<p>How is this school? I'm interested in it as something between my top schools and my safety schools, but I don't know much about it and nobody I've talked to has either heard of it or knows much about it either.</p>
<p>Can someone please shed some light about this school and what it's like?</p>
<p>2150 SAT, 33 ACT, 3.91GPA. If that changes your reply.</p>
<p>you have “georgia tech” in your topic!</p>
<p>…any minute now before GP Burdell appears</p>
<p>Haha, true xjis. I am surprised I beat him to the punch.</p>
<p>Skywalker23, if you don’t mind me asking, what are your “top schools?” Georgia Tech is a fantastic school for engineering, and there aren’t a whole lot of schools who can beat it out in that regard. It seems to me that you would get in based on your stats, but if your top choice is like MIT and Stanford, then I would suggest your brace yourself, because I had similar stats to you and got denied outright from there.</p>
<p>in b4 gpburdell…</p>
<p>But seriously, Skywalker23, your inquiry is way too general. It’s not very hard to look up info on the school… trust me, it’s well known. After you do some minor research on it, come ask us anything.</p>
<p>Georgia What? Never heard of it.</p>
<p>Burdell has beat me here, ahh well. It’s a really good school, and I had similar stats to your and I got in. Didn’t get the full ride scholarship though, but that really competitive.</p>
<p>Hey, since you all are here now, can you plz gv some insight into how long it takes to do an undergrad at GT, lets say in CE? A while back I had posted some Q on this board and someone came and said it takes 5-6years!</p>
<p>DS would have taken 6-7 AP’s by the time hes done (4,5) - how much would this help.</p>
<p>HE is really really keen on GT, is very bright, but has a 3.4-3.5 WGPA so far, our school is int’l and is tough, teachers as well as grading. No ranking but I think he would be top 10-20% in Math/Physics and 20-30% in Languages. He has 2160 in Sat 1 and 800,790 in Sat2 Math/Phy.</p>
<p>I apologize if you have read my boring posts before:)</p>
<p>Another Q - If GT is a reach for him, what would be a safety, no cold places…he likes city life. Hows VT, UT, SMU? I have read their boards but they are not very active over there.</p>
<p>I’m applying to UT Austin as well. UT Austin, Georgia Tech, Illinois U-C, and USC) are my “midrange” schools. My safety is University of Nebraska Lincoln, because it’s in state.</p>
<p>I just want to have a general idea of what this school is like. I know that it’s highly ranked in engineering but I want to know more.</p>
<p>Again, what are your high range schools? Your mid range schools are basically all in the top 10 but one of them. They are all considered top tier schools.</p>
<p>my high range is MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Cornell.
I don’t “expect” to get into those, but I want to, so I’m applying.</p>
<p>I see Georgia Tech as my best “real” option right now.</p>
<p>my safety is University of Nebraska-Lincoln (in state)</p>
<p>You may want to look into Carnegie Mellon, especially if you are looking at CS or computer engineering.</p>
<p>To give you a perspective here is where i applied/result this past spring with 2200/4.0</p>
<p>MIT (waitlist)
Caltech (waitlist)
Carnegie Mellon (Accept/Will Attend)
Cornell (Accept)
Rice (Accept)
ASU (Accept)
University of Arizona (Accept)</p>
<p>Your results would likely be different (for better or worse), but from my personal experience I’d say MIT/Caltech were most selective, then Rice/Cornell/CMU a bit easier, and the state schools were my safeties. A school like Georgia Tech or University of Illinois U-C may have been a good addition to my list, but I was basically thinking I’d go expensive private or free state school… didn’t really feel like paying for an expensive state university :P</p>
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<p>That is kind of a funny, but valid point.</p>
<p>I went to Illinois as a cheap, in-state option, but also as the number 4 (at the time) ME program in the country, so it was win-win. I loved it there.</p>
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<p>What do you want to know about the school? You should get in with those stats. I wouldn’t call it a safety based on the above, per se, but I’d say it’s a solid match.</p>
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<p>Many students graduate in 4 years with engineering degrees. Depending on his AP scores and the classes he takes (whether or not they apply to his major), he could potentially start GT with 20-24 credit hours based on those AP’s. That makes 4 years very possible. In fact, in 5 years he could easily have a BS and an MS.</p>
<p>To be conservative, let’s say your son comes in with 20 hours and takes a program that requires 140 hours for the degree (BSCE is 128 hours right now, most other engineering degrees are 135-140). In that case, if he doesn’t fail any classes, he needs 120 hours to graduate. Over 8 semesters, that’s an average of 15 hours or 5 classes, which is really not bad, at all. </p>
