Chance me/match me: Rising Georgia Senior (4.0/35 ACT) interested in Computer/Electrical Engineering

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics:
Georgia, Large public school (~2500 students), white, male, military family

Intended Major(s):

Computer/Electrical Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores:

  • Unweighted GPA: 4.0

  • Weighted GPA: 4.42 on 5.0 scale

  • Class Rank: 23/732

  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35 on ACT, no SAT
    PSAT: 1480

**Coursework:

9th: AP Bio (5), AP Stat (5), AP Human Geo (5)

10th: AP Chem (5), AP World (5)

11th: AP Calc BC (5), AP US History (5), AP Physics 1 (5), AP Lang (5)

12th (currently enrolled): AP Physics C Mech + E and M, AP American Gov
Dual Enrollment: Eng 1102 at UNG + undecided elective, Linear Algebra + multivariable Calc at Georgia Tech

Self-studied Korean (TOPIK level 2) and Took 3 years of HS Spanish + I take orchestra as a co-curricular class every year

Awards:

School award for “Top Science Student”
(9th and 10th). Basically each science teacher advocates for one of their students to receive this award each year and one student is selected per grade level after they deliberate.

Extracurriculars (not including what I plan to do in 12th grade):

USNCO National Olympiad qualifier (top 12 in my state in the qualifying round, and first in my school to make it to this level)

Varsity/Club Swim Team
-Important: I had a surgery in 10th grade leaving me unable to swim that year
-Was on the state team, our team taking 1st and 2nd place respectively in my 9th and 11th grade.
-2nd place finish in the 50-yard freestyle at state meet (9th)
-Ranked top 150 nationally in my age group in this event that year

Violin: 6 years total
2nd chair second violin (11th) at my school’s top level orchestra, helping to get our group accepted to the Midwest Clinic.

Work: Lifeguarding (~2.5 years, during summer and school year.This and swim basically absorbed all of my time in the summer.)

Co-founded a culture pen-pal club, partnering with a highschool in Moldova, with hopes to expand to Finland and South Korea this year

Other activities: NHS, Freshman mentoring (11th)

Essays: I have some good stuff to talk about + Decent writing = hope

LORs:

(Predictions)
AP Chem Teacher: 9/10
AP Calc: 7/10
Apush: 7/10
Counselor: 5/10

Cost Constraints / Budget:
<60k per year. Bonus points if the school offers the Yellow Ribbon program

Schools:

Match: UGA (EA)
Match (?): Georgia Tech (possibly EA)
Hard reach:
UC Berkeley (RD)
Cornell (RD)
Brown (RD)
MIT (RD)

I have GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon program scholarship money. Aiming for Zell Miller scholarship for in-state schools. High income, 0 other family members attending college. Aside from MIT, I can’t swim competitively at any of the schools I listed.

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If your budget is less than 60K, then UC Berkeley is not going to be affordable for you as an out of state student: there is no need based aid for OOS students, and merit is very, very limited. You can of course shoot your shot and try to get merit, but the UC app is a totally separate application with 4 totally separate essays, so make sure it’s worth your time, given that getting in AND getting merit aid is probably a less than 1% chance.

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Ah, I see you edited to specify that you have Yellow Ribbon Eligibility. Then what I said above no longer applies, as I believe UCB does participate in Yellow Ribbon.

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What attracts you to those specific OOS schools? The experience at Brown, UCB and MIT will be VERY different.

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As of right now it’s partially a gut instinct thing. I’ve done much more research into UGA and GT and I know I have low chances to get into these reach schools anyway (I plan on doing more research and fine-tuning my list, though). In terms of this “instinct”, I should mention that my interest is in electrical/computer engineering, but my interests are constantly changing and are not limited to engineering by any means (hence me having 0 engineering-related ECs), as many high schoolers can probably relate to. Firstly, I’m trying to cover the range of possible academic avenues that I have interest in. In addition, I think by applying to schools that are very different from each other (but that I still find overall attractive) will increase my chance of being accepted in and enrolling in the one that truly fits me the best. That being said, I’m open to hear what anyone has to say regarding how these schools may fit me just based on the list of things I’ve written.

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This is false logic. The odds are what they are for each individually. Applying to more doesn’t change the odds of the individuals. There’s just as good of a chance that the one that accepts you is one you’ll hate.

I suggest you step back and decide what you want your experience to be like.

