Chances at NU, Rose, CWRU

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, i'm applying to Northwestern, Rose-hulman, and Case Western (as well as Purdue and VPI, but i think i should get in there no problem, right?)</p>

<p>Homeschooled, multiracial female going into engineering
Graduating after junior year
from Charleston wv
SAT: 1490
ACT: 33
SAT2s: chem - 760, writing - 710, Math2c - 800
2 APs so far, chem and stats, 5ed both... doing physics C, economics, psy, bio and calc bc this year (i self teach all APs - do they care?)</p>

<p>edit: GPA is 3.87/4 unweighted... although i doubt it matters for me</p>

<p>no clubs to speak of... it's a small homeschool organization... i play guitar and keyboard, no awards. quite a few math competition awards... coached Mathcounts team one year, got about 80 hours of service... </p>

<p>recommendation letters, not as good as could be if i waited another year... one college professor, a chess coach, and a science lab instructor.</p>

<p>summer progs: college prep @ WVWC, an engineering thing at marshall, hoping to do GHA</p>

<p>Dad is an alum from Case.</p>

<p>can anyone honestly evaluate my chances? thanks in advance :) do you think i would have any chance for really good financial aid, if i get in? any comments would be appreciated, since I have no idea where I stand (and i'm sure the homeschooled/early admission things would throw a bit of a wrench into admissions decisions)</p>

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<p>bump... anyone?</p>

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<p>although i dont know how admission boards feel about home-schooled gpa's, your SAT, ACT, and SAT 2s definitely prove that you are intelligent. i think you have a good shot at all the schools you mentioned. northwestern would be your biggest "reach" if you ask me.</p>

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<p>thanks for your input :) is there anyone here who's either homeschooled or applying early admission (graduating after junior year) and applying to any of these schools? (or anywhere, actually)</p>

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<p>At all three, test scores (including any AP's already taken) will be weighted more for home schoolers than GPA. At Rose and Case, you have a high probability of admission, but particularly to Rose you should apply now as it uses rolling admissions (you get an answer in two weeks). At NW, your chances are better than the average applicant. NW does not provide any merit aid, only need based; at Rose and Case you have a shot at about half tuition merit aid, more of a chance at Rose. Purdue and VPI are safeties but I do not believe either has much to offer in merit aid. As long as you will be graduating high school and have all needed courses, the fact that you are doing it early won't be a disadvantage. (Note true "early admission" programs where few are admitted are ones accepting juniors who do not graduate high school; you will not be considered as doing that.) As to your comment about recommendation letters: I hope you mean the recommendations will be very good but you think the providers may not be the best ones to write them, in which case it is not really an issue you should worry about. If you mean the recommendation letters will pan you then you need to find others to provide letters.</p>

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<p>Great chance at Case and Rose, NU reachy (but not impossible). You might want to post a thread to mini on parents forum - his kids are homeschool, and he might have other suggestions. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thanks again for the posts - NU gives no merit scholarships!? ugh...</p>

<p>re drusba - yeah, i meant that the providers don't know me as well as would a teacher, but they should write rather good reccomendations... </p>

<p>drusba, you seem to know a bit about aid offered by schools (a lot more than me at least) - do you have any suggestions for other schools with good engineering programs that have good merit-based aid programs? (or anyone else, too) I only decided in september that I wanted to apply to college early, so I didn't have a lot of time to research, and I didn't find many schools that interested me...</p>

<p>thanks for the tip ohio_mom :)</p>

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<p>As to merit aid, what you will find generally is this: (a) most public universities offer little if any -- some may give large scholarships but usually only to a select few and even the small awards are geared more towards state residents; (b) highly ranked private schools (e.g., ivies, and Northwestern as noted above) tend to give no merit aid and for those that do like Caltech your stats don't even put you in top 50% of admittees thus making it difficult to get admitted much less getting merit aid; (c) there are large numbers of other private schools that provide merit aid but very often they max out at 1/2 tuition or sometimes up to 3/4 and with your grades and test scores you could likely qualify for merit aid at a number of them (also they base the decision mainly on test scores and GPA or class rank). However, that tuition break does not mean it will be inexpensive. An example is Rose-Hulman (an outstanding engineering college), where someone with your stats could potentially qualify for its max, which is currently about $15,000 per year, or close to it but when you add room and board and book costs, that is only about 45% of the actual total cost. At Case, you may be able to qualify for aid in the $14,000 range but again after adding room and board, you are at less than 1/2 its actual cost although there are some full scholarships there but difficult to get. In other words, you have a good chance to qualify for merit aid at a number of private schools but you may still find it is less expensive to go to your state university and pay full in-state tuition unless you also qualify for need-based aid. There are a couple of engineering schools where everyone gets a full tuition scolarship if accepted -- Olin College of Engineering (and I believe that also includes room and board), and Cooper Union (but Cooper Union's tuition scholarship is deceptive because room & board is extra and at its facilities in NYC the tab is $12-15,000 a year). Olin is not a ranked school anywhere because it has only been around a few years but it has an excellent facility and is being very selective in admissions. The military academies (Army, Navy and Air Force) also have excellent engineering schools and of course all expenses are paid for those. Some other schools (just a parital list) with engineering programs where you might qualify for that 1/2 or even higher tuition relief include U Miami, Tulane, Colorado School of Mines, Florida Institute of Technolgy, Illinois Institute of Technology, Bradley, Lafayette, Embry Riddle, Kettering. Some highly ranked schools like John Hopkins, Wash U St. Louis, and Carnegie Mellon also give merit aid but your stats will only place you in the middle of the pack at those.</p>

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<p>A recent poster on this site has a daughter at CMU with an excellent merit aid package. D has received several pieces of information from Case and CMU as well as RPI, Lehigh,WPI, and RIT. For a female in science and most definitely engineering you will be welcome at most of these schools if not all. I would make direct contact with the schools we've talked about expressing your interest. Check their individual websites for a college day or fair near you and touch base with them. They will be interested in you.</p>