Chance me for these schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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From NH
Weighted GPA: 3.81 (3.55, 3.95, 3.94)
Unweighted GPA: 3.65 (3.52, 3.81, 3.62)
Took all CPs Freshman year, Honors Biology and Honors Algebra II Sophomore Year, and Honors World Literature (0.5 credit), Honors Precalculus, Honors British Literature (0.5 credit), Honors Chemistry, AP Biology, and AP US Government (Online) Junior year
ACT: 30 Composite (33 Math, 25 Reading, 30 English, and 30 Science); It was my first try and I am not retaking again.
AP Scores: AP Biology - 3, AP US Gov - 3
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Senior Year Schedule: AP Calculus AB, AP Physics I, AP Psychology, AP Biology Internship, Honors Choir, and Honors Philosophy/Honors College Writing (0.5 credit each)
In terms of a foreign language, I went up to French III and was originally in French IV, but dropped past the deadline to take Choir (Was too late for Honors).
ECs:
Varsity Tennis (9,12)
JV Tennis (11; It got super competitive and none 10th grade)
Debate Team (11,12)
Math Club (11,12)
Marine Biology Club (11,12)
Science National Honors Society (11,12)
Mu Alpha Theta (12)
National Honor Society (12)
Skiing (12; I’ve skied forever, but never really thought of signing up for the ski team)

Honors:
Two Renaissance Awards (Comes down to that you are a helpful person, where only two applicants can be nominated by a teacher)
High Honor Roll (Except 3rd Quarter Freshman year and 2nd Quarter Junior year)
National Honor Society (Have not been inducted yet, but plan on doing so)

Community Service: Around 70 hours (Likely 100 by the time I start submitting applications)
Work: I got hired by a job and will work hopefully at least 20 hours a week for the summer (my goal is above 30)
Recommendation Letters: I got the two letters. Both are from teachers where even though my grade is not high (B+/A-), I actively participate in class, help students, stay after for extra help, and make the entire class laugh (in a good way).

The schools that are currently on my mind are:

  • University of New Hampshire (Would be bioengineering)
  • Ithaca College (3+2 program or just major in Physics)
  • Marquette University
  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Univeristy of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  • University of Wisconsin - Madison
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • University of Connecticut

What would you label as safeties, targets, and reaches?

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bump

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Your reading score is a little troublingly low. Do you believe you have a reading disability?
You could take a speed reading class and try again. My son had this same lopsided lower score
in reading and speed reading is important to get through college. You will have to read textbooks, papers
and pass some English classes to get a BS in engineering at most of your choices.

Its an interesting list! Biomedical engineering is really competitive at GaTech.
I think your GPA is too low for GaTech OOS but try to apply by Oct 15, for best shot. Its non binding EA.
If you wait until RD for GaTech, the OOS admit rate is very very low, like 8%, even for girls.

All the others you have a pretty good chance, especially if you are female and state
you want to study engineering, they are all looking for more girls. i would say WPI and RIT you should get in.
The are both hands on, and both solid in engineering. RIT offers some very interesting photography
and optics engineering, if you have any interest in a minor.

The bigger public programs have a lot of seats , and I really love two of your choices , U of M and Madison.
Both are super strong in engineering and your math ACT score of 33 shows you can do it, good job.
I think that either U of Minn or Madison are somewhat stronger than RIT or WPI as long as you are the type
that can focus and stay motivated. There will be drops outs in the large public programs and a lot of parties etc.

Ithaca College?! I Love Ithaca I am sure they would love to have you. Can you take classes at Cornell U?
Ithaca College is known as a music conservatory. I’ll have to look up their 3-2 program, could be good. I know
a lot about physics at Cornell, if you can take some classes, it would be an interesting option.

I am less familiar with the Roman Catholic Marquette and U Conn. both are OK, but less engineering focused,
maybe, than your others. Not sure if they should stay on there, what is your reasoning?

Leave your in state school on there, as your back up plan. Financially its usually the best deal.

Case Western has a nice biomedical engineering program. In Cleveland Ohio. There are a lot of hospitals to find research projects near Case, with Cleveland Clinic. I know a lot about Case Western’s programs. Again your reading score is a bit low though.

What are your career goals?

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@Coloradomama
I did biomedical engineering because I plan to become a surgeon. I found that major is both the safest and interesting major: If I hate engineering, switch to biology and go to med school; If I like biomedical engineering and still wanna go to med school, do just that; If I like biomedical engineering and don’t care about med school, get my masters. Obviously internships are important.

