<p>Hey, I'm Mikaela:) I'm a senior from a small town in NJ and I'm really nervous about this whole college thing!</p>
<p>GPA: 105ish (weighted)
Rank: 6/480
SAT: Superscored-2220 (740CR 800M 680W) Single Sitting 2180 (700CR 800M 680W)
Sat II: 780 Chem 770 Math 2
ACT: Taking next weekend (yeah I know...I like tests)
AP: US History 3 Chem 5 Stat 5
Classes: I'm not going to bore you with the list, but I've taken the most challenging classes my school allows and have only gotten one B+ in 11th grade English. I'm enrolled in 5 AP's this year as well as honors Latin.
Extra Curriculars: Latin club, about 50 hours of community service, and I'm a 12-season athlete. 4 seasons XC, 4 seasons outdoor track, 2 seasons indoor track, 2 seasons swimming.
Awards: National Merit Scholar (Commended Student), Outstanding Physics Student (school award), Magna and Maxima Cum Laude (National Latin Exam, 9th and 10th grade), Perfect Attendance (10th)
I'm not sure if they're extra curriculars or awards but I'm also in National Honor Society and National Latin Honor Society.</p>
<p>The one letter of recommendation that I have seen is excellent. My essays should be decent, but I have to finish them first...</p>
<p>I'm applying to:
Harvey Mudd College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Pennsylvania
Cornell University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Pittsburgh
Stevens Institute of Technology</p>
<p>And if my father won't stop pestering me to do so, I'm going to apply to Yale. However, I already know that I won't get in there.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for taking the time to assist me:)</p>
<p>I’m not sure yet, but when I was at RPI the things the chemical engineering students said really interested me.</p>
<p>You will be competitive for most schools. Consider other schools like Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo too. These are amazing schools. Yale? Sure if you want to be an attorney or English major. In the sciences and engineering you would be best served by other schools. You are correct, it is not your school. Instead of Yale, why not MIT?</p>
<p>I’m honestly trying everything in my power not to even fill out the Yale application. I think I’m just going to “forget” to do it. My Dad dreams of me going there, not me, and I don’t want to waste my time writing essays for a school that isn’t right for me, not to mention possibly take a spot from someone who really belongs there.</p>
<p>However, I’m pretty sure MIT doesn’t give a lot of money…at least, the two people I know who’ve been accepted there got almost nothing.</p>
<p>I want to go to a good school, but I don’t care about a big name. Actually, I’d prefer not to go to a HPYS type school, if I can get a solid education elsewhere.</p>
<p>I’ve actually been flip-flopping around about Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. I know both are good schools, and I’m going to look further into both of them.</p>
<p>Thank you:)</p>
<p>To OP - if aid is a big concern, I would also apply Rutgers as safety. A lot of folks tend to ‘avoid’ big schools but they have like 4 campuses with the Engineering campus being separate. And maybe they have honors program? Honestly I think they are at same level as Virginia tech. A lot of NJ folks go to case western (they have good aid apparently). I do think you have a good shot at CMU/RPI as well. Going far out of state can add up to the expenses as well.</p>
<p>You are correct MIT offers virtually nothing in the form of aid. Even brilliant kids get very little money unless they are of such rare competitive value that MIT feels they have to have them. My nephew from Linwood, a small NJ coastal city, goes to Rutgers in New Brunswick for business and loves it. He especially loves the cost and is self-financing. I think that his total layout annually is about $20K with no aid. My son goes to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO) and is beyond happy with the program. Cal Poly SLO advertised itself as a “hands on - learn by doing” institution and they have already proven the point. My son is in his 5th week of school as a freshman and already he is telling me of working with fiberglass and carbon fiber materials to build a “supermileage car” with his new club. He is already burning and blowing things up (controlled) in Chemistry, and building stuff in engineering. Interestingly enough, other subjects that you would not expect require the hands on approach too. For example, even in his English class he was expected to go out and interview an interesting person on the street and write a four page essay on it. The school spares no chance to get the students out there doing things. In fact, even the campus events, like Open House, student orientation, and Parent’s Weekend are all run by the students. This is why Cal Poly’s engineering graduates enjoy the highest starting salaries of all California public institutions including UC Berkeley. Here is the link: [Home</a> - Admissions - Cal Poly](<a href=“Cal Poly Admissions”>http://admissions.calpoly.edu/)</p>
