Tell me how you got your kid into Northwestern

[Anonymous]

Sports, donations and affirmative action can help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Participate in the summer Medill Cherubs program and apply ED - they let in well over 50% of the cherubs who apply

Oh, yes. I am the poster whose kid got in RD, and she had a friend get in from that, and they may have mentioned another friend who got in too.

It's not a general program, it's for kids who already have HS journalism experience and who are aiming to go to NU for journalism.

I was referring to the theatre program. Also Cherubs but not Medill.

There may be a few others as well.

[Anonymous]

Kids we know from the international school community were all high test scores + GPA but also had some EC hook that they were really passionate about. Seems Northwestern values extracurricular achievement which can sometimes offset a slightly lower test score or GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Participate in the summer Medill Cherubs program and apply ED - they let in well over 50% of the cherubs who apply

Oh, yes. I am the poster whose kid got in RD, and she had a friend get in from that, and they may have mentioned another friend who got in too.

It's not a general program, it's for kids who already have HS journalism experience and who are aiming to go to NU for journalism.

I was referring to the theatre program. Also Cherubs but not Medill.

There may be a few others as well.

Sorry, of course, my bad. Someone had posted earlier about Medill Cherubs as if it were a way to boost kids' admission chances but that PP did not mention that Medill Cherubs (same with theater Cherubs) is a program for very specific interests.

[Anonymous]

Our kid graduated last year from Weinberg (the arts and sciences college) and got a great job immediately after graduation in their field. Loved a lot about the Northwestern experience though COVID has not been great.

[Anonymous]

Well,
I drove him to the airport, then we both boarded a direct flight to Chicago. There I rented a car and I drove him to Evanston. I held his hand and walked him to his dorm room. He was crying a little but I had to steel myself, just as I did when I dropped him off for the first time, years ago, on his first day at Pre-K. In no time he started loving his dorm friends, his classes, and more importantly, his new found freedom. That is how I got my kid into Northwestern. Easy. You can do it too. Just steel your nerves. I am rooting for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Show a lot of interest, ED, and be from a state that doesn’t send them a lot of applicants.

ED is a must. A must.

The system is so broken that the most expensive schools favor the rich where you can ED and be willing to be $80k/year. Only the wealthy can afford to ED there…or the foolish who are willing to take massive loans.

Does Northwestern really include PLUS loans in the EFC calculations for true middle class kids? I tend to doubt it. My guess would be that Northwestern would have good aid for kids with income under about $150,000. And I know that $180,000 feels poor on the East Coast, but it’s not really that poor.

If all Northwestern does is include $30,000 in federal student loans in the calculations: Coming out of Northwestern with $30,000 in student loans shouldn’t be a big deal for a kid practical and dynamic enough to be a natural fit for Northwestern. Chicago has a great job market, and it’s not nearly expensive as big cities on the coasts. Great kids who stay there should have an easy time paying off a modest amount of loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Show a lot of interest, ED, and be from a state that doesn’t send them a lot of applicants.

ED is a must. A must.

The system is so broken that the most expensive schools favor the rich where you can ED and be willing to be $80k/year. Only the wealthy can afford to ED there…or the foolish who are willing to take massive loans.

Does Northwestern really include PLUS loans in the EFC calculations for true middle class kids? I tend to doubt it. My guess would be that Northwestern would have good aid for kids with income under about $150,000. And I know that $180,000 feels poor on the East Coast, but it’s not really that poor.

If all Northwestern does is include $30,000 in federal student loans in the calculations: Coming out of Northwestern with $30,000 in student loans shouldn’t be a big deal for a kid practical and dynamic enough to be a natural fit for Northwestern. Chicago has a great job market, and it’s not nearly expensive as big cities on the coasts. Great kids who stay there should have an easy time paying off a modest amount of loans.

We are under 150k, and NU came in at about 45k EFC. They did include some loans in the package. DD was RD. Not sure if there would be a difference had she been ED. We appealed based on income dtop, and they seemed pretty much by the numbers. Our concern was home value, but they came in at the lower range of the NPC (put in a couple different home values to get a range of possible amounts).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well,
I drove him to the airport, then we both boarded a direct flight to Chicago. There I rented a car and I drove him to Evanston. I held his hand and walked him to his dorm room. He was crying a little but I had to steel myself, just as I did when I dropped him off for the first time, years ago, on his first day at Pre-K. In no time he started loving his dorm friends, his classes, and more importantly, his new found freedom. That is how I got my kid into Northwestern. Easy. You can do it too. Just steel your nerves. I am rooting for you.

[Anonymous]

We got EXCELLENT aid from Northwestern. I've heard it can be a hit or miss, but Northwestern really gave us the most cost-conscious option for our kid other than local state school. We are distinctly middle class (some of the comments on here about 180k HHI being poor/middle class are REALLY shocking to me).