Hi all! I am a rising senior and am currently reviewing colleges to apply to in the fall! I would very much appreciate it if you wouldn’t mind taking a look at some of my stats and giving a few pointers on any colleges that aren’t worth applying to or some I might have missed.
Thanks!
GPA : 3.56(UW) of 4.0 / 4.62(W) of 5.0 or (110 on 100 scale)
ACT 35/36©, M(36),E(34),R(35), S(35)
Major Intended: Biomedical Engineering/Mechanical Engineering
Activities:
FIRST Robotics Team Captain, Lead Programmer (2 yrs)
VEX Team Captain, Lead Programmer>>Worlds Appearance (2 yrs)
FIRST Lego League Mentor
Eagle Scout
Technology Students Association Biotechnology, Tech Bowl and SciVis Captain>>Nationals Appearance( 1 yr)
Symphonic Orchestra 1st Chair Violin
Math Tutor
Physics Tutor
Now for the schools(Not in any particular order):
UT Austin (instate not top 10% though)
Texas A&M
UIUC
UC Berkeley
Northwestern
Emory University
Georgia Tech
Baylor University
UT Dallas
Johns Hopkins
University of Pennsylvania
U Mich
Purdue University
(I am not sure if applying to Ivy is good but I heard Cornell has a good engineering program)
Also, not sure if this justifies the lower GPA, but for the end of my freshman year and my entire sophomore year, I suffered from a really bad flare of eczema (which was already severe), and it kind of put my lif on halt. It was hard to focus when it itched, and it really took a toll on my grades, and at the time, I was taking the most challenging curriculum my school had to offer (still am…11 APs WOO). After I received the proper treatment though rebounded from B’s to A’s, so a definite upward trend. Can I explain this to the admissions committee? have any of you guys been in a similar position?
Just saw a major typo! GPA is 3.46(UW) not 3.56
I don’t think you will have good chances at ivies with your GPA/test scores/ECs. In fact, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, JHU, and possibly even Emory and UMich may be high reaches/out-of-reach for you. These schools place heavy weightage on the academic qualifications of their applicants. Perhaps if you raise your ACT score to 35+ and do well (750+) on 2 or more subject tests, your chances will increase. Your ECs are very centralized around engineering and comp sci but I am not sure they will help you stand out. If you want to study BME in college, then ideally you will have had some research experience. Berkeley, Emory, JHU, Northwestern, and UMich are reaches for you currently. Good luck! I would appreciate it if you could chance me back here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1995754-chance-me-low-gpa-rank-cornell-rice-wash-u-ucla-etc-p1.html Thanks!
UC GPA? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Since you are OOS, only AP/DE courses count for the extra honors points.
UCB is very GPA focused like all the UC’s and having competitive test scores does help you but cannot make up for a lower than average GPA unless you can address your health issues in one of your personal insight essays. Overall your HS course rigor, test scores and EC’s do make you a competitive applicant.
Also, can your parents afford to pay $60K/year without financial aid for UCB?
Best of luck.
some of them r out of reach
Your UW GPA is very low, but wow your W GPA is very high in comparison to your UW. As a result, yes, the UW GPA probably will drag you down. However, your ACT score is very high so you should be proud of that! You can definitely explain your eczema issue to admissions; they usually have a supplementary area on the Common App for explanations.
IMO, if your essays and teacher/counselor recs are stellar, and it’s just the GPA that isn’t so good, then you still have a very good chance of being accepted into most of the schools you’ve listed.
And yes, Cornell has a great engineering program. You may want to research the majors a bit more, but I’m pretty sure they have both biomed and mechanical engineering. Also, UPenn is an Ivy too.
I’d appreciate it if you could chance me back! http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2000649-chance-me-low-rank-common-ecs-cornell-harvard-wharton-etc.html#latest
BME is one of the most competitive programs. For UT it’s worth applying but even top 7%students cannot be guaranteed their major. You stand better chances at TAMU.
I would focus on Case Western, Bucknell, RPI, Northeastern, because they’re more holistic than state schools and will thus look at your file in context (especially if you suffered from psoriasis - " really bad eczema" - or similar skin disease).
What’s your EFC and can your parents afford it? What’s their annual budget for your college?
Have you run the NPC on all of these colleges? Do that + on all other colleges listed on your thread.
UC Berkeley offers no financial aid - if your parents don’t have 240k in savings forget it. Purdue, UIUC, GTech are reaches and merit aid would be unlikely.
USC and Vanderbilt love high test scores.
Thank you all for your thoughts! I know that my stats are low, but over the summer I will be doing some research with a professor at a nearby school in the UT system in biomedical engineering. I also have a 770 on the Math 2 SAT and an 800 on the Physics SAT Subject Test. I also forgot to mention some hooks, in terms of UC, I do have a sibling who just graduated from their EE/CS Program, my parents didnt attend college(not sure if that makes me a 1st gen college student as sib went to UCB).
Also, if you all wouldn’t mind my underhandedness, I feel as though most of my accomplishments are in the Computer Science Field, and I absolutely love JHU campus, would it make sense if I applied there for Comp Sci? I was planning on dropping U Mich , UIUC and Purdue anyway.
Finally, is Rose Hulman a good school to look at? As a member of a FIRST Team we get stuff from RPI all the time but I’ve been curious about Hulman.
Again, Thank You all!
UCB doesn’t use legacy. And they’re GPA based, with the UC GPA needed at 4.2+. Frankly forget it.
Overall applying to private universities with a more holistic review will be more favorable than applying to public OOS universities.
Yes you can apply to JHU for CS, as long as you like CS.
Rose Hulman and RPI are good schools to look at, as well as Case Westrrn, Northeastern, Missouri Rolla, Bucknell, Lafayette, perhaps Cal poly SLO.
@intmaster45 Why apply ivy, to get paid nearly the same and hope that someone asks you if you went to an ivy?
Nah, go to a good school instead. RPI is rated better than Yale Brown and Dartmouth if it matters to you, but more importantly it’s a comfortable school on a nice campus with fun activities and good people. A challenging curriculum to keep that rigor level competitive and plenty of engineering programs.
Good luck!
Thank you all. More than likely I will go to UT Austin or A&M as they are more accessible cuz Im a texas resident, but i appreciate your advice
Rice should be on your list too.
You need a good list in case UT and A&M don’t work out though.
Have you talked budget with your parents and looked into affordable safeties?