Hey guys I’m a current junior in Atlanta and have been worrying a lot lately about my potential to get into a good college. For most of my life, I have aspired to be an engineer, and have dreamed of going to Georgia Tech. More recently, I have considered MIT, even though it is much harder to get accepted there. I have also developed a passion more recently in business in finance and would love to pursue these interests at Columbia, but I know that is a long shot for me. Anyways, here are my stats and extracurriculars:
GPA: 4.152 weighted, I think like 3.86 unweighted
SAT: 1520 (800 math), taking it a second time in June so I will update then
ACT: 30 (did not prepare well, but have not reported this score to colleges)
AP courses so far:
-German
-World History
-Human Geography (only 1 semester, will explain later)
-AB calculus (1 semester), Calculus 1 at college 2nd semester
-Physics 1
-English language and composition)
-US history
APs/ Dual Enrollment next year:
-Micro/Macro
-Chemistry
-Brit Lit/ American lit (undecided)
-Calculus 2
-at least one more at college, not sure which
The reason I only had one semester of Human and AB calc was a personal issue with my math teacher, which led me to do dual enrollment this(2nd) semester. She constantly marked me down points, called me out when I was doing nothing wrong, bumped other students up from a C to an A, but wouldn’t bump me up .13 points, etc. Regardless, I took calc 1 at the college and ended the semester with a 96 in the class.
Extracurriculars:
-Math team (9th and 10th grade, left because of teacher)
-Cross country all years
-Quiz team all years
-NHS junior year
-Work at Chick-fil-a
-Climbing team at local gym freshman and sophomore year, qualified for nationals in speed climbing sophomore year
If you guys could review this and give your opinions about my app, I would greatly appreciate the input. Thanks!
I also forgot to mention I will be taking part in a leadership camp hosted by GA Power over the summer, as well as being and intern helping with camp invention for a week.
GTech- Match, almost safety.
Columbia- Reach
Stanford- High Reach
MIT- High Reach
Your grades and SAT scores are great. Don’t submit your ACT. Your EC’s are less than generic their pretty boring and uninspiring. Luckily Gtech doesn’t care about that very much.
Yeah I don’t think Columbia/MIT/Stanford will happen. Your ECs aren’t going to make you stand out enough and you just look like a typical highachievingstudent.exe
I dunno about GA Tech though. I could see it happening, since you’re in-state and are solidly within range for admission.
I am considering trying to start stock market/ investment club next year since I’m passionate about that and study it a lot in my free time. I am also going to commit more time over the summer to try and make varsity on the cross country team.
Excellent shot at GT. You qualify for Zell Miller so costs would be super low. I’d also apply to UGA as your safety. The others are going to depend on your essays. If you create a really interesting project it might help you a bit for the others, but admission is highly unlikely and you have an excellent match at GT.
Thank you all for the feedback- I really should look more into Zell for GT as well as consider UGA (I’ve been such a die hard tech fan that I’ve never really considered it).
@Immafailthisapp you have a competitive profile for all these schools but of course your chances are not qual to all of them.
Stanford would be the hardest to get in, followed very closely by MIT. Then it would be Columbia. GTech is significant;y easier for undergrad than the other three.
So i would say:
Stanford: ultra reach
MIT: high reach
Columbia: Reach
GTech: low match/safety
@Immafailthisapp for undergrad specific departmental strength and also overall standing of a school matters. GTech has a top engineering school but as an overall university is nowhere near the other ones on your list. This is why you see undergrad admits turning down Gtech for schools with lesser engineering programs all the time.
I do think that with your profile GTech is almost a safety and definitely a low match. The only way i see you getting rejected from there is due to yield protection.
Your stats are a match for Georgia Tech, but I still wouldn’t call it a safety. Georgia Tech has been getting more and more selective, and last year, they had an acceptance rate of 26%. While this isn’t anything crazy, it is significantly lower than their previous low to mid 30s acceptance rate.
@Dontskipthemoose As of now the acceptance rate for instate students is 45% and OP is instate that is probably the reason why Penn95 said that and I agree with him. The OOS acceptance rate for tech is close to ten, and might decrease as the Georgia legislature wants to make Gtech 70% instate students.
Just a side note… GT had a high yield this year. My daughter is reporting that several graduating seniors from her school have received letters stating that they must begin their Freshman year during the summer session. They are scrambling to get ready, quitting summer jobs already lined up and changing summer plans. This is probably bad news for everyone applying in the fall. Acceptance rates may be lower for all the hopeful seniors. She is not applying to Tech but those that are are not thrilled with this news.
@Penn95 has obviously not kept up with the times Gtech is not a safety even for high stats instate students. Please note that ECs need to be good as they are V Imp as per their CDS.
Gtech is not a safety even for high stats instate students. Please note that ECs need to be good as they are V Imp as per their CDS.