Chance/Match me: Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering Junior in high school (Asian Male)

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • Maryland, US (suburban household)
  • Competitve, minor grade inflation
  • Asian Male

Intended Major(s)

  • Biomedical/Mechanical Engineering
    Thinking about minoring in Compsci or Philosophy

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0/4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA 4.92/5.0 (I don’t know what system it uses)
  • Class Rank: Probably 8-15 (not visible to students and unsure if they are sent)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1560(3rd try lol)

Coursework
APs:
Computer science principles, Statistics: 5
Government and Politics: 4
Taking Chemistry, Physics Mechanics, Calculus AB, English Lang, Modern World History
By the end of high school I should have completed Calc BC, Physics E&M, Spanish AP, English Lit
Awards

  • 8th place in an event at the Science Olympiad National competition
  • Multiple 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths in my State Science Olympiad Competition
  • 3rds in Upenn and Princeton Science olympiad invitationals
  • Deans List Semifinalist in First Tech Challenge
  • Regional Ethics Bowl finalist(part of my team)
  • Qualified for the national Science olympiad competition 3 times with my team

(You can probably tell but i don’t really have anything absolutely outstanding when it comes to individual stuff)
Extracurriculars

  • Brown Precollege program
  • Internship at Carnegie Mellon for Biomedical Engineering
  • Science Olympiad Club Board member
  • Co-captain/President Robotics club and team
  • Helped start and manage a $5000 non profit for sponsoring robotics
  • Started and mentored a robotics team at local library
  • Ethics Bowl team captain
  • National honor society, National Math honor society, National science honor society, National music honor society
  • Marching Band
  • Boy Scout(hopefully Eagle by the time im applying but i am a life scout)
  • Middle School Director for a quizbowl club(I read practice questions to middle schoolers)

Essays/LORs/Other
Mediocre to good essays
I have knowledge about what i am going to write about but i tend to write kind of generic essays
Cost Constraints / Budget
Thankfully none
Schools
I apologize if I order these poorly or put them in the wrong category; I promise its cause im an idiot
Safety

  • University of Maryland College Park (EA)
  • Purdue (RD)

Likely

  • UVA (RD)
  • UMich (RD)
  • Georgia Tech (RD)

Reach(All RD except columbia)

  • UC Berkeley
  • WashU
  • Carnegie Mellon
  • Duke
  • Johns Hopkins
  • Northwestern
  • Cornell
  • Brown
  • Upenn
  • Columbia (ED)
  • Princeton
  • Yale
  • Harvard
  • MIT
  • Stanford
    I know i probably look kinda dumb or egotistical for applying to so many ivies/reaches but my schools culture is just to try for like everything lmao

I forgot to mention this but please give any college suggestions that I don’t have in my list. I will narrow it down later on!

Move your safeties to likelies.
Move your likelies to reaches.

Apply EA to all the publics. Not sure why you’re applying RD.

You’ll have a hard time writing this many meaningful essays, so I hope you pare down this list. Look for schools that are strong in your major, and consider fit. Not just rankings.

3 Likes

For engineering your entire list are reaches with the exception of UMD since you are instate. But still not a safety but more of a match.

3 Likes

I agree with the others that you’re too optimistic in chancing yourself. You could get accepted to everything…but the odds for every category you listed are lower than you think.

Hopefully this work links, but these are all the ABET-accredited schools in the U.S. for biomedical engineering. Ignore the schools that are already on your list, and chances are they would be a likely or extremely likely admit for you. Since you have schools all over the country, in urban and non-urban areas, from mid-sized to large, I don’t really have a sense of what you’re looking for in a college to give you more specific suggestions. How important is school spirit? Intercollegiate athletics? Greek life? Are there particular interests that you want to pursue while at college? Are there other factors that are influencing your college selections (like religion, ethnic mix, etc)?

Great profile - but I’m reading a similar one now who is going to Washington State (for math/physics) - blanked everywhere else - at schools not even the equivalent of what you’re applying…the next tier down. So your list gives me pause.

Purdue - you go in general engineering - not direct to a major. You may check other schools to determine who is direct admit and not. I agree with others - UMD is a match and the rest are reaches. UMD is tough. And match does not equal automatic.

So you have no cost constraints and that’s great. But what if you could, for example, go dirt cheap and save your family $55K a year (over $200K) and likely have a solid outcome, in some cases similar to those on your list. Would that matter?

If so, look at Alabama (biological) and Arizona, to start. Great schools, they value students like you in the form of money.

And if you want a big name without regard to cost, you might look at a Va Tech, Ohio State, RPI, Pitt, etc. - just to ensure an acceptance.

Great profile - but you need to cover your bases.

Best of luck.

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