~SAT: 1490 (760r / 730m)
~UW GPA: 3.88
~W GPA: 5.02
~APs: 5 taken (human geo-4, chem-3, lang-4, bio-5, enviro-3) enviro was a self study and I’m in 4 AP classes this year (calc ab, physics c: mechanics, comp sci: principles, psychology)
~ECs: medical club for 4 years (current secretary), women’s empowerment club since sophomore year, photography (digital+darkroom | got a scholastic art golden key), engineering internship w/ the Adler planetarium junior year, working since second semester of junior year (7-20 hours per week), I also put down commuter on public transit bc I’m on the train for at least 12 hours a week, typically more like 16
~ Volunteering: Service Trip to Indonesia summer b/w sophomore and junior year, member of NHS, over 100 hours logged w/ an organization focused on reducing stigmas around mental illness I also created and run a teen board for them
~Major: Environmental Engineering
~Gender: Female
~Ethnicity: White
~State: Illinois (Chicago)
so what do you all think??
Your stats, on the surface, will put you in the ballpark. You won’t get any credit for self studying APES and only getting a 3. Self studying AP classes doesn’t help your course rigor. The question is how rigorous of a schedule did you take as compared to what was available to you and what grades did you get in your most rigorous classes? Being OOS, you will be competing against students that have completed Calc BC and beyond in math. As you may know OOS acceptance was ~15% last year and will probably be even more competitive this year. Good Luck.
Even more data if you want to drill down
https://lite.gatech.edu/
As you know, OOS engineering and CS are the toughest admits at Georgia Tech. What looks good are your GPA, the engineering internship, the job you hold during the school year, and the 100+ hours of community service. Other factors that can’t be evaluated here are the rigor of your school and the quality of your essays and recommendation letters. Overseas service trips can sometimes work against you if they are viewed as entertaining journeys that were financed by the parents of privileged applicants. Here’s what hurts you: the SAT score, the AP scores (except for the 5 in bio) and the relatively low number of APs, and the insignificance of some of the clubs (such as photography, empowerment, etc.) As I’ve said before, even the mention of NHS can be a kiss of death on an application to a top school because it makes you look desperate. NHS membership is available to hundreds of kids at most decent schools, so it hardly creates the impression that you are in an exclusive group. Our guidance counselor advised that it be removed from applications to top-tier schools. Do you have any dedicated or higher- level involvement in art/music/theatre or sports? Although your SAT & AP scores would probably skew differently (more favorably) for an in-state applicant at Georgia Tech, and even more so for a non-engineering or CS in-state applicant, you are reaching for the stars as an out-of-stater in this category. You can throw GT out there as a reach (as it would be for anybody) but you also need to focus on a good number of other schools, to include a mix of reaches/matches/safeties. Good luck to you.
I disagree with @WhrlingColleges on your SAT scores (and mentioning NHS). GT puts gpa, class rigor, and ECs above SAT scores in admissions consideration. While your Math score could be a tick higher, you are at or above the 50% range. As I said before, it will really come down to your class rigor and how they evaluate your ECs. My S19 was accepted last year OOS for Chemical Engineering with a lower SAT (780M/630r). What he did have was a near perfect gpa (one B one semester in AP Eng) while taking 14 AP/Dual enrollment and 10 honors classes. He didn’t take any of the “easier” APs like APES, Stat, or Psychology. He essentially took the hardest level of the class available to him. This included math up to DiffEQ, college engineering physics, and college Chemistry. His ECs included a NASA research mentorship and a 4 year commitment to music and theater in which held leadership positions and won awards. He also put down all of his honor societies on his app including NHS, Tri-M, ITS (Thespian), Spanish HS, and others.
I think racereer helped make much of my point. Racereer’s student’s application was obviously exceptional for any school. The very many unusually difficult courses the student chose, coupled with dedicated 4-year commitments to music and theater and supplemented by a NASA research stint, stand in stark contrast to the ECs and academic record described by the OP. What’s more, membership in groups like Tri-M and language honor societies is much more selective and rigorous than NHS or casual after- school interest clubs. A resume like that can overcome a lack of top-level SAT scores. And yes I agree that a comprehensive resume of such a caliber would be far more likely to attract the attention of admissions staff than one that most prominently features stratospheric standardized test scores.