When did Chicago become the Northwest? Well, it was in 1851 when Northwestern was established. And since 1851, the private research university in Evanston, Illinois, has been a favorite for students looking for the best the Midwest has to offer.
We love it when a student we work with wants to apply to Northwestern. Whether they are budding journalists, performing artists, or business school aficionados, Northwestern attracts dynamic, vibrant work-hard-play-hard types. That being said, if you are dreaming of Northwestern, you need to be an elite candidate. They are looking for students with amazing grades, interesting extracurriculars, competitive transcripts, great test scores (if you send them, they are still test-optional), and, of course, standout essays.
In recent years, their acceptance rate has been around This makes it a very competitive school. The earlier we start with students, the more we can ensure they are the total package, but we work with all kinds of students no matter where they are in the college application process. From building a great resume to choosing the right colleges to essay writing, we can help you with whatever you need! Contact us today! We especially recommend working with a professional if you are looking at elite schools like Northwestern.
That said, we wanted to share some of our favorite tips for approaching the Northwestern application is a little different than most schools. They do not use the Common App essay/personal statement. Instead, they have one required and two optional essays.
The following question is required for all Common Application and Coalition with Scoir applicants (optional for QuestBridge applicants). Please respond in 300 words or fewer:
We want to be sure were considering your application in the context of your personal experiences: What aspects of your background (your identity, your school setting, your community, your household, etc.) have most shaped how you see yourself engaging in Northwestern community, be it academically, extracurricularly, culturally, politically, socially, or otherwise?
Since Northwestern won be reading your Common App essay, you can technically repurpose it for this question. Don do that. Writing something new can actually be easier.
We always have our students write something new for this question. We come up with strategies for our students, and this is your chance to write something really tailored to what Northwestern is looking for. We push our students to think about stories that connect to who they hope to be at Northwestern. A lot can work here, but you need to choose the right topic to stand out.
Technically, the rest of the Northwestern supplement is optional but remember the 7% acceptance rate. It isn really optional in our books. They ask you to answer one or two questions from five prompts. We suggest putting your best foot forward and answering 2 of them.
We encourage you to answer at least one and no more than two of the following questions. Please respond in fewer than 200 words per question:
Painting The Rock is a tradition at Northwestern that invites all forms of expressionstudents promote campus events or extracurricular groups, support social or activist causes, show their Wildcat spirit (what we call Purple Pride), celebrate their culture, and more. What would you paint on The Rock, and why?
We don love this question. The word count is pretty short to explain something large enough to feel consequential, especially if you are thinking about social or activist causes.
Generally, we push our students away from this question; however, it can be an opportunity to write about an extracurricular that you haven been able to write about. We had a student who wanted to paint the rock about her love of the harp and imagined her playing as a campus event. Things like this can work well here, but we vastly prefer some of the other prompts.
Northwestern fosters a distinctively interdisciplinary culture. We believe discovery and innovation thrive at the intersection of diverse ideas, perspectives, and academic interests. Within this setting, if you could dream up an undergraduate class, research project, or creative effort (a start-up, a design prototype, a performance, etc.), what would it be? Who might be some ideal classmates or collaborators?
We love this question, because it allows you to be creative and talk about your academic interests. The trick here is to make sure you answer both questions. You need to both think of a project and your collaborators.
Your class, project, etc. should be connected to what you hope to study at Northwestern, but also have an interdisciplinary twist. For example, we had a student who hoped to major in Creative Writing; she pitched a class for art students of all kinds to collaborate. Musicians could work with poets. Writers would create alongside painters and sculptors. The class would produce multimedia art and connect creative pursuits.
You can treat this essay almost like a pitch. The more thought-out your project is, the better.
Community and belonging matter at Northwestern. Tell us about one or more communities, networks, or student groups you see yourself connecting with on campus.
We like this question. One note: you will need to do some research for it. You should look for specific groups at Northwestern that connect to things you are already involved in. While you need to speak to specific opportunities at Northwestern, this is also a chance to talk about your interests and past experiences.
For example, we had a student who loved being on her high school crew team. She also hoped to study psychology, and she participated in many of her school mental health initiatives. She connected experiences from her resume to being on the club crew team and Northwestern Active Minds Club. You want to create a Venn diagram of what you are already doing and what you would do at Northwestern.
Northwestern location is special: on the shore of Lake Michigan, steps from downtown Evanston, just a few miles from Chicago. What aspects of our location are most compelling to you, and why?
We like the prompt above a little more than this one, but it should be approached in the same way. Do some research into local opportunities in the Chicagoland area and write about how these opportunities would allow you to follow your interests.
Usually, we advise that our students write only one of these two prompts, since they are so similar. If you are on the fence between the two, we would choose the other one. It is just far more specific to Northwestern.
Northwestern is a place where people with diverse backgrounds from all over the world can study, live, and talk with one another. This range of experiences and viewpoints immeasurably enriches learning. How might your individual background contribute to this diversity of perspectives in Northwestern classrooms and around our campus?
This question is a little tricky. It is pretty similar to the required question, and you really don want to repeat yourself. It is also short. This is a big question for 200 words. For these reasons, we often steer students away from it.
However, if you really want to write it, we would zoom in on the idea of diversity of perspectives. Write about a time you had a conversation or connected with someone with a different perspective and how you navigated that difference. Even that is a lot to do in 200 words. Honestly, we would probably skip this one.
Northwestern has a fairly unique supplement and it matters a lot given they aren reading your Common App essay. You need to be strategic and cram a lot into very short word counts. Luckily we can help! We have worked with countless Northwestern candidates and know what it takes to get in.
Wherever you are in the college application, we have you covered; reach out today!