White Female from a small town in southern Illinois
Intended major is chemical engineering
Weighted GPA is a 4.214 on a 4.0 scale
Class rank: 4/598
AP classes: My school doesn’t offer any so I have only taken Honors level courses all 4 years and have gotten all A’s
SAT: 780 math, 690 English (will retake in August)
ACT: 34
SAT subject tests: I haven’t taken these yet
Extracurriculars:
JV dance team my freshman year
Varsity cross country and track runner sophomore through senior year
State finalist for mock trial my Junior year
Model UN my junior year
2nd place at sectionals for math team my Junior year
Inducted into NHS my junior year (earliest you can be inducted at my school)
4 time scholar athlete award winner
Presidential volunteer service award silver level award winner
One of the youngest certified catechists for a Montessori based educational program (it takes 200 hours of training and requires a completed teaching lesson plan of 300 pages in order to achieve)
Church youth group leader
Athletic leadership council member (2 people from each varsity sport are selected to be a member each year)
Just looking to see if I even stand a chance at these schools. Thanks!
I’d say you have a chance, but to what extent? I can’t tell you for sure. Since you’re a female going into engineering, that may play a role in your admissions decision, and I’ll leave other posters to decide how that’ll do. Your academics and Es are definitely qualifiers, but there’s not really anything relevant for your intended major. Again, I’ll let other people decide how that’ll play out for you.
Since you’re going into chemical engineering, you may need subject tests like Math II and Chemistry. Check the admissions requirements to see what you’ll need to do.
Sorry if I couldn’t give a better response, but hope this helped and best of luck!
Hi there! Your ACT score is great. Your SAT score is also good, but retaking it could never hurt (assuming you don’t do significantly worse, if you do worse at all). Your GPA is also pretty good, just like your grades. This, in combination with the fact you took as many honors classes as possible, shows you can handle academic rigor.
Now, for the ECs, you have shown leadership, so that’ll certainly help your application, as well as some awards you’ve won. However, the fact you have nothing directly related to chemical engineering will significantly hurt your application, I believe. This is because these selective colleges are not only looking for good grades, but also for passion. It’s pretty difficult to show your passion for the subject (chemical engineering) if you have no ECs directly related to it.
If there are absolutely no opportunies left for you that have to do with chemical engineering, I’d recommend writing your personal essay about it, and if possible supplemental essays, too. This way, you still show how much passion you have for chemical engineering and the uniqueness you’ll be bringing to campus. While selective colleges like well-rounded students, they also love ‘spikes’: subjects/areas you absolutely excel in and are extremely passionate about. Let your passion for chemical engineering shine through and show them how great you are! If you manage to do this, I believe your chances are pretty good!
Hopefully this could have been of any help. Good luck with your application!
