<p>Looking to apply to SHC for Fall 2012 as an engineer</p>
<p>OOS (NJ)
4/448 (Large avg public)
5.139/5.5 w
Sat: 1540/2300 (790 m, 750 cr, 760 wr)</p>
<p>EC: Student Body President, Class VP, Class Rep, Treasurer FBLA, Baseball (Freshman Captain, Freshman Offensive MVP, Sophomore Overall MVP), Math League Starter, Science League, Peer Leadership, Ambassadors, NHS</p>
<p>Volunteer: ~150 hours (work for elderly neighbor, work at church soup kitchen, various other activities with church, mission trip)</p>
<p>would greatly appreciate a chance, particularly from current PSU student...also worth mentioning im not the world's best writer but im not terrible either</p>
<p>OP: On the surface you would seem to have an excellent chance at SHC. As an OOS student I think there are other schools you should also consider - while dford is incorrect in recommending Ivies as a group (most of them are not well respected in engineering), there are several that would be cheaper AND better, even with the SHC scholarship. Berkeley and UT Austin immediately spring to mind, although the exact list of schools would depend on what specific field(s) of engineering you are considering.</p>
<p>I am not trying to talk you out of PSU (of which I am an alum), I just agree that in your case you probably have some better options.</p>
<p>i greatly appreciate the feedback from both of you…however my girlfriend attends penn state (she is one year ahead of me), and i would like to possibly attend penn state and be with her…i know they say to never ever ever ever pick a college for a girl but im that stupid and i dont feel as though penn state with schreyers is holding me back in anyways, especially because their engineering is highly ranked. other top engineering schools i will be applying to to keep in mind are cornell, umich, and berkeley so shc is not the only one.</p>
<p>but cosmicfish, if my essays weren’t top notch do you think i would still have a good shot based on my GPA/rank…i know they don’t consider SAT scores which angers me =( also, if you think that i am well-qualified for schreyers do you think its possible i could get some sort of merit scholarship?</p>
<p>Schreyer is 3rd in the nation for student admission SATs, etc…so don’t let anyone look down their nose at Penn State, it is a highly competitive program that rivals an Ivy at a fraction of the cost. PSU engineering is highly regarded and very “weed out the unworthy” so come prepared to work more than anything you’ve ever done. Schreyer admittance comes with scholarship attached; if you were not admitted as a freshman, at the end of your sophomore year your PSU college can recommend you and/or you can reapply to Schreyer. They want what ivies want: high gpa, the most rigorous classes you can get, and evidence of high motivation: work, volunteering, career goals, and lots of leadership experience. Class rank is less important than overall GPA and class load. I know many Schreyer scholars and you certainly look like a good candidate to me. Schreyer’s goal is to educate the leaders of tomorrow with a social conscience and a sense of service, exposing them to global life and experience. Best of luck. (And remember, some of the Schreyer gloss comes with it’s own pain in the neck stuff!!)</p>
<p>Just a note-- depending on a family’s financial situation, the ivies that meet full need are often less expensive than PSU. At Princeton, which has a fine engineering program, the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $35,713 a year according to CollegeBoard, with 60% of freshman receiving aid. (Average indebtedness at graduation: $5,225) Harvard’s average need-based scholarship or grant award is $41,341, with 62% of freshman receiving aid. (Average indebtedness at graduation: $10,102) While Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences may not be considered an engineering powerhouse, students are able to take courses at MIT( and enjoy all the other excellent courses Harvard has to offer).</p>
<p>@zier: As others noted, SHC comes with a scholarship if you are admitted as a freshman (if you are admitted to SHC as an upperclassman, no scholarship), and while you would certainly be competitive for merit-based aid most of that money is oriented towards upperclassman - they really want to make sure you can do well in college before they start throwing money at you.</p>
<p>As far as your essays are concerned… I don’t know. GPA and SAT scores are easy to judge, but essays are qualitative, and I can read neither yours nor those of your competitors. It is possible to write essays so bad that your numbers won’t save you, but I have no way of knowing if you did so.</p>
<p>@greenbutton: I did not mean to diss SHC, as I know several graduates and very nearly extended my enrollment a semester so that I could join as an upperclassman. SHC is excellent, and for an in-state student would be a much easier pick. For an OOS student, there are plain and simply better and cheaper programs for an engineer. SHC is good, but the OP looks like they have a decent shot at Berkeley (one of the top programs in the world) for almost half the price of OOS tuition at PSU.</p>
<p>@1moremom: Very true, plus PSU is simply a very expensive state(ish) school. I mentioned Berkeley and UT Austin specifically because they not only engineering powerhouses but also because they are cheaper even without aid. I would not normally recommend most of the Ivies for an engineering student, even with free tuition and cross-attendance at MIT - while those are great while you are in school, they simply do not help that much in actually having an engineering career.</p>
<p>cosmicfish, I think that depends in part on one’s career goals. Some of the more interesting employers value a broader (but still disciplined) education more than the strict engineering curriculum that is the norm at PSU. (I would also guess that the placement rate for SEAS graduates more than matches that of the PSU COE.)</p>
<p>Looking quickly at CollegeBoard, Cal Berkeley OOS is now over $50,OOO a year for tuition, room and board, more than Princeton with little finaid available.