<p>If you are looking for out of state options as well, check out Cal Poly in addition to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. Cal Poly will surround you with other kids at your level. Average GPA’s for engineering grads are above 4.00 and the ACT is averaged at 31. Also, for the first time they are really recruiting out of state students and is quite reasonable compared to other schools for out of state students. Depending on your major there is also the Colorado School of Mines.</p>
<p>I wasn’t a fan of Rutgers actually. Not a bad school, just not my cup of tea.</p>
<p>I’ll look into Cal Poly. I’m definitely looking to go out of state.</p>
<p>Well, if you want perfect weather, the Pacific Ocean on your door step and beautiful mountains literally on campus, Cal Poly could be your school. San Luis Obispo was also rated as the “Happiest Town in America” last year. Here is one of the coolest videos I’ve ever seen to introduce the town and parts of campus: [The</a> SLO Experiment - YouTube](<a href=“The SLO Experiment - YouTube”>The SLO Experiment - YouTube)</p>
<p>Rankings prove the school’s worth. Here is a link that says it all: [Cal</a> Poly: National Honors, Ranking and Recognition - A Constantly Growing List](<a href=“Press Releases | University Communications and Marketing”>Press Releases | University Communications and Marketing)</p>
<p>Here is a funny little clip about the town as well that pokes fun at the “Happiest Town in America” designation: [Oprah</a> says San Luis Obispo is the Happiest City In America. - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Here are a couple of links that will be very useful. The general school website: [Cal</a> Poly - Welcome to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California](<a href=“http://www.calpoly.edu/]Cal”>http://www.calpoly.edu/)</p>
<p>Site for prospective students: [Home</a> - Admissions - Cal Poly](<a href=“Cal Poly Admissions”>http://admissions.calpoly.edu/)</p>
<p>Why am I doing all this free PR for the school? Well, you sound a lot like my kid. He did not want to go to an Ivy League even though he qualified (he was a Valedictory Scholar and tested in the 99th percentile for ACT and SAT). He had incredible EC’s including a serious internship where he had to use his bilingual skills at a Japanese IT consultancy. Super involved at school especially the music program – Marching Band, Jazz band, Concert Band, Drumline , (wind and brass) etc. He also refused to apply to Stanford and Cal Tech. He is the kind of kid that can’t stand elitism in any form and really thinks for himself. He also wanted to go to a school that focused on a hands on education rather than academic frivolity focused on pure research and a book based education. Long story short, after visiting some of the top schools in California, he turned down offers from 6 schools (including UCLA and UC San Diego) after we went to Cal Poly and fell in love with the school, the town and most importantly the unique teaching method. The kicker is the “Hands On - Learn by Doing” methodology. No other school offered that. After he moved in, we expected a bit of a let down as reality and routine sank in. But, no the darn school keeps getting better and better. The only danger is that you might not ever want to leave – it happens to quite a lot of folks.</p>
<p>Oh, I just reread your posting and realized that you are an athlete. Cal Poly is an incredibly athletic school and competes at a high level. The air, sea and land are pristine as it is located far from major urban centers. Interestingly, the school also competes in Intercollegiate Championship Rodeos as well. It was so cool to see a rodeo right on campus during the Open House. Being close to the Central Valley and the heart of California wine country, Cal Poly has a very distinguished agriculture program. It even has its own vineyards and Cal Poly brand wine. The school is incredibly popular with outdoorsy folks and nature lovers. My kid is a photographer, rock climber and hiker too. It is perfect for him. Harvey Mudd will be a let down for athletes as it is focused primarily on academics (we looked into the school thoroughly). In addition to that, Harvey Mudd is located right