Currently, I am a High School Junior who has been thinking deeply about college admission since sixth grade. However, I have run into a dilemma where my GPA is almost completely out of range for many schools that I would love the chance to go to. I also intend to apply to their engineering programs. I am currently at a 3.7 Weighted cumulative GPA. However where I see being a competitive candidate is that I am involved in a lot of school groups, I have created a school organization, I am a member of ACE Mentorship program, I volunteer outside of school, I am a manager of a couple of our school sports teams, and I also work a part time job. I have also been in contact with my school’s college advisor and have spoken to him about my ideas of applying to some of these schools with the grades I currently have along with my stats and he said that he believes I could still be a competitive candidate. The reason for me wanting to apply to these top tiered schools is not particularly in name but more specifically for job placement and internship availability from these schools. I would still like to know what others think of me taking this leap of fate and applying to the schools would be. Any feedback at all would be great and below I will be listing some schools that I have in mind of applying to. Thank you!
Princeton University
MIT
UT Austin
Texas A&M
Imperial College London
Carnegie Mellon University
Cornell University
Also: I would be a student who needs Financial aid but I have made it a point to save money from my job and also I have already been taking the time to apply to scholarships whenever I find them available.
@Sportsman88 My unweighted GPA is a 3.1 I believe. I haven’t taken the SAT or ACT yet I’ll be taking the SAT in March. I did take the PSAT and scored low on it this year with a 1090 but did better on it last year with an 1120. I am also a Texas resident. With my score though I do believe I would have done better but that morning I locked my keys in my car and I also sprayed gasoline all over me and had a pretty intense headache throughout the test. I am also going to working with a SAT program organization and going to them for test prep help.
I applied to UT Austin, but I’m OOS so I don’t know if I can help. I have a 3.7 GPA weighted, 3.4 unweighted. 2010 old SAT which is a 1320 on the new scale. If you want I can let you know my decision once I get it?
So you don’t think any, of the other more than 3000 colleges and universities, have the ability to place and intern students?
It’s about the money, isn’t it?
I don’t think you understand that a number of these top tier schools have students who are ultra competitive and your present stats would make it hard for you to keep your head above water in these schools and classes.
It doesn’t matter where you graduate, it matters what you do.
Right now, I believe you are spending too much time outside of the classroom at the expense of your grades. Focus on your grades and test preparation for the SAT/ACT. You should have taken your SAT this past fall. You only have so many opportunities to do that before application time rolls around.
Some colleges provide merit money-this is money based on grades and SAT/ACT scores. If you don’t have money to pay for these schools, which run anywhere from $40K to $60K+ per YEAR, then how will you go? But you won’t be able to go at all if your grades and tests aren’t competitive. The activities (EC’s {extracurriculars}) will NOT get you into these schools. The schools look first at GPA and SAT/ACT scores, everything else is secondary.
@“aunt bea” I don’t quiet understand what you are trying to get at but that’s ok and yes I did mean leap of faith. I guess to be more specific my goal is to try applying and see where I get too. I’m hoping to gain admissions to those schools for my purpose of job placement. I have never said that by applying to other schools I wouldnt get these opportunities I’ve listed. I’m just making a rough list currently. Secondly why would I have taken the SAT or ACT already? I’m only a Junior and won’t be applying to colleges until later this year. But thanks anyway.
Your GPA is NOT competitive at all for Princeton, CMU, MIT, UT Austin, or Cornell. Honestly, do not waste your time and money on those applications. But there is no earthly reason why an engineering major MUST attend one of those schools. Look for ABET accredited schools that are affordable. I think one problem you may have is that your GPA is not competitive enough for any schools that meet need. You could look at a few of the lower ranked ones to see. Great test scores might help a little with those. Otherwise, I think you need to look at in-state schools that offer engineering and are more affordable.
Totally second what @intparent says. Especially in engineering, what matters most is that you attend a school that is accredited in your discipline. Schools with strong engineering programs often have good relationships with many employers who provide internship opportunities which lead to great job offers.
The reason people are asking about test scores is because, while a perfect score won’t guarantee you admission, scores that aren’t high enough decrease your chances even further. It’s hard to say what your school adviser is basing his advice on without a complete set of facts.
Also, while your extra-curriculars are good and it’s admirable that you’ve spent so much time volunteering, at the level of Ivy League these do not make you stand out among other applicants.
Rather than focusing so much on reach schools, directing your efforts to learning more about engineering as a major, career opportunities from different schools, and how merit vs. financial aid works will likely pay off more in the long run. You need to get a realistic idea of what your family can pay and understand the importance of renewable scholarships.
If you can afford to take the ACT or SAT multiple times, it s better. Once Fall junior year, once Spring, and then Fall senior is good if you need to bump the score. You have to plan for subject tests for some of the schools on your list.