Do you want a “typical college experience,” exemplified most by UGA and UCB on your list. By that, I mean a school with a wide variety of majors, reasonable athletics for students to attend, likely a party and a greek scene, which you may or may not want to participate in, a spot for touring musicians and speakers, etc.?

Is a wide variety of majors important to you if you aren’t certain about engineering?

What about size? Class size? Who teaches the labs and discussions? How much hands on application of theory will you get in the form of labs, clubs, research and internship opportunities? Are formal Coops important to you? Location? Weather? Support for your hobbies? The list could go on and on. The important thing is that it’s your list.

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I think your chances are strong for GT. My child was accepted EA for GT with far lower stats than yours. We are from a small, mostly rural GA community. She had a great first year and any fears of her having lower scores (and thinking she’d be less successful) than her classmates are gone. She had great leadership in HS and has an incredible work ethic. Good luck.

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I think you have a solid safety in UGA, and you will likely get into GT. Given your interest in computer engineering and your stellar profile, you should absolutely apply to UCB and MIT. Perhaps add UIUC, and Purdue to your list. They are both reaches but you’ll have a decent shot and Purdue OOS tuition is very affordable.

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I’m not particular about most of those things. For me, the most important factors are the quality of professors and internship opportunities. In terms of available majors, I think each of the schools I’ve listed will have a good variety of things that interest me. If I had to add one thing though, I would like that the school allows you to switch majors relatively easily for the first 1-2 years. Brown in particular is attractive to me for how they allow students to choose what they want to study.

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I’m not asking you to like my list. I’m asking you to make a list of your own.

Would it bother you to be in a class with 1000 students? Would it bother you if you were all of a sudden in the lower 50th percentile of your class, struggling to keep pace? I’m not saying the former is bad or the latter will be you, but it is the reality of Berkeley and a distinct possibility at MIT.

There are SO many schools that will meet the two requirements you laid out that it would benefit you to dig a little deeper into what the experience at each will be like.

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@brenman32

According to the VA website, UCB participates in the Yellow Ribbon program for the Graduate level and not Undergraduate so you are looking at $72K/year to attend. UC San Diego, Santa Barbara and Merced are the only UC’s listed that participate in the Yellow Ribbon program for Undergraduates.

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With GI bill it will be ~30k per year less

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You have a very interesting profile, but one of the things that caught my eye is that you’ve been self-studying Korean. As you don’t seem to have any strong preferences about colleges, I thought that you might like the opportunity to study the language more formally, and thus how I developed the suggestions below.

  • Binghamton (NY): About 14k undergrads at what many consider New York’s flagship. It offers a major in Korean studies (which is how it made my initial search list), but also offers degrees in CS, computer engineering, and electrical and electronics engineering, all through the doctoral level, so there should be sufficient depth in the tech fields. Unlike at some of the schools on your list, I believe you would be able to switch majors quite readily here.

  • George Washington (D.C.): About 12k undergrads at this urban school that offers a major in Korean. It offers through a doctorate in CS, computer engineering, and electrical and electronics engineering, so there should be adequate depth here, and it should be easy to switch between any of the majors you’re interested in.

  • Harvard (MA): This school with about 9400 undergrads is not necessarily viewed as super elite in CS and engineering, but is ABET-accredited in electrical engineering and offers through a PhD in CS. But, for an undecided student, it’s very strong in many areas and can make access easier to certain fields, if you’re interested in them. And it offers a major in Korean.

  • Ohio State: This school of about 46k undergrads has one of the strongest Korean programs in the U.S. (certainly in the continental U.S.). Offers through a PhD in computer engineering and electrical and electronics engineering (plus many other engineering disciplines). If you decide you’re interested in CS, I believe that starting this year they are now restricting it to students who declare that major going in, but you should research that, as I don’t recall the details.

  • Penn State: This school of about 42k undergrads also offers a Korean major, CS through a doctorate, electrical and electronics engineering through a doctorate, and a plethora of other majors. I don’t believe there are problems switching between majors, but you will want to confirm.

  • Rutgers–New Brunswick (NJ): About 36k undergrads. Offers a major in Korean, CS through a doctorate, and Electrical and Electronics Engineering through a doctorate. I don’t believe there are problems switching between majors here, but again, you should confirm.

