Chance me and help me narrow down my college list!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello all,
As I approach my senior year i believe I’ve put together a well-rounded list off colleges to apply come application season. I would be incredibly grateful if you could look over my statistics and college list and give any final opinions/suggestions about my choices. My intended major is mechanical engineering, but I’m also looking at law school after my bachelors.

Schools:
Vanderbilt
Northeastern
UCLA
U of Michigan Ann Arbor
Georgia Tech
U of Illinois Urbana
Case Western Reserve
Tulane
Valpo
Iowa State
Illinois Institute of Technology

Stats:
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1540 (CR=760, Math= 780)
ACT (breakdown): 35 C, (35E 35M 35R 35S)
SAT II: Planning to take Math 2 and Chem in October, should be available before Nov. 1 deadline correct? Both predicted 700+
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8, some upward trend after sophomore year
Weighted GPA: 4.735
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 21/611
AP (place score in parenthesis): Stastics (5) Euro (3) English Lang (5) APUSH (3)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics, AP calc BC, AP Econ, AP Government, Honors Technology, Spanish 2, Technical Theater, AP English Lang
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards)
Mock trial: ISBA State Top 8 Team
2x Dupage Mock Trial Tournament Top 8 Team
PLTW EDD Illinois State Competition Finalist
Presumptive National Merit Semifinalist/Finalist
AP Scholar

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
Mock trial 4 years, 2 as a board member
Church Youth group 6 years
Robotics 2 years
Mathaletes 4 years
Scholastic Bowl 1 year
Student Advisory Board 2 years
Peer Leader 2 years

Job experience:
4 seasons as a Little League Umpire
1 years working as a cashier and stocker at a grocery store

Volunteer:
7 total mission trips to New Orleans/ Detroit, and Mexico
Various volunteering through my church around the area
Volunteering and speaking at school events
Summer Activities: Working, mission trips, leadership camp at Augustana College
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Most likely will be around 7-8
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
(Predicted)
Teacher Rec #1: 8, Junior English teacher, very involved in her class
Teacher Rec #2 10. Law Teacher and Mock Trial coach, president of Teacher’s union, knows me very well
Counselor Rec: 8, she knows me well but a very large school
Additional Recommendation: 8-9, from Harvard educated pastor
Interview: hopefully

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Mechanical engineering
State (if domestic applicant): IL
School Type: Large public, enrolled in competitive STEM program
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Upper/middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
none that I can think of right now.
Thank you so much!

2

What is your budget? UCLA gives no financial aid to OOS students and offers little in merit aid/scholarships so expect to pay close to full price at $55K/year. If you are able to afford these costs then you have a very good chance at an acceptance.

3

I don’t think you will get need based aid at GTech, either. You should run the net price calculators on the website if every college on your list.

4

@Gumbymom UCLA is the school my dad graduated from, so I have access to their alumni scholarships. It’s doubtful that they will bring it down to a reasonable price, but my dad still wants me to apply and see.
@intparent all the net price calculators run about $30,000 per year (all the privates) when ideally my family could pay at max $15,000 per year. Georgia tech runs a little higher than that i believe

5

Re #1

UCLA is probably a reach, even if affordable. Unweighted GPA of 3.8 probably means UCM weighted GPA of 4.1. In 2015, applicants to UCLA with 3.80 to 4.19 GPA had a 14% admit rate, but engineering majors are more competitive.

In any case, the OP needs to figure out what is affordable.

6

Look into UNLV (full tuition scholarship + study abroad for NMSF’s) which has an engineering program that is really good and continuously improving (coming from a friend who is in the program rn). UNLV also has a ranked law school, so some educational opportunities may be available there too. Also add Cornell as a reach since it gives good need-based aid. Some other schools to consider are U of Rochester and WashU (good need-based aid) and RIT/WPI (pretty good merit aid). As for schools to remove, DEFINITELY take out UCLA, and make sure you like the Northeastern co-op system before applying.

7

Tulane doesn’t have mechanical engineering- only biomedical, chemical and engineering physics.