<p>I'm a rising senior living in a rural town near the coast of North Carolina. I want to go to a good engineering college but I'm having some trouble picking one that is a good match.</p>
<p>Here are my stats:
Weighted GPA- 4.6 (3rd in class of 155)
Unweighted- 3.89 (may be considered a 4.0 at some colleges because I have all A's)
SAT-
Total- 1950
ACT-
Composite- 34
English- 32
Math- 33
Science- 36
Reading- 36</p>
<p>I attended Governor's School of NC this summer in the area of natural science
I play sports year-round. Soccer, Basketball, and Track</p>
<p>What I would like in a School:
-Research opportunities
-Internship/Co-op opportunities
-Location (I don't care what size the city is, but I don't want it to be a bad part of town)
-Sports (I want to watch competitive intercollegiate sports and participate in intramurals and pickup games)
-plenty of Need-based or Merit-based financial aid
-Any size school is good, as long as it isn't lacking facilities</p>
<p>My top choice right now is Cornell. I love the campus because it reminds me of the mountains of NC, where I was raised. The engineering program is top notch and I like the research they are doing. Of course, it will be hard to get accepted.</p>
<p>Here are some others that I am looking at:
Princeton
MIT
Duke
WashU St. Louis
UMich Ann Arbor
Rice
NC State
Tufts</p>
<p>I realize that this list is top heavy, and I'm trying to find more safeties and matches.
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks</p>
<p>Jimmy28, when it comes out in a week or so, take a quick look at the US News Undergraduate Engineering Rankings and pick out a few safety/match schools from near the top of that list that you like. Purdue was a safety for me, Virginia Tech and Penn State may be matches for you and Texas A&M can be another safety for me.</p>
<p>It’s not a prestigious engineering school, but you might be able to get some serious scholarship money/honors program opportunities at Clemson (where I go to school now haha)</p>
<p>With a 34 and a 4.6, I imagine that you have about as good a shot as anyone wherever you apply. And I think that your list is off to a good start. I’ll add a few more that you may want to think about: </p>
<p>Schools like Illinois, Texas, Purdue, Minnesota, and Wisconsin aren’t easy to get into (their engineering programs anyway), but they’re more “safties” you could think about adding to your list.</p>
<p>“plenty of Need-based or Merit-based financial aid”</p>
<p>You’ll have to weed through the usual recommendations above to fulfill this. For instance don’t expect any $ from UC Berkeley. UVA is probably the same.</p>
(where I go to school now haha)</p>