Looking at Cornell and MIT

<p>Hey,
I'm going into my senior year at a private high school in St. Louis. I'm interested in study engineering in college, and after some reading, I've started to really consider Cornell University and MIT. I visited MIT a few weeks ago, and my ACT score is in the competitive range, but I have yet to take the SAT subject tests. I'd just like to post a little about myself to see if you guys think I will be accepted into these institutions.
(My ACT Science score is a bit low, and I'm going to be using a tutor to try to bring it up. I'm also not sure if either institution superscores the ACT, but they both accept ACT as well as SAT.) </p>

<p>My Best Act: Comp: 32; Eng: 34; Math: 33; Reading: 34; Science: 26
Superscore ACT: Comp: 33; Eng: 35; Math: 33; Reading: 34; Science: 28
Writing: 9/12 </p>

<p>GPA: My school grades on a strange weighted scale, but I'm a straight A student with one B+ in an Honors Geom/Trig course sophomore year. I've taken nearly all of the Honors/AP courses that my school has offered thus far. </p>

<p>AP: 4 on World History (Soph); 5 on Am Hist (Jun); 4 on Lit (Jun) </p>

<p>Extra Curric: 2 years of Volleyball, 1 year of Ultimate Frisbee, 3 years of Stugo, 2 years as Foosball Club President/Founder, National Honors Society, Senior Mentor Program, and nominated for National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. </p>

<p>Any help/advice is appreciated! Thanks!</p>

<p>I would say those are both big reaches for you. MIT, in particular, is prohibitively tough to get into if you are an above-average white guy.
It’s easy to cherry-pick the top schools, but be sure to spend the majority of your time and applications on schools where you are a match.</p>

<p>Why engineering? You seem more like a humanities guy (or gal?) based on your ECs, test scores, and AP classes. So yeah…</p>

<p>With your good grades and ECs, you stand a chance at Harvard, but probably a very miniscule shot at MIT. You don’t have any math/science ECs but you’re going into engineering! MIT will have more than enough applicants with the same grades and more AP science/math classes who will also have a pronounced interest in math and science. Cornell to a lesser extent. Consider a school like UIUC that is great in engineering but won’t care as much about ECs and the like.</p>

<p>WashU much?</p>

<p>washu…not for engineering</p>

<p>I was largely considering engineering because my dad recommended it. He’s a bit biased though because he’s an electrical engineer himself. I’m really looking to set myself up for Med or Business school, so he suggested engineering because the difficult course load would help get me into medical school or I could get a job as a sales engineer. He seemed to think that a business degree wouldn’t give me many job opportunities, but I am a lot more interested in working with people (like a doctor or a businessman) rather than as a true engineer. Do you think he’s mistaken about the business degree? Or is there another degree you’d recommend? I’ve looked at Wash U, and I do like it but I was contemplating saving it for Grad School. </p>

<p>I haven’t had the chance to take any AP science or math courses yet. This year I’m taking AP Bio and AP Calc. Thus far, I’ve taken Honors Bio, Honors Chem, Honors Physics, Honors Geom/Trig, and Honors PreCalc with straight A’s. </p>

<p>I also left captain of the Academic Competition team out of my extra curriculars.</p>

<p>^Stuff like Yale engineering might be a good option. It’s not an alltogether strong engineering program, but I’ve heard it is great for engineering majors who know they don’t want to go into engineering after college. And they don’t have a seperate engineering supplement or school (i think) so they’d admit you to the entire university, meaning that well-rounded applicants are probably better off. There’s other schools like this as well. The problem with Cornell College of Engineering and MIT is that they are looking for not only good grades (which you have) but a lot of math/science classes (which you kinda don’t have) AND math/science ECs (which are almost nonexistent in your case). Not only because these schools have fantastic engineering programs and can thus be choosy, but also because Cornell admits you into the engineering school and MIT is basically a math/science/engineering school, so they will want to see a focused passion. Still maybe apply, but definitely do not count on acceptances. Again, I think you’d have a better shot at Harvard/Yale than MIT and maybe Cornell as well.</p>

<p>Thanks, that was really helpful. Do you think I’d be better off applying to college undecided and then looking at a Bio major with intended entry into med school or looking into a business degree? Do you think my dad is wrong in saying that a business degree won’t get me solid job opportunities?</p>

<p>For many schools, you will need to designate which college (division) you are applying to. Take some time to look at actual college applications. You seem to be somewhat lagging in your attack, but that doesn’t mean you cannot come up wiith a winning application strategy.
You should know this: going into engineering without a strong drive to do well and natural aptitude will kill your GPA for graduate and med school.
A single-minded school like MIT is not the place for you. Cornell and Wash U and their ilk offer a host of other options.</p>

<p>i don’t want to seem mean, but nothing about this info struck me as Harvard material… sure his/her gpa might be high but the rest is mediocre for HYP</p>