Hello All! I’m a rising senior at a public New Jersey High School and I was curious on my chances for some of the schools I will be applying to! Thank you for your help!
South Asian Male from NJ
GPA: 4.1 Weighted (3.7 unweighted)
Majoring in either civil/industrial engineering (also a potential with something like operations/supply chain management)
SAT: 1410 (retaking and looking to boost up to 1530+)
Subject Test: Waiting on Math 2 and Physics to come through for June
9 AP’s 10-12 (none in Freshman year because school does not allow) Only score from sophomore year is APUSH (5), I took Calc AB (5) Bio (5), World History (5) and English Lang (5) this year
Extracurriculars: Editors Board for Model UN Club, Academic Team co president, Publicity chair for township education association, Jersey Boys State Delegate, BAE Systems summer intern, Treasurer for French Honor Society, FBLA, NHS member (along with other honor societies), Worked with a nonprofit fitness organization in my local town that also did work in nearby lower income cities
Thank you!
Schools (also recommend others if you can):
Safeties: Rutgers, Lehigh, Virginia Tech
Matches: UVA, Michigan, RPI, UW Madison
Reach: Georgetown, USC, Rice,
Lehigh is not a safety. For anyone. Move that out of your safety list to match. UVA and Michigan are reaches for everyone. Move those to your reach list.
I agree with the above, except you should consider Lehigh also a reach for engineering. They also highly value demonstrated interest so visit and have an official interview.
If supply chain and or eng I’d add Penn state and Michigan State… I wouldn’t waste $$ on USC that’s a transfer school… Leigh, Virginia and Michigan are reach. Both Virginia and michigan if you don’t get in early action then very slim chance. Georgetown does not have an engineering school nor is it known for supply chain so keep the application fee… Madison can surprise you with a rejection as engineering is very tough
Thank you for all your help guys! However, apart from UVA and UMich which I can increase my chances with a 1500+, do you guys think I should still apply to Lehigh, or should I look into other schools for engineering instead?
I suggest that you apply to Lehigh and heed momofsenior1’s (post #2) advice, to demonstrate interest by visiting it; if visiting is not feasible, then email. Do you need financial aid? Have you considered taking the ACT?
Financial aid will be extremely helpful, so I hope Lehigh will be generous enough to offer merit scholarships. I will probably be taking the ACT this coming September
Lehigh is not great with merit money. If you are needing good merit money to afford college, you may need to rethink your list. The state flagships you listed tend to not be generous with merit for OOS applicants.
Iowa State and Alabama come up all the time for schools that are generous with OOS applicants that have solid engineering programs. You are also lucky to be in state for Rutgers.
If you can get your SAT score up, you might see merit money from RPI. Clarkson would be a good safety where you could see merit $ as well.
Thank you so much? Do you have any advice on target/reach schools as well? Sorry for bugging you, I just tend to be pretty neurotic with this stuff haha
You will need to talk to your parents to get a number from them on what they can pay and then run the net price calculators for each school to see if they are affordable. There is no point applying places if you can’t afford to go there. Talk to your parents and then start running the NPC for the schools currently on your list.
Among your in-state publics, in addition to Rutgers, NJIT also offers both civil and industrial engineering; Rowan and TCNJ also offer civil engineering. Are your in-state publics affordable based on what your parents will pay and what the net price calculators say?
I haven’t looked into many state schools, to be honest. Financial aid is definitely something that will consider where I end up going to school, but I would definitely like to shoot my shot on certain schools (i.e. reach and target more so)
Your two best bets are Tcnj and Rowan. Unbeatable value for engineering and you’ll be a star at either one. Unless your parents have money to burn, you need to limit your debt. I’d also recommend U Delaware or Binghamton if you want to spend a little more.
Your not quite there for Michigan yet but they look at senior grades. But if you don’t get financial aid you need to come up with $65,000/year. https://www.engin.umich.edu/about/facts/
Their scores for non - engineering just came out and it’s 3.9 with 32-35 Act. It’s a reach for just about anyone and definitely out of state.