i guess i'll give in to this "safety school" thing, help?

College Search & Selection
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<p>i don't like categorizing schools as safety, reach, or match, but i guess it would be good to have a somewhat estimate, but i need help, so here's a somewhat little synopsis of my academic profile, and could anyone help me with safeties? or any of them actually.</p>

<p>i want to be a computer software engineer, i don't like rural/ deserted areas (except RPI), i don't want 40,000 students either. a nice 5-15,000 maybe. i live in ct so my schools are constricted to the east coast, with georgia being the farthest west. i'm AA & a female. i also like 3+2 engineering programs where i transfer to another school, idk why but they interest me, but i'm open to suggestions.</p>

<p>Rank- 6/273
Simple GPA- 3.97 but that's not what my school uses for ranks.
First honors every semester since freshman year (I'm a junior now). Straight A's since freshman year as well.
9th grade courses(core only)-
English 1H, Algebra 2H, Biology H, World Study H, Latin 1 unleveled.
10th grade (core only for all grades)-
English 2H, Civics H, PreCalculus H, Latin 2, Chemistry H,
11th grade-
AP Calc ab, AP Stats, AP us history, physics H, Latin 3, English 3H
12th grade tentative schedule-
English 4AP, AP physics, AP Calc bc, AP psychology. i don't know if only four classes will hurt my gpa/rank... i'm proud of my top 6 because yale does a newspaper spread for neighboring schools (i'm about 20 min away) for the top 6 students.</p>

<p>Now I take a visual basic 1 class at community college. If I do not get accepted to the MITES program and don't get an internship at Sikorsky, I will take sociology & sculpture during the summer, also. During the fall semester I will take visual basic 2. </p>

<p>Test scores-
Best SAT-
M- 620 CR-670 W-650 will take again in June
PSAT-
M- 620 CR-630 W-630
AP tests coming in May. </p>

<p>Brief overview of ECs/awards-
Varsity track & field grade 9&10
Over 400 volunteer hours at summer camp for children with disabilities, Silver medal in national Latin exam, scholastic award for Art, student of month for family&consumer science, art, and latin. Own website (still in construction) for Lupus, plan on doing health fairs for lupus etc.</p>

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<p>Why is Georgia the furthest away you are willing to go? If you will be flying to and from school, you should think about how many connections you can tolerate. Do you want only direct flights? Or is one change OK for you? Spend some time with Kayak dot com or a similar search engine to get an idea of where you can get from where you are at a reasonable cost.</p>

<p>Is Georgia on your list because you have family or friends there? Then think about where else you would have that sort of safety net. Hawaii (to choose an extreme example) might not be impossible if mom’s best friend from college who is like a second mother to you is there now.</p>

<p>Do you prefer to travel to and from school by rail? Check the routes with AMTRAK. If you will be traveling all the time with AMTRAK there are some student discounts available that might be helpful for cost. </p>

<p>Female. Excellent GPA. National Latin Exam. Interested in 3/2 engineering programs. Have you investigated the second-tier of women’s colleges? One of those could work for you.</p>

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<p>thanks happymomof1.
as to georgia, it’s the farthest west i can go because a) i do have family there, and b) because my mother said so, which trumps all reasons :stuck_out_tongue: she doesn’t want me going far, she said if i really wanted to i could transfer when i’m older, but i wouldn’t want to.</p>

<p>what do you mean travel to and from school by rail? is that staying on campus or how i would have to commute to class?</p>

<p>i haven’t looked at the second tier women’s colleges, but i will. my prospective college list changes everyday because of cost of attendance. i do like the diverse environments of women’s colleges and the HBCU environment, but money is a big factor also. i’m looking at rutgers too.</p>

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<p>I grew up in Iowa and my mom OK’d Pennsylvania schools because that’s where her family was, but wouldn’t hear of Massachusetts schools because they were “Too far away”, so I can understand your situation.</p>

<p>By rail, I meant using AMTRAK to get to school in the fall, and for vacation travel home. Some people prefer travelling by rail and just don’t want to have to get on a plane unless absolutely necessary. </p>

<p>Since money is a big factor, do be sure that you and your parents are on the same page about it. Take a look at the threads about merit scholarships in the Financial Aid forum for ideas.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>I’d probably drive (or get picked up) since I’ll most likely be going to school in a neighboring state. </p>

<p>My mother says cost shouldn’t make or break, but as a single parent I know it really does matter. I’d most likely get the best finaid from UCONN since it’s my states school, and if I make valedictorian or salutatorian (only four ranks away) it’ll be a full ride. </p>

<p>I heard ivies give the best, so I really need to work hard. Thanks for your help!</p>

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<p>Ivies generally do provide the best FA but your SATs make acceptance in those problematic. Make sure you look at the ACT as well. Many students do better on the ACT than the SAT because it is more content based and all colleges accept either test.</p>