I never really practiced ACT nor even SAT reading too much, so that could be why.

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Honestly. If not retaking your ACT Georgia tech is a large reach for OOS and your scores. Plus they and others would want to see Calc bc if avaliable to you in your senior year. University of Minnesota is really creeping up the ranks the last few years and getting much more competitive to get in. Wisconsin is actually worse for biomedical and OOS. Plus they don’t give much scholarships especially for OOS.

Look at Purdue. They take a lot of kids but not an easy school to stay in for engineering.

I would look at Michigan State also. Possibly honors due to your grades (means a lot of money for OOS but think they want slightly higher ACT)

My sleeper for engineering and a great lively atmosphere is Iowa State University. They give a lot of money to OOS. Dropping your 4th year French will cost you some money from them. Applying is super easy and once live takes a week or two to find out if your in. They have one of the largest engineering fairs out there and I personally know many graduating students that had at least 2 offers for jobs by senior year. Lots of internship opportunities also.

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@Knowsstuff
I dropped french my junior year, not senior year. The fourth year french at our school would be AP French.

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Oh… Well then I guess you have 4 years… Rit is a nice school. Know someone that graduated last year from engineering.

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No. I only went up to French III. As with most people I took French I before high school.
The sequence usually goes French II, French III, French IV, and finally AP French V.

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I don’t want to be harsh, but I feel like you are somewhat uninformed about what it takes to get into med school, to an extent that could set you up for bad decisions.

I am no big fan of standardized testing; I fully sympathize with people who take the SAT/ACT once with no prep, take the score they get, and go on with their lives. But a 30 ACT does not predict a high MCAT score. Do you understand that, in order to get into med school, you are going to have to take a long, grueling standardized test (7 hours total with breaks) and score in a much higher percentile than you did on the ACT, in order to have any chance of getting into any US med school? There is no such thing as taking the MCAT once with no prep and then going to med school just because you want to. Your relationship to standardized testing is going to have to change if you want to become a competitive med school applicant.

Furthermore, for med school admissions you will need a college GPA that is significantly better than your high school GPA (3.7+ with no weighting)… and you propose to accomplish that while majoring in engineering, which is known for difficult, grade-deflated classes.

If those aspirations are to be realized, you will need to be clear-eyed about setting yourself up for success. Even just completing your undergrad in engineering, or completing a pre-health/bio degree with high enough grades to get into a PA program, is going to require a significant step up from your high school baseline.

My suggestion is that you look into Clarkson University in (far) Upstate NY. Your stats are above average there (but not ridiculously above - right around 75th percentile) which means that you have a good chance of being admitted with merit, and you have a good chance of getting good grades once you’re there. Even better, it has the right focus for you - the school has a dual specialty in STEM and health professions, with Physican Assistant, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy grad programs, and excellent pre-health advising and preparation. http://internal.clarkson.edu/premedical/premedical.html It would be a fantastic place for you to keep your options open and explore which route you would like to take. They don’t have biomedical engineering specifically, but they have tons of rehab engineering research for MechE’s to be involved in. (Also a D3 ski team, fwiw.)

Union College would be another possibility - your ACT is a notch below their median, but they’re test-optional, and your GPA is competitive there. They have a biomedical engineering major.

You’re also in the running for Stevens as a reach school, but keep in mind that they have a whole cohort of 7-year med program students in biomedical engineering there, which would mean some very high-stats peers. https://www.stevens.edu/schaefer-school-engineering-science/departments/biomedical-engineering/undergraduate-programs/biomedical-engineering

Another way to keep your options open without spreading yourself too thin would be to pursue an undergrad degree in Biophysics. Here’s an example from CWRU (which I think is still too competitive for your stats even outside of the engineering school, but possible if you raised your scores) http://physics.case.edu/undergraduate-programs/undergrad-degree-programs/bsdegree-phys-biophys/ A major like this would allow you to move forward in either direction - toward engineering or toward the health professions. Here’s an example from Creighton - you’d be very competitive there, and they’re also launching a PA program. http://catalog.creighton.edu/undergraduate/arts-sciences/physics/biomedical-physics-bs/

An Engineering Physics major could also be a good choice if you add in the premed bio classes.
http://physics.case.edu/undergraduate-programs/undergrad-degree-programs/bsdegree-engrphys/ https://physics.unh.edu/content/bs-engineering-physics
https://www.stevens.edu/schaefer-school-engineering-science/departments/physics/undergraduate-programs/engineering-physics

Good luck - make sure you get started with premed advising very early in the game if you want to stay on track for that option.

