Hi everyone,
I am a junior and am searching for colleges. I came across Macaulay because it is close to me but more importantly free! I would be studying Engineering through CCNY. Some sites say the schools suck, but I wanted to get your input. Is it good? Is it too low-level for me? (34 ACT, ~95 GPA, IB Diploma, 5 on AP Chem 4 on World)
definitely doesn’t suck and not too low level for you. Even with your high scores you are still not guaranteed to get in because Macaulay is very selective
Will you live at home and commute? Macaulay is a great program but covers tuition only. Room and board at CCNY can cost as much as $20,000 a year, making it pretty expensive.
CCNY Grove is what you make it. It is ABET accredited which is meaningful. US News ranks the graduate engineering program 126 in the country.
If you commute it’s a lot of bang for your buck.
Hey, macaulay ccny class of 2016 grad here (STEM major):
It’s true that room, board and fees are not covered for all macaulay ccny students, but as far as I know, the top applicants (or it may just be a lottery system now) are offered 1 free year of housing at the CCNY dorms (these are actually really nice for dorms, they are roomy with temperature control–suite style setup where 4 people share two bedrooms and full kitchen & private bathroom).
Generally, it is a very good package in terms of bang for buck, but you will have to do a good amount of leg work to be a successful engineer. I have friends in engineering who are doing very well for themselves. Our valedictorian this year is a biomedical engineering student who won the prestigious Goldwater scholarship and had his pick of MIT, Harvard, and Berkeley for grad schools. There are a bunch of people with similar stories, but not everyone does so well or even makes it to the end. You will have to hit the ground running, work hard and maintain a good GPA (3.5+), do research and/or technical internships and make yourself a gameplan.
At another school, you may have an easier path to doing these things, as well as a more “traditional” college experience (greek life parties, closed off campus life, more student life engagement, etc…). You may also have an easier time of landing research and internships. These are factors you may want to consider when comparing your choices. The main thing macaulay has is the perk of being debt free. As a recent graduate, I am very thankful for the fact that I have no debt from college tuition, etc. In fact, I got paid to go to college by earning extra scholarships during my time as a macaulay student (this was relatively easy to do since I was competing against CUNY students–you already know that you are one of the brightest and most ambitious).
As a high-achieving student, handling academic and career stuff should not be terribly hard for you. What tends to catch people is balancing all that with the new freedom and extra responsibilities in the transition between high school and college–be wary of this and prepare accordingly. The most important thing is not to fall behind after a setback. Just get back up on that horse and keep on going.
Sorry, I kinda rambled a bit, but I hope it helped.
Great info @SomeKidHere ! Very nice to have a Macaulay rep giving info and thoughts. Keep it up!