Chance Me! VA Resident, Aspiring Engineer Who Loves Music [3.9UW 4.6W, 1510 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hello! I am a high school senior in the midst of applying to college. I’m interested in what the forum will think of my chances at certain schools as the CC community seems to be more kind than that of sites like Reddit. I’m aiming to get a BS in mechanical or electrical engineering most likely followed by an MS in environmental engineering, with the goal of working in green energy or sustainable urban development. I also love singing and acting and most of my ECs are taken up by theatre or voice, besides my internships ; )

Demographics

  • US Citizen, VA Resident
  • Mid-sized (1200 students at most) public school with concurrent enrollment at my county’s magnet STEM school. For admission purposes I am a student of the non-magnet school. Not sure of competitiveness as we’re in a region in NoVa known for competitiveness but my school’s admissions last year weren’t impressive (6 UVA, 1 Duke, and 1 CMU off the top of my head were the most selective admits)
  • White and male
  • My father got his PhD at Duke which I guess makes me a legacy there, however he hasn’t donated them anything. They probably have enough money as it is.

Intended Major(s)

  • Mechanical or Electrical Engineering

  • Other areas of interest: Environmental Science, Political Science, Economics

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.95
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.6
  • Class Rank: Top 5%
  • SAT: 1510, 770 EBRW, 740 M

Coursework

  • AP World History: A+/5
  • AP Calc BC: A-/5
  • AP English Language: A+/5
  • AP US History: A+/4
  • AP Spanish: A/3
  • AP Physics C Mechanics: A/3
  • Probably not going to submit AP scores because of those 3s.
  • As I am a senior, I am currently enrolled in AP English Literature, AP US & Comparative Government, AP Chemistry, AP Statistics, and a DE Multivariable Calculus course.
  • Everything else is honors, I’ve always gotten A’s.
  • 5 years Spanish, 4 years engineering (with a senior year research project I’m starting)
  • Auditioned into my school’s high chorus in Senior year, no chorus classes before

Awards

  • I got an outstanding student award in sophomore year. Not sure that counts for anything.
  • Didn’t apply to NHS Junior year because I’m dumb. Will apply this year.

Extracurriculars

  • School musicals and plays every year on from Sophomore. Both supporting and starring roles.
  • Private singing lessons every year
  • State Regional Governor’s School for singing after my Junior year
  • Cross country first 2 years, track all 4 years but I’m not very athletic so it won’t get me anywhere
  • Foreign Exchange during my junior year, collaborated with German students researching UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • I tutor at my local Mathnasium center and really enjoy it.
  • Internship at local construction company drafting building plans
  • Entrepreneurship- focused internship at the NSA partnered with a high-valued tech startup.

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Green energy and urban planning have been hardcore obsessions of mine since freshman year, so I hope emphasizing that helps my essays.
  • LOR from my favorite history teacher and favorite engineering teacher
  • The CEO of the startup I interned at loved my work and will be writing me a letter of rec.

Cost Constraints / Budget

  • Whew… parents will contribute 25k a year. This means that in state tuition for VA schools is basically covered for me, and if I get any sort of scholarships at OOS public schools I’ll be doing ok. Very, very grateful for this.
  • Hoping for private schools with high ROI or substantial merit aid.
  • I’ve been told by my counselor that some of my safeties/likelies give high merit aid that might by matched by some of my matches/reaches if I can get in to them. It would be a GODSEND if this happens for one of my reaches.
  • I am afraid of debt but willing to go into it for some of my reaches

Schools

  • Safety: George Mason, Virginia Tech, Penn State
  • Likely: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • Match: UVA, Georgia Tech, Purdue
  • Reach: MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Duke
  • Not at all sure where it fits in: Cooper Union

I’m worried that my lack of club leadership will screw me over in terms of ECs- at my school, clubs are mostly soulless and made for college admissions only. I also don’t have community service or volunteering because I’m always working on schoolwork, my job, singing, or my lines for the show I’m in! Also, I thought my SAT was fine, but US News says otherwise in terms of my reach schools. No way in hell I’m taking that test again, though.

Personally, I hear Cornell are quite stingy with FA and grants, and I’m not terribly attached to schools other than Duke, CMU, Purdue and UVA so if anyone has suggestions I’m open to them. I’ve visited CMU, love how nerdy the school is and the presence of great drama and arts is a definite plus even though I won’t be taking those classes. I’ve also been to UVA and the campus is beautiful, but I’m worried about their less than stellar engineering and reputation for snootiness. Definitely looking for a “nerd school” where you can still have fun on the weekends while hopefully not going into too much debt. I have a pretty low tolerance for snootiness/pretentiousness but I also want to be in an intellectually curious environment. Oh, and a campus where there are 2 women for every 5 men is a bit of a turn off.

Anyways, sorry for the word vomit. This is my first CC post, hope y’all can help a guy out.

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I wouldn’t worry too much about awards.

They don’t say what you did. What you did is what’s important.

For example, maybe you’re AP Scholar with Distinction. That means you took 5 APs and got a 3 or more. That’s what’s important - not the award.

