<ul>
<li>SAT - 1990 [CR 670] [M 680] <a href="might%20take%20again">W 640</a></li>
<li>ACT - 31 composite [E 31] [M 29] [R 29] [S 36]
SUPER SCORED - [35 E] [29 M] [29 R] <a href="will%20take%20again">36 S</a></li>
<li>APs (still waiting for scores, but I know) - AP Chemistry (4 or 5), AP Language (4)</li>
<li>Strong Courses.
<ul>
<li>Senior Course:
1.) AP Physics B (school does not offer C)
2.) AP Calculus BC
3.) AP Lit
4.) Spanish III/ OR Spanish IV honors (if I self study Sp. III this summer, then Sp. IV H)
5.) AP Economics (both macro and micro in one class)
6.) AP Computer Sciences A (school does not offer AB, but I may take AB)
7 & 8.) Lunch and Weightlifting</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Wrestling (7th grade to sophomore year, had to take off a season for junior year to gauge course load)</li>
<li>Soccer (sophomore year only)</li>
<li>Science Olympiad (re-initiated it junior year)</li>
<li>Math team (invited to it junior year)</li>
<li>NHS</li>
<li>Computer Club (co-re-initiator (lol) junior year)</li>
<li>Community Service Club (junior year, but my friends and I did enough to all get executive board placements for senior year. i am now VP.)</li>
<li>Volunteer at Animal Shelter (LOTS of hours, 125+, and started after we got dog)
<ul>
<li>joined PETA and became vegetarian as well (plan on doing a PETA demo in front of a KFC this summer)</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Indian</li>
<li>GPA - 3.8 cumulative weighted, i don't know unweighted</li>
<li>rank - I'm not sure, but my rank has shot up SO much from junior grades (two B's first semester, one of which was a B+ in AP language, and straight A's second semester)</li>
<li>Going to a summer research program at Drexel for Engineering. Called the Summer Mentorship Program.</li>
</ul>
<p>So the story is that I screwed up freshman year (straight B's, one C), and Sophomore year no C's, but A's and B's. I really changed the end of sophomore year (big story about me getting whole new group of friends, going to be one of my essays), and I realized that I really wanted to become an engineer. I started opening stuff around my house, and going to my dad's work place every now and then to mess around with gauges (he's a MechE). I am really really passionate about animal rights ever since I got a dog, and she's such a good friend. I volunteered a lot at the shelter she came from, joined PETA, and became vegetarian. I really like wrestling too, but couldn't do it this year to gauge for the heavier course load. I'm hoping doing some off-season wrestling will show that I haven't just given up on it (plan on wrestling in a club in college too). I like to do social experiments with my friends, in which we go around and perform them on strangers, without them knowing it. I keep a journal full of all of them. (It's actually really cool, and I'm pretty passionate about it.)</p>
<p>as one of your accomplishments. Ok, I’ll give some advice . . .</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And/or your math ACT score. I think UIUC is big on the ACT.</p>
<p>APs: the tests where it is important to do well on (because you’ll get a lot of general education credit for) are your:</p>
<p>AP Lit
AP Economics
AP Computer Sciences A
(unless you want to be in ECE–getting a 5 on CompSci AB gets you no useful credit)</p>
<p>Physics B gets you no useful credit if you are an engineer, and it is just as well that you don’t get a 5 on the Calc BC exam, because AP calculus is much easier than UIUC’s calculus courses. </p>
<p>This advice may be lost on you (you don’t even know for sure if you want to go here yet and that’s a year away!), but even if you do get a 5 on the BC exam, I’d recommend that you take Engineering Calc II. A lot of kids show up with 5’s on the BC exam, get credit for calc I and II, and then get seriously burnt in Calc III. Engineering calculus II is a course designed for AP calculus students that will bring their mathematics skills up to the level they need to do well in future engineering and math courses.</p>
<p>Seconding silence_kit’s comments. I’m not an engineering major now, but I started out as one.</p>
<p>I had a 4 in AP Calc AB and was placed into Calc II, which promptly kicked my ass. I had near perfect SAT and ACT math scores, so I thought I was something special…huh. The class went into Taylor series in the second week of school, when I had a weak understanding of limits as it was. I would’ve been better prepared taking Calc I. My homework sets were only about 4 or 5 problems, twice a week, but they took a fiendishly long time to complete.</p>
