<creativity> Chances </creativity>

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I'm almost a senior now and I've narrowed my list down to: Olin, MIT, Cornell, Harvey Mudd and the University of Washington. I guess right now, I'd really like input on whether the schools above are realistic shots for me, or if I should aim lower...</p>

<p>The Basics
-White female from Seattle area
-GPA: 3.9 (College) 3.7ish (High school, but upward trend )
-Test scores: Currently have 29 ACT, but taking SAT 2's this May (Math 2c and US History), SAT and ACT in June, and SAT 2's (Chem and Physics) in October
-Recs: Expecting to be very good. I get along really well with my professors because they're awesome and I think they realize I work hard
-Essays: Hopefully good, I had a lot of cool experiences in life but not super good at writing
-Major: Engineering (either Aerospace, Mechanical, or Physics)</p>

<p>Courseload
I'm in a dual enrollment program, so basically I just take 3-4 college classes each quarter instead of high school ones.
Junior Year (Quarter-Long Classes)
-Calculus 1 (Differential)
-Calculus 2 (Integral)
-Physics 121 (Mechanics)
-General Chemistry
-College Composition
-Writing from Research
-Technical Writing
-Comparitive World Politics
-AP US History (Online)</p>

<p>Summer between Junior and Senior Year
-General Chemistry 1
-General Chemistry 2
-Physics 122 (E and M!)</p>

<p>Senior Year (Projected)
-General Chemistry 3
-Physics 123 (Waves)
-Physics 224 (Thermo)
-Physics 225 (Modern Physics!)
-Astronomy 201 (Intro. Astronomy for Scientists and Engineers)
-US Government
-Differential Equations
-Linear Algebra
-Senior Health
-Team Sports</p>

<p>*Extracurriculars *</p>

<p>Taekwondo (11 Years!)
-National/International Champion all that jazz (junior olympics and us open)
-Trained at Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for a short time
-Third degree black belt
-Past captain of junior and senior state teams</p>

<p>NASA SHARP (Summer 2005)
-Got to go to this awesome program last summer (summer after sophomore year). I don't think it needs much explanation but it was basically the coolest thing I've ever done.</p>

<p>Volunteer (2-3 hours/week)
-Basically, I just volunteer at the elementary school in my free time so that I don't get bored. I teach keyboarding and individually tutor the cutest little third graders I've ever seen in math and reading. It's fun.</p>

<p>College Confidential/Facebook (too much time)
-haha, just kidding! I do spend a lot of time on CC and Facebook, but that probably won't be going down on my app;)</p>

2

<p>Pros:
Courseload strong in math/science/engineering. (duh, MIT, HMC expect this)
Some college classes (you challenge yourself)
Female (can be deciding factor)
SHARP (you need to tell about why it was so cool)
Taekwondo (you have a life outside of school? hmm?)</p>

<p>Cons:
ACT (29 is very low for these schools. you need a 31 or 32 to even have a decent shot)
White (But being a girl is still a plus)</p>

<p>Questionable Stuff:
How passionate are you?
Have you pursued engineering on your own?
Out of curiousity/passion, have you built rockets or airplanes?
Do you like reading up on the latest propulsion concepts or something?</p>

<p>They are looking for people with an interest in these matters outside of classes...that you don't live a dual life - engineering is your passion and it permeates throughout your daily life... you can't sleep at night because you can't stop thinking about it.</p>

<p>You need pretty good test scores to have a good shot at these schools. Bring up your ACT and get a 2250+ on your SAT.</p>

3

<p>I think RocketDA hit it pretty much right on. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that even Joey Cheek, who won an Olympic gold medal, got turned down at Harvard--so you have to keep pushing yourself and get the ACT/SAT scores up for MIT/Cornell/Olin, and to a lesser degree Harvey Mudd. I think you'll have no problem getting into Univ of Washington, however.</p>

4

<p>Cool, thanks for the input calcruzer and RocketDA! Do you think if I got my ACT scores up I'd have a chance? I'm studying for the SAT 2's right now but planning to study massive amounts out of the blue book for the June SAT's after that. </p>

<p>I'd consider myself really passionate about engineering. I'm constantly looking at everything around me trying to justify why it's this shape or how it could be improved upon or how it works. Ideally, I'd love to grow up and use Calculus and Physics everyday in my job, which I think some of the engineering concentrations would allow me to do. I haven't entered any science contests but I prefer to "tinker" with stuff at home. I like taking things apart, putting them back together, and figuring out how they work. I also really enjoy just doing cool science stuff at home like building a lava lamp from scratch or creating a flashlight from a tic-tac box;)</p>

<p>NASA SHARP was just amazing because its pretty much my dream job to one day work at NASA. So it was nice to be able to "test" if engineering was right for me.</p>

5

<p>which NASA SHARP? JPL?</p>

<p>i worked at JPL in summer 2004 and i bumped into some SHARP students there. sounds like a pretty cool experience. i prefer the regular employment approach because then you REALLY get to see what happens in NASA. needless to say, you can have my job because i don't want to work there in the long-term. </p>

<p>(i'm an engineering student at hmc with a focus on continuum physics and rocket propulsion)</p>

6

<p>I was actually in the residential program because they don't have a NASA center within 50 miles of Seattle :( It was really cool though, I was at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for eight weeks. I'd love to have your job there though;)</p>

<p>Also, sorry to bug you with all the questions but do you like Harvey Mudd? I haven't heard much about it but I think it has a similar atmosphere to MIT which I'd like.</p>

<p>P.S. Sorry for the late response to this thread. I've been busy studying for SAT's (got to get those test scores up!)/AP tests/midterms.</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

7

<p>Do I like Harvey Mudd? In short, yes. I think it provides students with the most outstanding education imaginable. The atmosphere is really awesome (profs are available and love to talk to you or help you out... or sometimes hang out!) and the people here are for the most part very kind. There are so few students on HMC (but we do have the 5-C's for the social scene) that you know pretty much everybody in your class... and a good portion of the school. This is cool because it is like a real tight-knit community but it has its downsides...</p>

<p>There are very few opportunities to "hide" here. Unless you are a super-freako-mondo-genius, you cannot get away with just "sliding" and going through the motions. Middle 50% has a whole different meaning at HMC...you are surrounded by (nearly all) brilliant people so your ego kind of suffers here.</p>

<p>I would like to have a little more time to do normal college stuff... like explore music, girls, and rocketry more. I have some time to do that stuff but for the most part, I devote that time to sleeping. I'm a picky bastard.</p>

8

<p>Oh, and good luck on those SAT's ... I also have a test in the morning...</p>

<p>the very last chemistry test I'll ever have to take!</p>

9

<p>Cool, thanks for the info. I actually really like small classes (my calc class last quarter had only 7 students!) and would much rather be at a tiny college (like Olin or Harvey Mudd) as opposed to a big research one like UW. The claremont thing sounds good too. and yeah...sleeping is good ;) thanks!</p>