[College</a> Search - University of California: Berkeley - Cal - Cost & Financial Aid](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>@Grcxx3: I have to retract my statement on UT Austin being cheaper - I had used USNWR’s grad listing, but UT’s own site lists tuitions that are considerably higher, especially for undergrads! OOS grad students pay $23,936 in tuition, while OOS undegrads pay $33,670!</p>
<p>@1moremom: It does indeed depend on one’s career goals, but I have never heard of companies looking for practical engineers at places like Harvard - my multi-billion dollar company has hired only one technical undergrad from Harvard in the last decade, and he was a physicist. Harvard graduates very few engineers and offers them little opportunity for specializations that employers are looking for. They have a reputation for graduating engineers whose primary qualification lay in their preparedness for non-engineering positions like finance and consulting or in entering professional schools in law, business, or medicine. I should make an exception for software engineering, where they do draw some employers, but for the rest I have never heard anyone speak highly of Harvard as an actual engineering school. </p>
<p>Again, however, I was mislead by USNWR on tuition - Berkeley’s OOS tuition is over $37k. I retract my statements about cheaper, but with PSU’s OOS tuition of $27+k I still think that there are other colleges out there at least in the same range while offering a nominally superior engineering education - GT is at ~$26k, UIUC at ~$30k, Purdue at ~$28k…</p>
<p>thanks again to everyone for the awesome feedback! however my question is, do you still think i would have a chance at admission without my SAT scores? schreyers claims to not look at SATs when admitting students.</p>
<p>That’s right, cosmicfish, but not every engineer’s dream is to do the kind of work you’re doing for the sort of company you’re working for. My husband spent two years working for a “multi-billion dollar company” on the west coast before taking a job with a smaller company where he had much broader responsibilities, which he greatly preferred (and which was better paying).</p>
<p>zier9993, SHC could more than fill their freshman class with applicants with your (excellent) scores. The way they determine which of the students are actually admitted is to look beyond the numbers at the rest of the application. If you put together a good application with stellar essays you certainly have a chance.</p>
<p>zier- the only way to find out is to apply! You’ll need two teacher recs and a guidance counselor rec in addition to the essays.</p>
<p>It may take some effort on your part to put together the three essays. You mentioned not being the world’s best writer- but this could be an opportunity for you to work on those skills some more if SHC is your goal! If you are accepted into SHC (or any honors program) you will need good writing skills.</p>
<p>here are a list of this years essay questions:</p>
<p>1.Mr. and Mrs. Schreyer endowed the Honors College at Penn State with a gift of $30 million. If you had $30 million to give, what philanthropic effort would you support and why?</p>
<p>2.How should public officials balance competing claims when it comes to complex issues like our energy future?</p>
<p>3.What are you passionate about and why? </p>
<p>Remember when thinking about what to say in each of these essays is that you want your personal point of view to shine through. </p>
<p>Q1 will allow you to show your ability to think outside of your own personal advancement to a wider view of the world and what cause you would like to benefit. Do you have some community service or other personal experience that gives you a connection to a cause that you would like to support? That could be a good starting point.</p>
<p>Q2 seems to ask you to articulate some knowledge about energy issues and take a view as to how politicians should plan for our energy future. I think some research into current events would help you to stake out a position on this point. There should be tons available on the internet. </p>
<p>Q3 asks for a personal passion again that’s an opportunity to say something about yourself. Maybe you can bring in your baseball experience here. What is it about baseball that makes it a passion for you? Maybe tell a story about a particular game/ moment and what it meant to you. I think the sports angle would play well to Penn State adcoms!</p>
<p>In our local HS students work on college essays in their senior English classes; perhaps that is the case in your school. If not, you might ask your guidance counselor to look at yours. (In my S’s case the work was not done in time for his EA application though I’m sure his teacher would have been happy to help had she known.)</p>