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<p>I’m taking the SAT again in may… Last time hopefully. I’m shooting for 22+ I usually jump a couple hundred points per test.
Doesn’t the ACT have science? I’m more of a math person, so I don’t think I’ll score well on it but I’ll think about taking it in June with my SAT 2s</p>

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<p>I think that you might get accepted at one or more of the Ivies. Your class rank is excellent and you appear to be involved in a number of activities. While many students at the Ivies have sky high SAT’s, there are some students with SAT’s in the 600’s and below.</p>

<p>Take a look at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. They have a relatively new engineering program that is very successful at preparing young women for graduate school and careers in engineering. Smith is an excellent college at which your admissions chances would be very good. Also they can be generous with financial aid.</p>

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<p>Fifty, thanks (:
Smith is on my list, and the new engineering program did catch my eye, I wouldn’t HAVE to do a 3+2. </p>

<p>I’ll shoot for the ACT, and apply to a few ivies, I’m thinking Yale, Columbia, and upenn.</p>

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<p>Pick up an ACT prep book at the library, and try a couple of tests. You might like it better than the SAT. Most students find that the Science section is less about science facts than it is about scientific reasoning and being able to interpret graphs and tables. You should do just fine.</p>

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<p>Thanks happymomof1
Do you know if there are online practice tests like the SAT has?</p>

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<p>I checked the ACT website, they have samples. I’ll get a book later.
Thank you to all of you, you helped me a lot and when I finally get accepted to college I will silently thank you</p>

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<p>I don’t know if you’re aware of this but there are lots of schools in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and even Illinois that are closer to Connecticut than Georgia is. Hartford to Atlanta is over 1,000 miles. Hartford to Cleveland is 564 miles. Hartford to South Bend, IN (Notre Dame) is 802 miles. Hartford to Chicago is 892 miles. </p>

<p>I think you should take the ACT, re-take the SAT, and apply to a range of schools, especially those with strong computer science and/or computer engineering programs. Top universities for computer engineering within a 1,000 mile radius of Hartford would include (in order as ranked by US News): MIT, Carnegie Mellon, University of Illinois, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, Cornell, Purdue, Princeton, Virginia Tech. Top smaller schools for computer engineering would include Rose-Hulman, Bucknell, and Cooper Union. MIT is a longshot unless you get your test scores up. Illinois, Michigan, Purdue, Georgia Tech, Cornell, and Virginia Tech are bigger than you say you’re looking for. That leaves Carnegie Mellon, Princeton (also very reachy, but who knows?), Rose-Hulman, Bucknell, and Cooper Union (also hard to get in, in part because it’s free). That’s a good start to your list. I’d throw in RPI, Lehigh, Olin, and Smith, all smaller schools in the northeast with good engineering programs. That gives you a range of schools, from super-reaches (Princeton) to matches (Smith).</p>

<p>You mentioned Yale, Columbia, and Penn. Columbia and Penn are actually big schools both around 20,000 including grad students. Yale is smaller but while it’s a great school overall, it isn’t as strong in engineering as some of those I’ve mentioned.</p>

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<p>Rose human is in ca isn’t it?
And you know, I blame my school system for never teaching us geography. I always thought IN, IL, Michigan, etc were farther. I’ll look into that.
And yes I know those schools are a lot bigger, but I’m open to try something new. Over april break we’re going to Pennsylvania to visit penn state, Carnegie Mellon, and lehigh. But not that I have come to the realization that I have more state options, I’ll check them out.
I don’t know if I’m getting this schools’ name correct but the university of Illinois- Urbana? Is that what it’s called? I heard it has a good engineering program too</p>

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<p>Now** oops</p>

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<p>Rose-Hulman is in Indiana. When I listed “University of Illinois” I meant the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, sometimes abbreviated “UIUC” on CC; that’s the main University of Illinois campus.</p>

<p>When you go to Pennsylvania I’d urge you to also visit Bucknell, a very good small college with a pretty good engineering program, and a little easier to get into than some of the other schools. It’s not too far from Penn State.</p>

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<p>These abbreviations kill me.
Wow I feel like a floodgate was opened, in a good way. Now I can add rose hulman again. Thanks!!
I’ll visit bucknell instead of Penn state, I was just going to visit because I have a friend there and he said it’s good.</p>

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<p>Did you know Detroit is farther east than Atlanta?</p>

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<p>No, I just knew it was near the great lakes. Never paid attention to the states outside of the northeast (where I live)</p>

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<p>Seconded the suggestion of Bucknell - although it might be a tiny bit more isolated than you originally said, it has a good engineering program. Have you thought about looking at Boston University of Wesleyan University as well?</p>