<p>The people that attend for 5 or 6 years usually: 1) fail a bunch of courses, 2) change majors and have to take “extra” courses, or 3) take very easy schedules (12-14 hours / semester). Of course, not everyone is a slacker. There are other exceptions such as: 1) working full time and taking classes part-time, 2) transferring in from another school and many credits don’t transfer, 3) double major or extra minors, 4) studying abroad (which requires you to take fewer classes).</p>
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<p>He has a 3.4-something Weighted GPA? What’s his unweighted? That’s a very low GPA for Tech, even with his SAT scores. 3.4-something weighted GPA puts him in the bottom 10-12% of accepted students (and you have to assume that many of them are recruited athletes). </p>
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<p>UT-Austin would be a reach, as well, especially out of state. SMU is not ranked, so I would probably consider other schools ahead of that one. VT seems like a match. He could also try TAMU and Clemson. His GPA is low for Florida, but his SAT score is very high compared to average, so he might have a chance there. There are all the CA schools, but those get really competitive because of the large in-state applicant pool.</p>
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<p>I’d take GT or UIUC over SMU for engineering in a heartbeat if they were the same price. Now, you prefer a small campus, higher faculty to student ratio, etc. and you get into a comparably ranked engineering schools (say Berkeley and Stanford) for about the same price, it makes sense to go to a private school. But if it’s a top 5 public vs. a 20+ private, you’d have to really like the benefits of private schools to pass on the public.</p>
<p>Thank you G.P. Sadly, I am aware of the chances at GT for him. Yes 3.5 is WGPA. He had taken tough classes in junior year and landed up with tough teachers as well who did not curve. E.g APEcon - Macro and Micro…Our HS naviance puts him in the Reach/High match zone. TAMU and VT - match. SMU - safety. We are international US citizens so have to find a place where he will be able to enjoy his 4 years (studying/meeting new people). Not religious.</p>
<p>G.P Smu Is ranked. I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Business Week, USNWR and many more rank SMU. It’s in the top 100 on USNWR (around 50 or 60) and business week ranks it very high for business. The acceptance rate for SMU is 50% which is very similar to UT. I don’t think you know your stats.</p>
<p>Unless your talking strictly about the engineering school…</p>
<p>SMU is ranked 66th for national universities, along with Purdue, U. Connecticut, and U. Iowa. SMU is not ranked for engineering, but it does have a very strong business program (Cox.)</p>
<p>I was talking about the engineering school. It’s unranked (100+).</p>
<p>Warning: I went to GaTech ('07 EE) so I am slightly biased. GaTech has a tendency to look at extra-curriculars and background more than some of the other schools which is a bonus for those of low GPA. This means sports, charity (habitat for humanity, etc…), and an interesting background (foreign but in US, etc…). They also have a tendency towards female engineering applicants (given their horrible ratio of guys to girls).</p>
<p>Going back to 2003, my SAT was 1310 (out of 1600) and my GPA was near 3.6 (unweighted) and I got in without any issues coming from a public high school with decent extracurriculars. I chose GaTech from other public/private engineering schools because the rankings were excellent (constantly top 5-7 overall in engineering at the time though better now) and it didn’t have the ‘elite’ feel that I couldn’t stand of some of the private institutions I visited. </p>
<p>In terms of alternatives to GaTech there are many schools that have decent programs and are easier to get in. I will break them out by region (I am from the Southeast so my focus will be there and ignore California as its difficult for out-of-staters to be appropriately considered). Be warned this is my opinion so take it for what you will.</p>
<p>Northeast alternatives:
Very Good/Similar : RPI, CMU, RIT
Decent: PSU, Lehigh
Southeast alternatives:
Decent: Vanderbilt, NCSU, VT, Clemson, FSU
Midwest:
Very Good/Similar: UIC
Decent: Purdue (but still very good)
Northwest: No experience
Southwest: No experience
Decent: Texas A&M</p>
<p>He will apply to GT, Vandy, UVA, and USC as reaches.</p>
<p>VT and UT may be a high match…SCU, SMU and TAMU as safeties/matches?. We need to have a few more matches and safeties before we come up with a shorter list that have good CS programs and a pleasant learning environment.</p>
<p>He is bright, I know he can do it. He has taken honors and AP courses and also self taught some programming languages and has his own Web design business since he was 12.</p>
<p>Problem is ECC’s. We have moved so many times that he was unable to focus on anything major - sports/music. The free time he had after school went into learning about computers. He has no Community Service hours - gets put off when he sees other students do it to pad their resume’s without passion.</p>
<p>He takes private tennis lessons and donates money to charity on his own. But is that enough? He is a genuine kid with strong moral values and a passion for computers, just not a good enough GPA.</p>