Chance Me: Caltech, MIT, Northwestern, Duke, Tufts, etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! I’m looking to apply to Caltech, Tufts, University of Chicago, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Cornell, MIT, University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, Northeastern and Boston University (haven’t finalized my list yet). Hoping to get some recommendations what schools I might have a better shot at and my overall chances. I’m also hoping that the fact that I’m a girl w/ some science research background applying to engineering programs will help.

School Type: Public
Location: Massachusetts (suburb)
Race/Gender: Asian, Female
Prospective Major: Biomedical Engineering, hopefully Minor in International Relations
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.41/5.0
Class rank: Top 5% (13/360)

ACT Scores: Haven’t been able to take it yet cause COVID :frowning:

  • Hope to get a 33/34 if I get a chance to take it this fall

AP Scores:
AP Calculus BC: 4
AP Biology: 4
AP Lang & Comp: 3 (prob could’ve done better cause I hated that only one essay represents my whole score)
AP Seminar: 3 (thought I did better but 60% of ppl got a 3 so idk what kinda curve it is)
*taking AP Stats, AP Chem, AP Comp Sci & AP Lit next year

SPORTS
*3-season varsity XC & Distance Track Athlete (Top 3-4 on my school team)
*Looking to run at a D3 school; got some interest but I need to improve my times + might have to walk-on at some schools
*XC Scholastic Athlete (highest GPA on my team), Most Improved (Track), hoping to make 1st All-Conference this fall

SUMMER PROGRAMS

  • Boston Leadership Institute Biotech/Chemistry week-long programs
  • Boston University Summerlab Biotechology program (2-weeks, residential)
  • Tufts University BioSequencing Summer Study (did research/getting my professor to write me a rec)
  • Accepted into Harvard Summer Program & planned to attend this summer (canceled due to COVID), but choose to do Edx courses in programming and quantitive biology cause its cheaper (certified courses)

ACTIVITIES
*Model UN club: 9th-12th & co-president; also received multiple conference awards (best delegate (1), oustanding (2), honorable mention (2)); hoping to qualify for national conference this year

  • Interact Club (volunteer club): 10th-12th & VP this coming year, also RYLA scholar
    *Science Honors Society: President/Board Member; reviving it this year
    *Key Club (volunteer club): 9th-12th & treasurer last year (11th)
    *Orchestra: 9th-12th; Member of general ensemble in 11th + 12th grade, played for 8 years
    *Mock Trial: taking it this upcoming year
    *Freshman Mentor
    *Umass Climate Change Initiative: doing research + activism

WORK
*Church Nursery Caregiver + Youth Service Assisstant at local Universalist Unitarian
(3 hrs/week)
*Mathnasium Tutor for Higher Math topics (6 hrs/week)
*Personal Math Tutor (2 hrs/week)
*Personal Babysitter (timings vary)

*College Course: Tufts University BioSequencing summer course (A-), taking Multivariable Calculus & Linear Algebra at Umass this fall & Spring

COVID
*Took the time to do some Edx courses doing programming
*Continuing some microbiome research online
*Spending a lot more time w/ my friends & family because I’m typically very busy w/ school, sports, & work during the school year (enjoyed quarentine for that reason)
*Helped my mom expand our garden + stitch some masks for our neighborhood

Essays
I’m a pretty strong writer & having a professional/tutor edit them

  • talking abt my scoliosis (had to wear a brace for 2+ years)
  • focusing some supplements on how my research experience and how it inspired me to get involved in climate change activism
  • also talking about my minimalism

Recs
*Expecting a very good rec from my precalc teacher (had her in 10th grade which was a year ahead of the rest of my class & was very close w/ her + tutored for her & got excellent recs for summer programs from her), and a pretty good rec from my AP english teacher (worked hard & was a strong writer in his class)
*Counselor knows my strong interest in STEM & wrote me previous recs for summer programs; I also have a good relationship w/ her.
*Getting an additional rec from a summer program professor (see above) where I did very well and had a good relationship w/ her
*If I’m trying to run at a school I’m applying to, I might send a letter of rec from my distance track coach (knows I’m a commited hard-worker to the sport)

AWARDS/OTHER NOT LISTED IN ECS

  • Rotary Youth Leadership Scholar (10th & 11th)
    *AP Scholar w/ Distinction
    *JHU Center for Talented Youth
    *School Awards in Science & Math Deparment + leadership
    *Helped organize a climate change walk-out at my school

Any tips for improving my stats would be appreciated :slight_smile:

2

The only engineering at UChicago is Molecular Engineering.

3

You should definitely look a the colleges with good engineering and IR programs, that could help eliminate a few - Chicago as eeyore mentioned, maybe Georgetown, Vanderbilt. If a college like Tufts or JHU or Northwestern or Cornell is a clear number one, you should consider ED there, as they have good engr/IR programs, assuming they’re affordable or course. You could EA Michigan or UMass (in-state flagship) as well. If you’re undecided, then just do a couple EA colleges. It’s tough to chance these days, esp given Covid, I think though that BU and Northeastern should be matches, UMass maybe a safety, the rest reaches. If you hs has Naviance, use that to see how you school does with these colleges.

You also have a lot of non-STEM ECs which could make colleges wonder how much impact you made in all these clubs. Choose just a few where you had the biggest impact and focus on them, hopefully a stem club or two! good luck.

4

I agree with @theloniusmonk 's comments… eliminate a few and consider ED somewhere. You might want to consider Rice and/or Wash U in St. Louis. Both have great engineering programs with strong connections to their medical communities.

Engineering at Georgetown is their 3-2 program with Columbia which would be a very different experience than a traditional engineering program.

