<p>I've been trying to find a good engineering college that fits me well. I want to know if these stats are good enough for USC and if I'm aiming too high, too low, or just right.</p>
<p>SAT
620 CR
800 M
640 W</p>
<p>4.0 GPA</p>
<p>EC/Awards
Eagle Scout
NHS</p>
<p>I love math and science. I have always excelled in both subjects. I tested out of Algebra and Pre-calc and took Calc 1 at a community college in the first half of my junior year above and beyond the classes I was taking at high school. By the time I go to college I will have taken Calc 2 and 3, and a year of calc-based physics.
I'm not going to retake the SAT because the 620 I got on the Critical Reading was higher than I had expected to get.</p>
<p>There were some other colleges I was considering applying to. Which of these would be reasonable and which would be reaches?</p>
<p>MIT
Caltech
Stanford
U of M
U of Rochester
Washington University in St. Louis</p>
<p>Are my ec's lacking? BSA-Eagle Scout and NHS don't seem to be a lot compared to everyone else. Do colleges take into consideration I was taking classes in addition to my 6 high school classes and that I worked at a job for twenty hours a week? What about the fact that I taught myself C++, would that be good to put on an application somewhere?</p>
<p>Caltech: big reach
Stanford: big reach
Michigan: Match (this is what you mean by U of M right?)
U of Rochester: match
Wash U: slight reach (much much better chances than @ caltech or stanford)</p>
<p>put together a couple safeties -- state schools or something like that, and i think you're set. nice list!</p>
<p>Yes your ECs are lacking. I'm assuming (from your SAT score) that the 4.0 is weighted? Your SAT score could really use some improvement...bottom 600s won't let you get into MIT or Caltech. Colleges do take into consideration the fact that you work twenty hours a week, though I'm not so sure about the C++ <--maybe if you apply to an engineering school.</p>
<p>I'm not completely sure about the specifics of "weighted" and "unweighted" GPAs, but I'm assuming mine is unweighted. I have gotten solid A's throughout high school, no A-'s. I took AP Physics and I'm definitely going to get a 4 on it, maybe a 5. I don't read a whole lot and that's why my verbal score is so low. My brother got a 36 on the reading section on the ACT, and he reads all the time. I guess that'll teach my parents for telling me to go outside instead of reading 400 page Star Wars novels when I was in 5th grade.</p>
<p>Do top colleges pay more attention to individual section scores or composite scores? I've been curious about this since I've gotten several letters from Caltech after I took the PSAT and got an 80 on the math (55 in CR and 56 in Writing). That was only a 191, nothing special at all. Does getting multiple letters from a college indicate anything about one's chances of getting in?</p>
<p>I wouldn't bet too strongly on your chances at Caltech. They probably send letters to anyone who gets a high score on math. Prove that you love math and join/start a math club at your school. Your could also improve your reading/writing on the SAT. It's obvious you're good at math, and even though that's what schools like caltech are looking for, just having a good math score won't do it.</p>