To be considered for the HPME, you must have 16 units of high school credit; a unit represents one year of work in a subject. Within those 16 units, the following must be included:

Before beginning the HPME, you must take a year of calculus, including differential and integral calculus. If your high school does not provide such a course, you must take a suitable course before entering Northwestern. While we realize that high school curricula often vary, a high level of performance in chemistry, mathematics, and English is most important.

Applicants are required to take the College Entrance Examination Board SAT reasoning exam and SAT subject exams in math level 2 and chemistry. The American College Test with writing (ACT) may be substituted for the SAT reasoning exam. You may obtain information about these tests from your high school guidance office or the Office of Undergraduate Admission at Northwestern University.

Standardized Test Scores

While there are no standardized test score “cut offs” for the HPME, we do anticipate that our applicants will have scored well on their college entrance exams.   Listed are the admitted HPME student's average test scores  for the 2008 application season on a number of standarized entrance exams.