Advice on my college list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey, all! I just got back from a week touring colleges, and I've manage to narrow down my college list. I don't have anyone to go to advice on this, because I'm homeschooled, my parents can't help, and literally everyone in my hometown goes to a Christian college or the local uni. So I'm really relying on some help here! ^-^
I can't decide if I'd like to major in aero engineering, or International Relations/Arabic, so I'm trying to cover all my grounds.</p>

<p>ACT: composite 31, with 36 English, 34 Reading, 27 Science, 27 Math, Writing 10
I'm retaking in September, and will definitely improve. It's strange because math and science are my best subjects, but I have such problems understanding simple high school math. Calculus, linear algebra I understand, but I don't know--ACT math I just don't get. But I've been studying and think, based off practice tests, I'll end up with 33/34
Unweighted GPA: 3.96
Also, I said I'm homeschooled, but I'm going full-time dual enrollment to a private university about an hour away next year. </p>

<p>Ummm I guess I'll just copy and paste my EC's from a previous thread</p>

<p>professionally trained as a ballet dancer (a former NYCB dancer retired in my area)
Flute player, like half the people in the world. I also play in a somewhat large city's youth outreach program sponsored by the philharmonic, but I'm not eligible for competitions because of my non-traditional schooling.
I'm big on foreign languages; I'm learning Arabic, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish--fluent in Spanish, relatively proficient in Arabic and Chinese.
I also know how to program
Bible quiz captain for midwest region for all four years
Wrote, staged, costumed, and performed a musical
Theatre
Tutored peers in Spanish and calculus
I'm most focused, though, on a volunteering aspect. At my church and hometown I'm Core Leader of a fundraising group to raise money for us to go to the Dominican Republic to build schools (we've done this twice now), and also Core Leader also of a service team to help impoverished individuals however they need. To narrow it down further, I've started programs to raise awareness of human and child labour in other countries and how American companies are contributing to the problem. I've done research on that and presented my findings at a leading university a few hours away to leading professionals in the field of human rights and worldwide problems. I also won an award there. Sorry I can't be very specific; I don't want to give away where I am.</p>

<p>These are the colleges I'm looking at:
MIT
Georgetown
Wellesley
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke (absolutely LOVED Holyoke)
Georgia Tech
Purdue
IU</p>

<p>So, does this look ok to you guys? Like I said, I loved Holyoke, but I also love all the other colleges on my list and would be happy to attend any of them. Suggestions on whether I should add some or drop any--like add a reach or safety or something? Purdue and IU are my safeties--I'm in state for them, so financially safe too.
Thanks! ^-^</p>

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<p>You look like you have a shot for all of these except MIT, it is ridiculously competitive and you will be competing against people who have crazy Engineering EC’s. You should replace that with another, less competitive reach. As for Georgetown, it doesn’t have engineering to my knowledge, so I don’t know why you would want to go there, but you still have a shot. Basically, good list except for MIT. </p>

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<p>Wait I just saw the international relations thing, yeah Georgetown is good.</p>

4

<p>You absolutely do have a shot at MIT. It’s slim like everyone elses but you have the stats to be competitive. I think its a good list INCLUDING MIT.</p>

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<p>MIT doesn’t sound like a good fit simply because if you decide not to do something technology or engineering related, I’m not sure that it’s other departments are as strong. It’s better to pick a balanced school that is strong in both.</p>

6

<p>Do you have any SAT subject tests? Georgetown “recommends” (read: requires) 3, and they are often weighted more heavily for homeschooled applicants. </p>

7

<p>This looks like a list wherein you will decide what to major in based on which school you go to. That’s certainly an unusual approach here on CC. </p>

<p>Why not find more schools that are good at both IR and engineering? Tufts, JHU, Stanford, Syracuse, Berkeley, UMich come to mind. </p>

<p>I’m particularly concerned about those math and science scores and the composite ACT. These are not standardized test scores that will make it easy for you to be admitted to most of the engineering schools and many of the others. Will you be able to balance out those mediocre scores with As in AP Calc AB & BC and AP Physics B or their equivalents? Will you take any SATIIs? (Georgetown will want three.)</p>

<p>Finally, what can your parents afford and what do the net price calculators say about what they will be expected to pay?</p>

8

<p>Haha @jkeil911 that is exactly what scares me about this list…I definitely don’t want to decide what I want to do with my life based on what school I get into. Problem is, I am absolutely awful at decision making and will probably decide around February, which would be too late to apply. Hence the random hodgepodge of schools. My mom doesn’t work, so we only have my dad’s income. Based of NPC’s, we can afford everything, but of course I’d have to wait to actually figure it out. I don’t plan on attending a school where I’ll have to pay more than 20, 25 thousand–even if it were MIT.
Like I said, I’ve been able to get my math score up to 33ish on practice tests now. <em>shrug</em> I never studied for the ACT, but I am now for the September test. I just keep making stupid mistakes–and I can only grasp the normally-considered hard math concepts and not the easier ones. Which is extremely frustrating. But anyway, I’ll actually have Calc 1-3 completed through the uni by the time I graduate, along with University Physics 1 (which usually only the engineers take, but I managed to talk my way into) and General Chem 1, with good grades, so hopefully they’ll view A’s in college classes as a better indicator than test scores.
I’ve tried to find schools like that, but I don’t want to apply to Stanford since I’m already applying to MIT and don’t want two huge crapshoot schools, and Berkley and UMichigan are too expensive. Tufts and Johns Hopkins I haven’t looked into–I’ve always thought they were a bit more selective for me to be hoping for admission.
Oh, right. I forgot–I actually looked into those briefly, but didn’t consider them because they didn’t offer aero engineering. Which is, of course, the only kind I’m interested in, because I have to make my life so very specific.</p>

