Chance for top engineering schools? CalTech? MIT? Rice?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi so I’m kind of new to College Confidential and my friend wants me to help her post something on this. So beware: This is not my info!! Some of the scores, like Senior year IB and AP tests are predicted btw

SAT I: 2320
SAT II: World History (800), Chinese (720), Math II (800), Biology (760)
Unweighted GPA: 3.8
Weighted GPA: 4.5
Rank: about top 2%
AP: World History (5), European History (4), Statistics (5), Biology (5), Computer Science (5)
IB (out of 7 points): Spanish SL (6), Computer Science SL (7), Physics SL (6), English HL (6), History HL (7), Math HL (7)

Awards:

  • Regional Scholastic Writing Awards
  • Regional Swimming Competitions
  • Cello Contests (1st place, honorable mention)
  • National Merit Semifinalist (don’t know about finalist yet)
  • Some AP Scholar Award
  • Minor Community Service Awards

Extracurriculars:

  • School Swim Team (9-12) (Varsity 10-12) (Varsity Captain 11-12)
  • Cello (top school orchestra 9-12) (district honors 9-12) (contest awards 10-11) (Principal 1st chair cello 10-12)
  • Book club (9-12) (president & co-publisher 10-12)
  • Stage Crew/Theatre Tech (Lighting & Set Design)
  • CSF (9-12)
  • NHS (10-12)

Volunteer/Community service:

  • Music Club that plays music (volunteers) at hospitals weekly (president & founder 9-12) (over 800 hours)
  • Children’s Daycare Center (volunteer 9-12) (over 200 hours)

Summer Activities:

  • COSMOS UC Davis (summer before 10 grade)
  • NASA Unpaid Internship program (summer before 12 grade)

Essays: idk
Teacher Recommendation: idk
Counselor Rec: probably generic
Additional Rec: she is asking the volunteer coordinator at the hospital she plays music at

Financial Aid: yes
State: CA
School Type: Public 2000+
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Female
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): $100,000- $150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): female in engineering??

List of Schools:
MIT
CalTech
Virginia Tech
Michigan
Georgia Tech
Rice
Amherst
Yale
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Princeton
every UC school (except Riverside/Merced)

Are there any schools that you recommend she apply to?

She is concerned that she has too many interests and is too much of a “Renaissance Man”. WIll it hurt her that she doesn’t really have science related ECs? (except for the two summer programs)

And she heard somewhere that some colleges require you take SAT Physics if you want to study engineering at their school. Is that true because she only took SAT Biology and Math II?

Thank you sooo much for your time!!

2

Bump?

3

Her only weakness is the mediocre uwGPA. It is below admission average at UMich, for instance. Other things look fine. UMich CoE would be a low reach to reach to her due to low admission rate and GPA.

4

Thanks for your input. Anyone else?

5

Is she applying to CS? Her stats and ECs are good overall so she is not wasting her application fees. But there are also lots of competition with similar stats and ECs.

6

@DrGoogle She is leaning towards Electrical Engineering and Architecture. Thank you! And in your opinion, is she spread too thin in her ECs?

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I don’t know if she can combine them because the two majors require lots of courses, no overlapping either, except lower level science. If EECs then it might be a low reach for Berkeley. I think she may have a chance with Caltech. But the two kids my daughter knew who got into Caltech from her school had almost perfect GPA with similar SAT but fewer ECs, so maybe there is a trade off there.
MIT and others maybe reach. Michigan maybe a match.

8

@DrGoogle Sorry i meant to say “or”. I believe she is deciding between those two. Thanks for the super helpful post! I’ll let her know what you said

9

She may want to add USC because it has both architecture and engineering. If she is accepted there, she will only pay half of the tuition because of NMSF scholarship.

10

@DrGoogle how common is the USC half tuition for National Merit Semifinalists? Is it difficult to receive?

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It’s pretty common. USC awards about 250-300 per year. If she is Accepted she will get it. My daughter received it, I don’t think it has changed much but your friend needs to apply by Dec 1 to qualify. Bit do check the website.

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@DrGoogle Allright! Thanks for the suggestion. Since you seem pretty experienced and knowledgeable about this, do you know if any of these schools require an SAT Physics or Chemistry test? Since she already has math 2 and biology

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Not sure but I know MIT requires a science test so biology is fine but do check it’s website for sure. My memory I could be bad. All UCs recommend a science test If you apply to engineering. Has she taken Physics or Chem yet? If yes then taken she should the sat subject test, I think they are stronger science test then biology but that is a guess. Check for definite. I know for UCLA it’s the math test that is important and she had. 800 so that should be good.

14

@DrGoogle She only took honors chemistry and she loathes chemistry deeply. She is taking physics this year, but wont be able to complete the course in time for the exam before college applications, so she was worried that sat biology wouldnt be enough

15

You only need 1 science SAT II and 1 Math SAT II for MIT.

16

Then it’s ok, she shouldn’t worry.

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@rdeng2614 @DrGoogle Thank you soo much!

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"WIll it hurt her that she doesn’t really have science related ECs?
No.

She’s in the mix for all those schools except MIT and Caltech. They will be quite a bit more difficult.

When you say “regional” swimming competition, has she placed high at the state level and/or advanced beyond that?

19

@JustOneDad She competes in advanced swimming for her age division and is ranked in the top 100 of California, but she doesnt want to apply as a reqruited athlete.

20

Honestly, shes cookie-cutter for people going to those schools… number wise. There’s small bumps such as her UW GPA. But, The only thing killing her is ECs. They’re really spread out but nothing she can do. Show deep passion in swimming. Being asian hurts, but a girl in a tech school? That’s good.

MIT - Reach
CalTech - Reach (lower than MIT Reach)
Virginia Tech - Safety/Low Match
Michigan - Match/High Match
Georgia Tech - Match/High Match
Rice - Low Reach
Yale - High Reach
Columbia - High Reach
Cornell - Low Reach
Dartmouth - Reach
Princeton - High Reach
UC Berkeley - High Match/Low Reach

Ivy Leagues and Ivy League levels will always be a high Reach.
I say, go for Berkeley or Caltech EA/ED for the best outcome