NU admits 8 percent more applicants this year
Northwestern admitted 8 percent more applicants for the Class of 2012 — 6,327 — than for last year, officials said Monday, as part of a record-setting class with the greatest number of applicants and highest SAT scores in university history.
A record 25,027 students applied to Northwestern for the coming fall, making for a 25.3 percent acceptance rate, according to Associate Provost Michael Mills. The mean SAT score of the prospective students was a record 1468, out of 1600, while 91.8 percent of those admitted are in the top 10 percent in their class.
Last year, 21,941 students applied and 27 percent were admitted.
Some prospective students have already embraced Northwestern. As of Monday night, more than 870 people were part of the “Northwestern 2012″ Facebook group.
“I’m excited about being a Wildcat,” said Michael Sobolewski, a Chicago high school senior who was in the group. “It will be nice being surrounded by so many talented and creative people.”
For Adam Docksey, Northwestern’s appeal lies in it being an alternative to other top-tier schools.
“NU seemed cooler and more friendly than the uptight rep that the Ivies have,” he said. “After the perpetual stress of high school, loading up on APs and freaking out whenever any test came along, I’m looking forward to do something I want to do, not something that just satisfies the system,” he said. “NU is so outside the box, I can’t wait to live there, learn there, and grow there. I have a strong feeling that place is Mecca.”
Although interested in Northwestern, financial concerns are a reason why some, such as Carlos Cabrera, are unsure about whether they will attend the school.
“The hefty tuition is a huge setback,” he said.
This title is very misleading- I gather it means 8% over the raw number of admits last year.
Ben R.
April 1, 2008 at 9:09 am
Adam Docksey is gonna be super disappointed when he gets here
Adam
April 1, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Not necessarily. I love NU.
Vi-An Nguyen
April 1, 2008 at 5:25 pm
“NU is so outside the box, I can’t wait to live there, learn there, and grow there. I have a strong feeling that place is Mecca.”
Funny, Adam, because Mecca’s all about marching around this giant box-like structure called the Kaaba. Your statement basically sums up the delusion at work in groups like “Northwestern 2012.”
The sheer optimism of incoming freshman thinking that college will be the end of “freaking out about tests” or “satisfying the system” always gets me. The place don’t change a thing bub. If you freaked out about tests in high school, you’ll freak out about them here. It’s an individual thing, whether you’re at NU or mime school. Unless you actually experience a personal change in approach or outlook, you are still gonna be marching around (or thinking inside) the same metaphorical box.
So freshman, put that in the hookah you plan on bringing to NU to prove you are sooo0o0o0o cool and smoke it.
Matty Ice
April 1, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Matty, I think Adam’s reference to Mecca was basically saying NU is mystical in its appeal to much, something to be revered. But way to read into it WAY too much.
I’m thinking you should transfer out, Matty. You kind of sound like a douchebag anyways.
Scott L
April 1, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Scott, I know exactly what Adam was trying to say. I simply found it funnily ironic that if one were to read WAY to far into the quote using pretexts of history and religion it can be construed as something completely different but nonetheless true about perceptions freshmen have coming into Northwestern. Go read the Facebook group, you’ll have a laugh and see what I mean.
And Scott, if people were judged solely on the basis of what they write on the internet, we’d all be going to hell. Luckily we have other categories going for us.
Matty Ice
April 1, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I’m coming! You better watch out, Northwestern.
alexandra
April 1, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Matty Ice speaks the truth. Nothing changes, in fact, it gets worse since right after college, you find yourself in the Real World. So think those APs were hard, think about your final grades and performance determining what job you’ll get. And those groups are stupid, it’s just kids talking about what bs they’ll get themselves into Fall Quarter. They’ll realize that while college is great, it’s not the best thing out there.
PO
April 2, 2008 at 3:17 pm