chances for Columbia, Swarthmore, Vanderbilt, MIT with interesting EC's

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a junior, so this is just a preliminary college list. I've been having some trouble with finding schools that have all the programs I want- Engineering, art and music. </p>

<p>Thanks! </p>

<p>Gender & ethnicity: asian female
income: middle (will be 65k ish), will definitely need FA </p>

<p>GPA: Umm, school has a weird system- it grades on a 100 point scale. I have a 98.1 unweighted average right now, never got below an A(94) in any class.
Class rank: will be 1/290 after this year.
SAT: 2310 (800M, 760 CR, 750W) Probably will not retake.
PSAT: 233 junior year
SAT II: 770 Math II, will be taking Chem later this month.
AP: US History (5), Calc AB (5), Physics C (5)</p>

<p>My school is rural, usually not very competitive. Don't have many connections, so I have to find my own opportunities.. </p>

<p><em>Schedule</em> Pretty much hardest possible, will take 11/14 AP courses available at my school. </p>

<p>Freshman:
Acc. English
Acc. Trig/Precalc
Acc. Earth Science
Acc. Biology
Acc. World History
Spanish II
2-D Art</p>

<p>Sophomore:
AP Calc AB
AP Physics C
AP US History
Acc. English
Spanish III
3-D Art</p>

<p>AP's were year long, that's why I have less classes. :)</p>

<p>Junior:
AP Calc BC
AP Drawing
AP Lang
AP Stat
HACC (college level) Anatomy Physiology
HACC Health
Acc. Chem
Music Theory</p>

<p>Senior (90% finalized):
AP Lit
AP 2-D Art
AP Comp Sci
AP Gov
Multivariable Calc (at local college)
Chem II
Spanish IV
Engineering and Design</p>

<p><em>Extracurriculars</em>
(not in any sports, varsity or JV)
I have organized these into major categories, including any volunteering.</p>

<p>Art:
- Planned and painted a 20 x 4.5 foot mural at my school encouraging students to read (90 hrs)
- Created a video game in which I drew the art, wrote the script, performed music and programmed in python.
- Honorable Mention award in a national, juried exhibition- Miniature Art Show.<br>
- Scholastic Gold Key
- Published in Teen Ink magazine.
- Volunteered for a children's art camp (30 hrs).
- Audited figure drawing class at a LAC.<br>
- Graphic Design: designed T-shirts for STEM Savvy, Interrobang, and Calc/Physics class.
- Tyler School of Art Summer Camp </p>

<p>Math/Science:
- Volunteer as Pharmacy Assistant (4 hrs/week)
- AMC 10 (103.5.... hahaha....)
- Went to Bucknell Engineering camp (summer camp)</p>

<p>My interest in math/science is mostly shown through my classes. </p>

<p>Clubs:
- Interrobang 9, 10, 11 (Media Editor, formats art/poems, manages design aspects) literary art magazine. has won state awards.
- STEM Savvy 10,11,12: robotics competitions, promote women in science<br>
- Key Club 11: 30 hrs volunteering
- National Art Honor Society 10, 11 (activities manager)
- National Honor Society 11 </p>

<p>Music:
- Piano, classical (10 years)
- Auditing piano studio class at small liberal arts college.
- Accompanist for school chorus, county chorus, and school orchestra 9, 10, 11
- Perform small chamber group works
- Member of the Wednesday Club</p>

<p>Prospective major: Biomedical Engineering </p>

<p>Thanks for reading. :)</p>

2

<p>I like your chances a lot, except maybe for Columbia.</p>

3

<p>Columbia is a low reach, the rest are a match :)</p>

4

<p>You have a great set of schools here! Keep up the good work! Here are some other schools to consider: Case Western (you can take music at Cleveland Inst. of Music!), Duke, Notre Dame (they have a rising engineering program that seems pretty solid), Washington Univ. in St. Louis! (CHECK THIS SCHOOL OUT- THEY HAVE A GREAT BME!) and along with that JOHNS HOPKINS!
If you are really intersted in biomedical engienering, JHU is the place to be-- they have great program and you can audition into Peabody Institute of Music (their conservatory). And then finally check out Univ. of Rochester-- they also have a good BME and Eastman school of music. </p>

<p>Good luck, but seriously- look into Johns Hopkins. They have one of THE best (if not THE best) BME programs in the nation+ Peabody+ a unique art certificate program. </p>

<p>Good luck! :)</p>

5

<p>People actually like my chances? Wow. :O</p>

<p>I was looking at Johns Hopkins, but they have no art program- and what if I get into the school and not engineering? That’s as scary thought. </p>

<p>Wash. U I’m looking at, the main problem is distance (haven’t visited yet).</p>

