Hi, I am a junior in high school and I have begun my college list. My major is electrical engineering/electrical and computer engineering (for cornell, cmu, etc.). I plan to work in robotics. Here it is:
Cornell University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Carnegie Melon University
University of Illinois—Urbana Champaign
University of Texas—Austin
Purdue University—West Lafayette
Northeastern University
Texas A&M University
Virginia Tech
University of Alabama
Can anyone offer schools I should add or remove? (All advice is appreciated)
Stats:
Gpa uw/w: 3.74/4.32
Sat math: 800
Sat cr+w=710
combined sat=1510
Money is not an issue, however, whatever money I don’t use towards college I could use later, so is it ultimately worth it?
EDIT: home state is PA, go to a formerly ranked #1 high school the state
I’m personally biased toward Illinois as an alum, but I’d urge you to reconsider both Penn State and Pitt since they both have very good engineering programs and you’ll receive in-state tuition. At the very least, apply to them so that you have the widest array of financial choices available when it comes to make a final decision (as you’re looking at a lot of out-of-state public universities that likely won’t provide much financial aid outside of possibly qualifying for merit aid at Alabama depending on your stats). It’s a common theme among high school students to want to get away from their home state for the sake of getting away, which is generally fine, but don’t completely foreclose yourself to excellent options that might be in your backyard (and often less expensive).
You could apply to Penn State’s honors college, Schreyer, to sweeten the deal a bit. Scholarships, early class registration, honors housing, research opportunities…
Good school choices. Like others I would also advise you to apply to Penn State Schreyer. That said - more than Cornell and GTech, UPenn and UMinnesota have excellent programs in Robotics. And so does University of Southern California. You should at the very least see if those schools would suit you. Since you are from PA UPenn should be close by so you can even visit them.
Thanks everyone I will atleast apply to pitt and penn state
@stwide19 (or others)
These “good robotics schools” do they matter if I want to major in EE? I want to do robotics, but would that only apply to a major in robotics if you know what I mean?
EDIT: Sorry one more thing, for sake of cluttering my list, I’d much rather add either upitt or penn state to the list, that being said which is more worth it to apply to? I think its also important to mention that my school has a good reputation with upitt, and students here get accepted almost every time if that changes anything.
^It may matter as many Robotics programs are part of CS departments and not ECE. If you are seriously interested in Robotics then research ECE and CS programs in the universities you have picked. Regarding UPitt vs Penn State - you should be able to get into UPitt with your stats. But Penn State program is much more highly rated.
I would drop the following:
Northeastern University
Texas A&M University
University of Alabama
Your credentials are also too good for Penn State, Pitt, and Iowa State. Don’t be enticed by Schreyer Honors College…it is still Penn State.
Your credentials are too good for these schools. You belong in more selective applicant pools.
Cornell is a great choice, fantastic school for electrical and computer engineering.
I think U. Michigan is a good suggestion. Great engineering program.
You don’t have to travel out west for a great EE program. Consider adding MIT and Princeton. If you want a really excellent public flagship for EE, consider U. of Maryland.
This is only a valid complaint if you’re talking about a culture fit. If you can’t put up with being at a school where football is prevalent, for example, then that might be an issue. (However, you can certainly go here without ever going to a football game. I haven’t.) But if you’re worried about academics, “it’s still Penn State” just means that you still get a strong engineering program in addition to the strong honors program.
Everyone needs safeties and matches. If you apply only to Ivies, you might not have anywhere to go come graduation.
@bodangles@collegehelp
I understand both of your points. I think I will keep A&M as a safety then, I seem to like it and have heard good things. UofA I will replace with Penn State as well. And following your advice, I will also apply to UMich and possibly other schools you mentioned, U of Maryland also sounds nice.
“Your credentials are also too good for Penn State, Pitt, and Iowa State.” “It is still Penn State.” Don’t buy into this kind of thinking. Getting through an engineering program is hard, regardless of school You will work with fellow engineers from many schools in your professional life. Thinking you or your school are automatically better than others will probably not help you in the long run .
@sevmom
I also wanted to clean up my list, so I was open to removing Northeastern but UofA is a good merit choice so I don’t know. I am still going to apply for Penn State though. I understand the school you go to doesn’t have a significant impact on ‘how much you know’ or ‘how much better’. I took his advice because I knew in the back of my head I was sprinkling schools onto the list because of insecurities.
Not sure what @collegehelp is talking about saying that OP’s credentials are too good for Northeastern, where the OP is near middle 50% for both SAT and GPA. OP also can’t apply to exclusively reach schools, which most of these schools are for engineering. Your list looks fine as is. 10 schools is a good number.
@sevmom, not surprised at all if OP does not want to apply to Pitt and Penn State. My D2 went to a PA high school where majority of the folks attend Penn State. Also, she did not apply to CMU as her older sister attends Pitt She is at GTech now.
She is at GTech now.