective colleges will take your HS transcript and focus on core academic courses and many recalculate your GPA excluding classes like table tennis and art. Not sure about Northwestern. You could be 20% in class rank and be fine if your high school is academically very, very strong. By “strong” I mean average ACT of 28 or higher for entire student body, many students going to top colleges each year, loads of advanced classes. My suspicion is that Northwestern will compare you to other students from Western Europe or even Germany and they will focus a lot of your essays and extracurricular accomplishments/interests.

3

I think you have a pretty good chance. Chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1854384-chance-me-for-these-colleges-p1.html