Chance/Give Advice

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I posted this in the engineering section and received no response. I was thinking it might be because it was kind of a chance thread so I decided to to copy and paste it in this section with a little more info to make it a chance thread. Here it is:</p>

<p>Well right now I'm really thinking about going into engineering and was wondering if I could possibly have a shot at a school like Georgia Tech. You know a school thats not like MIT, Stanford but still is a very good engineering school. This isn't a chance thread as much as a what are my options thread. Also I'm currently a Junior</p>

<p>Stats:
African American
Highly Competitive School
GPA 3.2 UW (3.4-3.5 W), weighted grade will increase with AP's hopefully to about a 3.6-2.8
Also a very big upward trend from what was about a 2.5-2.7 freshmen year.
School doesn't rank also.</p>

<p>Classes (will only list science and math): all of this is on an honors tracks at my school which doesn't offer a ton of AP's and unlike public schools doesn't offer an honors class for most courses, but they would be by most other schools standards honors.
Freshmen: Algebra II and Honors Physics
Sophmore: Pre-Calculus and Chemistry
Junior: AP Calculus AB and AP Biology
Senior (most likely): AP Statistics and AP Chemistry</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure SAT will be between 2000-2200 (get scores back this month).</p>

<p>Will have 7 AP's by end of senior year. </p>

<p>EC's/Volunteering (~400 hours):
Marine Biology Club (9)
Futsal Club (10)
Science Olympiad (11)
Soccer Team (JV 9,10 Varsity 10, 11)
Tennis Team (9)
Acolyting at Church (9,10,11)
Ushering at Church (11,12)
Appalachian Service Project (9,10,11,12)
Random Service Hours from small things
Vacation Bible School (9,10,11,12)
New Orleans Mission Trip
Stop Hunger Now Volunteer (11,12)
I really enjoy Stop Hunger Now and will probably write one of the essays on my work with them as well as hopefully become an intern this summer and lead meal making events at a college or two for their event where they make a million meals with the combined work of volunteers from a few colleges. </p>

<p>I might have 1-3 other clubs, I just have to see what constitutes being part of a club since I have gone to sessions of other clubs.</p>

<p>Awards:
JV Soccer MVP (10)
World History Award (10)</p>

<p>I'm considering maybe being a chemical engineer. I also have looked into possibly doing the 3-2 program at either Elon university (live in NC) and Emory/Oxford University because I can get a good liberal arts education so I know if engineering is really what I want to do. Also both of these schools do their programs at Georgia Tech (have a choice of others at Elon). I understand that I have screwed up early on and hope that my grade trend along with my class rigor and the good merit of the school I go to (private school that sends a lot of students to UNC-CH on a yearly basis) will make up for some of that. </p>

<p>I'm getting help with my Essays and they will be good.
Recommendations will be amazing with two coming from great teachers (one who attended Yale and has taught at multiple colleges) who both like me a lot. I also plan to get a recommendation from an organization called Stop Hunger Now where I volunteer. They send prepackaged meals to other countries where hunger is abundant.</p>

<p>Heres All Colleges Right Now
Emory
Oxford of Emory
Elon
UVA (won't get in but parents are both legacy's and have lots of family members who have attended including 2 who played on the football team, also my parents kind of want me to apply just to see)
Davidson
William and Mary
University of Richmond
Wofford College
Georgia Tech</p>

<p>Safties:
North Carolina State
Appalachin State
maybe UNCG</p>

<p>Tell me, If im forgetting something and I will chance everybody who chances me.</p>

2

<p>Consider adding Clemson or Virginia Tech?</p>

3

<p>I actually thought about both. I actually cut both on my last list of 15 colleges/universities. Clemson just didn't have anything that jumped off the page to me and VT was close to being on this final one but my Dad was basically saying I could go to the NC State school of engineering for the same education and cheaper tuition although the closeness part of it really is a turn off. I probably won't think about Clemson but I will definitely rethink Virginia Tech.</p>

