Help me create a balanced list for engineering schools!

Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident)
  • State/Location of residency: New York
  • Type of high school: Mid-size public school
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): White male
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): First gen

Intended Major(s)

Biomedical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 98.92
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 103.41
  • Class Rank: 2/250
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 34 (All 34s)

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))

5 APs Taken: Physics (5), Psych (5), US History (5), Lang (4), World (4)

6 APs to Take: Chem, Bio, BC Calc, Gov, Micro, and Lit

Awards
AP Scholar w Distinction
Highest Honor Roll

Extracurriculars

  • Bioengineering Research at a Local University (Hopefully publishing soon) (Will also be submitting to Regeneron STS and competing at local state fairs)
  • President of Math Honor Society (11-12)
  • Vice President of Science Honor Society (11-12)
  • Treasurer of National Honor Society (10-12) (Along with Algebra 2 and ACT/SAT Tutoring)
  • Science Olympiad (10-12)
  • Mathletes (9-12)
  • Key Club (10-12) ~20 hours volunteering
  • 50+hours Volunteering
  • Various summer programs (Rochester Pre-College, Cold Spring Harbor Research Camp)
  • Experience in several CAD programs: AutoCAD, SketchUp, SOLIDWORKS (Certified Professional) and MatLab

Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: 7-8/10
AP Physics Teacher: 9/10
AP Lang Teacher: 8/10
Counselor: 8/10

Preferences:
Looking to stay within 4 hours of NYC

What else are you looking for? Size? Style of school? Budget?

What @eyemgh says. In general, I think you can apply anywhere - you have a great profile. But I do worry about your ECs. Whether it’s a job or club outside the norm, I’d like to see tenure and increased responsibility. Not saying you’ve done wrong here but they don’t wow me. Maybe I need to learn more about the Cold Spring Harbor Camp. Generally programs you pay for may be nice but not necessarily impactful.

Give us more desires and we can help craft a balanced list for you. No point in sending you to Johns Hopkins, for example, if it’s out of budget, too urban, not large enough or too cold weather wise etc.

Didn’t OP have a similar thread about a week ago?

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Sure thought it looked familiar

UGH - hope note - I’d hope people don’t do that - the results will be the same. I’m glad you have a great memory.

Of course, many threads, even from different OPs, are similar.

Yes, this is a duplicate thread.

The list of colleges for engineering you created on your other thread was balanced…plus you received some good suggestions there.

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Thanks for the advice! However, at the moment I feel as if I have too many schools on my list and been trying to narrow it down. I would prefer to be closer to a city, but it is not really a necessity. I do not really care about size too much as long as the school is not extremely small, and budget is not a big factor as I am unlikely to receive financial aid. I feel as if should cut out some schools towards the end of my list, but I am having trouble deciding. If anyone has an experience with these schools any sort of input would be helpful! Thanks!

This is my current list of schools:

Reach:
Cornell (ED)
Upenn
MIT

Target:
Northeastern
NYU
Boston University
Tufts University
Lehigh
Villanova

Likely:
UMD
RPI
WPI

Safety:
Hofstra
Stevens
SUNY Stonybrook

You don’t need any other safety schools if Stonybrook is affordable and you’d be happy going there. I think it’s superior to Hofstra academically- so can’t see the value in keeping H on there.

I think Northeastern is an outlier based on your reach schools- other than being in Boston, it is very different from Cornell, Penn, MIT, Tufts. So unless there is something very specific about Northeastern you’d love, I’d get rid of that.

I think all three of your “likely” schools are better for what you are interested in than Villanova. So I’d be getting rid of that.

There- you’ve tightened your list! And make sure your GC and/or your school’s naviance data agrees with your categories. UMD is just getting harder and harder for engineering…

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Just because you’re not likely to receive financial aid doesn’t mean that budget is not a big factor. You need to find out from your family what they are willing and able to pay for, every year for four years. Some families the sky’s the limit. Other families it’s $80k, or $50k, or $30k, or $3k. I’m not referring to what schools may consider the expected family contribution; I’m talking about what your family will contribute. You can only take a max of $27k in federal loans. The rest of that needs to be covered by your family. If the budget is not $80k+ ($320k for 4 years) then budget is important. You don’t need to share your budget publicly with us, but you and your family need to know it and make choices accordingly.

What kind of students do you want to be around? What type of class environment do you work best in (size of classes, hands-on or philosophical discussions, etc)? What types of activities or experiences do you hope to do (whether continuing or exploring) in college?

Without knowing what is important to YOU then people could talk about any of the schools and not have relevant information for you.

One other question for you about your balanced list: how many rejections would you feel okay with? And how many schools do you plan to apply to? If you apply to 10 schools, how would you feel if you were only accepted to 1? Or 3? Or 5? If you’re comfortable with the idea of being rejected by 90% of your schools then you can go very reach-heavy on your list. But if you think it would emotionally damaging to have that much rejection, then you want to add a greater number of likelier schools to your list. There’s no right or wrong answer here, it really depends on the individual. But knowing the answer to that (for yourself at least) will help determine where any cuts should take place.

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You say budget is not a factor as you are unlikely to get aid.

That’s precisely why it is a factor.

Is your family comfortable spending well over $300k when they can spend $80k or $100k or $150k or $200k?

Otherwise I agree with @blossom. Only Stonybrook is needed. And no need for NEU And potentially NYU. Just know it’s a split campus…ie engineering is located in Brooklyn.

I might add back in though a few in between schools like Pitt and CWRU. And maybe a Delaware or it might not be city enough bit instead of UMD which is a hard get. Delaware will come with merit if that’s important.

Some schools are easy apps so don’t feel overwhelmed. The # of apps may seem overwhelming to apply but they make it easy by asking for nothing more than a check. Your essay and LORs are already loaded so sometimes more apps is ok - if you want merit.

You can load each into Commom app and see if they require any more essays.

Many don’t.

Good luck.

For reasons of quality or value relative to other options, I’d eliminate Penn, NYU, BU, Tufts, Villanova, Hofstra and Stevens.

That leaves Cornell, MIT, Northeastern, Lehigh, UMD, RPI, WPI and Stonybrook.

Eight schools are plenty. You’ll almost certainly get into 6. What more do you need? You can only choose one. None of them would hold you back from having a great career.

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I’ll play. Since you’re from NYC I’ll stick to urban schools or close to it. Easier commutes for breaks and holidays.

Is there one school you love? Maybe ED but only if it’s your favorite and affordable. Could up your odds.

S20 liked Northeastern. The campus isn’t for everyone. It seems like you love it or hate it. I liked it. They’re big on Co-ops.

Reaches - MIT, Penn, Northeastern
Match - Lehigh, RPI, WPI
Safety - Stonybrook

I would add one more safety. Probably another SUNY.

Maybe another match like Stevens or Drexel. That would be 10 schools. No need for more. You should end up with several good choices.

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