I’m applying to:
Rutgers
Stevens- don’t wanna go
Cornell
Duke
Rice
Georgia Tech
Cooper Union
UPenn
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Harvard
GPA: 94.7 so idk how to convert that im guessin about a 3.9 someone please verify
SAT I: 710 cr 720 wr 730 math taking it again
ACT; N/A
SAT II: bio 730 will be taking chem and math II
AP: 4 bio 5 apush 4 stats
Ranking: top 10 most likely- definitely top male student if that does anything
Senior course load: calc bc, ap physics I, ap chem, ap english, tech draft,
ECs;
Eagle Scout- plenty of regional awards and leadership positions
Marching Band- plenty major awards section leader, sergeant- sousaphonist
Volleyball- head defense (libero) varsity 2 years
Bowling- JV 1 year
Asian Cultures Club- treasurer, head dancer
Financial Management Club- VP
National Science Honor Society- secretary
National Honor Society- most likely president for next year
Knights of Pythagoras (math club)- VP
Science League- VP- consistently highest scorer
Acadeca- captain most likely
Summer Activities-
Boys state- got some pretty good positions
Shadowed doctor for summer- got to do some pretty fun stuff invited to come back
Worked at Boy scout summer camp for 2 years- taught Eagle required merit badges and other difficult badges
Essays- very very risky commonapp essay about an extracurricular that is very dear to me but is not something related to academics- will definitely be a hit/miss depending on the officer
have a very good relationship with counselor and both teachers im asking for recs- i know I will get unique reqs
most APs of any student in my class-
took only TWO YEARS of world language- bare minimum language, does not work well with me
Other info:
Ethnicity: Indian
Income Bracket: was 80k but due to . . . . . now under 35k after taxes but the 80k will be on the app since it was recent
Hooks: blind parent
School: extremely large somewhat noncompetitive, 6 ivy leaguers this year was ridiculously crazy for my school- most likely only male applicant to Ivys for my year
not really a unique statwise applicant but my essays are gonna be on a topic i can guarantee that they will never have seen
@deeeznuts i was considering many of those schools above, but it seems that they do not have give good enough aid for my family’s need; plus my brother goes to stevens and is basically forcing me to apply so im just doing it just to satisfy him. thank you very much i appreciate your opinion and would love more
Your list is comprised of only 2 extremes: dream colleges w ridiculously unforgiving admit rates, and places u don’t want to go.
There are PLENTY of good & desirable schools in between which give FA.
I’m curious how an 80k family pays 45k in taxes and is left w only 35k net of taxes. Nevertheless, “after taxes” income is irrelevant. U think your family is the only one that pays taxes?
@GMTplus7 my family’s salary was cut from 80k to 45k. can you please give me a couple schools that are generous in their financial aid? i absolutely agree w/ your statement about the 2 extremes, that is 100% true, i was just hoping that one out of the 10 “dream” schools would accept me.
please lmk and i appreciate your comment thank you so much
I’d take Harvard and Yale off your list. Abysmal attempts at engineering if you ask me.
Don’t apply to schools you don’t see yourself enjoying. Because imagine what would happen if the only two schools you got into were Rutgers and Stevens (by no means bad engineering schools, by the way).
Where (geographically) are you looking? Would you go west coast? For engineering job placement, I personally its go west or go home.
@codemachine good advice on the yale and harvard stuff, i probably should do that.
rutgers is known as the “fun” school, id enjoy it but im going to school to get a job not party all the time and thats my total safety school.
i dont wanna go to stevens since my brother literally did AMAZING there and i dont think i can be in his shadow- i know its a pretty dumb reason.
and i have absolutely no chance w/ stanford and caltech. do you have any ideas on some nice engineering schools in cali? i heard harvey mudd is a pretty good school.
