I have recently began my junior year of high school, and I am trying to narrow down the college list that I have had since sophomore year. My main focus would be in either Biomedical Engineering or Environmental Engineering (or just a school that really owns it when it comes to STEM). I also would really love to double major in a foreign language (don’t know which one yet :-/ ) I would need a college that is seen as “active” as in there are always events going on or many clubs to join, and a school with a lot of diversity would also be nice. Factoring in the graduation rates and how many students can get jobs or internships after graduating is pretty important also. From these universities, which 5 best fit this description? (my GPA is a 4 and my SAT was 1970, although I will be retaking it so hopefully it’ll go up!?
Boston University—Brown University—Carnegie Mellon—Columbia University—Johns Hopkins—Lehigh University—Syracuse University—Tufts University—University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign—U of Penn—University of Rochester—University of Texas (Austin)
The University of Rochester has great biomedical engineering and good engineering in general, a very high freshman retention rate, a decent graduation rate and lots of clubs and organizations. Their flexible curriculum would make double majoring a relatively straightforward process. Your SATs will be fine for the school as you improve them.
Are you instate for UT or UIUC? Will your parents pay all the OOS costs at either school? If not, take those off your list.
As for the others, no point in doing anything until you have retested to see where you’ll end up with. If your scores don’t move much then the ivies will be unlikely.
What are some of your ECs? If they’re just run of the mill, then reach schools are unlikely.
I think that my EC’s are pretty good (considering what little I have to work with), and I hope that the scores will improve, since I am taking the SAT three times (1970 was first and only attempt so far). I am in state for UT, but that is honestly just a safety school for me, so I am not looking to that so much since I don’t want to stay in Texas.
To be candid, you don’t have the test scores for Brown, CMU, JHU, Penn, or even Tufts.
You need to figure out the money.
You should check the Naviance stats for your school, and see where you can be successfully admitted with your combination of test scores and GPA. The Supermatch software on this site would also be helpful.
Have the “money talk” with your parents. Run the net price calculator on schools to see which are likely to be affordable. Eliminate schools that are too expensive.
If your standardized tests don’t go up a good bit then schools like Brown, Penn, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins and Tufts are real reaches. You are around or below the 25% SAT mark for these schools. It is fine to apply to a couple of them, but IMO you have way too many reaches. I’d take all but like 2 out of these reaches and consider adding a few schools more in your range. You want to be sure to have good options at the end of this process.
The OP apparently took the SAT as a sophomore. If so, an estimated floor for a subsequent exam is 2010. A much higher score than that would also be possible.
If you don’t want to go to UT-Austin or stay in Texas, then you do not have a safety. A safety doesn’t have to be the default instate state university, flagship or directional. It has to be a school where you are assured acceptance, can afford and are happy to attend. You don’t have to be thrilled and jumping for joy but saying “that is honestly just a safety school for me” means it’s not a safety school.
It’s a bit early for you to be eliminating schools from your list. As a junior, you should be adding schools - making sure you have safeties, matches as well as reaches. Try looking for matches for the 1970 SAT. When your SAT score goes up, those matches may become near safeties. At the end of junior year, you can look at your grades, scores, ECs and begin to refine your list to fewer schools.
Finally, run the NPC with your parents for every single school on your list. Add 10.5% to the 2015 COA. This will give you a very general indication for college costs in 2017.
^I think that’s kind of a narrow view of a safety school. I agree it should be somewhere that you’re happy to go, but sometimes the only affordable safeties are in-state public universities - so sometimes students do have to settle for those as a safety even if they theoretically want to leave the state. Also many kids will say that they don’t want to stay in-state just because “in-state” sounds so…provincial. They think they’re going to be stuck with other people from their high school and not grow up. I remember I wanted to go FAR AWAY for college, and I ended up going about 20 minutes from home. It was totally fine. Acknowledging that a school is a safety doesn’t in and of itself mean it’s not a safety.
Besides, OP…Texas is a humongous state with lots of universities that are excellent for the sciences and engineering. You could still be in Texas and be farther away from your family home than some kids who go out-of-state for college. (One family in Tyler, TX noted that Atlanta - four states away - [was closer to them than El Paso](Just How Big is Texas? These Stats Will Amaze You). The circumference of Pluto is less than double the size Texas tip to tip.) Quite frankly, I don’t see the point of paying OOS fees for a public school when you have a truly excellent public university that’s KNOWN for engineering sciences right there. (What makes UIUC more appealing than UT-Austin? They’re pretty similar as far as large public universities go. The biggest difference is probably that Urbana is a small town and Austin is a large city.)
I recommend 2-3 safeties unless you’re top 8% or whatever it is now and you know that you’d choose UT-Austin over any other ones. Otherwise, consider also Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
If your SAT was a 1970 you could raise it to a 2100 or even 2200. The lower end would make you not very competitive for those reaches; the higher end would put you in range.
I agree that it’s too hard to rule out schools if you’re a junior and you still have to retake the SAT. Just use this time to continue exploring places (keeping an open mind) and adding places to the list that you’re interested in. When you retake the SAT, you’ll get a better idea of what your scores put you in range for and then you can start eliminating schools. However, as you add schools, I do suggest that you add more matches - schools more along the lines of Syracuse, University of Rochester, Boston U, and Lehigh - and consider adding one more “just in case” safety like Texas A&M (or maybe Alabama if you can get your scores to the point where you’d be eligible for their scholarships, or some other safety that offers big guaranteed merit).
Thanks for the replies! I just took the SAT again today, and got my ACT scores (32) although I think I can raise that since I had no prep and it was the first time I took it. I currently stand as the salutatorian of my school, but the valedictorian and I have a GPA difference of .001 , so I think I could raise up a spot (hopefully). I really appreciate the reality check everyone dished out and get the "big fish small pond" kind of mentality that I might possess, although I am aware of my competition. I think that my EC's could possibly help my current situation since I am a very active community member, and I am a first generation college student.
As I said before, I think I could get my scores up with hard work, but I am aware that top tier schools are not the easiest to gain acceptance to. But would my more feasible choices such as UT (automatic acceptance), University of Rochester, Lehigh, Syracuse, and Boston U be consider phenomenal schools? I know that there are definitely better schools than the default "Harvard" that immediately comes to mind, so I want to make sure that the school is not only more of a safety, but also well rounded. Again, thanks to everyone who replied, it's very appreciated! :D
You have no reason not to pursue a phenomenal school. As you get a little closer to making a real decision, people here will be glad to help you differentiate your schools. On this thread, I posted about UR because, in terms of the interests you expressed, it could be a phenomenal choice. As you further develop your interests and priorities, you will begin to recognize more precisely for yourself which school would be best for you.
Nice job on your ACT. Your rough SAT equivalent is now 2130. Your academic record is even more impressive.
So from the list, which of those colleges would you say have the most “active” student life? I hate any kind of partying, so by “active” I mostly mean good hearted clubs and activities. Drinking and partying really aren’t my thing.