So being in the Honors Society matters little - but what activities you do within there is what matters.

I don’t think you have an issue with EC/awards - and your 4 years track is wonderful - don’t denigrate yourself. It shows commitment.

Question - the $25K your parents are providing - is that all they can afford or did they make that choice and it’s all they’ll provide.

So George Mason is about $29,000 for tuition, room and board - and that’s without other expenses. Va Tech lists a cost of attendance of $39,252 in state.

So how will you cover that. So let’s look at your list:

  1. George Mason is a safety - but you’ll have to live at home or take a loan.

  2. Va Tech is likely - but you can’t afford it nor secure a loan to do so.

  3. Penn State - remove it - there’s no merit opportunity - it’s more than double your budget.

  4. RPI is likely - but unless you have demonstrated need, they can’t get close.

  5. UVA does meet need (if you have it) - but published COA is $48K - so again, how do you afford. Let’s call this a reach.

  6. Georgia Tech and Purdue are reaches but attainable - especially Purdue - but neither will be close to budget so you need to remove them.

Reach - so your reaches - these all meet demonstrated need. So here’s the question - do you have need.

How do you know? Have your parents fill out the net price calculator. If the school says your cost will be $50K or $80K, you have to remove it - as these schools don’t offer merit aid. This goes back to my initial question - is the $25K your parents are providing by choice or it’s all they can afford.

Google the college name and net price calculator - and get to work.

So where can you/should you apply:

U of Alabama - you’ll get $30.5K off $33K tuition so you’re all in at $20K - and they have tons of geographic diversity - so you won’t be alone. UAH would be a smaller version - also very inexpensive .

Mississippi State is another with huge merit - and a fine school.

U of Arizona gets you $30K off of $40K or so - so you’d be about $25K - maybe a little more.

Western Carolina is another - you’d be at price - or just about.

You have a great profile - but you either have a money issue - or high need.

If you have high need, I would recommend you add other colleges that meet need (check the NPC) - but these might be schools like Vanderbilt, WUSTL, Cornell, Lafayette, Lehigh, NEU, Rice, Case Western, Trinity, Union, U Miami - I’d look at the less competitive of these.

If it’s determined you don’t have need, then Bama, UAH, MIss State, and Arizona are what you need. Iowa State as well. Don’t worry about the school name - Bama, for example, has the most national merit scholars of any school in the country - so you won’t be alone. And frankly engineering is hard everywhere - so you’ll have lots of top kids.

PS - you should be afraid of debt - even at your reaches - because it doesn’t matter if you go to Va Tech, Purdue, or Alabama - there’s a good chance you’ll be in the same job.

Fortunately, you can only borrow $27,000 over four years including $5500 the first year. That’s for your protection. You don’t need financial strangulation. You need ABET accreditation.

Best of luck.

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Thank you! One of my worries with securing FA is that 25k is not all my parents can afford, it’s all they’re paying as you said. I’m guessing this means that I won’t get need-based aid and will have to rely on merit.

Are you sure it’s worth giving up on going to the more selective, albeit more expensive schools that I have a chance at on every front other than money?

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This depends entirely on if your parents are flexible with their budget. If the $26K is a hard number, then I agree that you need to shift your list. IMO, it makes no sense to apply to schools you know you won’t be able to afford.

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25k isn’t really a hard number, my parents essentially said they would cover the equivalent of UVA’s expenses (which are NOT 25k a year) no matter where I go, but then said 25k a year… not sure if it’s them not covering COA other than tuition or just confusion.

Would love to see chancing thoughts on my matches and reaches if that’s anyone’s thing.

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I would clarify the number with your parents. Purdue will be $40-42K all in depending on which dorm. RPI should get down to that with merit awards. FWIW, my D thought both of these schools had very similar vibes other than size/location.

Cornell doesn’t give merit aid so run the net price calculator with your parents and see if you qualify for need based aid.

You are a strong student and have a shot at getting into any of these schools.

GT and Purdue are reaches for engineering.

Cooper Union has a 14% acceptance rate, so another reach.

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Almost certainly, if going to the more expensive schools means more debt. Even if you didn’t have debt, I’d say there are only a few schools that are worth the extra money - and those are very fit dependent (IMO, Carnegie Mellon could be worth the cost if you could do it comfortably without debt, same with MIT and Stanford).

But in general there are a few studies that show that the type of students who get into very selective colleges but choose to go to less expensive schools end up having the same outcomes (in terms of salaries and career advancement) as those who go to the expensive schools. It’s dependent on career choices, and such (it’s hard to beat having lunch with your roommate’s dad who is a CEO of a fortune 500 company which is not uncommon at Harvard – but it’s not likely to be worth $200k of debt at 12% interest).

You have an excellent profile, so you’ll get into some great schools. But if you want to do engineering, pick value over prestige. Look for ABET accreditation, check out internship opportunities. Lab spaces. Etc. Those will matter more than the name, for the most part.

