Hello. I am currently a sophomore at a small Iowa high school (4.1 weighted with mostly senior-level classes, ACT/SAT not stellar (32, 1470) but I am taking both again) looking to take my chances applying to selective schools this fall (on the level of MIT). If I don’t get into any, which I know is VERY probable, I’ll wait around and take another shot next year–with safety schools of course. What I want to know for my applications this year is, will the fact that my school doesn’t offer any STEM ECs factor into admissions?
I’m Key Club secretary (few hours), varsity CC (1 year), NHD (nationals), JV choir, and speech, and just started at a part-time job, but nothing related to my intended majors of either biotech or software engineering.
I asked the school to order an AMC 12 this year and they did (woohoo!) so I’m taking that on the 15th, but I know with little prior experience AIME qualification is a long shot. Other than that, if I wanted to join a math/science/robotics club/team of any kind, or even a debate team, I’d have to start it all myself. I’m new to CC and don’t know how common of a situation that is.
Our physics class does compete at a nearby college’s physics contest every year–mousetrap cars, straw arm, etc. How much consideration do top colleges give that kind of thing? I’m applying to a couple internships/programs this summer (including SSP) but again, I know my chances of getting in are low without any prior science ECs!
How much initiative do schools like this expect of students whose high schools don’t hand them science opportunities? Even if my chances of getting into anywhere like MIT/Caltech/Stanford/Pomona this upcoming application season are infinitesimal, what should I do at this point to maximize them? I would also love to start doing research on my own, both for applications and just to do it–but how do I get started?
Thanks!
I agree with your assessment that you have an extremely low chance of getting into any of those schools. Just curious as to why you would even want to apply to something like Pomona if you want to be an engineer. If you’re serious about taking a gap year, then make sure you get a science/tech related internship or job during that time because a gap w/o admission does usually hurt chances (especially where recommendations are involved).
There are some great engineering schools that are within reach of what you want. MIT, CalTech, Stanford are all reaches for anyone since they reject more great students then they can admit. If you do want engineering you have Illinois, Purdue, Ross-Hulman, Michigan, Iowa State all not that far way. If you want to go further away from home take look at Penn State, Georgia Tech, University of Texas, Texas A&M, Harvey Mudd to name a few. Don’t get hung up on the ones you listed. The ones above are very good Georgia Tech is usually ranked 3rd or 4th depending on which rankings you look at.
You’re a sophomore and obviously pretty intelligent. Don’t worry about not having impressive science EC’s now, opportunities will appear if you keep up your impressive track record.
If you can find enough friends or people interested in science, start a robotics or science club!
I would not group Harvey Mudd in the list provided above. It’s a very selective school.
Graduating early is rarely seen as a positive by top schools unless you are a bona fide genius which would have been evident already in your grades, test scores and other supernormal accomplishments.
There is added liability for colleges having a minor on campus but, more importantly, they would rather see you stay through senior year so that you have a stronger foundation before trying to tackle an enormously rigorous engineering curriculum. Also, you have more of an opportunity to engage in leadership activities if you stay through senior year.
A 4.1 weighted gpa pretty much puts you out of the running for MIT caliber schools and. 32 is pretty much bottom quartile. My recommendation would be to stay in school, get your grades up, work on boosting your test scores, try to engage in some sort of research this summer and apply to a gamut of other research programs the following summer and/or contact professors about doing research with them. Just my opinion though. If you decide to apply to top schools this fall just make sure you have more realistic matches in the list.
Thanks to everyone for your responses. NCComputerNerd, I will keep those schools in mind.
b4sically: I was thinking of Pomona because of their biology program, if I went into bioengineering. And I wouldn’t take a gap, just stay in school for senior year.
Multiverse: Thanks for providing the realistic assessment I was looking for. I’m actually not sure how my school weights GPAs–it must be a weird system, because while I’m over 4.0, I’ve had only 1 semester of any AP class and was even over 4.0 before then. My worst grades are a couple of A minuses out of ~30 credits. I will probably end up applying and staying in school anyway, like you suggest.