<p>Hey fellas, so I have a little problem here.</p>
<p>I'm going into my senior year and I'm on summer break right now, but I feel like my chances on pursuing the career I want to have totally disintegrated. It all started freshman year when my average GPA was a staggering 3.3 UW! Yeah not too good... At that point I decided that my chances to get into a top college were gone as I'm white, come from a decently wealthy family, and have virtually no community hours. Regardless, I still have been trying to get better grades and I had about a 3.92 GPA UW 5.14 GPA W my junior year through both semesters with 3 AP courses. Here's the problem - I have no taken a physics course and I have my mind set on going into Engineering. My reasoning is because my dad had a PHD is physics and he told me that the highschool version is way too elementary so I should just take a college course. In order to do this, I was required to have completed the college calculus course to do this. My "procrastinative" ways ended up failing me and though I will be able to complete my calculus course before going into my senior year - I will not have a physics course to show for my junior year. Thus, colleges will see it as me "taking a year off of science." At this point, I am becoming worried that only very low tier colleges will even look at my application. Yes, I will have taken physics at a college level by the time I start college, but my Junior year - despite the 5.15 W GPA - will lack a science course. </p>
<p>So, my questions are:</p>
<p>If I complete a college level physics course before I submit my applications to college, will I be able to slide on this issue?</p>
<p>-and since we are already on the topic of college admittance-</p>
<p>Would an overall 3.7 GPA with an ACT score of at least 28 ( I'll have to take it again because the one I took forgot an essay) be good enough for any higher mid-tier engineering colleges? If not, what score would be my best chance ( I had a 21 on reading, so I'm hoping I"ll get higher with a reading boost).?</p>
<p>If you took the time to read this and help me, then I'd like to give you my sincerest gratitude.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>That score will get you into plenty of colleges, and probably some decent engineering schools, especially if your Math score was strong. I don’t know what colleges you’ve visited where affluent, white kids aren’t well represented - I’ve seen plenty of them everywhere (including West Coast campuses, like UCSD, where they are outnumbered by Asian students). When did you expect to complete a college-level physics class between now and the fall application deadlines? I think your best course of action is to apply to general colleges at large universities, take as many STEM classes as you can, and then take it from there. You might be able to transfer into an Engineering department, or else major in another discipline with an eye toward graduate school. What state do you live in? You’ve implied that your family can pay full-freight, which is highly advantageous (contrary to your misconceptions, as cited above). A lot of less-prestigious state universities (think South, other than UVA and UNC, and West, outside of CA) have pretty generous acceptance rates, and all offer solid educations to those willing to pursue them. Most state schools had their roots in practical and applied sciences, and so you can probably put together what you seek academically. The question is whether you can picture yourself going to some of them. Are you a skier? Maybe Montana, Wyoming, or Idaho . . . Into big-time college sports? Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ole Miss . . . You might even have a shot at UC Santa Cruz . . . or Riverside . . . or UAZ . . .certainly W.VA . . good luck!</p>
<p>Yes, my parents could pay for probably anything less than 40,000 a year, and I live in Colorado. My math score was 34, so it wasn’t top notch, but I’m hoping that my 5 on AP Statistics and completion of a BYU calculus course will help my case. I was hoping to go to CU Boulder, but if they wouldn’t accept me into engineering, would it be possible to go into a related field there like physics or applied math and transfer?</p>
<p>I (Buff '82) would think Boulder will take you if you take the physics course and do well first semester. The ACT middle 50 is 23-28. You’re in-state and they will want to keep one of their own at home. The AOs there know better than anyone here. Call them.</p>