<p>White and Asian Male in the state of VA
GPA: 3.5/3.6 (uw) 4.0 (w)
- I've had an upward trend so I'm hoping that will help me. My freshman and sophomore years were weren't exactly stellar, but I was able to get my junior year GPA to a 4.26 and I'm hoping to continue the trend senior year.
- AP World History (4), AP Chemistry, APUSH, AP Psychology, AP Micro/Macroeconomics, AP Government, AP Biology, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics I
- I have taken all honors and AP classes that I could since freshman year. The only regular course I have taken is English this past junior year and I will be taking regular during my senior year as well. </p>
<p>SAT: 670 CR 630 M 610 W (1st try), 630 CR 690 M 730 W (2nd try) 2090 Superscore
- Will take again in october and I'm hoping for a 2150+
- Will take the Chemistry and Math II Subject Tests as well in November</p>
<p>ECs:
- NHS
- Science Honor Society (2 years)
- School Newmagazine (4 years, 2 as editor)
- Leadership program (2 years), mentor incoming freshmen
- Basketball (8 years, outside of school)
- Soccer (9/10 years, club)
- Coached 8th graders in basketball (2 years, volunteer work)
- Piano lessons (7 years)
- Soccer Referee (3 years)
- Job at local pool (2 years) </p>
<p>Reach:
- UVA because I am in-state
- UNC-CH
- Boston College </p>
<p>Match:
- Boston University
- UC Santa Barbara</p>
<p>Safety:
- University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
- Virginia Tech (should this be a match instead?)</p>
<p>I am planning to major in chemistry in college and I've considered chemical engineering, but I'm more interested in pure chemistry. Do you think this is a good list of colleges considering my interests and stats? Also, you don't need to consider finances too heavily because my family is pretty well off and is capable of paying most tuitions, but aid would always be appreciated. </p>
<p>I think it’s a fairly accurate list for a chemistry major. Things shift down if you’re applying to schools of engineering. I also like you for UMD, but that’s a school I know well because my S went there in chemistry and chemical engineering. Great resources there. Tough courses.</p>
<p>Should I be considering applying early action to any of these schools without subject tests? Or should I wait until after first semester of senior year when my profile is hopefully stronger?</p>
<p>I have little knowledge of the workings of VA schools with their in-state students, so I don’t know the likelihood of your admission RD to UVA. I think your admission to UNC-CH is highly unlikely whatever you do. So where do you REALLY want to go to school, and will applying ED give you an edge there?</p>
<p>I see. I guess it would probably hurt me rather than help me if I applied early to any of these schools. Do you have any other suggestions in addition to UMD that you think I should be looking in to?</p>
<p>Drop UNC-CH since admissions for OOS applicants are highly selective (think Top20 competitive).
You could try NCSU, NC’s VTech equivalent.
VTech would be a match, not a safety. Include other VA publics (CNU? VCU?) that’d be true safeties.
UCSB will cost you 50K+ and you’re only eligible for $5,500 in loans (for sure). Can your parents pay the rest? What’s your budget, for that matter?
