<p>One of the top colleges mentioned on this post accepted 17% of people with a 3.25-3.47 based on collegedata.org. And keep in mind that they probably admitted more but skewed the numbers like most colleges. Based on class rigor and sat scores and an upward trend a 3.4 really won’t hurt anyone’s chances. Oh look I found a clue.</p>
<p>Holy Cross, Bowdoin, Tufts.</p>
<p>For all of you that consider tufts an above-average school, it is not. Since when is a school with a 20%acceptance rate just above average?</p>
<p>I think Chardo’s list is very sound. The relative strength of your 3.4 depends on your school’s profile, but a 3.4 from our school & your SAT would still be a stretch at Lafayette, Rochester, Lehigh & Bucknell (noted as stretch), and perhaps even NEU & BU. Clark may be another to consider but I believe the engineering is only a 3/2 program.</p>
<p>You did not say how your SAT scores broke out but I assume that your math is high.</p>
<p>“One of the top colleges mentioned on this post accepted 17% of people with a 3.25-3.47 based on collegedata.org. And keep in mind that they probably admitted more but skewed the numbers like most colleges. Based on class rigor and sat scores and an upward trend a 3.4 really won’t hurt anyone’s chances. Oh look I found a clue.”</p>
<p>No link, and didn’t even identify the college? And you’re assuming the college skewed the data? LOL. And you make it seem like 17% is a super high admission rate. You realize that is most likely filled with URMs and recruited athletes etc?</p>
<p>The top college is NYU. Here <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=436[/url]”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=436</a></p>
<p>Oh and this is validated in the common data set here <a href=“Research with Human Subjects”>Research with Human Subjects;
<p>And that may be for the people around 3.25 and under but not 3.4 considering the largest percentage listed includes those with a 3.5. Plus NYU doesn’t recruit so there goes that</p>
<p>… 17% of the student population has a GPA between 3.25-3.5. That does NOT mean that the acceptance rate for people with a 3.25-3.5 is 17%. I don’t even know where you’re getting that NYU doesn’t recruit. [NYU</a> Athletics - Recruit Questionnaire](<a href=“http://www.gonyuathletics.com/sports/2008/8/20/recruitquestionnaire.aspx]NYU”>Recruit Questionnaires - NYU Athletics) </p>
<p>I don’t want to hijack this thread so I’ll stop there.</p>
<p>“For all of you that consider tufts an above-average school, it is not. Since when is a school with a 20%acceptance rate just above average?”</p>
<p>Only on college confidential ;)</p>
<p>Four other LAC that are above average in the Northeast that were not mentioned : Connecticut College, Skidmore College, Union College, and Hamilton College. All four are fine schools and should be looked at. Union has an engineering program and Skidmore offers a combined (3+2) with Dartmouth or RPI in engineering. Good luck!</p>
<p>Plug your numbers into the college search tool here on CC (link is on the left of this page) along with an engineering major, and preferred locations (and other criteria that matter) and you’ll quickly see where a 3.4 GPA will get you… which is NOT into a lot of the names people have been mentioning in this thread. But there are still lots of choices just the same. Consider RIT, Clarkson,Syracuse, Hofstra, Stony Brook, OOS publics. WPI, RPI, Northeastern, BU are reaches or maybe high matches. Any chance of improving your test scores?
And do some research on 3-2 engineering programs. There are some serious tradeoffs to be made by going that route. There are lots of threads in here and in the engineering forum. There a good option for some people, but you need to know the pros and cons.</p>
<p>Some of you are doing OP (and maybe yourselves, if you are hs) a disservice. All you have here is the SAT and GPA. Any college using the CA agrees to be holistic and a number of those mentioned are “highly competitive” for an admit. OP needs to go buy a college guide like Fiske. See which colleges you are a good fit for, in stats, your own academic pattern and activities, and the rest of the story, remembering that this is holistic. Dig deep. </p>
<p>In terms of stats, you look at a school like NYU and see a whopping 37%of enrolled freshmen had GPAs of 3.75+. The bottom quartile is 3.49 down. You have no idea why any of that group got in- faculty kids, some actor, sports kids, some interesting diversity, etc. Our general advice is to look at schools where you fit the top quartile or just barely outside it, among other activities and strengths that they like. As you dig, you should get a better sense. And you must know what you can afford, which are likely to support you with decent aid.</p>
<p>Once you get a bit into this, I suggest you call some and ask how the missing language will be viewed.</p>
<p>Whole point of the thread is to give op an initial list of schools to investigate. Maybe he will get in, maybe not, but all the schools mentioned so far are worth investigating.</p>
<p>If everyone aims for colleges that they are in the top quartile for then all of the stats would shift way up. I think you should aim for it if you are in the middle. And if you are in the bottom still go for it just have it be a reach</p>
<p>It’s important to understand how a high level of competition affects chances for those in the middle. Or lower. Also, what different schools are willing to take a chance on. And in the context of how academically competitive that college is, what it needs in performance potential- and many other factors.</p>
<p>What about your ECs? That’s very important at some schools. I don’t know anyone who got into NYU, for example, without some really good ECs</p>
<p>Agree completely with lookingforward</p>
<p>OP, you’d have a shot at NYU despite some of the claims to the contrary here. Same with other schools such as NEU, BU, RPI, WPI, etc. Fortunately many of these schools look at high test scores, upward trend in grades, and a careful read of your essay so don’t rule them out on the basis of Mr and Mrs CC who looked at data sets for gpa in isolation. </p>
<p>I recommend getting your transcript and scores loaded into parchment or whatever tool your school uses for transcript transmission. Then you can get a better idea for yourself what your chances are at these schools. Some schools seem to care more about SAT/ACT scores than others admittedly. Holy Cross seems to give less weight to test scores so it becomes a reach.</p>
<p>My ECs aren’t very strong at all, but I’m realistic in that I won’t be relying on getting into most of the schools that have been posted here, but I checked the ones in Chardo’s list that don’t require language and I think I have pretty good chances getting into a few of them at least.</p>
<p>To the person who asked about my SAT math it was 770 both times (one dumb mistake… :() and 800 on math II</p>
<p>We don’t just look at data sets for gpa. We understand what holistic means. It includes that, at some schools, the competition is such that they can easily fill slots with precisely the sort of kids they want. Among many 3.75+ kids, with rigor, the relevant experiences for their proposed majors, and nice breadth and depth in activities. Plus the ability to pull together a great app package.</p>
<p>OP, you can rework your gpa, just for cores. That sometimes helps with perspective. Grades in APs also matter. If you want to be STEM, math-sci grades (and LoRs) matter. Are you in related school activities? You really should lay out the ECs here, because many kids unwittingly think they “aren’t very strong” because you think it’s all abut hs titles. I still say look at a college guide- you can even just spend an hour sitting in the bookstore and start to understand flavors to colleges.</p>
<p>What do you mean by rework my GPA?</p>
<p>Why do some of you keep bringing up NYU? OP expressed desire for engineering. That rules out NYU. NYU Poly may be a subsidiary, but it is a completely separate and very different school. Besides, I just don’t get the fascination with NYU. It’s the most expensive school in the country, and simply not worth it for undergrad. Until recently, it was always considered nothing special here in NY.</p>