<p>I am an international IB student predict all 6/7's throughout my subjects. I have an art scholarship, I got 4a* and 6A's on my IGCSE exams. I am a good athlete but not top. I want to apply for an engineering major. I did my first SAT practice test without much studying and got 800 in critical reading, 750 in math and 710 in writing (2220 in total). In my second test i got 2290, I am going to do SAT subject tests in physics and maths hoping for 750+. And I am an American citizen but not resident if that helps. I am doing the full IB diploma - my HL subjects are Physics, English and Economics - My SL subjects are Maths, French and Chemistry. . My equivalent to service projects is CAS (creativity, action and service) I am participating in many activities a week such as science club, tennis, programming club, community service, debating society and I went to china for a week and helped the local community by cleaning up the beach and doing other things like that. Hopefully that gives you more perspective on my extra-curriculars.</p>
<p>My university list is: (all subject to change)</p>
<p>Stanford
Cornell
Purdue
Carnegie Mellon
Berkeley
UCLA
Madison-Wisconsin
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor</p>
<p>For many of these colleges your intended major matters, particularly for Berkeley, CMU and Cornell. Engineering/CS/Business at these schools is far more competitive than other majors.</p>
<p>Anyways, I’m a current IB senior who applied to exactly the same colleges minus Madison and Purdue and plus a few others. I had slightly higher IGCSE results, a slightly lower SAT score, am a citizen and took similar-ish subjects. I got rejected from Stanford and Cornell, accepted at the rest.</p>
<p>CMU is a reach, and high reach if you’re a CS major. Stanford and Cornell are too.
Berkeley is a low reach (very few people got in out of the large number who applied at my school). If you’re applying to the College of Engineering there, it’s even harder.
UCLA, UMich, and Madison are matches.
Purdue is a safety/low match.</p>
<p>Your IB predicted also matters a lot. 38+/42 should suffice.</p>
<p>I’d say your extracurriculars are quite weak, but this depends on where you live and how involved you are with the ones you do. I’m sure that you know that your application is viewed holistically at all US colleges so your essays/recommendations will hold quite a bit of weight. You can’t only rely on stats/ec’s. </p>
<p>Your chance at the top colleges (Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell) are hindered by the fact that you don’t have the most rigorous course load for your intended major, basically you’d be more competitive if you took Higher level maths. Many of the people you’ll be competing against for admission at those college will have taken equivalent maths courses and many of them will have taken calculus/multivariable calculus at colleges. The fact that you don’t take higher level maths might make adcoms wonder if your capable of handling the rigorous course load of engineering majors. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, I’m sure you’ll get into a few of the colleges you’ll apply to. Good Luck! </p>
<p>This is entirely inaccurate. I know of multiple people taking Math SL (by the way, they do have a certain degree of calc in this course) who have gotten into good engineering schools. And FYI, Physics HL, as well as English HL, are very much rigorous courses (I have taken both of these subjects at an SL level and have still managed to get into the majority of those schools, if you require anecdotal evidence), and taking the full diploma is in fact seen as a rigorous course load for a high school student, regardless of the subjects taken. You do NOT need to take courses that have to do with your intended major - the majority of students in high school don’t know what they want to major in, so this is given no weight. And the fact that he doesn’t take Math HL does in fact, say nothing when he has a 750 in SAT I Math and (according to him) will get a 750+ score in both Math II and Physics. What do you think the point of STANDARDIZED tests are? They don’t measure your ability in math by the courses you take in high school because it is not standardized. As long as your curriculum overall is rigorous, there is absolutely no need to take Math HL or AP Calc AB/BC, unless of course you want to waive certain courses in college.</p>
<p>Well my school’s counselor informed me that not taking higher level maths will hinder your chances at top schools (i’m talking MIT, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley etc) for engineering. </p>
<p>I am aware that there is calculus in sl maths…duh. I never said higher level physics/english aren’t rigorous so don’t misquote me. What i said was by not taking higher level maths his course load isn’t the most rigorous course load for <em>engineering</em>. Plus, not taking higher level maths will hold him back once he starts any engineering course because it requires a high degree of maths and well it’s better to be exposed to a high level of maths in high school to not struggle in college engineering courses. </p>
<p>Yes, his standardized test score will make him comparable to other students of equal caliber that are applying for engineering but i still stick with the notion that not taking higher level maths will hinder his chances. Disagree all you want. My schools sends a few students every year to top engineering schools and they always have taken higher level maths and many that didn’t take higher level maths were rejected. </p>
<p>That’s an incredibly large assumption to make, considering you only have access to the small sample size of a single school. Hopefully you know this though, since you’re taking Math HL.</p>
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<p>A high score on Math HL exempts you from taking Intro to Math courses at many colleges (at Berkeley, where I am attending, a 6/7 exempts you from Math 1A and 1B). Not receiving credit from Math HL or AP Calc AB/BC means that you MUST take these classes. Therefore, by the end of 1-2 semesters, you will be caught up on all the math Math HL/AP Calc students have done… and more. </p>
<p>When you’re an engineering major you don’t just jump into a bunch of courses which require tough math in your first semester. You have to take prereqs that satisfy the demands of the course. So even if you do not take Math HL, the only disadvantage you’ll be at is that you will have to take the required course(s) before taking these classes. Once you take these, you will be able to take the engineering courses… colleges make sure you know the required material before you take the course, so saying that they will struggle just because they didn’t take Math HL is incorrect. Essentially, you’ll be spending a semester or two on these instead of engineering courses that require difficult math, which is a valid argument for taking Math HL in high school. BUT, you are not at a large disadvantage at all for admissions. The effect of not taking this course is limited to after you get in.</p>
<p>I took Math HL as well, so I agree that it’s a good course to take before college. However, stating that its going to have a noticeable impact on your application is absurd, even if your counselor has told you so.</p>
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<p>As long as your courses are rigorous, your schedule is fine. Taking English HL, even if you’re going to be an engineering major, is just as good as taking Math HL. There is nothing like “your courses must be rigorous in relation to your intended major.” I’ll say again, that most students don’t even know what they want to do in college, so WHAT you take isn’t as important as how difficult it is. I will admit that if you take all humanities and are applying as an engineering major, you will be disadvantaged. However, that is certainly not the case as he takes Physics HL.</p>
<p>Oh and by the way, I know an Applied Math major from my high school who took Math SL alone, and got into Brown (a top 5 school for applied math). It’s not engineering, but that’s just some anecdotal evidence that even if you’re a math major, you do not need to take Math HL.</p>
<p>Nah, i’m not going to be taking higher level maths anymore the only reason i was planning on taking it is because i wanted to study economics. An idea which i will never consider again after doing some work experience. </p>
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<p>Hmm, never knew that. Thanks for informing me on all that about engineering. Guess i’ll have to be more careful of reiterating what my counselor says. </p>
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<p>That might be the case in America but since i go to a British school many student at the age of 16 have a pretty good idea of what they’d like to study. The British curriculum makes you specialise from a early age. Essentially you pretty much decide on a path (maths/sciences or humanities) as a sophomore and apply for a subject course to university and only study that for three years at university. </p>
<p>It’s gonna come down to the SAT scores. Stanford is a complete crapshoot, so just assume you will get rejected (apply of course). The good news is that the math and cr scores are a classic 1550…I would be surprised if you got rejected from most of the schools on that list. I could see CMU and Cornell rejecting or wait listing you for some BS reason, but overall you should get into many schools. </p>