LET'S GO 2015! Chance for a chance and advice- It's worth your time :D

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello!
I'm currently a junior at a super-competitive (like actually though) high school and have been looking everywhere for info.
My problem? GPA and APs (faints). Just as a preview:
SAT: 2400
SAT2 : Physics- 800
Math 2-800
GPA - currently a 3.87 unweighted
Which is all right- I'm taking Spanish and it's really a struggle (but I like it so I keep trying)
APs? Well, I took AP Physics C last year, this year APUSH APchem and Calc BC
Next year courses: tough ones: multivar and ap spanish/stat
I REALLY LIKE ENGINEERING so I'm going to be applying primarily engineering</p>

<p>ECs? Just another overview:
Research - 5 really good projects, internship at an awesome university, lots of local, state, and national awards (usually 1st places, but nothing really major like national champ or ISEF) but around $1200 in grants!</p>

<p>Speech and Debate- 2 time national qualifier in international extemp and 1st alternate in Original Oratory (on scientific integrity of all things!) Vice President</p>

<p>VEX Robotics: 4 local and 1 national awards (1st and 2nd places) </p>

<p>SGA Vice President + Student Council stuff and NHS</p>

<p>Local national and international recognition for movie making</p>

<p>A series of other presentation and speaking related awards
Tennis, dance, piano, and indian classical music (is this what a hook is?!)
I have a leadership role in most of my ECs and I hope they are strong enough- I really like all of them and have no interest in perusing any more.</p>

<p>Work? No experience, but a lot of volunteering- mostly teaching kids by grading at Kumon, helping run science camps at a local college, and running science workshops!</p>

<p>I understand that it's really a gamble sometimes with college, so I am looking for
a) Advice on what to do in the next year that can make my application stronger
b) How much will my GPA hurt me
c) Potential colleges that good at engineering but overlooked
d) Chances for my top schools at this point in time (engineering programs):
Princeton
MIT
Olin
Georgia Tech
Urbana
Columbia
CMU
?Harvard?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance- I'm such a confused clownfish!</p>

2

<p>oops also asian female in engineering if that makes a difference </p>

3

<p>If you want to make your application stronger don’t apply for an engineering major. I would ask you to serious considering applying for something else, (math?, physics?) and then attempting to switch into engineering afterwards if you still really want it. </p>

4

<p>No CalTech?</p>

5

<p>@bomerr‌ May I ask why no engineering? (some more info- all research is engineering based, goes to an engineering high school, very strong programmer, accepted to gov school for engineering) I also heard it was really difficult to switch to engineering? If you could provide just a tad more info, I’d really really appreciate it, but thank you anyway!
@ImClueless17‌ Haven’t visited it yet, just like Stanford! Other side of the country, but I’m planning to look this summer- thank you!</p>

6

<p>Engineering is usually the hardest major / school to get accepted into. You’re hurting yourself MASSIVELY by applying to such a high demand major. I would say being a female applying into engineering does give you an advantage but I would assume that advantage would still hold in a different stem field such as physics. </p>

<p>You are right that is is difficult to switch into engineering but that is for 2 reasons.
1st) Course-load. engineering is very structured (calc 1-3, la/de, chem 1 (maybe 2), calc based physics 1-3, cs, etc.) so most students in the LA can’t switch in. This problem is negated by doing, lets say, Phyics where the lower-devision courses are identical to engineering.
2nd) School size. In most LARGE universities such as Berkeley or UCLA, it’s hard to switch into the engineering school but at smaller universities (like the ones on your list) they are usually more accommodating. </p>

7

<p>@bomerr‌ That was potentially the most helpful thing I’ve found so far- thank you so much! I love physics, and if I can switch later on, it would be even better! Thanks a billion :D</p>

8

<p>Olin, G-Tech and Urbana should be shoo-ins. CMU can be unpredictable, so I would label that as a solid match. And of course, MIT, Princeton, Harvard and Columbia are improbable for anybody (esp. MIT. There are people who sweep HYPCS but get rejected from MIT)</p>