4

<p>Cmon people any help would be appreciated. How to improve my application? How to stand out besides in my essay? Also if this helps at all my aunt is a counselor at a high school in Virginia and has connections with admissions offers at Davidson (current 1st) and Elon. I might be able to get an interview at Davidson this way even though they aren't usually offered there. How much of an advantage will this give me? Could possibly explain my freshmen grades and show how I have managed to improve my grades and also maybe get on a personal level with them.</p>

5

<p>What state do you live in? assuming OOS for all, here are my predicitions (assuming you have a 2100 SAT like you say, guesses are guesses though)</p>

<p>Heres All Colleges Right Now
Emory - reachish (GPA)
Oxford of Emory - probably in
Elon - in
UVA (won't get in but parents are both legacy's and have lots of family members who have attended including 2 who played on the football team, also my parents kind of want me to apply just to see) - probably reject
Davidson - reject
William and Mary - probably reject
University of Richmond - in
Wofford College - no idea
Georgia Tech - in</p>

<p>BTW, georgia tech is a great school for all kinds of engineering, and is, like you say, not like MIT/Stanford. just not that feel. also, right in the heart of atlanta, if that's your thing.</p>

6

<p>Thanks. The only one that was one I was truly thinking about that you rejected was Davidson, which I know is a reach but hopefully I will improve with the interview if I get it. I'm surprised though that you think I can get into Georgia Tech. If I was going to do the 3-2 program I was planning on trying to finish the engineering part at GT. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Also I live in NC.</p>

7

<p>More chances please. Sorry if I shouldn't be bumping. Another question I have is how much would having an interview at a college where they don't regularly give interviews be an advantage? My aunt might be able to get me an interview at Davidson because she knows an admissions person. Thanks</p>

8

<p>okay i can give you a pretty good view on GT and emory considering im in georgia. You look great for GT (especially being african american) and that school is not even that hard to get into. but i heard that they pay HUGE attention to GPA, so i cannot say you are in 100 or even 75%. but u have a pretty good chance.</p>

<p>emory. well, its a private school and a TOP one but not THAT hard to get into. i would say you have about as good of a chance as georgia tech. the reason being, emory is generally a lot more difficult than gt to get into, but because your gpa is not that good and that is one of gt's focuses, your chance is about the same at both (above 50%).</p>

9

<p>"Great" for GT with that GPA?</p>

<p>And what's with all the downplaying towards GT engineering? It's Top 5. As an alumni of MIT and GT, I can say that there's not much difference academically. The students are much more competitive and cut-throat at MIT (obviously the tougher admissions bring in more competitive students), but the engineering departments don't seem all that different. It will very likely depend on the department, though.</p>

10

<p>Yeah I've known coming into this that GPA would be the main issue with everything. Hopefully though they will see the upward trend and see that I have the potential to succeed at there schools. I feel stupid now getting around a 2.7 weighted Freshmen year and now being able to get around a 3.85 weighted this year with half of the classes being AP's. Hopefully I can get some help from my counselor to explain this and also bring it into my essay's without making it a cliche. Thanks for helping out though.</p>

<p>edit: Also Burdell I know that GT has a great engineering school. I'm just as suprised as you that people are saying I have a decent chance of getting in. When I do apply though I will probably apply to the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts because I would like to see what I like before committing myself to Engineering. If I want to be an engineer then I will attempt to transfer into the engineering school. Although I do think I have a decent chance with my rigor, trend, decent ec's, great recommendations and minority hook. Hopefully they will look at my freshmen year and realize that it wasn't me and hopefully take into account that two of the C's came in Physics and Algebra II which are hard classes to be taking as a freshmen.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, just try to get that GPA up. There's not really much else you can do. As it stands now, I'd say that you're a reach for GT, but it's not out of the question.</p>

<p>If you can get the GPA up, then frame it as a learning experience (i.e. mention your last 2 years vs your first 2 years and what you learned to make such a major improvement), and get the Math SAT into the mid 700's, then you'll be fine.</p>

