Chance for Brown and other reaches

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Chance for Brown, Penn, CMU, Cornell, Rice, UT Austin. Interested in engineering.</p>

<p>Male, rising senior.
State: TX</p>

<p>Attends a competitve high school (It is annually among, top ten producers of National Merit semifinalists in Texas.)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.40 unweighted/ 4.02 weighted (On scale of 5 for A in AP and Honors courses/ 4 for regular classes). </p>

<p>Rank: Top 25 percentile. </p>

<p>It is low, but here are two points to consider:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Class rank includes 9 high school courses taken in middle school that are not being weighted. Back out these courses and class rank would probably rise to top 15 percentile/ GPA to 4.2.</p></li>
<li><p>He has two Cs from freshman year, one in AP Computer Science AB, the other in Honors Geometry. This was in his first semester after he transferred from an academically less rigorous school (80% URM/ No NMSFs). </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Spring semester Junior year Grades/ Course: </p>

<p>Class grade: A in AP Computer Science AB (No AP test offered by CB).
Class grade: A in Pre-AP Physics.
Class grade: B (87%) in Pre-AP Calculus with SAT Subject Math II score: 750
AP Score: 5, Class grade A in AP US History.
AP Score: 5, Class grade B in AP Biology.
AP Score: 5, Class grade B in AP English Language and Composition.
AP Score: 4, Class grade B in AP Chemistry.</p>

<p>Standardized test scores:</p>

<p>NMSQT= W 76, CR 74, M 69</p>

<p>SAT Subject Math II: 750</p>

<p>SAT Subject Physics: To be taken Nov 2012
SAT Reasoning: To be taken in October 2012. </p>

<p>Academic Awards:</p>

<p>Graduating on Distinguished Achievement Program. (Most rigorous)
Graduating with high honors.
AP Scholar with Honor
Likely NHRP Scholar.
Likely TX National Merit Semifinalist.</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>He has decent ECs, but nothing spectacular.
For example, #1 Chess player in his high school.
Participates in a sport as a junior on the National level.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>bumped …</p>

3

<p>Based upon info from admitted students and admissions officers at a few of those schools I would say that you need to recalibrate your expectations. If your goal is engineering there are tons of other good options. You’ve pick some of the very top schools in the US but you just don’t have the grades or scores to even be in the game.
The good news is that you do have other good choices. I would start by digging a bit deeper. Engineering covers a vast array - what sort of engineering interests you the most? Electrical? Mechanical? Civil? Environmental? Materials science? Aeronautical? Biomedical? Nuclear?
Then I would comb through the various rankings out there on that specific discipline. You’ll likely find a quick handful of schools in interesting places with nifty programs, where getting into the school isn’t as hard as an Ivy, or even UT Austin (which seems enormously tough for Texas kids who aren’t top 10% at their HS). You have decent grades in hard classes, what about Alabama, which has a serious program to give merit aid to very good students from out of state? What about UC Boulder? What about NC State? What about smaller strong engineering schools like the MSOE or Case Western? Spend your energy on strong programs at good, if not exceptional, colleges. You’ll find that your have more choices than you think.
Also, check out collegedata.com - you can put in your numbers and see scattergrams of where you fit with actual accepted students from the past several years.</p>

4

<p>I think I agree with most of what you said, his class rank and gpa are low to be thinking of these schools. Just to be clear about expectations, his target schools are Northeastern and Texas A&M. </p>

<p>By the way, I noticed that our children have identical PSAT scores and we are looking at similar schools. Thanks for bringing that website to my attention. Also, thanks for chancing, keep in touch and good luck.</p>

5

<p>White male majoring in engineering is one of the toughest admits to top colleges. 690 Math SAT, 3.4 GPA, & outside of top 10% class rank make admit very unlikely.</p>

6

<p>I agree with everything others have said, find schools that are much more realistic. It might be best to talk with your counselor if you need to essentially remake your college list (which you do). You can also try the SuperMatch College Finder here on CC.</p>

7

<p>What is his GPA without freshman year? Plenty of schools disregard fresh year</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>His targets are TX A&M and Northeastern. A&M is a flagship with a top 20 engineering school. It also has a great team for the sport in which he participates. Brown and the rest of the list are reaches. What is your suggestion, what should he change? The counselor seems to feel this list is fine, but she does not have much time to say much at all.</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>I do admit it looks pretty far fetched.</p>

<p>By the way, this 690 was NMSQT in the beginning of Junior year. We are really expecting between a 750 and 800 on Math in the SAT. He has taken two practice SAT tests this summer and scored 2400s both times. So, I am guessing that his Math score will rise to 750 or higher.</p>

<p>You are also right, a 3.4 GPA is low. However, Class rank is a function of weighted GPAs at his school. A weighted 4.4 (unweighted 3.4) at his school would put him in the top 10%. I do not know if that makes a difference. Also, I do not know if it will matter, but his last semester GPA is also above 3.4 with a very rigorous load.</p>

10

<p>750 math & class rank in top 10% will help IMMENSELY! Could get him into the conversation.</p>

11

<p>Personally I think he should have more targets, less reaches and safeties (not sure if he has any right now). I would recommend a breakdown where he has double the target schools to reaches and the same number of safeties as reaches (for example two reaches, four matches, two safeties). Also his reaches are a stretch even for a reach (ivies with a 3.4 does not happen often) so I would consider looking at reaches that are slightly more realistic. Hope this helps!</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>It seems the engineering school at A&M is ranked higher than Northeastern:</p>

<p>[Best</a> Engineering School Rankings | Engineering Program Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings)</p>

<p>However, as a National Merit Finalist he is guaranteed admission with free tuition at both. So does he really need more matches and safeties? Can you make any recommendations? Thanks.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Please recommend some engineering schools that are ranked higher than A&M and below the reaches I have listed. </p>

<p>As far as the 3.4 (4.4 weighted) GPA is concerned, I agree, it does seem very low for these schools. On the other hand, it is what he scored this semester and it puts him in the top 10% of his class for junior year. Now, I do not know what percentage of the top 10% took the same rigor as him or did as well on the AP tests. However, I cannot imagine there were too many with 5 APs and two core honors classes (math and physics) who did better. Would counselors usually share this type of info? thanks</p>

13

<p>There appears to be a strong back story to this that could be of significant interest to the admission staff at a reach school. This is a URM who moved in the middle of his freshman year into a completely different scholastic and social environment. He got his butt kicked initially, but then quickly improved and has done reasonably well in the most rigorous classes available. This could be the rare situation where GPA and class rank will be given less weight. The essay will be key, as will National Merit (there are a limited number of combo NMSF/NHRP students out there). My fingers are crossed for a low TX cutoff perazziman!</p>

<p>Still, any college will want to make sure that the applicant can handle the academic rigor required by the school. The B’s in both science and English will likely hurt (though that could be offset somewhat by the high AP scores). If he does really well the first semester of his senior year it could be a tipping point. Getting that SAT math score above 750 would also be a nice boost, if possible. It gives the adcom less to worry about.</p>

14

<p>That was an excellent post, thank you, clapuma. You are right, he has done reasonably well last semester. it would be nice if next semester’s GPA moved closer to the top 1-5% (rather than near the top 10%) and he had top grades in some seriously rigorous courses, such as AP Calculus BC and AP Physics. It would be icing on the cake. I guess we shall see what happens next semester. I know he is really looking forward to tackling these subjects in senior year.</p>