9

<p>Cooper Union is a very good engineering school</p>

10

<p>I agree with the other posters that you should apply for a different major. Female in STEM is an advantage, but any advantage you get from that will be negated by the sheer competitiveness of the Engineering Major at these schools. That being said, you are a strong applicant, your GPA is not bad as long as colleges know that your school is extraordinarily competitive, and all you can do is curry favor with teachers for good recs and continue to perform strongly in your ECs.
CHANCES:
Princeton- Low Reach
MIT- Mid Reach
Olin- Low Reach
Georgia Tech- Match
Urbana- Match
Columbia- Low/Mid Reach
CMU- Match/High Match
Harvard- Mid Reach</p>

<p>Chance me back!
<a href=“http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1607539-please-chance-me-for-yale-scea-stars-make-everything-more-interesting-p1.html”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1607539-please-chance-me-for-yale-scea-stars-make-everything-more-interesting-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>If you take physics, you can switch to engineering and vice versa within the first 1-2 years. That is because courses which are generally common to both majors are calculus, multivariable calculus, differential calculus, classical mechanics I and electricity & magnetism I - and maybe real analysis and linear algebra. </p>

12

<p>GT:In
UIUC: In
CMU: Great chance</p>

<p>All others are reach school no matter what you do!</p>

13

<p>I do not know why nowadays everyone is saying that Cornell is a “match” for most students with a fairly ordinary portfolio. It is a school with an acceptance rate of merely 16%. </p>

14

<p>agree with @20more‌ also highly recommend as physics major, lots of my friends did that and they have been successful.</p>

15

<p>Princeton: reach
MIT: reach
Olin: high match
GT: low match
Urbana: low match
Columbia: reach
CMU: high match
Harvard: reach</p>

<p>A) WRITE A GREAT ESSAY! And don’t apply for engineering.
B) Not much at all, I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>

<p>Chance back
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1634747-chances-for-uva-and-vanderbilt-will-chance-back.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1634747-chances-for-uva-and-vanderbilt-will-chance-back.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>I do have a different opinion. If OP loves engineering, there is no reason not to apply to engineering school. Admitted to non engineering major/school and then seek for transfer is not necessarily easier. Also, you may not be able to take some engineering prerequisite course(s) that it may delay your class schedule even you get transferred at sophomore. Although engineering school is in general more competitive, female students usually get some benefit in the admission (except for Stanford). OP has perfect scores (with average GPA though) that I don’t see any problem applying to engineering.
Some other great schools you’ve missed are CalTech, UCB. UMich, and Stanford. Harvard’s engineering is actually not as good.
My D will start engineering school this Fall. We went through the application process and studied the admission profiles of most of these schools. I can testify that you do have a very good chance at them, but you do want to bring up your GPA. How is your class rank? With 3.87 GPA at your school may mean much more than 4.0 at other school, so I don’t worry too much about it. Your test scores are good proof of that.
Don’t let the other students’ comments scared you away from engineering school. You are an excellent candidate for all these schools although some of them (MIT, CalTech, Stanford, etc) are extremely competitive. Your should be fine with UIUC, UMich, GT, and CMU. Others would be low reach to reach.</p>

17

<p>Thank you all so much! I’m still on the fence with where, but I’m pretty sure I’m going for engineering, no matter what because it’s what I want to do. And for that I guess Harvard isn’t a top contender (unless their resources are really good). My school does not rank, but it’s def up there (my language brings everything down). Thank you all again so much and any more feedback would be appreciated. </p>

18

<p>If you feel like you have time, I would suggest getting a summer job. It isn’t extremely important, but a job can show another set of skills that you have, such as customer service and the ability to sell an item. Both of which are skills that you will utilize in any profession. Also, it seems like you have all the “big name” schools, but there are plenty of other extremely good engineering schools. For example, Harvey Mudd is known for having a good engineering program, and it is also a lot smaller then the schools you have listed. I’d suggest at least looking into some of those other options, just to see if something clicks. Hope this helps. </p>

19

<p>Princeton: reach
MIT: high reach
Olin: high match
GT: low match
Urbana: low match
Columbia: reach
CMU: high match
Harvard: high reach</p>

<p>A) Kill the essays - if you love engineering, don’t let anyone on CC dissuade you - it should come out in your essays.
B) EC’s are strong and varied</p>

<p>Chance back
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1639715-chances-for-stanford-rea-will-chance-back.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1639715-chances-for-stanford-rea-will-chance-back.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

20

<p>Thank you all again so much! I do summer jobs, but I don’t want pay, so they go under volunteering. </p>