Chance me! Class of 2016 EA

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>First of all I would like to thank you in advance for coming to my thread and taking time to read and provide advice. This is beyond helpful and I am very grateful for this community.</p>

<p>In short, I am a rising high school senior, beginning to look into colleges. I am interested in majoring in most definitely sciences. Most likely biology, chemistry, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, psychology, or the like. As of now, like many other young inexperienced people, I see medical school in my future, so I would like to keep that in mind during my college search. However, it is also very important for me to go to an university with a wide variety of colleges, just in case I discover my passion for another subject. However, I am focusing on sciences because I am almost 100% sure that I will NOT major in literature, history, agriculture, etc etc.</p>

<hr>

<p>My Stats:</p>

<p>GPA Weighted: 3.94 (around this, calculation method may be off)
GPA Unweighted: not sure, will update later</p>

<p>SAT I (Super Score)- 2020
780 Math
640 Reading
600 Writing
8 Essay</p>

<p>ACT- 33
32 Writing
33 Math
33 Reading
34 Science
7 Essay</p>

<p>SAT II-
740 Math 2
740 Biology E
750 Chinese</p>

<p>Course Schedule-</p>

<p>Middle School
Honors Algebra I
Honors Geometry
Honors Spanish I</p>

<p>Freshman
Honors Algebra II
Honors Biology
Honors Language Arts
Honors Spanish II
American Gov/Health
Band</p>

<p>Sophomore
Honors Pre-Calculus
Honors Chemistry
Honors Language Arts
Honors Spanish III
AP World History (5)
Band</p>

<p>Junior
AP Calculus AB (first semester had a 79 unweighted and 86 weighted, worried about this)
AP Biology
AP Lang
On-level Physics
On-level US History
Band</p>

<p>Senior
AP Stat
AP Chemistry
AP Lit
AP Micro/Macro
PE/Internship
Band</p>

<p>ECs-</p>

<p>Club (# of years in by graduation)</p>

<p>Student Council Representative (4)
Beta Club (4)
Marching Band (received varsity letter) (4)
Tutors in Action (2)
Winterguard (1)
Science Olympiad (1)
Pep Band (1)
Medical Society (1)</p>

<p>-regular volunteer at local library
-peer education at a local AIDs center
-part time job as of summer 2011</p>

<hr>

<ol>
<li>Which other colleges would be matches for my stats?</li>
<li>Reaches?</li>
<li>Advice on early decision if it increased my chances?</li>
<li>Is financial aid generous for low income families?</li>
</ol>

<p>I think I will be applying to Tech early action as a backup in-state choice. What are your opinions of it as a pre-medical school undergrad? I heard that the classes kill your GPA which would be a problem? And most potential med school students I know personally that go here major in BME?</p>

<p>Thank you so so so much once again for your help and feel free to ask for clarification on anything!</p>

2

<p>Tech does not have an early action program. It is an early notification deadline and there is no advantage to applying early. Tech only admits early those applicants it knows it would admit regardless of when the application was recieved. All other applications are deferred to the Spring (only those with no chance of admission are rejected during the first 2 rounds). </p>

<p>Applying before either the October 1st or November 1st deadlines will give you a decision before Christmas. Given what I can infer from the information you have posted here, your current application would likely be deferred until the Spring, so you have little reason to rush. It is more important that you have a strong essay when you submit your application.</p>

<p>I would say you have a chance. Maybe you should retake the SAT</p>

3

<p>Hmm… that’s quite odd because according to all the people I have talked to: counselor, college adviser, Tech’s reps, etc; they all said that there would be a .000001% of me not getting in and I would be in a great position for a partial presidential scholarship…</p>

4

<p>Thanks for your input guys! For some reason so many people on CC seem to only look at SAT score and completely ignore the ACT scores that people post! Ignorance to the fact that ACT is on par with the SAT. O.o For those people who claim that the ACT is easier, not true. I know PLENTY (personally know 10+ people) who all got 2300+ on SAT but less than 30s on the ACT. And vice versa of course.</p>

5

<p>Great position for partial PS? There were ~4,000 people who applied early with test scores in your range last year. Your list of activities doesn’t include accomplishments, so it’s hard to tell where you fit in. And we have no idea how you interview–being an ‘average’ interviewee among 700 semifinalists with 2200’s and 4.1’s on average isn’t good enough, as they only choose ~100 finalists. Better bring your A game to the application and prepare well for the interview.</p>

6

<p>Are out of state applicants judged differently than instate?</p>

7

<p>Yeah, you have a pretty good chance of getting in. Your grades and SAT are alright, not the best, but I think they’re above average going off last year’s stats. Your ACT and SAT II’s are really good, but (when I applied) I felt like they didn’t really care at all what I made on the latter. </p>

<p>As for the President’s Scholarship, I’m not so sure. I qualified as a semi finalist last year, with a 4.0 unweighted (4.23 with Tech’s scale), a 2270 on the SAT and 32 on the ACT, and many different EC’s with offices held (NAHS, Beta, FNHS, swim team, academic bowl, math, etc.) with several awards and honors, and the interview just killed me completely. I didn’t get a partial scholarship at all. If you find out you’ve qualified, prepare for that interview really well. </p>

<p>I’d really recommend you take the SAT at least once more before December. I did, and it raised my score by 100 points. Also, judging by your essay scores, you might be a little weak at writing (not necessarily, but it’s a possibility). I’d run my essay by a few people before I submitted my application, and definitely recommend that you go ahead and write it now so you have plenty of time to revise it. </p>

<p>As for your questions about major and colleges, Tech is definitely a great place for BME (my major). The problem is, with almost every major at tech, it’s a lot tougher than other college programs. If you do BME with a pre med focus, you’ll be working a lot harder than you would if you went to a school like Emory and did pure pre med. You can certainly do it, and you might even be better prepared than you would otherwise, but keep in mind that you’ll being doing more than is necessary.</p>

8

<p>@seiclan As far as OOS, I remember reading somewhere - could have been here - that they are not judged differently. This year’s freshman class is about 40% OOS, but I’m sure that includes internationals. In my personal observations, Georgia students may have an advantage during early notification. However, that is just from looking at the stats of admitted students on this site. My DS will be attending as an OOS student.</p>