Help in picking colleges!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a white male, California, upper middle class, money isn't a factor in decision</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9ish UW, 4.2ish W
Only 3 Bs are in sophomore year (1 is an honors class) where I didn't try very hard.
SAT1: 800 CR, 770 Math, 750 Writing, 2320 overall
SAT2: 800 Math, 790 Chem, 760 USH, 700 lit (taking again in oct, I expect a 750+)
APs: USH 4, Chem 5. Taken as many as possible except for CS,
Taking 4 APs next year (Physics, English Lang, Spanish, Calc BC)
I go to a highly competitive (top 100) public high school</p>

<p>ECs/Awards
Eagle Scout (organized 200+ hours of work building uniform racks for marching band, using my own design)
4 years marching band
2 years section leader
2 years concert band, 2 years wind ensemble (audition only)
2 years orchestra (audition only)
Brown Book Award (for talent in writing/literature, one of 11 awards given to juniors)
National Merit Qualifier (only got 211, so probably wont make next round)
National History Day county finalist and state competitor (basically, a large group research project and presentation)
1 week exchange program studying Spanish in Mexico
7 months of volunteering at local bookstore (4 hours/month)
3 months volunteering helping teach mentally challenged children to play instruments (1.5 hours/week)</p>

<p>I expect very good letters of rec; one is from the teacher who gave me the Brown Book Award, other is from math teacher who has seen my passion for math and an A+ both semesters.</p>

<p>My one major problem is lack of science ECs, which I am painfully aware of. </p>

<p>I want to major in engineering, and right now I'm having a lot of trouble choosing colleges. I would like to go somewhere that isn't very close to Northern California, so I can force myself out of my comfort zone. </p>

<p>I will probably apply to all the top-tier engineering colleges (MIT, Caltech), but what are some other schools I could think about with my resume?</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

2

<p>I’d check out RPI; my friend is going there and it should be slightly safetyish, and it is not very close to Norcal</p>

3

<p>For engineering: Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon, RPI, Cornell, Olin?</p>

4

<p>Thanks so far for all the responses! They’ve been extremely helpful.</p>

5

<p>Don’t forget about Rice! Weather is not too hot during the school year and certainly not cold like Cornell. Small classes. Eclectic student body. No frats. Definitely UCSD as a match and also check out Viterbi at USC.</p>

6

<p>ricegal, thanks for the input. I’m not sure whether to consider Berkeley and LA as matches or reaches, and I know they have better engineering programs than UCSD probably does. Berkeley for sure, at least.</p>

<p>Kind of a general question towards anyone, should I be considering Berkeley and LA as matches or reaches? Even though Berkeley is pretty close to home, its got an amazing engineering department from what I’ve heard.</p>

7

<p>^ I think you should get into one of them esp. considering that you’re in-state and have the “numbers”</p>

<p>How about Northwestern? I know it’s not the first engineering school that comes to mind but they have a decent program. Plus the first year “Engineering First” program is baller.</p>

<p>Look at UMich too.</p>

8

<p>Wash U sounds like it might be a good fit. Great engineering programs. St. Louis is a nice city, weather is decent, unpretentious mid-western vibe, national reputation.</p>

9

<p>Thank you for all the responses!</p>

<p>Another quick question, are there any ivies that are worth applying to with my stats that have good engineering departments? I know cornell has a pretty good one, but how about HPY or some of the more elite ones?</p>

10

<p>Go east young man…to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.</p>

11

<p>I would apply to some of these schools with your stats (in order of preference):</p>

<p>Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
Berkeley</p>

<p>Mudd
UPenn
Cornell
Michigan
Johns Hopkins
Duke
CMU
Georgia Tech
Rice</p>

12

<p>Harvard, and Yale, from what I know, are not really engineering schools. I believe Harvard has only one building dedicated to the engineering department (though probably should double check).</p>

<p>Princeton is decent for engineering on the other hand.</p>

13

<p>Harvard has invested a huge amount of money to uplift the standard of their engineering school. The result may be seen long term. But as it is, I’d rather attend Harvard engineering than any of the Ivies including Cornell.</p>

14

<p>RML, really? From what I’ve heard, Cornell engineering is better than Harvard.</p>

15

<p>^I think he meant that the H-bomb outweights everything else. It’s HARVARD.</p>

<p>Out of the Ivies and other than Cornell, Princeton has great programs. Penn is great if you wanna do bioengineering.</p>

16

<p>Northwestern has top-5 material sciences and industrial engineering/management sciences programs. Most others are in the top-20; “Engineering First” and CO-OP are awesome. Michigan has great programs if you don’t mind bigger schools.</p>

17

<p>If you’re unsure about engineering discipline, when applying to Berkeley select “Engineering - Undeclared” on your application.</p>

18

<p>Is that just for Berkeley or for all the UCs?</p>

19

<p>OH, another question, is there really anything I can do about the lack of science ECs? Meaning, would it make a big difference if I joined an engineering club senior year?</p>

20

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<p>Which is one of the most difficult pathways to be admitted to Berkeley - hence increasing your chances of being rejected entirely.</p>