I saw so many good advice here, so want to ask for some advice here:
My S, hoping to study some kind of engineering, has the following stats:
SAT: 2210
ACT: 34
GPA: 4.0 (unweighted) 4.4286 (weighted)
SAT Subject: Math 2 (800) Physics (760) Chemistry (740) Chinese (700)
Take a total of 15 AP classes by end of senior year
Marching Band all 4 years, section leader senior year
Drum Corp Member two summer
A school club historian junior year and president senior year
Trying for the following college:
MIT, Cornell, CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, San Jose State.
Is the list good enough for reach and safety? Thanks!
As long as you can afford all of those choices, I think it is a great mix of reaches, matches and safeties. Does he also have awards and/or competitions that are STEM related he will be including in his applications?
Good luck & aloha!
Looks good. I am going to assume you are in CA by your list. Stanford and UChicago and more UC.?
Unfortunately no, he is too devoted to the various band and drumline. And for the AP exams he has taken so far, he has five 5, two 4 and two 3.
And yes, Asian Male in CA. Kind of think Stanford is an impossible. 8) Which other UC do you recommend? And for UChicago, he doesn’t indicate he want to try for that, anything about UChicago I should let him know for him to consider? Thanks.
I don’t know much about the CA state schools. Those private schools are a reach for all applicants, but your son should definitely apply if he likes the schools.
DS had stats about the same and was an avid musician (He had interesting essays, some revolving around music). He was accepted at Mudd, which per our research we considered a high reach. Also accepted at reach r CMU He was rejected from MIT, but we kind of expected that due to their low (9%) accept rate).
Yes, good list. No Cal Poly? UChicago is not for engineers.
Actually debating about Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, will that be too many?
When you’re a Calif applicant applying to UCs and some CSUs/Cal Polys, I don’t think that there ever can be “too many.”
The outcome is too unpredictable for all the Calif publics.
Which schools do you know for sure that you have all costs covered?
Does he have guaranteed admission to UCR or UCI?
So may be I should add UC Santa Barbara the the two Cal Poly to the list. My S rank 2 of the class, so there is a guarantee to one of the UC, though we won’t know which one it will be. 8(
How about UMich and Purdue and Rose Hulman?
University of Rochester. They have a great engineering program and also a great music program, if he wants to continue with music. I think he would have an excellent chance there because he will add to their geographic diversity. They also give a good amount of merit money.
For a student with the stats given, there are some CSUs with engineering where the chance of rejection is miniscule, assuming that other required items (a-g courses, etc.) are fulfilled. The student has a CSU eligibility index probably around 1200 (ACT-based = CSUGPA * 200 + ACT * 10) and probably over 4800 (SAT-based = CSUGPA * 800 + SATCR + SATM), which is significantly higher than recent historic thresholds at SJSU: http://info.sjsu.edu/static/admission/impaction.html .
Note that of the CSUs, CPSLO is the most residential, while SJSU and CPP are about half resident and half commuter, based on percentage of frosh living in the dorms.
If the student applies widely among the UCs (not just UCB/UCLA/UCSD), the chance of being shut out of the UCs is probably tiny unless he writes something really offensive in his essays. Recommend including all UCs which have his desired major(s) and which he is willing to attend (UCSB? UCD? do UCSC and/or UCM have his desired major(s)).
I am hoping having UCI and UCR in the list will be the safety for him, may be will just add UCSB for the UC list.
Does he want to stay in CA, or is he open to other parts of the country? We still haven’t seen anything about affordability - I am assuming cost is an issue since you are applying to so many UC’s, but there are also many great schools in other parts of the country where your son could get significant merit aid. Is this something you would want to pursue, or is he just looking at “name-brand,” top-20 reaches and UCs as his options?
If cost is a big issue:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
Cost is not a big issue. Of course if he can get some merit aid, that will be great since we won’t qualify for any needed base aid at all. We are open for him to stay in CA or other parts of the country. I have to admit we don’t know much about other good colleges other than those ‘name-brand’ and the local UC and cal states, and that’s why that is the list we come up with.
@worryparent, I suggest he write an essay about his Drum Corp experience. 2 summers of DCI while still in high school is pretty amazing. Work ethic, attitude, team effort - all really good stuff he should make sure he captures in his essay. Did he march for one of the top 8 corps?
Not the top 8 corps although he would be qualified if he audition to the top 3 ones, but he choose to join the one where most of his high school instructors instructs there and within reasonable driving distance (5+ hours) for those weekend camp during school year.
Is he willing to do marching band? Some of the schools on the list take great pride in their marching bands and it may help him, Stanford included. Yes, I meant only Cal Poly SLO, good enough to attract some top Washington state kids, not Pomona. He should get some good acceptances out of your list. My nephew had similar numbers, also engineering, and is at UCLA.