OOS New Hampshire
Weighted GPA: 3.81 (3.55, 3.95, 3.94)
Unweighted GPA: 3.65 (3.52, 3.81, 3.62)
Took all CPs Freshman year, Honors Biology and Honors Algebra II Sophomore Year, and Honors Modern World Literature (0.5 credit), Honors Precalculus, Honors British Literature I (0.5 credit), Honors Chemistry, AP Biology, and AP US Government (Online) Junior year
Should mention that my GPA has been raising extensively throughout the years (Might be a bit lower than last year, but still an overall increase)
ACT: 30 Composite (33 Math, 25 Reading, 30 English, and 30 Science); It was my first try and I am not retaking again.
AP Scores: AP Biology - 3, AP US Gov - 3
Major: Chemical Engineering
Senior Year Schedule: AP Calculus AB, AP Physics I, AP Environmental Science, AP Biology Internship, Mixed Choir, and Honors English IV
ECs:
Tennis (9,11,12)
Debate Club (11,12)
Math Club/Mathletes (11,12)
Marine Biology Club (11, President 12)
Science National Honors Society (11,12)
Mu Alpha Theta (12)
Honors:
Two Leadership Awards (Comes down to that you are a helpful person, where only two applicants can be nominated by a teacher)
High Honor Roll (Except 3rd Quarter Freshman year and 2nd Quarter Junior year)
Community Service: Around 90 hours
Work: Worked for over 300 hours
Recommendation Letters: I got the two letters. Both are from teachers where even though my grade is not high (B+/A-), I actively participate in class, help students, and make the entire class laugh (in a good way).
Essay: I had it checked by a couple of English teachers and they found it extremely attention grabbing.
Already accepted to one of my picks (Not on here) and these are not all of the schools I applied to.
Please note that I am just trying to give you a realistic view on your college admissions:
Stats: GPA, both UW and W are really low for all your schools. I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND you to retake the ACT and try to get a higher score. Trust me, it will help.
ECs: Pretty average, no internship or research experience
Awards: None that will help at all
Overall:
Northeastern - High reach
UMich - High reach
Georgia Tech - Reach
UWisconsin - Reach
UMinnesota - Reach
WPI - High match, low reach
UNH - match / safety since in state
@GoBears2023
I don’t want to be rude or anything, but did you not see that I have an AP Biology Internship? That requires me to set up labs, plan mini lessons, stay after for students, etc. I made sure to mention that in my application as well. And ECs are average? I’m not going to act like I did ground breaking scientific research, but I did a variety of ECs in high school, getting rid of the ones I did not find interesting.
I’m not saying that your ECs are bad, I’m just saying that they are average compared to other applicants. I have read to hundreds of chance threads on this site. I have seen all of your ECs listed under other applicants quite often. Although they may be special at your school, in the bigger picture, they are simply quite commonplace. As long as you can write about how your ECs were meaningful in your essays, you should be fine. I saw the AP Bio Internship that you have this year. However, it is far too late for colleges to hold any value for that. It definitely looks good, but colleges will more than likely still view you as having no internship experience as 5-6 months of lab work does not qualify for “research experience”.
Take Michigan and Georgia Tech off your list. Being OOS is really competitive. Wisconsin is not much better. Minnesota is getting more competitive yearly. I would check out Iowa State… Great merit for OOS and its a great program. Purdue might be a good try. North Carolina State. Michigan State University would be a good fit.
I agree with the odds in post #2, but I think GA Tech is a high reach. Honestly, I don’t think you have a shot at UMich or GT. GT turned down kids with 36 ACTs from in state last year.
Why didn’t you test again? Your ACT isn’t high enough for several of these schools, and your GPA isn’t going to help a lot. I assume it wasn’t for financial reasons, since you have a list of mostly state schools where you will be OOS and they will be quite expensive. If you want to add more matches, consider Case Western or Michigan Tech
I think OP can still try GTech as I mentioned earlier.
I agree that you should probably retake the ACT if you want any chance of going out of state. Some recommendations would be Michigan State University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Case Western, NYU, Boston College, Virginia Tech, RIT, and RPI.
Chem Eng classes are very physics based, more so that chemistry based. Does your transcript show any proficiency or is Physics 1 (algebra not calculus based) your first course? Admissions officers at most of thesecolleges are looking for evidence of proficiency in math (Calc BC or AB) calculus based physics (Physics C if available) and a high level of chemistry (AP if available).
They will look at courses available at your school and assess if you took the most rigorous curriculum available to you. Sounds tough, but they are assessing if you will achieve in the Chem Eng dept, one of the most difficult at any college, takes intellect and lots of grit.
Yes molecular biology is important if your true passion is drug development, but that is a concentration on top of the ABET core curriculum.
Georgia Tech is very AP happy and kids have like 8-12 AP classes.
My sons at Michigan and was wait listed at Georgia Tech with a 3.9 unweighted and 34 Act with ECs that screamed engineering. Had ACT 35 in math and Science and retook it 3 times to get it there.
These are very tough schools. If unwilling to retake act now what happens when the college GPA is a grade lower then now, which is common. Gotta have the drive to succeed.
Unless I am missing something…
Lots of kids are going to Alabama also and liking it. You have to also think about cost. Does the OP have $60,000 /year for the these schools?
@Knowsstuff
The main reason is due to a lack of time. With both school and actual work, ECs, and so much more on my plate, I was not able to find a time to retake it. The day I did have scheduled I ended up having to miss due to us traveling and there was not a free date since.
I should mention that I took the SAT twice before, so it is not that I just took one of the standardized tests once and said, “Yep I’m done!” It’s more of the fact that I’m tired of having to pay out-of-pocket for these exams, as well as running out of time.
I think the idea of you basing me as a sort of “lazy” person is not accurate, considering most of my teachers would describe me as hard-working and driven. I’ve stayed after for multiple hours a week when in AP Bio and Precalc to understand concepts.
I believe I mentioned this before, but this is not my complete list of schools. It was mainly reach schools on here and then my instate school to make sure people did not believe I was having extremely high expectations and thinking I’m the best.
@BiologyMajorHere totally get it and only wish you the best of luck. Look at the college data sheets website that is linked about plus Naviance if your school participates with it. These are two pretty reliable sources. One thing that is being overlooked here is that you are compared to your school /district. Not others across the US. If people are getting in with your stats then that’s great. Naviance will help determine this.
I would just like to point out that we are not trying to attack you or say that your chances are abysmal. We are simply trying to give you a realistic idea for your chances, which is why you posted this in the first place. If you cannot take criticism, then please do not waste other people’s valuable time trying to HELP you GET INTO COLLEGE.
