I am a junior in high school who is interested in studying Mechanical Engineering in college, maybe with a Computational Finance minor. I plan on using QuestBridge to submit most of my apps for free. Are the schools I am applying to within my range?
Schools:
Stanford
MIT
Rice
USC
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Cornell
Penn M&T
Princeton
Carnegie Mellon
Olin College of Engineering
NC State (state flagship)
Stats:
Test Scores: 33 ACT, still need to take SAT. Probably National Merit Semi Finalist?
Grades:
Junior Year-
AP Calculus AB B
AP Calculus BC A (taken simultaneously with AB, easier teacher)
AP Microeconomics A+
AP English Language A+
AP Physics 1 A-
American History Honors A
Chemistry Honors A+
Planned Senior Year-
Multivariable Calculus (Dual Enrollment S1)
Differential Equations (Dual Enrollment S2)
AP Physics C: Mechanics
AP Chemistry
AP Environmental Science
AP Macroeconomics
AP Literature
Civics Honors
I have one issued and two pending patents. I have published scientific research and will enter Intel ISEF this year. I also have an NSF travel grant to present at an international conference in my field. I founded a company freshman year to commercialize the technology I developed. Are these schools in my range? Any that I should cut out or add?
P.S. Do not tell me I have no chance with a 33 ACT, since that is the average of most admitted students at these schools.
“P.S. Do not tell me I have no chance with a 33 ACT, since that is the average of most admitted students at these schools.”
Relax buddy. Anyway, if your patents/research/company and what not are sufficiently impressive then you’re competitive. Otherwise, in the eyes of some of these schools (Stanford, MIT, Princeton) you’ll be just another guy with a 3.9-something
I think you’ll get admitted to all of them, you seem like a really impressive candidate. Are you a URM? 1st gen? Because that could only help. Of course it’s hard to predict for some of these schools, but you’re obviously super qualified. Good luck!!!
@giraffeinatree Thanks! I’m just doing what I love, because I really hope to make a huge impact when it comes to saving the environment and human lung health as an innovator in my industry. I hope this passion shows in my essays. Also, good luck with Harvard; I hope you get in, but even if you don’t you shouldn’t worry about it. You’ll go to an excellent school anyway.
Unfortunately I’m not first gen to college, since my father went. I am still debating if it is ethical to claim I am URM since my great grandmother was Tunisian. In general I consider myself Caucasian though
You don’t “claim you’re URM”. On the identification list, you’ll check “White” and then “North African/Middle Eastern”.
You’re competitive for all your colleges, but as you know they’re all a crapshoot.
What about Swarthmore? HarveyMudd? Or is that too intense for you?
Regarding your planned schedule:
have you reached the 4th level or AP in a foreign language? The colleges on your list consider it a core class and not having Level 4 will seriously hurt you. You can remedy this by taking community college classes (college level 2 would cover HS 3, college level 3 would cover HS 4, and Level 4 would be considered AP or higher.)
AP Physics C, AP Chem, and APES is WAY overkill. First, AP Physics C and AP Chem are the two hardest AP science classes, which makes them insane to take together; they both require lots of TIME both in prep and in the lab. APES is pointless, since it’s a class for students who don’t have any science to take or who can’t/won’t take AP chem or AP bio or AP Physics.
Replace APES with something else. Does your school offer APCS? If not, can you dual enroll and take an intro to CS class?
AP Lit is a great class if you plan on majoring in the Humanities and love to read. However, you’re going for engineering. You may still love to read and in that case, take AP Lit. But if your HS offers it, I would advise you take AP English Language, since it’ll make your writing much stronger and will apply more directly to the type of writing you’ll need in college.
@MYOS1634 Gotcha. As for schedule I only got up to Spanish II
How much would only 3 foreign language classes hurt in admissions? I took Latin I in middle school (on transcript) and might take Spanish III online over summer with NCVPS. I really wouldn’t want to take Spanish IV at my school, since I squeaked by with an A-/B+ average in Spanish I and II. I’m currently taking AP English Lang at my school, so this is a non-issue. I might replace AP Macro with APCS, but APES fits my career direction, even though it’s a bs class.
Everyone says I should apply to Harvey Mudd, but it sounds hardcore. Not sure about Swarthmore, is it good for engineering? I’d put up with MIT because of the 5.0 scale they have. I actually want to get into grad school.
It’s not the number of classes, it’s the level reached. You need to reach level 3 at the very least (depending on whether you’re aiming for top 100 or top 25! Considering your 13 colleges, I’d advise you reach level 3 and try to reach level 4.
B+ isn’t bad and wasn’t a good enough reason to drop Spanish. Spanish III online could be a solution but look into taking Spanish 2 and 3 at the local college, you’d cover up to high school level 4 in just 2 semesters.
You can’t replace AP Macro with AP CS. You need social science/history every year. AP macro is actually 1/2 and Civics honors would count for another half. So if you dropped AP macro you’d have to take another social science class, such as a history senior seminar if your school has one of those.
Yes HarveyMudd and CalTech are hardcore (both for really gifted stem kids, but HarveyMudd is for the stem-gifted/interested in everything kid, whereas Caltech is for the stem-obsessed kid :p).
