Junior chances - Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, UT-Austin, Harvey Mudd

<p>I assumed that 490 was a typo, but saw later that you actually didn't correct it, or at least, explicitly say what your writing score is. Did you actually get a 490? Because the composite 1960 score would NOT help you, at all. That 490 would immediately stick out like a sore thumb.</p>

<p>I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but I'd also like to mention the Texas top 10% law. That is, any Texas senior, as long as s/he is in the top 10% of his or her class, regardless of GPA or SAT scores, is automatically accepted to any state university in Texas that s/he chooses. It's an extremely stringent law that makes getting into UT significantly harder than UNC-Chapel Hill (~18% out-of-state) and UVA (~30% out-of-state). Like I said earlier, probably 80-90% of UT spots are occupied by top 10% qualifying Texas residents. Out of state students, internationals, and those not in the top 10% of their class compete for the very small percentage of remaining spots.</p>

<p>So if you're not in top 10% of your school and your school ranks, the rest of your application better be VERY strong.</p>

<p>UT aside, the prominent lack of ECs that are math or science oriented is REALLY going to hurt you. Unless you really bolster them up, you have an extremely low chance of getting into Harvey Mudd and MIT. Carnegie Mellon may be more lenient but not significantly more so.</p>

<p>Oh, the writing score was a typo. I just don't know how to fix it. So composite score is actually 2260.</p>

<p>And I really don't know what else I can do for EC's, since I really only decided on engineering junior year. Before I had been all for art school. Plus, most clubs that are worth joining, aka you actually do stuff in them, (like Robotics) are available only if you join in the beginning of the year. If you have any suggestions for what else I can do, I am all ears.</p>

<p>As for UT, I actually considered that solely because it's a good school and it's in Texas, cause we have a house there. Not good reasons, I know. I was searching for more matches/reaches, plus it showed up a lot in those college search match things.</p>