Chance me for several schools!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello again,
This is just a general chance post for a variety of different school. All the information and schools are listed below. Any advice on how I could improve my application will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Schools:
Case Western Reserve, Northeastern, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, U of I

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: 4.75
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 15/609
AP (place score in parenthesis): Stastics (5) Euro (3) English Lang (3+ predicted) APUSH (3+ predicted)
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
Presumptive 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, talking about my mission trips and how they shaped my views of the world
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 Stanford 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.
Thanks For reading all this and for any advice you can give me!

2

Writing about mission trips is a big no-no…it is the most cliche thing for a white, “upper/middle class” person to do…find something else to write about…otherwise your scores are great and EC are pretty good…the schools you listed should be good fits

3

How much can you and your parents pay/year for some of the OOS schools on your list? UCLA for example will cost around $55K+/year with little to no financial aid available for OOS students. Run the Net Price Calculators on all schools of interest and discuss finances with your parents before applying.
If UCLA is affordable, you look like a competitive applicant.

Good Luck.

4

Yeah I’ve kinda scrapped the mission trip idea, I think I have good stories but I really need something that stands out a bit more from the crowd. My dad is a ucla grad so I’m hoping for some legacy scholarships from that, but ideally we would like to spend no more then 20k per year after everything. NPC is turning out about 30k at most privates so im going to try and use smaller scholarships to make up that difference

5

Case Western Reserve- Safety, but show interest! They waitlist overqualified candidates.
Northeastern- Low reach.
Vanderbilt- Low reach (it is Vanderbilt, after all).
UCLA- High match/low reach (OOS).
Georgia Tech- Target/low reach (among the best engineering in the US).
University of Michigan- Target/low reach.
U of I- Target.
My 2 cents.
I also am not sure about engineering programs.

6

Any suggestions for ways to show interest in a school aside from visiting or requesting information?

7

@blountwil2 emailing your admissions officer is a big thing people seem to do, as well as the admissions staff in general. It also may help to email a current professor in your proposed field of study or to even interview. Since Case does not have a supplement, I simply sent an email to the director of admission saying I am interested in Case. I was admitted later, and I think that may have helped.

8

Interesting, that’s something I hadn’t really considered but makes alot of sense. If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of financial aid were you offered for case? That’s probably going to be the defining difference between most of these schools

9

@blountwil2 as a transfer, none. My stats were not great regardless. But I think if you get in and not put on the WL, you will probably get a decent merit scholarship.

10

That’s good to hear. I put case on my list as a safety school with a good reputation and no application fee, so I’d really be looking for good financial aid. I definitely want to try and visit at some point and try and get a sense of the campus and such before I make any commitment, and it’s not a bad drive from Illinois. Thanks so much for your help!

11

35 is an awesome ACT score. I bet you get into all of them. Northeastern is probably the most difficult to get into of those mentioned and is getting considerably more difficult to get into every year. Even so, I bet you get into all of them with those stats.

12

What is the big concern with northeastern on CC? It’s got something like a 27% acceptance rate according to college board. I added it to my list more on a whim then anything and because I feel like Boston would be great to live in. Is there more I need to consider about it?

13

@adam4482 agreed, I wonder what Northeastern’s acceptance rate will look like in a few years. Possibly around 24-25%?

14

Northeastern is a unique school. If they feel you are not a good fit for experiential learning model you could be denied. If you look at the Northeastern decision thread here on CC you will see a lot of waitlisted or denied applicants with stats comparable to the OP.

15

Very interesting. I’m assuming it’s one of those schools that would be very helpful to take a trip out and to experience in person? The more I research it the more appealing it gets, mostly because of the great NMF scholarship they offer on tip of need based aid

16

@blountwil2

For sure! Before you go though, do some research on Northeastern (if you haven’t already) - it’s got an amazing co-op program, and unlike schools like GT, the co-op isn’t just for engineering but is schoolwide. Boston has tons of great tech around it too, and it’s location in the city is really nice. Visiting will cover all of that and more in depth.

While you’re out there, BU and WPI would be good places to visit. MIT of course too if you wanted a high reach school.

17

@PengsPhils The co-op program in particular is very enticing as it could lower my actual payments down even further. One of the biggest obstacles I’ve found with my college search has been the financial aid, as most reach schools would end up costing me 30k+. Northeastern seems like a very good combination of excellent academics and affordability. Plus Boston would be amazing to live in. The more I read about it the better it gets!