Do these universities fit what I am looking for

<p>Hello friends. I have a few questions. As the application season approaches I am trying to narrow down an actual list of schools to apply to. I am a prospective engineering major (not sure exactly which discipline but something like that) and I would like to attend a research university with a lot of research opportunities.</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.68
ACT: 32 (33 superscored)
AP taken by end of Junior Year: AP English Language & Composition, AP Government & Comparative Politics, AP Environmental Science
High upward trend from Freshman-Junior year
Didn't take any honors Freshman year. Took one honors class Sophomore year.
ECS: Marching band for 3 years. Joined environmental action team this year and we won a nationwide award. Elected member of History honor society, Mu Alpha Theta, and 30 hours volunteer work.
My family can afford probably around 10-12k/year before taking out any prospective loans</p>

<p>Here is my list so far</p>

<p>reach:
Vanderbilt
WashU
USC</p>

<p>Match:
University of Rochester
University of Alabama
University of Alabama @ Huntsville (mostly because of their optical engineering program)</p>

<p>Safety:
SLU (financial safety too because family connection)
Missouri University of Science & Technology
University of Missouri</p>

<p>Eligible for full tuition scholarships at UA and UAH</p>

<p>I am considering applying to the following: Tulane, Tufts, Boston University, possibly Rice.
Would my list be too reach heavy? Not that it matters, because I have some financial & acceptance safeties, but some input on that would be necessary. According to net price calculators, UR, Wash U, and Vandy would be affordable. haven't run them on the others yet.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that engineering at Tulane is limited.</p>

<p>Also, is it easy for your parents to move across the river to IL? Then UIUC would be in-state. Not sure that it would be cheap enough for you, however.</p>

<p>BTW, do you have a parent working at SLU? If so, some other colleges could be free/reduced-tuition for you. Definitely other Jesuits (besides G’Town). Not sure if SLU is part of TEP.</p>

<p>Read up on FACHEX and TEP (Tuition Exchange Program) if you have a parent working at SLU.</p>

<p>My parent is not a faculty at SLU. She is a nurse at the SLU hospital, and SLU offers a 2/3 reduced tuition for children of the hospital employees there or something. I had e-mailed admissions office a few months ago and the program is still active, my mom used it for my older half-brother many years ago. I’m not sure if FACHEX or TEP applies to this and may be SLU-exclusive. Plus, I would be commuting to SLU, so before any other aid the cost would be reduced to 12k-ish for tuition.</p>

<p>About moving to Illinois - ha ha, I wish. </p>

<p>I would really like to go somewhere in Southern California or the Southeast. I think I need more match es</p>

<p>Well So Cal has only UC which is 55k per year to OOS, no aid Or CSU, maybe 35 per year oos, no aid. The meets needs privates are USC and Claremont consortiums. Run Net Price Calculators.</p>

<p>It sounds like you’\re interested in optical engineering, in which case your top pick should be Rochester. Decent aid there, need-based and merit. You seem to be lacking the core science APs, I’d definitely try and get at least one and maybe two in senior year.</p>

<p>Yes. I unfortunately realized that too late. Nonetheless, senior year I am taking AP Biology and AP Physics B. UR is one of my favorites so far. haven’t visited, but the price the NPC gave us is doable. </p>

<p>Bausch & Lomb is connected to the university, as is the Eastman Kodak fortune. A great number of the top scientists/engineers who designed and built the Webb telescope are connected to UR.</p>

<p><a href=“NASA Space Telescope Advisory Board Meets in Rochester<br /><i>Prestigious Group Includes 12 University Alumni and Faculty</i> : Rochester News”>NASA Space Telescope Advisory Board Meets in Rochester<br /><i>Prestigious Group Includes 12 University Alumni and Faculty</i> : Rochester News;

<p>Should I consider UR a Match or a Reach? My GPA is a bit subpar but my ACT is on the 25% percentile. </p>

<p>Have you considered Auburn University? Historically, it’s been the best in Alabama for engineering majors.</p>

<p>@Ctesiphon‌ your ACT is at the 75%ile. That’s a little different. </p>

<p>My bad, meant to say that. Should I consider UR a reach or a match with a 75%ile ACT but a below-average GPA? I don’t want to apply to any reaches. Also, if the information I found is correct, UR also superscores. My ACT superscore is a 33!!</p>

<p>I can’t seem to find their common data set… but on College data It says that Academic GPA is “not considered”. Haven’t seen that before lol. Is it actually ignored or just very insignificant?</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=117”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=117&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I also took a gander at Syracuse University, they have a pretty website. They have engineering degrees and their ACT range is 23-28, average GPA is 3.6. With 30% of students receiving merit aid it may be an affordable option.</p>

<p>I’m trying to look for other matches because although I have some good safeties (financially) here in Missouri I don’t want to stay in state for some personal reasons.</p>

<p>Lol i may need to arrange a trip to New York / New England because so many places to visit there, as much as I don’t like the idea of living there. Tired of the awful midwest weather lol</p>

<p>University of Arizona is supposed to have a good optical engineering program. I was on campus last year and was told that their astronomy and optical engineering programs feed off of each other.</p>

<p>I don’t know anything about optical engineering, but if you’re going to visit UR you might as well look at RIT. They have an imaging science major (again, I have no idea how closely that relates to optical engineering but I noticed there are optics classes in the curriculum) - here’s a link <a href=“http://www.cis.rit.edu/ugrad”>http://www.cis.rit.edu/ugrad&lt;/a&gt; It would probably be a safety for you, since the program’s mid 50% of ACT scores is 26-31. The co-op program is nice!</p>

<p>BU and Tulane would be academic matches… not sure if financial matches. BU has a huge photonics center, not sure if that exactly relates to your interests though.</p>

<p><a href=“Photonics Center”>http://www.bu.edu/photonics/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll look at those 3. esp. University of Arizona, beacuse I really like astronomy too.</p>

<p>Because your GPA is a little low compared to ACT, predicting about U.Rochester is a bit dicey. I know somebody who only had a 31 ACT, but almost a 4.0 GPA, and he got accepted (plus good scholarship money). He decided to enroll. I would recommend calling UR a low reach for you. Outstanding school for what you want.</p>

<p>Frankly, I think that UAH and 'Bama are safeties for you.</p>

<p>

I agree. As with UR, there has always been a strong cooperative relationship between RIT and Kodak and Bausch&Lomb and Xerox. All those companies are strong on optics.</p>

<p>Thanks for the informative reply. I really like UR, I should probably visit it though. Not entirely too sure I’d like the east coast but of course I’ve never been there. Nonetheless, I’d imagine after graduation I’d have similar employment results from UAH or any other optical science/engineering places</p>

<p>The last few days I’ve been really considering some options. I have a friend who has a second house near USC and I’d be able to stay there for really cheap rent, of course if I were to be accepted. Although it seems the colleges in USC admit widely different students I am not sure if I would have a good shot at Viterbi or not…</p>

<p>Gotta tell ya, my D just finished her first year at RIT. As a Southern girl, she found the winter brutal - but she absolutely loves the school. UR did not have what she wanted (and would have been a big reach), so I’ve never gone to the UR campus.</p>

<p>Just FYI - If money becomes a bigger consideration, keep in mind that UMSL’s Engineering department is in fact Washington University’s Engineering Department. You pay UMSL tuition, but go to Wash U’s Engineering school.</p>