My brother is a really smart guy but his grades took a bit of a dip junior year (which sucks b/c thats the most important for college admission). He also is really shy so he isn’t involved in many EC’s. I’m really worried that he won’t be able to get into many of the schools he wants to. Here are his credentials:
ACT: 34 C, 36 M, 31 R, 35 E, 35 S
SAT II: Haven’t gotten scores back, but he took Physics and Math I and II (projected 750+)
GPA: 3.76 (UW) 4.2 (W)
AP: Comp Sci (5)
Waiting on scores for: BC Calc, Lit, Physics C, Spanish Lang (expect to get all 5’s + maybe a 4 on Lit)
FYI: we can only take AP’s junior and senior year, but his counselor let him take Comp Sci as a freshman b/c he is so dedicated to it
Sen Year courses:
AP Chem
AP Stats
AP Spanish
AP Psych
Honors English
College Level Programming Course at Northwestern University
Awards:
Departmental Awards in Math and Science
National Achievement Scholar
EC’s:
Varsity Hockey 4 years (Captain Senior year)
Golf team 4 years
Peer Tutor
Freshman and Sophomore Honor Societies
Job Experience:
Worked at Hockey Camp teaching young kids to play
Summers:
MITE (Minority Introduction to Engineering) at University of Michigan (very selective)
Programming class at a Community college
This summer, Dartmouth invited him to visit their campus for a week for free
Race: African-American
Gender: Male
Income: $200 K+
Intended Major: Computer Science or Electrical Engineering
Colleges he has shown interest in and what I think in parentheses:
Dartmouth (reach, although they did invite him to their campus)
Princeton (high reach, but he is a legacy and a URM)
Georgia Tech (match)
Carnegie Mellon (match)
CalTech (high reach)
RPI (match)
What do you think? Any suggestions for other colleges he should look at?
MIT but that’s definitely a reach. Brown is another option. A good match would be NYU.
I would recommend applying to larger universities if possible. Obviously, the scores and grades are super high, but the extracurriculars are not as strong. Maybe UC Berkeley or Cornell?
I think the OP’s brother has an extraordinary double-hook as an African-American hockey player. He might not be good enough to play hockey at some of the colleges you’re looking at, but that combination of excellent grades, scores, URM status, and hockey captain should cause admissions officers’ eyes to light up. UCB is as tough as any Ivy for the fields he wants to study. I would look around for some D-3 Hockey schools with good Engineering as possible matches and safe schools. Are you Michigan residents? If so, UMich should be a solid match, and MSU Honors probably a safety. You might look at Purdue or VA Tech as safeties.
@woogzmama
We aren’t Michigan residents, but he is definitely looking at University of Michigan (he did a summer program there last summer). Do you think it would be a match or a safety?
Probably more of a high-match/low-reach, from out-of-state.
All that you listed are good matches for him. I think he could easily get into GA tech, I live in the area so I know who gets in. As for the rest, not really sure because I don’t know much about these schools I would just say have him work on volunteer work. I’m sure the schools will see how interested he is in computer science and engineering
UMich CoE from OOS would be a low reach. Affirmative Act has been banned for admission there. GPA is a bit low for that. Purdue should be a low match.
Taking both Math1 and Math2 is a waste of time and money. They are counted as 1 subject and most engineering schools would look at Math2 not Math1 anyway.
@billcsho
Yeah, but It’s only like $15 extra and an hour of your time.
Taking a test without preparation is another way to waste your time.
@billcsho
I’m not sure how multiple years of advanced and related math classes is “taking a test without preparation”?
It is your time to waste anyway. My point is the time to do practice test counts too. There is really no reason to take Math1 and Math2 together.