Can I get into RPI?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
1

<p>I'm currently a junior looking into RPI and I was wondering what some of you guys thought about my resume...</p>

<p>General Background: New Jersey, Male, Indian. School is beginning to suck but it still retains a good reputation among colleges. (We always get a good number of students into Ivy League schools)</p>

<p>Academics: (My School Uses) Weighted GPA- 3.9/4.0 Unweighted is probably a 3.3
Rank - unsure, at least top 25%
I take the hardest classes my school has to offer including
-5 years of sciences (1 of honors chem, bio and earth science, and 2 of physics AP),
-5 years of math (Algebra II, Geometry, Pre Calc Honors, AB Calc, and AP Stat) And I have taken a precalc summer course
- 2 Years of technology courses including Transportation Technology, Tech and Design, and Robotics
-and also 4 years of history and English both AP. (the only thing I don't take honors/AP of is Spanish)</p>

<p>SAT Scores- 700 math, 670 in Reading and 680 in Writing
I haven't taken my Sat II's or AP tests yet but they will include:
Math II Sat, History Sat, English literacy SAT
AP tests will be: AP English, AP US History, AP Calc, AP Stat, AP Econ Macro/Micro, AP Physics,</p>

<p>Extra Curricular:
1. Track (Sprint Varsity) - 8 years (through high school) with numerous awards. Summer of 9th Grade I qualified for Nationals (AAU) after passing the county, state, and regional level. Time commitment- Every day (including weekends not sunday) during the spring time.
2. 5 years of band playing percussion
3. Part of the Debate team (Forensics) for 4 years (Varsity). Awards won in local and national level tournaments. Currently Treasurer of the Team as well as Novice Trainer. Time commitment- 3 days a week all year not including tournaments on the weekends and during breaks. Approximately 30 tournaments attended including First Place in the National Debate Forum.
4. Model United Nations- once a week, (not very big for me)
5. Interact (community service) Approximately 100 hours + doing various community service activities
6. Summer Job at my father's hydraulic business (doing paperwork)
7. Co-founder of a magazine in school based on international events taking place (editor and writer).
8. Fed Challenge (Economic "Game")
9. Nominated from my School to attend Governor's School of International Studies</p>

<p>I should be able to get a recommendation from someone who went to RPI as well as some excellent physics/math teachers</p>

<p>And I don't know if it means anything to say that I've lived overseas in India and have traveled to over 20 countries mostly in Africa. Idk I just feel like this has given me some worldly experience.</p>

<p>So tell me what you think btw I intend to interview there too</p>

2

<p>yes… what major are you applying for?</p>

3

<p>Your SAT’s are middle of the pack for RPI. Are you going to take them again?</p>

<p>RPI’s application count is rising incredibly. At the accepted student day S and I attended, they said they had over 13000 apps this year, this is close to double what they had 3-4 years ago. It is getting tougher to get in.</p>

<p>Try to do something more interesting at your job this summer than paperwork, that would probably help.</p>

4

<p>I want to do a major in engineering, probably mechanical or aerospace</p>

5

<p>well it is probably a lot more competitive to apply for engineering… I know I applied for arch and got in, similar scores i guess, they gave some money too (18k)…</p>

<p>you still have a lot of time- like 3 or 4 more test dates, so i would try again especially push up those math scores a 700 is embarrassing for a engineering major</p>

<p>good luck- rpi isnt that hard to get into, i wouldn’t worry.</p>

6

<p>sheesh way to stick it to the man.
done deal man, dont sweat it. They seem to look at the extra curriculars more than your gpa. XD i had a 3.29 and a Sat of 760 math 640 writing 650 crit. i too did track, but you got into friggin nationals. put that on your application and you’re done!</p>

7

<p>I think you’re in!</p>

<p>Just curious, is your school mascot a cougar… hahah because I am in tneract so I am thinking that you go to my school…</p>

<p>and I will be attending rpi and your sats are better than mine!</p>

8

<p>peaceplease, haha, no I’m sorry my school mascot isn’t a cougar, thanks for the support guys</p>

9

<p>hahah ok. But you definitely have a good shot. Although, I am really lucky because I am a girl.</p>

10

<p>new question, should I apply ED to RPI or would i be safe applying there RD? (if i do RD i can make my resume better + i can save my ED to a school thats a bit more prestigious) If i apply RD to RPI I am 95% sure I will attend.</p>

11

<p>If you really want to go to RPI, I would suggest ED.</p>

<p>If you look at the announcements thread somewhere here, you will see plenty of very impressive candidates either waitlisted or denied for RD.</p>

12

<p>do you really want to go to rpi? then go ED. i applied ED afraid i would get rejected from all my schools. sadly i got into all the schools i applied to, and now i have no choice but to go to that ice-blasted freezer of a coll… ahhahahaah jk jk jk i love RPI.</p>

13

<p>seriously if you just fix those math scores you could apply RD, maybe ED an ivy but if you are not confident you can do that and/or don’t maybe you should consider your reasoning behind being an engineer…</p>

14

<p>The mid 50 percentile for math SATs at RPI are 650 to 730. You are fine - right in the ball park.</p>

15

<p>trust me you’re absolutely fine :slight_smile: taking those APs is impressive and your ECs are really good too :slight_smile: </p>

<p>don’t bother applying ED, apply ED to some other place</p>

16

<p>Although I do intend to take the Sat’s again (as well as Sat II, Math II) do you think I could get into the engineering program there? I actually am pulling a B (weighted as a 4) in my precalc H class and an A- in my physics (weighted as a 4.67)… but i really enjoy them and can probably get recommendations from both of them. And if you are wondering why my GPA is so low, its mostly because I didn’t take nearly as many Honors/Ap classes my freshman or sophomore year. Generally I am an A-/B+ student</p>

17

<p>anyone else</p>

18

<p>I’d try to bump those SATs up if I were you (even if you were to get in now, having a higher SAT might get you a larger scholarship), but I got in a couple years ago with similar grades/classes. You’re probably fine. </p>

<p>As for the SATs, a 740+ in math would be very nice (of course, you’re going to need to be good enough in math to get an 800 eventually, so you might as well aim for that now :wink: ). The critical reading and writing are not as important, but a small boost couldn’t hurt.</p>

19

<p>S was waitlisted with a slightly lower unweighted GPA (3.1) and a 800M, 650CR (they are not using the Writing portion)
I would work on showing a rising grade trend and get your SAT scores up a bit and you will probably be a shoe-in</p>

20

<p>i actually got an update on my gpa, and its a little better than i thought. Its actually a 3.5 for uw and a 3.9 on my weighted (although I am going to try to pull that up to a 4). Does this change anything much?</p>