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@aquapt
I’ve been sort of looking around and realized that I think I may just want to start with a mechanical engineering degree with a minor in biology (and I mean like a good amount of biology related classes) and then do a biomedical engineering masters degree. After all, if I even do realize that engineering is what I should be doing, I would be getting a masters in the subject anyways.

For the ACT, in my opinion, I have a good explanation. For English and Science, those come to me naturally, and most of the time the answers are hidden in there (I’m also a grammar freak, mainly because my mom grinded that type of material in when she would read my essays). I prepped lightly for science, but I did focus a lot on math. Even though I did not prep specifically for the ACT, I did work that was extremely similar to it. In our precalc class, we covered multiple topics that would be on the ACT/SAT, so that could of helped. I apologize if it made it sound like I did absolutely nothing to prep because in reality, I did, just not directly as pulling out a prep book or studying with a tutor.

I feel the best reason to start with engineering is because from what I have heard from other high school grads from my school is that they know kids that really liked engineering, but had to do an extra year, as the schedule was really different, specifically for biology (To be fair, they are two different schools). Traditionally, it is easier to switch from engineering to another degree than from another degree to engineering.

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Well, Clarkson would be a great place to do what you describe. (MechE + bio, and then either go to med school or to a biomed engineering grad program. Or PA would be an option too - you’d be surprised how many doctors I’ve talked to who say they wish they’d just done PA school.) The research that goes on there is really cool, because of having the rehab professions (PT and OT) collaborating with the engineers. https://www.clarkson.edu/crest

And I don’t mean to make it sound like a 30 ACT is horrible - it isn’t bad at all in most contexts. But premed is the land of super high stats, and it seemed concerning that you sounded so averse to test prep, because hardly anybody does well on the MCAT without significant prep. As long as you understand that there are many standardized testing hurdles left to clear - the MCAT to get into med school at all, and then the boards to get licensed are no picnic either - that’s the important thing to be clear on.

It’s true that switching out of engineering is easier than switching in. It’s also true that getting into many schools in the first place is harder for engineering majors than for non-engineering majors. So, as long as you target the schools you’re applying to accordingly, starting in engineering is a fine plan. Just know that you typically need to be above the school-wide stat averages if you’re applying to engineering. (And certain programs like biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech are just wildly competitive. I knew a kid with near-perfect SAT’s and something like a 4.7 weighted GPA who got rejected from that program. She probably could have gotten into GT if she’d chosen a different major, but that one, especially for out-of-state applicants, is just brutal.)

The points others have made above about the trade-off between admissions and retention-in-the-major are also true. It may be a bit easier to get into schools like Purdue or Iowa State for engineering, but the rate at which they “weed” students out of engineering majors is steep - it is very sink-or-swim once you are there, and even tougher to get a med-school-worthy GPA. The goal in your situation is to find a school that’s realistic admissions wise, but that’s also going to be as supportive as possible once you’re there. Find out what you can about the retention rates in engineering. It’s the “nature of the beast” that a lot of students will decide engineering isn’t for them once they experience it, but a weeder-class bloodbath that will kill your med school dreams along with your engineering ones by tanking your GPA is especially to be avoided. The smaller schools like Clarkson and Union are likely to offer, not just a kinder experience, but also fewer “silos” so that your different areas of interest aren’t so widely separated within the school.

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Even though your scores are below avg for GT, you have a fairly good shot at it. GT makes offers by region. Being from a small lowly represented state and being female will help you… you are a rarity. There are 5 times as many people in Atlanta area than there are in NH. I bet the odds of acceptance are better than a coin flip. Just hope there isn’t a girl in the next county with a 33 act. GT will offer ~15 students in NH.

GT OOS acceptance rate last year was 19%.

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University of New Hampshire - yes (essentially guaranteed because in-state)

  • Ithaca College - Yes
  • Marquette University - Yes
  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Yes
  • Georgia Institute of Technology - No
  • Univeristy of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Yes
  • University of Wisconsin - Madison - Yes
  • Rochester Institute of Technology - Waitlisted
  • University of Connecticut - Yes
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@rustytatertot123
Are we assuming mechanical engineering or biomedical? Because if mechanical, I was expecting a lot more waitlisted and denies (Especially RIT, since I have heard of people being waitlisted from mechanical there but getting into Georgia Tech; Could be a weird situation, so I’m not entirely too sure).