It’s good to take SAT and ACT because you don’t know which will be your best, although I hate college board.
I concur you are just wasting time and money applying to Princeton and similar. Keep researching. You also need a test score to have a better idea but GPA is more important. A 35 ACT won’t make up for a 3.1
OP, what @auntbea and @intparent are both saying is that you simply do not have the grades to get into most of those schools, though I don’t know much about Imperial College. (Imperial College will however want 3 AP scores of five, minimum, and most likely a high SAT/ACT.)
If you work hard, you might get your GPA up enough to be considered for Texas A&M. Work harder, and get a really good SAT,and maybe Austin will be within reach. Colleges care about your unweighted GPA. If yours is 3.1, that is quite a bit below their average. Students CAN get into selective colleges with below average stats, but there is a good reason for it when their stats are well below the 50th percentile, and that is very often because they are recruited athletes, and some of them will have extra levels of support.
Why do those highly selective colleges care about your GPA? Because they are very tough schools. They are intense. It’s hard for the very best students to get good grades. If you don’t have the academic credentials before you get there, how will you do once you are at the college? They want to admit students who they are very sure will succeed.
Plainly speaking, as it stands now, you have no chance at all at Cornell, MIT, Princeton, or CMU. I don’t usually say a student has no chance. You should do as @InigoMontoya suggests.
Thank you for all the feedback I actually really love to hear it. I’m still going to apply to these schools anyway but I’ll just have a better outlook on it when I do. Thank you very much again!
So here is the thing about applying to them all. Applications take time (and money). You need to be focusing mostly on schools that are realistic so you have good choices that you would want to attend and would be affordable in the spring of your senior year. It is easy to get all dreamy about reach schools and think maybe you will be the miracle admission. But it means you don’t put the time into finding more realistic matches and safeties, and you can end up shut out or with only an option that you don’t really want to attend in the end. Leave a couple of them on the list if you must. But then put the rest of your energy into schools you can more realistically get into. Remember it doesn’t matter how much you love them, it won’t make them love you back.
You might want to look at the Common Data Set for each of the US schools on your list. Compare your grades, and eventual test scores to their accepted student pool. You can just Google it for each school. Remember that typically the bottom 25% of the ranges are students who have some kind of hook – athlete, legacy, URM, etc.
From previous posts, it looks like you applied as a junior transfer to Andover and Exeter. How did that go? Those high schools are similarly competive to the colleges you are looking at.
You need match schools- fall in love with a match school you can afford and don’t spend a lot of time writing essays for reaches. Also, prep for the SAT and double down on studying this term. The common app only has space for 10 ECs including sports… You don’t need so many activities.
Imperial College–like other UK schools–won’t care much about your GPA, so you’re not out of the running there if you have very strong test scores when you apply.
Are you a legacy whose parents have been actively involved in one of those schools? An underrepresented minority? A Native-American? An athlete? Are you the child of a celebrity? Or have your parents donated millions to one of those colleges? These are serious questions because if you can answer yes to one of them then it is possible, MAYBE, that you could get into one of those colleges with your grades.
Before you spend your parents’ hard-earned cash applying to colleges you have no chance of getting into, show them this thread and ask permission. Sorry to be blunt, but you clearly don’t want to listen to what all these very experienced people are saying. @intparent and @auntbea have kids at the most prestigious colleges in the country. They KNOW.
It’s great to have a dream, and sure, apply to a couple, just to say you tried your best. But you really must put your energy into colleges you actually have a chance of getting into. There are amazing colleges all over the country that would love to have you, but they are not called Princeton or MIT.
Your activities look great, but the kids who get into the schools on your list have similar ECs and top grades and scores. You need to temper your expectations. Best of luck to you–there are TONS of great schools that you’re a fit for!
Sorry, but with a 3.1 GPA there is simply no way you will be considered for Princeton, MIT, Cornell, UT, or CMU. If you are in-state and a legacy at A&M, you may have a tiny chance. The engineering programs at all of these schools are very competitive and the acceptance rates for engineering majors are typically a lot lower than the acceptance rate for the school as a whole. You will need to lower your standards. A 3.7-3.8 UNWEIGHTED is the minimum GPA you should have to be a competitive applicant for any of these schools’ engineering programs. Applications are expensive and take up a lot of time. I would suggest you use that money and time to apply to other schools that are a match for you. It’s always good to apply to a few reaches as well, but these schools (especially Princeton, MIT, and Cornell) are way out of your league. If you could bring your GPA up to a 3.3 for these next two semesters, you may have a chance at UT and A&M (If you’re a texas resident. If not… it’ll be much, much harder.)