Engineering chances please

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Hey guys I was wondering what chances do I stand at CMU for civil engineering.</p>

<p>I go to a very competitive private high school in New Jersey. Widowed parent my mom passed away in april because of cancer, income around 40k ish, first generation college student.</p>

<p>white male (double damn)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2020 690 CR, 630 Math, 700 Writing
SAT II: Haven't taken any yet but plan on doing math 1 (is math 2 basically required?), chem, and maybe lit/history (any preference for a third?)</p>

<p>I only have the october testing date for the sat 2s since the next one is after the ed date.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 something UW I did incredibly poor freshmen year and had to work instensely hard to get my grades up. I don't know if they'll see that but the self-improvement was immense</p>

<p>Rank: top 10</p>

<p>Junior year coursework: Honors English, Honors Chem, Honors Alg2/Trig, Ap US History, Honors Spanish 3, Religion (required)</p>

<p>four quarter grades and then year grade</p>

<p>Honors English- 97 97 99 98 98
Alg2 Trig Honors 95 94 96 95 95
AP USH- 99 99 99 99 99
Chemistry Honors 99 99 98 99 98
Spanish 3 Honors 96 97 97 96 95
Religion- 99 99 99 99 99</p>

<p>Senior year: AP Eng, Honors Physics, Ap Art History, Ap US History, Honors Precalc</p>

<p>My school only offers ap classes in English, Art History, US History, and Calc BC, so I'm taking all I am qualified for. I tried starting a US Gov AP and Euro Hist AP but the head of the department turned me down.</p>

<p>Taken 2 courses at a local community college, intro to philosophy (freshmen year- A-), sociology (sophomore year A), looking into another one now.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Academic Team- Captain</p>

<p>Robotics Team-builder and participant when we won the 2005 and 2006 state championships for FIRST (possible hook? Idk..)</p>

<p>New Jersey Regional Science Fair-participant</p>

<p>Spanish Honor Society- helped fundraise and tutored students</p>

<p>Model United Nations</p>

<p>NJ American Legion Boys State representative</p>

<p>Intermural Basketball League assistant coach/player</p>

<p>Chess team</p>

<p>Intermural Ultimate Frisbee League- Co-Founder, captain of a team, and player</p>

<p>American Cancer Society Relay for Life-helped organize and set up event, three years</p>

<p>Worked at Afterhours Formalwear</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>· The Elmira College Key Award, 2006
· Excellence in Spanish 2 CP, 2004-2005
· Excellence in English 2 CP, 2004-2005
· Honorable Mention in Eastern Civilization CP, 2004-2005
· Excellence in English 3 Honors, 2005-2006
· Excellence in United History 1 Advanced Placement, 2005-2006
· Honorable Mention in Spanish 3 Honors, 2005-2006
· New Jersey Regional Science Fair Rutgers Student Award, 2005
· National Spanish Examination Certificate of Achievement and Merit¸ 2004-2005 and 2005-2006</p>

<p>Thanks for any help guys I really appreciate this, college planning is driving me crazy since I have to do everything on my own.</p>

2

<p>Your grades look very good, so I wouldn't worry about that. Also, your E/Cs seem to be right on track. I wonder - are you really that good, or there a bit of grade inflation at your school?</p>

<p>Your SAT scores are low. Maybe you can try the ACT because some people find it easier and CMU honors both tests. For engineering, I would get all your scores above 700 and your math score above 730, maybe 750 if you can.</p>

<p>Take math 2 for the SAT2 tests because it is actually easier than math 1 if you are currently enrolled in a higher level math (you are).</p>

<p>No AP classes or IB? This could be a problem, unless your school doesn't offer any.</p>

<p>I think you have a 40% chance at CIT as you stand, but will have more like a 90% chance if you boost your test scores to what I mentioned.</p>

3

<p>My grades ar that good I spend a ton of time...I have no life basically lol. There really isn't grade inflation, it's just I cannot possibly do good on sat math for some reason. My friends make fun of me all the time because they suck are real work but can somehow pull off an 800 on sat sections.</p>

<p>Also I took AP US last year (first half of it, thats the only ap you can take junior year)</p>

<p>Next year I have AP English, Ap Art History, AP US (second half)...the only other ap that my school offers is calc( I tried taking precalc over the summer to go into it but mymath teacher didn't like me so she said no).</p>

4

<p>I didn't get into ECE with a 670math 710writing 730verbal, (ACT 31math, 31 composite)</p>

<p>So I'd boost your SATs or ACTs, take a Princeton Review class or somthing.</p>

5

<p>I suppose there's no chance you could take the SAT II Physics as your third one, especially since you're applying for CivE? If you haven't taken any physics classes, ever (it looks like you haven't), then don't bother.</p>

<p>Like cmonyuk said, raising your standardized test score would be a good idea, but it's not a major, major priority. People place altogether too much emphasis on SAT scores on these chances threads.</p>

<p>I'm sorry about your mother, but here's some advice: stay away from that topic for your application essay. It might give the impression of trying to elicit pity from the admissions committee, which is never a good impression to give. Your Cancer Society extracurricular is fair game, but take care with that too.</p>

<p>I don't put numbers on chances, but I'd say yours are "good".</p>

6

<p>It's true, I shouldn't put numbers on chances.</p>

<p>I guess I'm like your 800 friends because my high test scores made up for my lowish (3.7) GPA. So test scores are important to me because they were my strong point, but I'm sure admissions will respect your hard work in school.</p>

<p>Top 10 out of how many? Are you #2 or #9 ?</p>

7

<p>Like #9 out of around 245ish</p>

8

<p>Hey Trotruck, I remember you posted a similar thread earlier, good to hear from you again. A 630 math score would throw up some red flags for a prospective engineering student. I would advise that you take the SAT IIs in October like you're planning and then also take the SAT Is again the next test date. Do you plan on applying early to Carnegie Mellon or anywhere else? Even if you are, I would still recommend taking the SAT Is again for the RD schools and even in case you get deferred. </p>

<p>Also, contrary to what I thought previously, you should be able to send the November scores before CMU makes an early decision (though you won't know what they are). Here was Krazy Kow's post on a previous forum. (Thanks Krazy Kow.)</p>

<hr>

<p><a href="https://acis.as.cmu.edu/application/...pplication.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://acis.as.cmu.edu/application/...pplication.pdf&lt;/a>
"You may apply early decision without having taken the required SAT Reasoning Test or ACT with Writing or SAT Subject Tests at the time of submitting your application; however, you should request that the test results be sent directly to Carnegie Mellon as soon as they are completed, but no later than December."
So I think you're fine with November test dates, as long as you have the results sent directly to CMU. </p>

<hr>

<p>Your ECs and grades are excellent, so if you improve the math score, I'd say your chances would be very strong.</p>

<p>As far as the 3rd SAT II, considering you're taking AP US, I would strongly recommend taking the US history. I took the literature and it was the hardest test I've EVER taken. While it is worth noting that English is not my strongest subject, I scored almost 100 points lower on the SAT II Lit than I did on the Critical Reading section of the SAT I.</p>

<p>As far as the essays are concerned, I'm not so sure that the topic of your mother's death must be avoided. I certainly wouldn't advise phrasing it where you are asking for pity, but you focus the essays on how it affected you and what you learned from it, then I think that might be ok. My mother too died when I was in middle school. My main essay was about that and the lessons in life to be learned from that. My college counselor looked it over too and didn't object to it. I'm don't know, maybe that wasn't the best approach to use, but I did get into CMU.</p>