Hello low SAT, how do you do? [Help me find a good college? :) ]

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Information:</p>

<p>-Ethnicity: White
-Sex: Female
-State: NY
-Grade: 11
-Major: chemical engineering
-School: Public</p>

<p>-GPA: 4.0
-Rank: Top 10 out of 600+</p>

<p>SAT: 1870
-Math: 690
-Critical Reading:590
-Writing: 590 (8 essay)</p>

<p>ACT: 31 [retaking to reach a goal of 32]</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Elite Program at Westbury College.
Chamber of Commerce Student Representative
Math Team Treasurer
Science Olympiad Sec in 11th, President in 12th
Honor Society Vice President in 11th
Business Honor Society Secretary in 11th, Co president in 12th
Spanish Club 11
Foreign Language Honor Society 11
DECA Vice President and 1st place at regionals
Drama Club
Class Government
Varsity Bowling
Interact Club</p>

<p>Volunteer Work:
-Various Local Cleanups (10hours per year)
Relay For Life (Co-Captain) (raising hundreds of $$)
Special Education Summer School (over 100 hours per summer)
-Various Business Functions (over 30 hours per year)
Thanksgiving Food Drive</p>

<p>At this point, I have no idea where I should apply because of the scaryness of people getting rejected from safties and such. So please .. throw out some names of schools</p>

<p>I do prefer that its in a city area, though i'd settle for a medium-sized student body (6k-13k) in a rural area.</p>

2

<p>As you have probably realized, you should apply to some of the SUNYs. Aside from them, maybe look at University of Connecticut, University of Pittsburgh, and Rutgers. I know those are out of state, but they have good engineering programs, and you should get into all of them.</p>

3

<p>well well, ducky. your thread title was just half of the story. indeed, low SAT, but pretty nice ACT :) looks like you removed that 5 hour drive away from home condition... I still say U of Minnesota-TwinCities for chemical engineering :)</p>

4

<p>I've come to the conclusion that if I want to get into the best college possible, that i shouldn't have a limit on how far from home I can go xD</p>

<p>Keep in mind, I'm not worried about going out of State. In fact, I WANT to go out of state.</p>

<p>Thank you for your opinions as for Rutgers, I've heard its in a VERY bad town.
I will be visiting UCONN next week and i'll look into Minnesota and Pittsburg.</p>

5

<p>I don't think it would hurt to up the ante a bit. Definitely apply to some SUNYs (Binghamton, Stony Brook, Geneseo, Buffalo), but try out some "higher" schools like the University of Michigan, University of Virginia, Cornell University, Georgia Tech, Case Western, etc. They may be "reaches," but your ACT score is excellent, and your GPA, ECs, etc., are stellar.</p>

<p>You also may want to look into Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and Virginia Tech.</p>

6

<p>The one rule my mom now has is that i can not apply to a school that is just a tech school. she fears that i will change my major lol.
But i will look into Umich and Cornell. Most SUNYs DO NOT HAVE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING which has been a major problem. I would love to go to binghamton but they don't have my major- same with geneso.
Thank you both for all of your help :)</p>

7

<p>I think your act is stronger than your SATs which I dont think will hinder your chances at schools. Obviously hypsm are out of the question, but there are some top liberal art colleges that have SAT scores optional as part of the application process. Reed & Pitzer come to mind, I know there's more. Just google it. </p>

<p>I think you still have some time to bring up your sat scores. especially if you sign up to take them again during nov/oct. you have the whole summer to practice. I'm not sure if there are any books similar to 10 Real SATs (for the new SATs) but that book really helped me increase my sat scores in a course of a month two months.. </p>

<p>you should start creating a list based on your academic interests as well as location. being general in terms of city, or medium sized school doesn't help much. what kind of community do you want. Boston University seems to be a match, however like NYU it has no campus.</p>

8

<p>Your mother is wise to make such a "suggestion." :) Most people do change their major at least once in their undergraduate career.</p>

<p>I do apologize for not taking more time to delve into the SUNY Engineering programs. I was incorrect in assuming that they had such a program given that they have Electrical, Computer, etc.; I've not had any personal experience with the SUNYs (though I have many friends attending Binghamton & Buffalo).</p>

<p>In light of your mother's requirement, some other suggestions: University of Maryland-College Park, Syracuse University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.</p>

<p>For the aforementioned universities: I have a good friend at Illinois; I applied and was accepted to UMD & Wisconsin; and close friends have considered Syracuse and Purdue. While none of the above relates to Engineering, I will say that Purdue and Illinois, in particular, are known for their strong Engineering departments.</p>

9

<p>jahan, no need to apologize. I'm thrilled to have people trying to help :) I am going to apply to Purdue though my mom isn't too happy about how far it is hehe. how is UMaryland, Syracuse University and SUNY Buffalo if you have any insight on atmosphere/parties? or any other general info :3</p>

<p>liek, BU has no chemical engineering. I have visited it and did enjoy the feel of it though :)</p>

