Northwestern Undergraduate Admissions sent out decisions for Northwestern’s Class of 2029 early admits on Dec. 17 with an admission rate of about 20%. Newly admitted students said they are already looking into classes and clubs. 

The 2024-2025 application cycle is the second following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action. NU’s Class of 2028 saw an overall increase in historically underrepresented groups, according to official University data released in September. 

For incoming Communication freshman Jordyn Jones, she said it was important to her to attend a school with a diverse student body. Jones is from Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is a predominantly white city, she said. 

“I’m, a lot of the time, the only Black student in a lot of white spaces, and that for me growing up has been really hard,” Jones said. “When I went to Northwestern, I saw the diversity — For Members Only and the Black House. I could really see myself there, and I could see myself interacting with students like me.”

One of the draws of NU for incoming Weinberg freshman Marni Kim is being able to connect with the Korean American community, she said. 

Kim also said she is excited to join the Korean American Student Association at NU and has been looking at their social media pages.

“Where I live, I don’t know that many Korean people,” Kim said. “I’m really looking forward to connecting with that Korean American community more at Northwestern.”

Last year, the University removed the “Why Northwestern” supplemental essay from the application and replaced it with a 300-word prompt asking students about their identities and background and how it would affect their engagement with the NU community. 

Applicants could answer up to two of five additional questions about how they would see themselves getting involved at NU.

Incoming Weinberg freshman Ruonan Zhao said when she was visiting NU, she was excited to find a “startup culture.” 

“When I was at Northwestern, a lot of people were talking about The Garage as one of the biggest entrepreneurship hubs in Northwestern, and that is one of the programs I’m most excited for,” Zhao said. 

Incoming Weinberg freshman Ryan Zhuang is excited about being in the smaller city of Evanston while still having access to Chicago. This, combined with the high caliber of the academics, made NU the perfect choice for Zhuang, he said.

Zhuang said he was excited to be surrounded by students like him, who enjoy both academics and the arts. 

“That’s something that I’ve had trouble finding at my school,” Zhuang said. “I hope Northwestern will be a community that I can really be a part of.”

The theatre program at NU is what attracted incoming Communication freshman Jack McCullough, he said. McCullough said he is looking forward to the classes and interacting with professors.

In particular, McCullough said he is interested in the writing program within the theatre department and getting involved with the comedy scene at NU and in Chicago. 

“It has been a dream come true to get admitted to Northwestern early,” McCullough said. “It’s an incredible school, and so many of the people I’ve already reached out to and contacted who also got in are so wonderful. I just think it’s going to be an amazing four years.”

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