Look into RPI, RIT, Stevens, UIUC, Purdue, SUNY Binghamton, Colorado School of Mines.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter terribly where you major in chem or chem eng. The curricula in chem and in chem eng at American schools are pretty much the same. What will matter is what you DO there. Find a school where you will be supported by classmates, family, faculty, advisors, research opportunities, opportunities outside your major for concerts, electives, hiking, museums, whatever floats your boat, whatever you are and imagine for yourself. Your parents’ money gives you some options. If you go chemistry you want to avoid debt as much as possible. If you go chemical eng you’ll have more cushion there to take on debt.</p>
<p>If you survive the chem eng program, you will have a job and it will pay quite well. If you do well in the chemistry program, you probably won’t get a job in the field and your better options are to teach or pursue one of your other interests. Chem majors are a dime a dozen, and I cannot recommend grad school in chemistry right now. I know experienced non-academic chemists right now who in their middle-age are going from two-year contract to two-year contract. The job market has shrunk for PhDs in chemistry. </p>
<p>As I said, it’s a good list, but find one or two schools you can fall in love with. Go visit some of these on the list this summer. Try to find some u/gs on campus; chat them up; ask them about the things that interest and concern you about the school. Try to find some chem and chemical eng majors. Assert yourself. Get a feel for the looks of the campus and its proximity to the action and what kind of action that is. Read up on each school as much as you can. Having said that, my D goes to Pitt and they are strong in both fields; you have a chance of admission there and they are less expensive than most other oos state schools in the northeast.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input from both of you, it really helps to hear multiple opinions. </p>
<p>@jkeil911 would majoring in chemistry as an undergrad and then specializing in something like chemical engineering be different from beginning with a major in ChemE? The main reason I am leaning towards majoring solely in chemistry is because I will not be taking physics until senior year, so I don’t really know if I will enjoy the engineering part in college.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I have actually been looking into UIUC the most out of those colleges you selected and it doesn’t sound too bad, but would it really qualify as a safety? </p>
<p>Also, what do you guys think about Bucknell? I know it costs a lot, but do you think I would be able to receive any type of substantial aid?</p>
<p>I’m not aware of any way to backdoor into CE as an undergraduate. CE, like a lot of other engineering programs, is an entity in and of itself (and then some, engineers will tell you). It often takes engineers more than 4 years to graduate. You might be able to major in CE and minor in some subfield of chemistry like nano chemistry. I’m not an engineer, and there are people on CC with more experience with engineering schools. </p>
<p>I would recommend, if you like physics and think you might enjoy engineering, to apply to schools of engineering or institutions with schools of engineering, and if after your first year (when you’ll be taking many of the same courses a chem major would) you don’t like engineering you can move over to chemistry. It’s much harder to move the other direction.</p>
<p>You should be able to take a frosh year course selection including math, chemistry, physics, and English/H/SS that will prepare you to continue in either chemical engineering or chemistry.</p>
<p>As noted above, chemical engineering has better job prospects than chemistry. As noted above, it may be easier administratively to start in chemical engineering and later change to chemistry than the other way around.</p>
<p>As far as cost and financial aid are concerned, find the net price calculator on each college’s web site and use it to get a financial aid estimate.</p>
<p>Bucknell is a small school with the majority of students in fraternities and sororities, so consider whether that is the social scene that you want.</p>
<p>I’m a student at BU and I tend to like mentioning my school, but be aware that BU does not have a chemical engineering major. I don’t think BC does either.</p>
<p>I agree with jkeil911: if it looks like you can get into a CE program, apply straight from high school and plan to do it for 5 years (when calculating budget) keeping in mind your professional options will be excellent after you graduate. However it’s a grueling major so you have to be ready for the commitment and have a strong science background.
We can’t “tell” if you’d receive substantial financial aid at Bucknell, you have to run the Net Price Calculator.
It’s heavily Greek, so if you’re not into that, it’s probably not a good choice, but if you are it’s a great school.
The schools I’d listed wouldn’t necessarily be safeties, they’re just schools you should look into. Also look at Rose Hulman.</p>
<p>Wow, these responses have really made me think more about college and what I actually want vs. what I think I want. I don’t mind the size of the university, but individual class sizes are fairly important to me. The prevalence of Greek life isn’t a major factor in my decisions, but the overwhelming number of participants at a place like Bucknell could deter me from attending there. Also, I NEED to have at least one school to apply to in Boston I love the city and it has always been a dream of mine to live there. So, I have eliminated the colleges without engineering and I have added a couple more that actually do have chemical engineering with that criteria in mind. How does this look?</p>
<p>Northeastern (UMass-Amherst could be cheaper MA alternative)
Bucknell - I like the idea of a smaller school with more attention to individual students, on Greek life: Wouldn’t I be able to find others who don’t participate in it? There must be at least some like-minded students to befriend
UCSB
VA Tech
UMinnesota-Twin Cities
UIUC
and I’m looking at other schools that would be cheaper to attend</p>
I love the city and it has always been a dream of mine to live there. So, I have eliminated the colleges without engineering and I have added a couple more that actually do have chemical engineering with that criteria in mind. How does this look?</p>