  • U. of Hawaii at Manoa: About 14k undergrads here. Arguably the strongest Korean program anywhere in the U.S. (offers through a PhD) Offers through a PhD in CS and in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Expect easy switching between majors here, too.

  • Washington U. (MO): About 8k undergrads here. Offers a major in Korean and offers through a doctorate in CS, computer engineering, and electrical and electronics engineering.

Some schools that offer majors in Korean or Koreans studies that I considered, but excluded, include UC-Irvine, UCLA, and U. of Washington-Seattle, as I understand those can be very difficult to switch between majors, particularly the ones that interest you.

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Thanks for the recommendations! I have studied several languages on my own but Korean is the only one I took an official proficiency exam.

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I forgot to look up the Yellow Ribbon status at the schools I mentioned. Looking at this, I would be extremely tempted by WashU (both WashU and Harvard would be reaches, everything else should be an extremely likely admit for you).

  • Binghamton: Maxes funding at $1k/year/student for up to 5 students

  • George Washington: Participates in Yellow Ribbon, with a max of $25,750/year for all eligible undergrads.

  • Harvard: Participates in Yellow Ribbon, but funding level depends on which school within. Harvard College (the undergrad section, I believe) does $6k/year for all eligible students.

  • Ohio State: Participates in Yellow Ribbon and pays remaining tuition after GI Bill for all eligible students

  • Penn State: Participates in Yellow Ribbon, paying $15k/year for up to 300 students.

  • Rutgers-New Brunswick: Participates in Yellow Ribbon for $7,022/year for up to 105 undergrads.

  • U. of Hawaii: Only participates in the Yellow Ribbon program for graduate students.

  • WashU: Participates in the Yellow Ribbon program for undergrads and pays remaining tuition after GI Bill for all eligible students.

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Absolutely agree with @eyemgh in that you really need to dig deeply into the experience of the schools you plan to apply to because each school is vastly different. I don’t know about MIT, but I’ve had several former students and athletes describe life at Berkeley.

The pace, alone, at Berkeley is fast, rapid and hard. You will hit the ground running and are expected to acclimate to their extremely fast paced stress. The freshman classes can be huge, and they divide and conquer, using GAs to lead sections of office hours.

Regarding changing majors, if you don’t, initially, get into engineering, it would be very difficult to get into anything related to CS and engineering because the spots are limited.

I don’t know where you received your information that applying to top schools will increase your chances of being accepted.

Each university makes the decisions for each class that is accepted. Don’t assume that you will be accepted; your chances are as good as the next student from OOS. Competition is fierce. The UC’s were created for the state’s resident students; they are required by law to accept a large portion of their admissions for in-state residents including spaces for in-state transfer students.

Berkeley received 125K applications for admission this past cycle. Research the schools and make sure to visit. Plan your school budget to include flights, medical/health insurance, local transportation, and non-school related leisure activities. California is very expensive, but you already knew that.

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I think there’s been a misunderstanding with what I said about being more likely to be admitted to the school that fits me. What I meant was I thought that each schools’ admissions committee would assess me for how well I will “fit in” to their school, and so if I was denied from that school then it probably means I wasn’t meant to go there anyway. And yes, I still plan on doing plenty of research, and UCB is by far the school I least plan on attending and I’m thinking of taking it off my list entirely. Thank you for the information you’ve provided

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First off, your background is great and I am confident you will have multiple excellent options. I took note of, “my interests are constantly changing.” Of course they are…and they should. You are young, bright and the entire world is before you.

Many of the highly selective schools you mentioned do offer diverse experiences. You would likely enjoy all of them. Most students would. If you are open to a variety of experiences, don’t let anyone discourage you from applying to large & small schools, rural and urban schools, etc.

Also, don’t let anyone talk you out of highly selective institutions. They do offer career pathways, and open doors in life, that less selective institutions don’t. Since your interests are still evolving, you don’t need to limit yourself if you don’t have to do so. Many people didn’t have a shot at the most selective schools (or their kids didn’t), and they like to disparage the pursuit of these institutions. You earned opportunities that most people will never have.

I encourage you to keep working hard and don’t feel obligated to put limits on your goals and aspirations that are the thought products of others.

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Definitely apply EA.

Have you been accepted into GT Math dual enrollment? If so, I’d classify Tech as a match.

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With your ACT, GPA & rigor, you are a shoe-in for Zell which will make UGA & Tech very affordable.

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