<p>(You might also be taking linear algebra depending on the type of engineering you go into. Unlike calculus, which is somewhat visual and has readily available real world examples, linear algebra was all about theory and remembering proofs. It wasn’t as bad as calculus for me, but I felt there was less explaining of ‘why’ or ‘how’ it worked.)</p>
<p>I’m surprised my professor still has this page up, but here you go. My class’ Calc II notes and homework assignments, all online. You should look over a few of these .pdfs to make sure Calc BC is preparing you well.</p>
<p>kevercho-why are you not in engineering anymore? Was it not your thing or was it the Calculus thing that made you decide it was not for you? Any input into your freshman engineering year?</p>
<p>Hey Christine: Yeah, I realized engineering was not for me. I still passed Calc II and linear algebra despite not really understanding the concepts too well – you’ll find that many of your other classmates will feel the same too (which is why both of those classes had huge curves, like 60-70 for an A). Don’t get complacent and feel that you don’t need to know all of the material however - that mentality will just induce a lot of unnecessary stress. For some study tips, check out a site called “Study Hacks” (google it). It’s one of the best college academics blogs out there; I really wish I had known about it earlier.</p>
<p>I also took the first two weeks of Calc III and I didn’t think that was too bad (vectors, yay!), but that’s when I finally made up my mind and dropped the class/switched majors.</p>
<p>I think if you choose engineering out of your own desire, you’ll be okay. My parents not-so-subtly urged me to go, so I suffered under their expectations, wondering if I really enjoyed the subject. Just because you did well at a subject in high school doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for your major in college.</p>
<p>There’s a whole lot I could say about my first year – one thing I’m going to recommend is actually taking more humanities/social science classes (even if you come in with advanced credits so you don’t have to take so many). I was pretty well rounded in high school and I felt I was getting too ‘left brained’ from engineering. They help you become more personable and versed in culture, and since many engineers suffer from the ‘bad communicator’ stereotype, they help mitigate that effect.</p>
<p>Thanks for your honesty…very insightful and much appreciated. Can I ask you what major/college you switched into? And do you like U of I overall…are you happy you chose it?</p>
<p>English and Philosophy/Sociology. Yes, I’ve gotten many comments about the switch. And I really underestimated the work and intellectual rigor needed for analyzing literature and writing papers, which is why I suggested that last little tidbit of advice.</p>
<p>I like U of I. I turned down smaller LACs like Reed and Bowdoin to come here (as you see, I never had my heart set on engineering), mainly because of price. I used to get a little depressed at times because of the large Greek presence, and the vacuous and provincial little-town school spirit (as it seemed). Long story short, I learned to loosen up, enjoy some parties and beer, and I’m quite satisfied to be here. U of I can just seem like a large, impersonal state school. But its reputation is solid, there are lots of ways to stand out and join organizations, and importantly for me, lots of other intelligent and interesting people who came out of similar financial constraints.</p>
<p>I re-read my last sentence –> there’s also a lot of ‘rich’, interesting, out-of-staters and internationals, and I used to wonder why they came here, but I just realized the university was that good.</p>
<p>one more engineering question if you don’t mind…the fact that you were not passionate about engineering notwithstanding, did you find the workload overwhelming? For instance, was Chem or Physics particularly hard?
PS I see why you get plenty of comments about your switch of majors! :)</p>
<p>I think the best answer is: you get used to it. My first two semesters were my hardest semesters in college. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>For chemistry, I’ve only taken Chem 102/103. Chem 102 is easy if you have had a good high school college class. I didn’t learn anything new in the course. Chem 103 is a really really easy lab. If you want to learn chemistry it may be smart to take the chem major version of the intro chemistry courses (chem 202/203 I think?).</p>
<p>The 200-level physics courses aren’t too bad if you’ve had the proper background. I didn’t, so I took Physics 100. After taking that course, I did well in the physics series without too much effort.</p>