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

Chance Me / Match Me!
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In that case, I’d suggest adding a couple of good match schools.

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This is from their perspective. What matters most is YOUR perspective.

This is proffered over and over, never with evidence to back it up.

What matters is how well you do, and what you make of your opportunities. A middle of the road MIT grad without much practical experience won’t get the opportunities that a student from a less selective institution will if they have a high GPA and a record of technical achievement (senior project, clubs, internships, etc.).

What some highly rejective schools might be better at is networking.

All that said, after your first job no one cares about your undergraduate institution. They care about what you did in the workforce. Every MIT grad out here, and there are quite a few that are active, will tell you that they work or have worked with extremely talented engineers that went to Podunk U. No school offers a Golden Ticket. That’s up to you to create.

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Are you interested in continuing swimming? You note that the schools on your list are too fast, but it wasn’t clear if you were interested in adding any schools with slower teams to continue swimming.

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Yes I’ve been accepted

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For sure, I’m interested to hear if you or anyone else have any good ideas for match schools for me

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Academics is my priority; I mentioned swimming at MIT because my times are better than some of their top 50 of all time, and the coach, if I try to get recruited, can put in a good word for me during the admissions process.

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What other interests do you have? What fields of study, other than engineering, could you gravitate towards?

What are your preferences in terms of college atmosphere, size, location, etc?

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Without more criteria, we will be no more effective than you’d be by looking up ABET accredited EE and CPE programs.

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@brenman32 As the resident Berkeley simp, it falls on me to add some balance to this take, mainly because there have been a bunch of recent changes that eliminate the often cited cons of attending Berkeley.

  • Berkeley is hard but someone with your academic profile and accomplishments would have no issues with the pace of the classes
  • Your peers wll push you to get better but there is really no stress or cut throat culture
  • CS and all engineering majors are all direct admits with no post-admission declaration gauntlets (the 3.3 GPA gauntlet for CS is not there anymore, and this has significantly improved the student experience and eliminated stress)
  • CS class sizes are reducing a lot and that’s down to a 75% cut in CS enrollment, which means greater research and career opportunities
  • Some of the lower div classes are large but they are amazingly well run and the quality of the classes and discussion sections are uniformly stellar
  • Cal offers incredible flexibility to switch majors - especially if you are in the college of engineering. This is a very very underrated attribute and will give you the ability to switch majors quite easily
  • Cal’s new engineering building set to open in early 2025 will provide a massive upgrade to the facilities, befitting a top program

All this doesn’t mean Cal is right for everyone or for you, but I do think you should keep an open mind. If you’d like to discuss in greater detail, feel free to PM.

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You might look at University of Rochester as a match - engineering with flexible curriculum and you could swim. And it’s a yellow ribbon school.

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If you need someone to post a link here to appreciate this, then your career and life experience have not proven this to be true to you. It certainly has to me. Many times over.

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I think their perspective is a good indicator, especially if I get rejected. At that point it wouldn’t matter what I think. If I am accepted, I will have the incentive to, for example, visit these schools (which at their point I do not have the ability to do before applications are due) and see for sure if I will want to attend, because as far as I can tell there are no glaring issues I have with attending any of the schools I’ve listed (minus UCB) if I am accepted.

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I don’t have very selective criteria, although I think I’ve mentioned a few things that could give you an idea.

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I should probably add I’m not interested in Computer Science as a major, but rather computer engineering. Yes in practice there is overlap but the departments in most colleges are very distinct.

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(Micro)Biology, chemistry/chemical engineering, quantum physics, applied math, materials science/engineering, finance, business (as a minor maybe). I like playing violin, but I don’t see myself gravitating towards a music profession or major.

I don’t have a preference based on size or location, and I’m perfectly okay (in fact probably prefer) a competitive school. I would like to surround my self with people who are equally or more hardworking and intellectually curious than I am.

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Based on the information that you provided about yourself, and the additional areas of interest you have listed, I think that you should look into Purdue (as one of the earlier posters mentioned) – it offers majors in all the areas of interest that you identify. Also, as an OOS student your likely COA would be <$50K.

Have you visited any college/university campuses while they are in session? If so, do any strike your fancy?

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I am a bit confused here. Unless you are not interested in Computer or Electrical Engineering, I cannot see a better school financially, and academically than GaTech for you. I get that all young students are interested to go OOS, but paying a lot extra for very little premium does not make sense to me. Unless you die hard nerd who is interested to solve puzzles around the clock, I would take GaTech over MIT in a heartbeat. Are you dreaming about CA for astronomical out of pocket money?
GaTech is very prestigious (outside of GA) and very difficult to get for people who are not from Georgia. Georgia Tech is top 10 for all types of Engineering. You are lucky to have Zell and GaTech. Keep your GI Bill for grad school…

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I think that the main thing that I would add is to stress that UGA and particularly Georgia Tech are very good universities. You can do very well in life with a degree from either of them. They will save you both travel time and tuition $$$.

To me Brown does not seem to be similar to MIT, so I agree that you should think about which would be a better fit for you. If you were to attend MIT, then expect to be an average student the day that you show up on campus. Classes will go fast and there will be lots of homework. Of course the same could be said for UCB and Georgia Tech and Cornell.

In your situation I would definitely apply to UGA and GT. You should also make sure that you apply to two solid safeties. I have no idea whether UGA or GT can count as one of them, although I would not count on it unless you know something that I do not.

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It’s my number 1 option considering my chances of acceptance to more selective schools. I think there is some merit to going to MIT or an Ivy over GT but at any rate I’m probably not getting into MIT anyway so…

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I’ve visited GT and UGA in session