Hello! I am a sophomore in high school, finals are about to come up, and I’ve been looking for colleges. I want to go into engineering, and I know this is one of the hardest colleges to get into. Is there any advice anyone could give me to try to get into this college, or what to focus on especially next year? What chances may I have too? Here are my current stats:
OOS - White Male
PSAT: 1210/1600
Sophomore Year:
English: A both semesters
Honors Math: B+ and A-
Spanish: A both semesters
Computer Science: A+ and A
Chemistry: A+ and A
Water Polo Year Round
Robotics Vice President
Astronomy Club
CSF
Volunteering at a hospital - Radiology
Next Year:
AP Chemistry
AP Language
AP Computer Science
Honors Precalc
Spanish
Water Polo
Robotics President
Astronomy Club Treasurer
CSF Publicity
Volunteering at a hospital - Radiology
If you’re going engineering, I feel as if your math grade should be an A. Also, I don’t know if the new PSAT is percentile scaled the same way the old one was, but a 1210/1600 on the old scale wouldn’t have been competitive at UMichigan in the past. That converts to roughly an 1815, which is below average even in-state.
So, I’ll just say to look at the percentiles of your scores; for a chance, aim for top 5 percentile; for a good chance, aim for top 2 percentile.
Oh, and lastly, only you can really evaluate your own ECs. To be honest, I (and I think many others) really know very little about your individual activities. At some schools, some clubs are jokes that meet once a year. Other places, they may meet every day and have raised $100,000 to fund a local animal shelter. Weird analogy, but the point is that outside of your head and the college admissions rooms, it’s hard to evaluate your ECs. And make sure you communicate your ECs fully to college admissions officers.
I will be a freshman in engineering this fall, and I have never gotten an A in any high school math class, so math isn’t everything. As long as you make up for the math grade with strong science and English, you should be fine.
^are you in state? OP is OOS which makes a material difference.
Yea … I actually know for a fact that As in math are on the top of the list for things they really want to see