Chance me :) TX resident 4.0/1590 for ChemE or Math

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hispanic immigrant in texas
Permanent resident
TX
Rural HS
Male

Intended Major
ChemE, Math for one or two

Stats:
4.0/4.6, valedictorian, 1590 (800m)

Courses:
Will take 11/13 APs and 3 dual enrollment courses
Have only gotten ap bio back (5)

Awards
NMSF probably (1490 psat)
National BPA Awards
National Awards in math comp from home country
State awards for BPA and FCCLA
Regional awards for math and chemistry
Smaller district and school awards

Extracurriculars
Welch Summer Scholars UT-Austin (this summer)
MITES Semester (hoping that i’ll manage with the other summer programs)
Bovard Scholars (USC)
NHS President
VP of BPA (predicted)
Secretary for SNHS
Founder of Culture Club
VP of Membership for FCCLA
Founder of free summer tutoring program at local library
Intern for stem summer camp
Other Honor Societies
Varsity tennis (didn’t do it junior year, will rejoin next year)
JV Cross Country

Will probably need most if not all costs covered

Schools:

Safeties:
University of Houston
Texas A&M EA

Matches?
UW Madison EA
UT Austin EA
Georgia Tech EA
Purdue EA
Umich EA

Reaches ig
Rice
Stanford
UCLA
USC EA
Johns Hopkins
Williams
Northwestern
Cornell
UPenn
Harvard (for fun)
Princeton
Yale
MIT EA
I might have messed up the EA ones but this is off the top of my head

Thanks!

2

I think you have a decent shot. I would add 1 more safety and trim the reach list somewhat.

Also if you want Chem E, you should definitely add Berkeley since it’s the #1 ChemE program and has a pretty good Math program too.

Also some of your reach choices are strange in that they don’t have particularly good programs in Math and ChemE (e.g., UPenn)

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Congratulations on being a competitive applicant. I will only make one comment in that UCLA does not offer financial aid to out of state students. You will be expected to pay full fees at around $72K/year minus the federal aid you are eligible. If you need most to all college costs covered, remove UCLA from your list. This is true for all the California UC’s.

Best of luck.

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University of Delaware?
It’s a top ranked Chem E school (better than most on your list), with easier admissions and strong merit aid packages (although I don’t know if they provide full rides).

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I think they do, 100 applicants will be invited to a weekend and all will get more than the top scholarship of $17,000 a year, including some full rides. I think this applicant would be invited.

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Then cross off all public universities outside of Texas; they won’t be affordable, unless they offer significant merit (which none on your list do)

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Unaffordable to OP

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Unless they provide full rides (but OP will have to go way down the selectivity list).

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So you need to look at schools with will pay for NMF - assuming they provide to permanent residents. Please check each school.

Alabama would be free tuition + 4 years housing. Even without NMF you likely win their Hispanic award which is as good. So it’s a much better fit than a UCLA, Wisconsin, Purdue etc Pitt - small chance - it could work through its Cathedral of Learning program.

Tulsa would just be free - smaller school but free for nmsf.

Out of state publics, unless like Maine or UTD that award NMF, likely won’t work short of UVA and UNC but only UVA for ChemE. Both meet need even for out of state but again check on if they meet for permanent residents. But lose the UCLAs of the world as you can’t afford the non UVA/UNC unless they have big merit - Bama, UAH, Iowa State, Kansas State, Arkansas, and more. .

UT is a safety but not for major.

In state and privates that meet need - your MIT, NEU, BU, CWRU, Miami etc may be best if offering your major. Run the NPCs to see. They’re math on what you can pay may not agree with yours.

Not sure of your family income but you might also
look at questbridge but also check your resident status vs each school or program’s rules for every one listed.

Best of luck.

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Is the number of students in your class at least 17 (i.e. so that your #1 rank is top 6% or better)?

Have you and your parents used the net price calculator on each college on your list to see if it is likely to be affordable?

UCLA does not offer need-based financial aid to non-California residents. Therefore, it is a high reach for the Regents’ scholarship (“If a Regents Scholar has additional financial needs beyond the $2,000, the scholar will be awarded a university scholarship and/or grants to cover the remainder of the scholar’s need.”) – i.e. significantly more difficult to get than admission (which is likely a reach anyway, more so for any engineering major).

Williams and Harvard do not have chemical engineering.

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Ya, I would agree with that. The privates probably are a better bet for OOS. Other schools on the list like Purdue fall under the same category.

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Is Questbridge an option?

Agree that almost all OOS publics will be unaffordable except for a few like Alabama that offer full-rides.

Georgia Tech Stamps would work but extremely competitive. I think they offer around 40 scholarships per year.

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13

Congratulations on your achievements.

If you like TAMU and Houston as safeties, you don’t need more. UT Dallas would be a safety, and also a full ride (assuming you are NMF) but doesn’t have Chem E.

Seconding Questbridge, here is the info: QuestBridge | National College Match

QB is an involved application and due at the end of September, so it’s best to complete it in the summer.

I do think you should cull the list a bit, whether you do QB or not. You will have many essays to write and if you want to do a good job on them you should cut down on the number and start this summer.

Good luck.

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Some more knowledgeable contributors might chime in but maybe consider some more LAC’s.

If you’re looking at math there some excellent LAC’s that meet full need and are easier admits than MIT, Harvard, or Stanford. You also might get a bump for being male. LAC’s are typically skewed female. They probably don’t offer ChemE but Chemistry and math are pretty good options.

Look at Carleton, Macalester or maybe Williams? They might not have the name recognition like a Harvard but employers and grad schools know them well.

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I was thinking of doing qb but then I applied to be a college prep scholar and i got rejected which honestly surprised me. I’m not trying to brag or anything but my stats were above the average and my essays weren’t bad but idk if my income can be considered low so maybe I don’t qualify due to finances? After that I’m not really counting on questbridge to accept me.

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I’m thinking of applying to williams but not 100% sure yet lol because I like the school but tbh math is like a second option, I’d rather do engineering and williams only has the dual programs with dartmouth and columbia but not an engineering major.

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You have some really good stats. Have you considered one of the single choice early action (SCEA) or ED schools? I know that finances are an issue. But some of the more competitive schools are the most generous.

I see that Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale are on your list. You might consider SCEA to one of these. The schools that have binding ED will also have a slight admissions boost. Make sure you run the financial aid calculator before applying to any binding early programs.

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I did assume your family had limited income, based on your statement that you would need nearly all costs covered. If your family has income lower than $65K, I would encourage a QB app, even though most of the matched finalists have EFC 0/near 0. All of the QB schools are a reach, but it can be a powerful application program, even if you don’t match on Dec 1.

Drop Williams then, this is a good way to cull your list. I would strongly discourage you from doing a 3-2 program because of actual costs as well as opportunity cost.

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I might replace one of the other state schools for it. Thanks!

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If you you’re sure you want Engineering then only look at schools that offer ChemE.

There are some smaller, meets full need schools that are easier admits. Look at Lehigh or Lafayette. I’m sure there are a few others. These are well regarded schools.

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