My son is going to Virginia Tech, and it will probably cost us about $32K per year, all in, with full pay. That could be at your edge of affordability (parent’s $25K pluse $7500 federally backed loan), but prices do increase every year. UVA is like at least $5k per year more expensive, and the engineering school is more expensive – it’s not necessarily well known for engineering, but it does produces some quality engineers (full disclosure I got my masters from UVA engineering, so that’s self-serving).

I think start off with your budget again give it a hard look, and maybe talk to your parents again. I don’t know their finances, so that I’m not sure if that $25K is what they can actually afford, or if it was a stub number that they felt like was fair based on their understanding of college costs – a lot of parents have no idea how expensive it is these days. So if you present them the actual numbers they may reconsider.

HOWEVER, they may not, and that’s ok - it’s their money, and giving you $100K is still very generous, and you’ll be able to attend a very fine university for that amount debt free, which is a wonderful starting point in life.

Your list itself is fine, you’ll get into a good number of them (but not all, and it won’t always be the ones you think). But look at budget first.

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Oh, also consider the community college to guaranteed admission to UVA or Virginia Tech route. NOVA would be like $10K per year, and then you can transfer either to UVA or Virginia Tech. That would keep the total cost under $100K and you have the same degree.

There is a cost of getting to know your class, the college experience, and some club and internship opportunities. But it’s a crazy good value.

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Not sure Penn State or Purdue or GA Tech or even RPI will get you to your price point of $25,000.

Re: debt. You would need a cosigner or your parents would need to take out loans in excess of the federally funded Direct Loan which is $5500 for freshman year. Will your parents do this?

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For out of state engineering students, Purdue is an insanely good value - one of the top engineering schools in the country, and prices frozen in the low $40K’s, is just nuts these days. But it’s still $40K+ per year, which is tough to float on debt.

Alabama and UA-hunstville are also very good value, b/c they are accredited, and they have very, very good merit scholarships.

We got good merit from Michigan State and Arizona State, with lower stats than you, but I don’t think it would get you to $25k.

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That’s why I’m applying to Purdue. If my parents pay for the equivalent of UVA’a CoA (what they originally said, not the 25k figure) it’s probably going to be ok cost wise based on the net price figures I’ve looked at.

My aunt went to Carnegie Mellon Architecture in the early 2000s and they matched her scholarship to RPI so she could attend. Does CMU (and do other schools) still do scholarship matching reliably?

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CMU no longer offers merit scholarships.
Nor do MIT or Cornell. Duke gives a very limited number of merit scholarships, but they cannot be counted upon.
I also don’t think any of the OOS publics will give you enough merit $$ to get you to $25k.

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Does CMU not giving merit mean they will also not match another school’s scholarship? Sorry if I’m out of the loop in terms of terminology.

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Definitely clarify with your parents what they’re willing to pay for… if they agree to pay for the cost of UVA, Purdue could be in play (and it’s a great program).

Be careful with the net price calculators…some schools give a more accurate number than others. We were looking at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and their NPC said it would be like in the mid-30’s for us, but the actual number was closer to $50k. But for the most part a lot of schools will give you a pretty close estimate.

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Are you planning to co-op? If so, that could help reduce your costs substantially. Here’s the chart, by major, of co-op monthly salaries at Purdue: Average Co-op Salaries - Office of Professional Practice - Purdue University

My D was a coop student at Purdue and I’m happy to answer any specific questions via PM.

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I figured I would co-op for the work experience alone- had no idea it would reduce cost that much, the numbers for ECE and MechE look high on that website. That probably works for GA Tech as well as Purdue, I know they have extensive opportunities there as well. Thank you! That’s a definite game changer.

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Congratulations on your achievements.

I can’t chance you, but agree with what posters have suggested so far for categorization, and other school ideas. Run the net price calculators at each school with your parents…that will be a good exercise for them to understand how much these schools cost, and whether you will qualify for any need based aid.

This is not the case. MIT and Cornell give no merit aid. At Duke, CMU, GTech, Purdue, UVA merit is all very competitive…and they are not going to ‘match’ merit offers from non-peer schools.

Are you thinking of applying anywhere ED? Do you want to keep acting/singing as an EC?

You should self-report your 4s and 5s in the common app.

Posters can add more schools when there’s more clarity to the finances, but tsbna gave a lot of good ideas. If your search does turn into a merit hunt, you might check out Clarkson, Roger Williams, Ohio U, Dayton, Drexel (coop school), Cincinnati (coop school).

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Correct. They don’t gives scholarships at all, hence no matching. They only provide need based aid (and like all schools they determine what your need is, if any).

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I was originally going to apply to CMU ED. Same aunt who went there said to apply RD as ED cuts me off from other school’s financial aid offers. It does seem like my search is a bit of a merit hunt unless I can negotiate for more money, which could go well or poorly.

Had no clue this was a factor, but since you asked I will still pursue singing as an EC, probably a university glee club or something that.

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That is true, so if you need to compare FA offers, don’t apply ED (run CMU’s NPC with your parents and see what the estimated cost is). With that said, CMU’s ED acceptance rate, even adjusted for hooked applicants is likely higher than the RD acceptance rate. Tradeoffs as always.