5

Let’s recategorize your list into tiers:

High Reach: CalTech, UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, MIT, CMU CS
Reach: Vanderbilt, Cornell, Ga Tech, Georgetown
Match: Tufts, Michigan, CMU (remaining schools)
Likely: Northeastern, BU

Your grades are obviously great, but your AP scores could be an issue for the reaches, particularly the 4 in BC for engineering applicants. You have good activities but nothing that stands out as a particularly strong spike. I think your best chance at a reach school is via ED at Cornell. Fortunately that has an excellent engineering program. Among the match schools, Michigan and CMU are both excellent in terms of engineering.

I do recommend finding more schools in the Match and Likely category and eliminating some from the Reach/High-Reach categories.

  • Note that Ga Tech is hard to peg in terms of who they admit, which is why I put them as a reach. There are some truly exceptional applicants that get deferred at Ga Tech and others that appear considerably weaker that get accepted there.
6

Tufts, UM, and CMU are not matches, and NE and BU are not safeties…for anyone.

7

I was wondering how these schools could be categorized as matches/safeties! Particularly Carnegie Mellon.

8

For the Boston area schools, I have literally hundreds of scattergram data points that would disagree. For the other two, I have dozens.

9

Over what period of time? Is the scattergram data broken out by round of application? FA status? URM or first-gen status? School/major?

I concur that schools with sub 20% acceptance rates can’t be likelies for anyone. I would drop Georgetown for engineering. Make sure you are demonstrating interest at schools where that is part of the admission decision.

What is your budget? Do these schools look affordable per their NPCs?

Edited to add: If you want to run D3 track, do reach out to the coaches at the D3 schools on your list (unless your times are not competitive).

10

OP-
Acceptance rates:
Tufts 14.6%
UM - for OOS college of engineering - 11%
CMU - 17%
NE - 19.3%
BU - 22%

Safeties need to be schools that you are guaranteed admission, that are affordable, and that you would be happy to attend.

The danger of overshooting your list is not having any acceptances come the spring.

11

^ not sure about the others in post #9, but BU’s admit rate was down to 18.5% last cycle. (It’s gotten very competitive, with average gpa 3.9% and ACT middle 50 at 32-35, vs just a couple years ago when D19 was considering it. I’d put it more match than likely for OP’s stats, but the admit rate is still a worry.)

12

I took a close look at BU scattergram results. Among the students in the top third GPA-wise, about 80 percent were admitted. SAT scores didn’t matter. This is a MA public school, and BU along with UMass are considered the safety schools among the strong students. Given that the yield rate is about 20 percent, it’s clear that most of these are RD applicants. Also, this is a town with very few first gen or URM students.

I do think the OP should add UMass as a true safety. And check with her school’s Naviance re her school’s performance with BU.

ETA: Northeastern has an admission pattern similar to BU.

13

Hi! I completely agree. BU and Northeastern are considered matches for me, comparing with my school’s naviance. We have about a 40% acceptance from our school to both schools and usually, kids in the top 5% (me) have a pretty solid shot.

14

Also, I finalized my list to the following:

Reach:

  • Caltech (EA)
  • University of Chicago (EA)
  • Georgetown (EA)
  • GeorgiaTech (EA)
  • University of Michigan (EA)
  • Northwestern (RD)
  • Tufts University (RD)
  • Carnegie Mellon (RD)
  • Duke (RD)
  • Vanderbilt (RD)
  • Cornell (RD)

Target:
-Northeastern (EA)
-Boston University (RD)

Safeties:

  • Purdue University (EA)
  • UCONN (EA)
  • Umass Amherst (EA)
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (EA)

Also,
I decided not to ED because I come from around a 100K per year household which would make it tough to financially commit anywhere. I’m also applying test-optional because I never got a chance to take the ACT. However, I’m optimistic to get into a few schools as my school has good yields at UMich (25%), GeorgiaTech (30%), Vanderbilt (21%), Northwestern (18%), so hopefully, I’ll get into one of them!

15

Neither Purdue nor UIUC can be regarded as safeties for out of state applicants. But as you have applied EA, you’ll know those outcomes fairly early on anyway. You will almost certainly get a number of good offers, anyway.

16

Post #14, I do consider them safties based on my school’s yields to those schools. We have an 80% yield to Purdue and a 70% yield to UIUC.

17

Do your stats show if these are applicants to Engineering? Completely different situation getting into Engineering (or CS) than some of the other schools.

18

“100K per year household”

Have you run the NPCs on the schools you are considering?

I like that you have added UMass Amherst to your list since you are in-state. It is a very good university. We hire tons of people from there.

Your out of state public alleged “safety” universities might or might not be safeties for admission. However, a university is not a safety unless it is also a safety for affordability.

19

Hi DadTwoGirls,
My family and I have run NCPs, but even with estimates, it uncertain how much aid will be awarded especially with COVID. With schools like Tufts University charging almost 80k per year, though my household is well-off, such a financial commitment is still burdening for my parents who have a younger child to pay for in a few short years.

Also to clear up the confusion with the out-of-state safeties, I have checked with my school counselor to make sure they are considered safeties for me especially with my major. Since they are public universities as well, even though they are out-of-state affordability-wise my parents are much more comfortable with them than some other private colleges I am applying to.

20

Good to hear from you again, @engineergirl46 .

My first reaction is that this is a lot of schools, and it is hard to do that many applications well, but if the EA applications are all submitted this is a moot point.

For the RD applications, I would recommend spending more time on each one and completing them (but not submitting them) before you hear back from your EA schools. If you get into your dream school EA, you won’t care that the time was “wasted”, and if you don’t, you will be glad you got a jump on them.