Rejected Pre-secondary: Northwestern

[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

I got a thin envelope today ....... "we cannot grant you admission into our 2003 class...." I got rejected and I am not really surprised.

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[Explosivo]

In the fall of 2000, I received the "thin envelope" from them as well...only then it was after I worked my butt off on their secondary and sent them a check.

I'm filling out their secondary again but I think I'm headed down a similar road this time.

 

[Tweetie_bird]

Sorry to hear of that. I know it's tough. Is this your first? I want to say it gets easier as we go, but it really is not. Know that they have unbelievably high average stats....I'm happy for you that you have the stats to apply to NW. Some of us don't even have that. C'est la vie.

Keep in touch!
Tweetie

 

[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

I do not have the stats, I guess that the reason they rejected me. It is my first one though.

 

[Buck Wild]

when did you submit amcas? NU is the last school i haven't heard from yet....and i friggin go there.

 

[dpark74]

Hey Spidey,
I guess I'll be receiving the rejection letter as soon as I come home from work. In fact, I am somewhat relieved that I don't have to fill out their secondary. They rejected me as an undergrad and probably now as a professional applicant.

God has a better plan for me.

 

[NUgirl]

I just got their rejection in the mail today and I went there! This sucks, but at least I was expecting it.

 

[Adcadet]

oh man.

Two years ago as an undergrad I got a secondary only to be rejected after paying $60 and my blood, sweat, and tears (essays).

Today I got a "fat" envelope inviting me to submit a secondary. I also got a letter (last week) from Wake telling me that they'd need a letter from my graduate advisor saying that I'd be done with my degree by the time Wake started classes. I really needed the Northwestern and Wake secondaries as in the previous few days I got rejected by Stanford and Mayo (my dream school). I really was expecting as much, but still.....

My PR book says that ~70% of applicants get secondaries from Northwestern. I wonder what the cutoffs were for Northwestern. Just out of curiosity, if you don't mind, please post your stats...I'll go first...

Adcadet
UG BCPM: 3.27
UG Total: 3.36
Grad BCPM: 3.9
Grad Total: 3.67
MCAT: 31-S
lots of research
will get Wake secondary
got Northwestern secondary
rejected by Stanford, Mayo

 

[lola]

they sent me one without mcat scores, so i would guess they don't have a formula.

 

[uclachris]

I applied in 2000. NW sent me a secondary. I am now reapplying, I got rejected today... After what? Only improving my MCATs and working and volunteering for an entire year at a hospital. Strange, eh?

 

[Explosivo]

Originally posted by uclachris
I applied in 2000. NW sent me a secondary. I am now reapplying, I got rejected today... After what? Only improving my MCATs and working and volunteering for an entire year at a hospital. Strange, eh?

That's exactly what I did too. I improved my MCAT by 5 points with an improvement in each section and raised it to respectability. I've also been working full-time doing research for a year in addition to a little volunteer work here and there. I have a very high GPA and a mediocre but acceptable MCAT score so perhaps I barely made their cut off and received a secondary. The fact that I'm an Illinois resident may have something to do with it as well although I remember reading somewhere that NW doesn't officially give preference to in-state students.

Perhaps their cutoffs went up this year. What's your GPA look like? If your MCAT is over 30 I'd look to the GPA as the culprit.

I strongly suspect NW uses a formula based on some type of combination of MCAT and GPA converted to some raw score that is scaled according to their cut-offs. Therefore modestly improving your MCAT score may not help a lot if your GPA is still weighing you down.

 

[uclachris]

I suspect that their cutoffs have raised in an attempt to boost the school's ranking. My undergrad GPA was not that good (in terms of Pre-Meds); but my grad GPA was almost 3.9... I guess a Ph.D. doesn't fix a less than stellar undergrad GPA. It must not show that someone is interested in bettering themselves or challenging their intellectual boundries. So there must a formula for screening... C'est la vie, c'est la guerre.

Now, is it worth it to petition?

 

[dpark74]

Originally posted by uclachris
I suspect that their cutoffs have raised in an attempt to boost the school's ranking. My undergrad GPA was not that good (in terms of Pre-Meds); but my grad GPA was almost 3.9... I guess a Ph.D. doesn't fix a less than stellar undergrad GPA. It must not show that someone is interested in bettering themselves or challenging their intellectual boundries. So there must a formula for screening... C'est la vie, c'est la guerre.

Now, is it worth it to petition?

No. Dust yourself off and keep your head held high.

I was rejected and obtained my MS degree in chemistry with a grad GPA of 3.9. My MCAT was a 34 and had many ECs. BUT my undergrad GPA was a 2.97 (one miserable year:3.5->2.8)