Hi all,
I am an undergraduate student in my sophomore year studying Chemical Engineering at Lamar University in Texas. I stay highly involved on campus and am the Vice President of my (social) fraternity, I have a 3.843 GPA (which I will raise to a 4.0 by retaking three classes), I am part of the Honors Program, I have had a Process Engineering internship with ExxonMobil following my freshman year, this summer I will participate in an NSF REU at a private school in New York, where I will be conducting Chemical and Environmental Engineering research for both the University and the DTRA, I lead both an honors chemical engineering and a STEM community group every week, I am an engineering ambassador, and I have lead chemical engineering recruitment camps for high school and middle school students.
I do however have major flaws: I am not enrolled in an extremely prestigious engineering program (My parents are unable to support me financially, so I decided on a school that offered me a full scholarship), I don’t know how well I’ll do on the GRE (I did score in the top two percent on the SAT, but that was largely due to my perfect score in mathematics), and I feel as if my essays aren’t as compelling as other applicants to top schools (I have never made less than an A on an essay in college, but I don’t have any ‘Come to Christ’ moment that is highly impactful).
I am wondering if you think I could make it to prestigious Engineering Graduate schools (for Ph.D.) such as MIT, Harvard, Yale or Stanford. Also, what experience can I attain (/what can I do) that will make me a more competitive applicant (I have been told to apply for the Goldwater scholarship)? Lastly, what should I focus on in my essays specifically for Engineering Graduate School and what should I aim for on the GRE?
Thank you in advance for your input, I really appreciate any help you can offer me!