<p>For Notre Dame, I’m not Catholic or conservative, so I’m not sure how that would match up with my ideals for school environment.</p>

<p>Full prospective list in order of difficulty:
(Yale???)
Columbia
MIT
Swarthmore
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Carnegie Mellon
Bucknell U
Gettysburg C (safety)</p>

6

<p>^why are u surprised?</p>

7

<p>Because I’m not in any sports, haven’t done research (how am I supposed to make a meaningful contribution when my knowledge base is barely in its infancy?) or had an internship (tried to shadow at local prosthetics company and they ignored me… should probably stop in later).</p>

8

<p>^I have all those activities you mentioned, but only a 2230 (and Valedictorian). I still think you have a better shot than I do.</p>

9

<p>Well, as long as you enjoyed those activities, don’t worry about it. :slight_smile: and stats are only part of the equation, they do get crazy towards the higher end colleges but they’re pretty limited as to what they say about you.</p>

10

<p>bumping for more opinions</p>

11

<p>Apply to Yale if you really really like it, it’s not an impossibility. You don’t necessarily need to have done research, prestigious internships, or be a recruited athlete to go to an ivy. It helps, duh, but admissions aren’t as insanely competitive cutthroat bloodbaths as some CCers make it seem.</p>

12

<p>Thanks. There’s a scholarship in my area, that if you get accepted to Columbia, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, or MIT and major in engineering, that they pay full ride+ books and supplies. But I’m pretty sure I’m not going to do Yale ED.</p>

13

<p>Yale - Reach
Columbia - Reach
MIT - Reach
Swarthmore - Low Reach
Vanderbilt - Match
Northwestern - Low Reach
Carnegie Mellon - Match
Bucknell U - Safety
Gettysburg C - Safety</p>

<p>That’s a pretty healthy, balanced list. You might want to consider Princeton, which has great engineering and molecular biology departments, or Stanford, which also has nationally recognized biology and engineering departments.</p>

<p>Since I use the terms reaches and low reaches, it may seem like you “probably” won’t end up getting accepted by them. However, this isn’t really the case, as I believe you’ll get into at least one of your reaches. So out of Columbia, MIT, Yale, Swarthmore, and Northwestern, I’d be surprised if you weren’t by accepted by at least one of them.</p>

14

<p>^ she is a female. Thus, MIT will accept her with open arms</p>

15

<p>Female + engineering does not carry that much weight nowadays.</p>

16

<p>For MIT, acceptance rate for girls is around 20%? For caltech, it’s something like 30%. Better than the guys’ of course, but that’s still not a piece of cake.</p>

17

<p>bumping with colleges that I’m interested in, but which have problems for me… feel free to chance or clarify my issues</p>

<p>Swarthmore (possibly ED)- only has a “basic” engineering major
Columbia (possibly ED)- is awesome, but super super competitive
MIT- no art, no biomed. eng
Duke- party school? havn’t visited
Cornell- no biomed. eng
Johns Hopkins- no art program
Northwestern- it’s far away…
Carnegie Mellon- biomed + art requires triple major
Washington University in St. Louis- far away
Vanderbilt- don’t know much, but has the requested programs
Bucknell- definite, backup
Gettysburg- would rather not go, as engineering is a 3+2 program. </p>

<p>Cautious about applying to stanford, princeton, etc because of intimidating stats and horror stories on here. Er.</p>

18

<p>Hi Saffysparkles! You are mistaken about MIT. Here is a link you should check out if you are interested in art at MIT: [MIT</a> Course Catalog: Arts at MIT](<a href=“Welcome! < MIT”>Welcome! < MIT)</p>

<p>I wish I had seen this thread earlier, MIT has an amazing summer engineering program for women called MIT’s Women’s Technology Program. I met some amazing girls through that program, many of whom were just accepted to HYPSM and Caltech early with similar stats to yours. I think the deadline to apply has passed though.</p>

<p>Here is a link explaining biological and biomedical engineering at MIT: [MIT</a> | Department of Biological Engineering](<a href=“Home | MIT Department of Biological Engineering”>Home | MIT Department of Biological Engineering)</p>

<p>Anyway, your stats make you a competitive applicant for any of those colleges. Being a female engineer is still somewhat of a hook, but only if you have the stats and the demonstrated interest in engineering to back it up. I think you have both. Best of luck!</p>

19

<p>Thanks Mathgirl, I did look at MIT’s engineering program on 1/5 and I remember feeling horribly disappointed. >.< As for the arts, I’m mostly interested in the visual arts, and there’s not a degree for that, sadly. Thanks for showing me the BioE page, I didn’t know they had a BME minor! :)</p>