<p>If you plan to be a ChE (well.. now ChBE), Tech is one of the best schools to attend. It has one of the highest starting salaries for BS graduates in the country (it might just be the highest - don't really know). The average is between $60,000 and $70,000 now (ignore Career Services, they include people going to grad school and making $12,000 a year on stipend in that number). Very good med school and law school acceptance rates, too. </p>

<p>ChE has a VERY low retention rate, though. Make sure it's what you want to do, otherwise you'll go crazy.</p>

<p>You don't transfer into the engineering school, you just change majors. It's a form that takes 30 seconds to fill out. There's no downside, only that someone who pulls your transcript can see your major by semester (which really isn't that big of a deal). When I was there, students would change their major to whatever class they needed (a CS major got priority when registering for Intro CS), then change it again right after registering. </p>

<p>I recommend against starting at Elon then transferring to Tech. There's a discussion of that topic here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/georgia-institute-technology/640032-ga-tech-dual-degree-oglethorpe.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/georgia-institute-technology/640032-ga-tech-dual-degree-oglethorpe.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

12

<p>I think Georgia Tech is a very good choice considering you're going into engineering. Emory is looking a bit shaky, so you'll need to bring up that GPA. Elon is also looking good.</p>

13

<p>Thanks guys and Burdell all that information is extremely helpful. Also right now the GPA will go up weighted but probably stay around the same/ maybe raise a little bit unweighted. How big a problem is that? The reason for this is of course AP's which I'm getting B's in right now. Also my SAT score will be good. I am confident particularly in the math portion and plan to take the math subject test. Any other good ways to make the application stand out to the GT and other college admission people.</p>

14

<p>Nope. Just get the unweighted GPA up. That's all you're missing.The other GT applicants are also taking AP courses, so if you want to differentiate yourself, you need A's, particularly in the math and science courses. </p>

<p>Not to be mean, but if you can't get an A in Calc AB, I would rethink engineering. You're going to have a very difficult time if that's the case.</p>

15

<p>I get what your saying. Right now I'm looking at an A in in AP Calc this semester although I got a B last semester. Thanks for being really helpful on this too. I realize that I need to step it up this semester to try and finish with a high A in Calc. Also does GT require that I get a recommendation from a math teacher? If I needed to I could get a good one from my chem teacher last year (AP Chem teacher next year) if a science one is required but currently I don't have plans to get a recommendation from either a math or science teacher.</p>

16

<p>Add Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Rose-Hulman. and Cornell to that list if you don't mind the north, because you seem like the perfect student for all of those schools. You also have a really good shot at almost all of the other schools you listed, too. Good Luuck!</p>

<p>Also, come chance me at Small-town Junior Looking for Advice and Chances for Big-Name Schools (sorry that I don't have the link, but it's now on the second page) thanks!</p>

17

<p>Bumpity Bump. Will be at Davidson for Junior day on the 14th. Hopefully with the help of my aunt I will get an interview. Also if anybody else knows a lot about the 3-2 program then please speak up.</p>

18

<p>bumpity bump</p>

19

<p>Heres All Colleges Right Now
Emory
Oxford of Emory
Elon
UVA (won't get in but parents are both legacy's and have lots of family members who have attended including 2 who played on the football team, also my parents kind of want me to apply just to see)
Davidson
William and Mary
University of Richmond</p>

<p>Thanks for the chance. I definitely agree that you're in at your safeties. Not familiar with Wofford. I think GA Tech is a reach. I have a few friends who got in, but their GPAs (UW) were about 3.8+. However, your ECs are incredible so they will definitely help you. I think you're in at Elon. I think both William and Mary and UVA will be reaches. Richmond might possibly be a reach. I don't know your test scores, so maybe all my predictions are misguided, but yeah. In short, I think your GPA is a little low for a lot of these schools. Good luck!</p>