10

<p>I'd also look at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. They've been moving away from a completely numbers based approach and look for more well-rounded students nowadays. You've got great stats aside from your SAT (and your ACT is perfectly fine as far as I know), and their chemical engineering program is pretty good. Also, if you're like half of my friends, you'll go in for ChemE and realize that Materials Science & Engineering is what you're actually interested in. :)</p>

11

<p>Maryland is a great all around school, but it's big, so it has a bit of everything. I believe all freshmen are guaranteed on campus housing, which is nice. The surrounding area is not the greatest, but you'll have little to no need to ever venture off campus. Most of its programs are well regarded, and its proximity to DC and VA is great for internships (DC being more politics, but there are many companies in VA). The student body is mostly from Maryland, but they have a very significant out of state population, much like Wisconsin. I doubt you'll have any trouble fitting in, and it's a big school, so you'll find other people who share your interests. Not positive on parties, but with a school this size, you're bound to run into many.</p>

<p>Syracuse is probably better known for its Communications programs (among the best in the nation), but it has a bit of everything. It's upstate NY, so be prepared for the cold. I'm not sure how the party scene is, but it's a fairly expensive private school, which usually means a fairly alive party scene. I'm sure, however, that you could avoid this if you so desire.</p>

<p>Buffalo is a big school as well, though smaller than Maryland. For a SUNY, however, it's big. The surrounding area is cold and at times depressing, but it's my understanding from friends that short of perhaps Stony Brook, every SUNY town is rather lackluster. The friends I have who go here spend most of their time on school work, but there are parties galore. You also have Buffalo State College nearby, so there are many college kids in Buffalo.</p>

<p>If you're willing to go a bit farther out, though, and really are interested in Engineering, I'd strongly recommend at least applying to Illinois. Their Engineering departments are terrific.</p>

<p>I am a teetotaler, so my insight on parties is, as evidenced above, extremely limited. ;)</p>

<p>Good luck, and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.</p>

12

<p>well, ideally i'd love to work in a lab to create medicine, so i think chemical engineering is more towards that line but i'm not 100% sure.</p>

<p>and i have CMU on my list of reaches along with Upenn and Cornell :)
But it's nice for someone to suggest it thanks.</p>

<p>EDIT: Thank you Jahn for all of your help.
I will most def be applying to SUNY Buffalo as an instate-cheap saftey :)</p>

13

<p>Well, you're lucky because Smith College just announced that SAT/ACT will be optional starting from 2009.
You can also do a 3+2 program at Bowdoin, or get a BA from Bowdoin and MS from wherever.</p>

14

<p>I am originally from New York as well. I had a good friend who went to Clarkson...they have a great engineering school (including Chem E), as well as arts/sciences and business schools. Check it out: Clarkson</a> University: Combined Ingenuity. Now that's genius.</p>

15

<p>eeck! all of these collges that people are mentiong are so small -.-
any good onces with at least a 6k+ student body? lol</p>

16

<p>If you only submit your ACT, you'll be fine. In most cases, you're under no obligation to show that you even took the SAT.</p>

<p>Look into where you're interested. You have a great GPA/ACT/Activities. Take a chance.</p>

17

<p>Thank goodness for the ACT! Here is your ACT score of 31 (currently) as it compares to 25/75 ave. of the following highly ranked schools -- this is from a list of the 40 most selective schools as ranked by % of applicants accepted:</p>

<p>Harvard 32.5
Yale 32.5
Penn 32.5
Princeton 32
MIT 32
Rice 32
Notre Dame 32
Pomona 31.5
Wash U ^ 31.5
Duke 31.5
Cooper Union 31
Stanford 31
Dartmouth 31
Williams 31
Northwestern 31
Columbia 30.5
Swarthmore 30.5
Middlebury 30.5
Bowdoin 30.5
Claremont 30.5
Tufts 30.5
Brown 30
Amherst 30
Cornell 30
USC 30
Barnard 30
Johns Hopkins 30
Wesleyan 30
Colgate 30
Vassar 30
Wash & Lee 29.5
Davidson 29
UCLA 27
Pepperdine 26.5</p>

<p>So, you see, your ACT really is on par with the middle of the applicant pool at Stanford, Dartmouth, Williams, Northwestern and Cooper Union. Your ACT score is BETTER than the midpoint at Amherst, Swarthmore, Columbia, Brown, etc. etc. Your ACT score is great!</p>

<p>Given your top 2% class rank, if you simply don't use (don't report) your SAT scores, you are a low match (that's how I see a midpoint scoring student) for all those elite schools!</p>

<p>Just don't use the SAT! Your SATs are equivalent to about a 25 or 26 ACT, so DON'T report them! </p>

<p>Some kids do much better on ACT than SAT, and you're simply one of them!</p>

18

<p>don't most schools only use the higher of the two anyway?
would it really hurt to give them my SAT scores???</p>

19

<p>Yes, it would hurt to give them the SAT scores, since they are so much lower than the ACT. You don't want the adcom to go: class rank -check, rigorous load-check, recs-check, ECs-check, ACT-check, and get to the SAT score and say -- hmmm... what happened here?</p>

20

<p>well.. i dont have a choice since most of my schools require SATIIs and since i already took the SAT you have to put that on it with the SATIIs.</p>

<p>So how much would it hurt me.</p>