Webinar overview
In this webinar, former Purdue Admissions Officer James breaks down how admissions decisions are made at Big 10 universities and what it takes to put together a competitive application to a Big 10 school. James will share his former admissions experience on:
- Why admissions standards and acceptance rates vary significantly across the Big 10 conference and what that means for your college list
- What admissions officers are looking for, including GPA, course rigor, test scores, and extracurricular depth
- How applying to a specific college or program within a university affects your chances, including competitive programs like Ross at Michigan, Weinberg at Northwestern, and engineering at Purdue
- What strong supplemental essays look like at these schools and where most “Why Us” responses fall flat
- Live answers to your specific questions during an interactive Q&A
Meet your webinar host: James Crawley
James is a Former Admissions Officer from Purdue University and has over a decade of experience in college admissions. He serves as Prepory’s Program Manager, and his students have been accepted to Big 10 institutions including Northwestern University, University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, Purdue University, and more.
Meet your webinar host:
James is a Former Admissions Officer from Purdue University and has over a decade of experience in college admissions. He serves as Prepory’s Program Manager, and his students have been accepted to Big 10 institutions including Northwestern University, University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, Purdue University, and more.
Frequently asked questions about Big 10 schools:
Big 10 schools range from highly selective to moderately competitive, so how hard it is to get in depends almost entirely on which school and program you are targeting. Northwestern and University of Michigan accept fewer than 20% of applicants and are among the most selective universities in the country, while schools like Penn State, Purdue, and University of Minnesota admit a much larger share of applicants, particularly those applying from in-state.
Because the conference spans such a wide range of selectivity, students benefit from building a list that treats Big 10 schools as reach, target, and likely options rather than grouping them together. Identifying where you fall relative to each school's admitted class profile, and understanding what each campus values beyond GPA and test scores, is what shapes a realistic and well-balanced application strategy.
Competitive Big 10 applicants typically present GPAs above 3.7 and SAT scores in the 1300 to 1550 range, though the benchmarks vary significantly by school and program. Northwestern and University of Michigan sit at the more selective end, with median SAT scores above 1500 and acceptance rates in the single digits to low teens, while schools like Penn State, Purdue, and University of Minnesota are more accessible, particularly for in-state applicants.
These numbers are a starting point, not a guarantee. Many Big 10 programs, especially in engineering, business, and computer science, have their own admissions criteria that are more selective than the university's overall profile. Understanding program-level benchmarks, not just school-wide averages, gives students a much more accurate picture of where they stand.
Big 10 universities look for applicants who demonstrate academic strength, genuine intellectual curiosity, and sustained commitment to activities that matter to them, rather than students who have optimized their profile for the sake of an application. Strong grades in a rigorous course load, evidence of leadership or depth in one or two areas, and essays that reflect real self-awareness tend to carry the most weight in the review process.
At research-intensive Big 10 campuses, demonstrated interest in a specific field, whether through independent projects, internships, competitions, or community work, can meaningfully strengthen an application, especially for competitive programs in engineering, business, and the sciences. Admissions officers reading thousands of applications in a single cycle respond to students who know what they want and can articulate why a specific school and program fits that direction.
A strong "Why Us" essay for a Big 10 school goes beyond naming well-known programs or citing US News rankings, and instead connects specific academic offerings, faculty, research opportunities, or campus communities to what the student has already demonstrated in their application. Admissions officers can tell the difference between an essay written for any school in the conference and one that reflects genuine, school-specific research.
The most effective approach is to identify two or three concrete reasons why that particular campus is the right fit for your student's academic goals and interests, then tie those reasons back to something real in the application, whether that is a specific professor whose work aligns with the student's interests, a research center, a program structure, or a campus community they have actually engaged with. Generic enthusiasm is the most common "Why Us" mistake, and avoiding it starts with doing the kind of school-specific research most students skip.
