US student living in California, looking for an engineering major
Notable achievements:
-National Semifinalist (not sure about finalist yet)
[What decent unis give good semifinalist scholarships? Just curious]
SAT: First time 1460 - 700/760
Second time 1460 - 670/790
Third time 1450 - 720/730
Fourth time 1490 - 710/780
ECs:
-Working 20 hours a week at Mcdonalds parttime
-Joined Lockheed Martin’s Codequest once, but didn’t get anything good
-Computer science club (minor, not officer)
-Math club (minor, not officer)
GPA: Weighted (4.21) Unweighted (3.62)
Math classes: H Precalc, AP calc bc, AP stat
English classes: 2 H English, AP Lang, AP Lit
Science classes: H Bio, Physics, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2 (didn’t take chem bc the teacher isn’t the best)
Language: Chinese 1-AP at my school
Computer Science: Intro to Computer Science, AP CS P (before it was AP), AP CS 1, Computer science 3 (independent project work for the whole year)
…damn, I’m missing a lot of ECs.
Chance me please! Thanks a lot.
IMHO, your chances at MIT and Cornell look bleak. Your UWGPA of 3.62 is low for both schools. You should also be aware that MIT would be a LOT more difficult than high school, so whatever you did to get a 3.62 in high school would not be enough at MIT.
You should calculate your UC GPA to get a sense of your chances for Berkeley.
I don’t know much about U.Washington, but suspect that you might have a good chance.
Post capped weighted and Fully weighted UC GPA. Test scores are definitely on target for UCB but as always a tough admit for Engineering. Do you have any safety schools?
Note that U of Washington has very competitive engineering admissions. There’s a large possibility you can be admitted to the school but not the engineering department, so I wouldn’t recommend going unless you receive “direct to college” engineering admission (even that I don’t think gives you entry into a specific engineering program, just a guarantee of getting into one of them). You can apply to the engineering department after a couple semesters too, but I live in Washington and have heard many many stories about smart kids having to apply and reapply and some eventually have to transfer and finish an engineering degree elsewhere, or complete a less competitive degree like physics. Plus OOS tuition is expensive, and most instate students don’t get scholarships, much less out of state. Its a great, beautiful school, and many of my friends love it, but very big and you’re pretty much a number.
Apply to California public schools you know you like, can get into, and afford as backups.
As for national merit scholarships, there’s a ton of information on the national merit section of this forum, but off the top of my head big ones are: ASU (with Barrett Honors), Texas Tech, UNM, USC (probably a reach though), Bama, U of Idaho, Washington State. Some of these have good engineering programs and other opportunities and for engineering, I’ve heard the name of the school doesn’t matter as much as long as the program is ABET accredited.
Keep in mind that I’m also a hs senior and what I know comes from my own research, spending time on this forum, and talking to others. Please double check anything important!
Maybe working a lot effected grades and ECs. Very strong SAT IIs. I would think you should be good for U Wash and Berkeley. I would look at some schools between the Berkeley and Cornell level. I don’t mind applying to MIT, but it is a reach.
Yeh. it would make sense to apply to Berkeley, UCLA and other UCs as you are instate.
The two 800s in math and physics are really good for engineering. A long time ago, I transferred after a year to about a #30 school, and they made clear that they were really interested in my 800 in USH. My high school record had been really messed up by some things. 800s on SAT IIs are really big to some schools. So I would also apply to places between the level of Berkeley and Cornell.
Thanks guys! I really regret slacking off last year now, as I got three or four B’s starting from second semester, ffs… Thanks for all the advice so far. @snowfairy137 Not sure how alumni tie into this, but my mother is one and I’m not sure if it counts for anything. Also, I heard something about some kind of coalition being created for the west coast, though I’m not sure if it’s actually true, which is supposed to make everyone living in Cali, Oregon or Washington pay instate tuition if they attend in the other states, but again not sure if that’s true.
@anythingonly There’s WUE, where students living in pretty much any state on the west side of this country can qualufy for 150% in state tuiton at other western state schools, but its usually a competitive award and I dont think udub participates.
Edit: I would guess legacy counts very little to none for engineering admissions.
You should also look at Purdue. Its engineering program is on par with Georgia Tech and Michigan, and better than Washington and others on your list. Your numbers look good for there, but make sure you apply by Nov. 1 for a chance a merit money.