@swampdraggin yea ive used my parents tax documents and all bank statements and such to do the aid calculators ive considered over 20-25 schools except many of them do not give enough aid like i cant afford 20-25k a year so i had to cross it off the list.
and im applying to the extreme reaches cause there is still a chance that one might accept me and thats all i want, just one. if i dont get into any, then i guess rutgers here i come
One school I’m looking at is Santa Clara University. It’s religious, but you and I would probably not even notice. In the heart of Silicon Valley and really good engineering programs, it has a high acceptance rate and outstanding job placement. It wouldn’t hurt to look at UC Berkeley and UCLA, as they have the same application and really good engineering programs as well.
Mudd is great if you can get in. They don’t have engineering specialties, but rather a general engineering major where you can pick electives in different types of engineering.
Stanford and CalTech are reaches for everyone and impossible to tell who will get in. Apply if you’re serious about them, but maybe save your time and money if your heart isn’t set on them.
California is the place to be, my friend. Bask in its bounty.
@codemachine damn you are right- i gotta reevaluate my whole college plans- i really do appreciate it a lot. i just need one reach school to accept me but with my scores i have no idea whats gonna happen
Have u considered University of Alabama? With your SAT scores & GPA, u shd qualify for an automatic full tuition Presidential Scholarship. We visited the school last fall and were blown away in amazement. The majority of the students are from OOS.
To boost your chances you may want to apply to one of the four remaining Ivies on your list (Columbia, Cornell, and Penn) ED or EA (Princeton). If you are undecided between them, maybe EA at Princeton, where their engineering department has a higher acceptance rate and the decision is non-binding. You would, however, also pursue a “double concentration”, if you will, in Aerospace Engineering.
If you have any questions, never hesitate to message me. I could probably help you with most of what you need since I think we’re looking for a lot of the same things.
@GMTplus7 i will certainly take UAlabama into consideration thank you! if they could pay off full tuition that would be awesome i wanna see what the quality of ed is
What was your PSAT score? Any chance of National Merit?
There are a lot of good schools for engineering out there. There’s large state universities like Alabama, there’s small techie schools, there’s private schools. They give varying amounts of scholarships and financial aid money. Definitely find some financial and admission safeties that you would like to attend. But even if you did need to go to Rutgers - just because it’s a party school doesn’t mean you need to be a party student.
@albert69 i did complete garbage on my psat under a 200 (yeah i know its bad) so no chance there…
and rutgers i hope to get into honors college its actually decent in comparison to the rest of the school but as I mentioned before I would love to get into even one of my reach schools?
do you think I have a chance at any (answer honestly please) ?
Foremost, your SAT scores and GPA are on par (though raising it to a 2200 would be idealistic).
Rutgers: match
Stevens- don’t wanna go…match
Cornell-I’m pretty sure Cornell requires 3 years of a language…but besides that (if they do not), then I’d definitely say low reach/match
Duke-(not really sure to be honest)
Rice-low reach/match
Cooper Union-low reach/match
UPenn-reach
Yale-reach
Princeton-reach
Columbia-reach
Harvard-reach
Have you considered Purdue? (West Lafayette) They’re excellent for engineering and out-of-state costs are substantially lower than the schools listed. Their financial aid package isn’t substantial, but I’m sure with your stats, you could get a good scholarship + financial aid.
I’d also like to say that your ECs are really nice. You have a lot of leadership.
The essay could make/break you for the Ivies. Really do focus a lot on that.
@labmedicine i have not considered purdue until yet, will look into it! i am trying to contact my guidance counselor to switch into a 3rd year of spanish you were the first person to point that out and now i just got to get into the class. i am pretty surprised you would believe cornell and cooper and rice as a low reach but hey that makes me feel better about myself. obvi the ivys are reaches for everyone and yes my essay is a super super risky one. the admissions people will either hate it or love it.
thank you so much especially for pointing out that cornell REQUIRES three years i probably would not have noticed, as well as the comprehensive review of all the colleges
@pearmetty - The fact that your family’s salary is not $45,000 helps you as far as getting aid goes, IF you can get accepted to one of the schools that provides full financial need, you will likely go for free – tuition and room and board. See here - http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2014/09/15/colleges-and-universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need - list verified as of Jan. 2015. And, tell your brother no way. Just because he goes there and likes it doesn’t mean you need to waste your time and money applying. You have the stats to get into many of those. Free college would be nice!