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<p>@shawnspencer I thought the same too, at first, but I should’ve mentioned that if I didn’t do engineering I might major in computer science (instead of IR) and minor in Arabic/Middle Eastern Studies. That way I’m still able to hopefully have an international job that also involves tech, so basically win-win. All of these colleges offer that, as far as I know. Maybe not GaTech. Do you happen to know of any “balanced” schools that offer aero engineering and arabic? I’ve done an absurd amount of research but haven’t found any…</p>

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<p>Also, thanks everyone so much for all their answers! You’ve all been so helpful! ^-^</p>

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<p>Your current stats are NOT competitive for MIT or Georgetown (especially School of Foreign Service, which is a very difficult admit). Right now you only have practice tests, and a GPA that is not comparable to other students because you are home schooled. You MAY end up with a shot if your fall grades at the university are very strong and you get your standardized test scores up.</p>

<p>You would be competitive for Mt. Holyoke now with your stats, so that is good news.</p>

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<p>okay, so given what you’ve said and what we’re saying, why not change tactics, OP? Find schools that have strong aeronautical engineering, CS, and IR programs. These may not be at the top of the prestige list, and they might have one program stronger than the others, but they will also permit more latitude in your standardized test scores. Type all this into SuperMatch in the column on the left side of this page and see what pops out. </p>

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<p>@intparent if I don’t raise my math/science scores I’m not going to bother applying to MIT, because it’s not worth the money or effort. I mean, I’ll know by late September, so that’s plenty of time anyway.
Oh, I’ve taken several online classes before, and college courses this past year too. I’ve talked with admissions officers at the schools, and they said that they’d look into both GPA’s but really factor my college GPA, which is fairly equivalent with my high school one, give or take a tenth of a point. But during admissions process it could be totally different and my application could be tossed right away too. <em>shrug</em> their life. It’ll work out whatever.
Honestly, I’m not as thrilled with SFS, simply because I don’t want to be so boxed in. It’s certainly a great program, but I want to be able to explore my options and not be stuck with something I chose while still in high school. Heck, even if the Lord smiled upon me and rained unicorns and blessings upon me while the angels sing the Hallelujah chorus and I managed to get myself into Georgetown, I might even choose IU over it. Don’t know.
Maybe I’m entirely too low-key on the college admissions thing…but I do want to make sure I have the best available options.
Thanks for your response! </p>

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<p>Mount Holyoke doesn’t have engineering, of course (but I love MH, too, so see why you are smitten). :slight_smile: But if it is important to you, not a possible major there.</p>

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<p>For engineering, Mount Holyoke has a dual-degree program with U Mass or Dartmouth or Cal Tech.
(<a href=“https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/engineering/dual_degree”>https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/engineering/dual_degree&lt;/a&gt;) I always wonder if anyone knows any student who has completed the dual-degree program or who is pursuing this program.</p>

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<p>@jkeil911 I just tried that, and the schools that offered all of those as degrees–not certificates, which apparently SuperMatch counts as degrees? was a grand total of 5. A couple are international, which means hardly any financial aid so not affordable, are U of Minnesota Twin Cities (I have honestly no idea what this college is, but that’s not saying much), University of Washington, and University of Southern California. The last two were looking actually pretty interesting, but ugh, out of state public schools…entirely expensive without much aid. I’m not sure if USC is worth paying so much if I’m oos. In your opinion, would it be better to go to one of those schools with all my options covered, or go to a less expensive school I know I’ll be happy attending, and major in CS and go into grad school for engineering if I so desire? Sorry to be asking you so much, haha. You really don’t have to answer ^-^</p>

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<p>@Bamboolong I forgot about that! I wondered the same thing too, though, when I heard it. When I visited Wellesley, the tour guide said that hardly anyone did the 3-2 program (I believe it’s pretty comparable to Holyoke’s) for engineering. I’m just not sure if aid transfers, though. </p>

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<p>University of Southern California is a private school.</p>

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<p>@Vlklngboy11 Oh yeah, you’re right. Either way it’s still absurdly expensive.</p>

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<p>Funny, when I typed it in I came up with 5 different colleges: Ohio State, WashU, UVA, UOklahoma, UCincinnati.</p>

<p>After checking for merit aid and running the net price calculators on these schools, if you find you cannot afford any of them then you’ll have to knock out one of the majors. My vote would be for aero engg because it will give you many more schools from which to choose, it doesn’t fit with the other two not only disciplinarily but also in terms of how many hours there are in a day, and your math scores aren’t all that good on the standardized tests.</p>