- Nora Sun
Tags: Northwestern, first generation, low income
Institution: Northwestern University
Study: Major in statistics
High School Experience
I’m graduating from Jones College Prep, and one of the things I loved about Jones from the beginning was how diverse its student body is. I loved how cultural clubs like the Association of Latin American Students (which I was privileged enough to be co-president of) and Black Student Union have a notable presence in the community. However, I struggled a lot my freshman year with culture shock, impostor syndrome, and the overall academic rigor at Jones. I grew a lot because of those experiences though and I think they’ve really helped prepare me to leave high school.
AP/IBs
AP Human Geography: 4
AP Statistics: 4
AP Language: 3
AP Seminar: 5
AP Research: unknown
AP Computer Science Principles: unknown
AP Psychology: unknown
AP Literature: unknown
GPA
5.16 weighted
Standardized Testing
SAT: 1460
ACT: 32
Extracurriculars
We had weekly ALAS board meetings as well as general meetings so that was at least 2 hours a week with ALAS. I was also in French club and book club which happened less frequently. Outside of Jones I was part of the Student Leadership Team with Facing History and Ourselves (kids all over Chicago came to talk about social issues dealing with race, class, etc.).
Recommendations
I asked my stats teacher and a teacher who taught me both freshman and sophomore year (plus was a club sponsor). We had decent relationships and they were pretty good about getting stuff in on time so I’m grateful.
Essays
I didn’t really have a theme. I prioritized showing a different aspect of myself in each one. My personal statement was mainly about giving back to my community and my supplementals added information about my culture and other interests.
Strengths
Aside from my decent test scores and essays I think my extracurricular activities helped make me stand out as a well-rounded person. I’m an SCS Noonan scholar and also got some help from Chicago Scholars so I credit organizations like those too. My advice for others would be to not treat the college application process as something you have to go through alone. Get help and locate your resources from the very beginning so you can get started as soon as possible (especially with those essays).
Advice
Circumstances
First generation and low-income.
Why?