up against the mountains outside Los Angeles. Very pretty area, but the air is unfortunately absolutely filthy at times – all the smog and muck from the city gets dumped right down on the school as it gets trapped by the mountains. That specific area often has dirtier air than Los Angeles itself due to the location. When we went on the campus tour and interview at Harvey Mudd, we were blown away by the academics and the kids were cool if not a bit odd. The campus was very, very small and the classrooms were mostly incredibly cramped with many underground. The entire Claremont consortium was quite impressive though, I must say. But Harvey Mudd comes at a huge price tag. It will cost you $55,000 a year – regardless of what you might read this was the number given to us by the Dean of Admissions himself. No aid was offered to us. However, you may qualify for a merit scholarship that could bring the cost down to $35,000 annually. They do offer money to certain outstanding students.</p>
<p>I looked at Cal Poly, and I liked a lot about it, but the website said that you can’t switch majors if you change your mind? I’m not set in stone about a specific engineering discipline yet, so that’s a major turn off for me.</p>
<p>My son had the same issue and almost rejected the school. Then we found out the actual situation. In reality it is far more flexible than advertised. I think that they want to establish a strict outside persona. But, again, it is far more flexible than what they would have you believe on the inside. They further loosened up guidelines in the last couple of years. My kid enrolled in General Engineering and that program allows you the flexibility to create your own focus and curricula for your Junior and Senior years. At least 50% of the general engineers change majors prior to graduation. Also, it is fairly easy to change majors inside your department. For example, you can go from electrical to mechanical engineering or from aerospace to computer engineering fairly easy. These are transfers within the department. It is also feasible to go from engineering to other colleges – just no the other way around. For example a music major would find it difficult to move into the engineering or business departments. But for engineers it is a lot easier. Good luck.</p>
<p>There are so many great college options in the East coast, so moving cross country for Cal poly (even if the OP was set into Engineering) is probably not worth it (OOS tuition among other things and the travel distance). I think CMU/Cornell would be excellent options. RPI/HarveyMudd are all engineering focussed, especially the latter. Your ECs don’t seem to be science/Engg focussed or maybe you didn’t mention it. But that would play a factor if you apply to Engineering schools.</p>
<p>We don’t have any math/science/engineering options here. I actually had a conversation with my biology teacher about this. We have lots of kids in the top 1-2% of the class with near perfect SAT’s and involvement in a majority of the activities we DO offer, but the very top tier schools notoriously don’t accept kids from my high school, and that’s probably why. I mean, in the last century, we haven’t had a single kid get into Princeton, Harvard, Yale, or Stanford. I wish colleges could see that not much is offered here but…</p>
<p>I think way to get around that is by summer programs /pre-college programs. Again I know that is not always possible, but selectivity is such a factor that folks have to look beyond what is available at school, or take it as an opportunity to start the club. That said, you have a good chance. Good luck with the process.</p>
<p>I wish I had known about that kind of stuff earlier. Granted I need to work in the summer or I’d have a huge cash issue right now.</p>
<p>Thank you:)</p>
<p>fall2016parent is probably correct in that you have great options on the East Coast. Come to California only if you want a complete change of scenery and both you and your parents are OK with the distance and the added expense. I love the school and I am totally biased. We also live within 200 miles from the school and we pay in-state tuition which has increased dramatically in the last few years but will cost us not more than $7,800 this year. Total cost including room, board, books, side trips and a car on campus, etc. will be about $23,000. This will increase to about $25,000 if he participates in national competitions (as we expect) and needs to travel extensively. Out of state? Expect to pay $248 per unit or $11,160 a year for 15 units per quarter. More if you take more classes.</p>
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