Matches/Safeties

College Search & Selection
1

So, I’m a sophomore, and I’m starting to look at colleges I want to go to. However, most of the colleges that I’m looking at are definitely reaches for me (or really anyone).

Basic stats:
3.8 GPA (UW); I expect it to raise to a 3.9 by junior year, however (I had a bad freshman year)
SAT: I haven’t taken one yet, but I got a 216 (70 CR 75 M 71 W) on my PSAT this year without studying; practice SATs score around a 2250, and I hope to raise it to at least a 2300 by the time I actually take the test (either May or October 2015).
~6 AP courses by the time I graduate (APES, Chem, Physics 1, Physics C, Calc BC, Lit) with some college math (MVC/Linear Algebra) and honors courses where applicable
Decent extracurriculars with a few leadership positions.

I’m an Asian (Indian) female from California; I go to a highly competitive public school that gets an above average number of people into elite colleges every year (we’re not a feeder, though–the most we ever have attend a single elite college is five).

Some colleges already on my list:
-MIT (obviously a very, very high reach)
-Stanford (ditto)
-Harvey Mudd (still a reach)
-UCs: Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Merced (as a safety), Davis, San Diego, maybe some others?

This list is in dire need of more matches and safeties, however.

-I’m thinking of majoring in ChemE, maybe double-majoring in physics? I want to minor in something English-related, however, so the school has to have a good humanities program.
-I like a geeky culture a lot.
-I prefer an even balance of males to females (so no Caltech, please; I might end up applying because my parents want me to, but I don’t want to go there).
-Mid-sized is preferred, although I’m not too concerned about size if the college fits in other aspects.
-A college with good undergraduate focus would also be nice.
-I’m open to LACs, although I’d prefer if they have an Engineering major.
-If specific engineering disciplines are offered, I want ChemE to be there, however.
-Women’s colleges are fine.
-California stuff is preferred, although most schools here (other than publics) seem to be reaches.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

2

Do you know what your cost constraints are?

All UCs other than Merced and Santa Cruz have chemical engineering. The CSUs with chemical engineering are San Jose, Pomona, and Long Beach. California privates with chemical engineering are Caltech, Stanford, and USC.

3

http://www.cmu.edu/about/index.shtml

http://www.lafayette.edu/

4

@ucbalumnus Meeting “full need” for most schools tends to give an EFC of 22-25k, which is manageable for my parents (they paid ~40k a year for my sister’s med school expenses, as she goes to school in India, but they’d prefer to keep some money in their savings; and although she’s now done with med school, she wants to come back to the US for clerkships (which seem to cost quite a bit of money) during her mandatory internship). So meeting 90+% need (barring CA publics, where the cost reduction would be enough), having a low tuition cost + some merit/financial aid, or merit aid is necessary. My family income is in the 100-120k bracket, and we live in an area with a (very) high cost of living with quite a few payments still left on the mortgage, so that reduces our EFC some. I’ll also be applying for outside and school scholarships.

@zobroward Lafayette definitely seems like a low match/safety, but CMU is a bit different… Based on SAT scores, it should be a match, but the acceptance rate is really low.

5

take a look at a couple oos flagships: UMinnesota Twin Cities is top 10 in chemical engineering and comparatively cheap for oos students. more expensive ($42K but with money for excellent OOS engineering students) and very good in ChemE is UMaryland CP. Pitt, too, has good ChemE and money for excellent OOS students and probably is a safety for you. My D is there now and likes it. Also NC State.

Here’s a list of colleges with ChemE majors:

http://www.findengineeringschools.org/Search/Majors/chemical.htm

I’d really play up your quirkiness and your diverse interests and intellectuality (hopefully) in applying to MIT. The girl-ness is helpful, but you don’t have to advertise that :stuck_out_tongue: Mudd, too, works hard to bring women into engineering, and you will work hard just to stay at Mudd or MIT :smiley: Do good things. Let us know how this turns out.

6

Geeky culture, mid sized, surprised no one has suggested Rice. I’d second CMU. On somewhat larger scale but not State U scale I’d add Cornell, Hopkins, Northwestern. Case should also be considered, might offer money. Agree with Minnesota and NC State as excellent chem e programs that are relative out of state bargains, but your costs may still prove to be lower at deep pocketed privates. Chance for merit at USC possibly or is culture there too not your thing? - its absence from your Cal list is notable.

7

Since most schools with good financial aid expect a student contribution of $5,000 to $10,000, does that mean that your net price limit is $27,000 to $35,000? UCs at list price and Minnesota out-of-state at list price fall into that range. Iowa State out-of-state at list price also falls into that range.

8

@ucbalumnus yeah, pretty much.

@Bala I… don’t know. I’ve heard things about USC that make me not want to go there, but it’s not like I’ve visited or anything, so I’m not really sure about USC. I’d need to experience it to know more about the culture, really. If I could possibly get merit there, that would be great, though. Merit is always good.

@jkeil911 According to my friends, I am very quirky (: It’s one of the attributes I pride myself upon. It’s also one of the reasons I want to go to MIT–from what I’ve read about it, it seems like it would be a really great fit for me. Unlike most girls, I’ve never really faced challenges in going into STEM–everyone around me has been super supportive, so that’s great. Really, the only thing I’ve seen is the fact that all the guys around me knew things about CS and stuff from like eighth or ninth grade, which was a little discouraging; but it motivated me to learn it on my own (even if it wasn’t in-depth). So although I realize it helps me, I’m definitely not going to play it up in any of my applications. Really, right now, I’m thinking of writing my essays about how my love of stories and adventures has facilitated my growth as a person and my goals for the future.

9

How about Tulane? Merit money might bring the price down.

10

If you consider CMU also consider Case Western Reserve. They tend to give very good merit scholarships, it’s mid sized (app. 4200 undergraduates), you will likely be in the top 25% of their applicants but they tend to have a pretty narrow middle 50%. More guys than girls though it is close to 50/50. I’d definitely consider it a match.

11

mortgage payments do not reduce EFC.

Your sister is done with med school…WHAT is a “clerkship”? Is that something done in India? That isn’t done here in the US. When a person is done with med school, they do a residency HERE in the US. That doesn’t cost money…the person gets PAID.

Do your parents own a business?

12

@mom2collegekids I just assumed that was one of the reasons the EFC came out low on the NPCs that I tried.

A clerkship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerkship_%28medicine%29) is basically where my sister would get experience in the US, which would help her get a residency because she’s a foreign medical graduate. You’re basically like an exchange student for med schools. For example, Harvard has one (http://hms.harvard.edu/departments/medical-education/md-programs/scholars-medicine-sim/foreign-students-and-clerkships-hms). They cost around $5000 per month, however. She’s not technically “done” with medical school, because they’ll award her her MBBS after she finishes a mandatory one-year internship at her med school, which is why she’s still eligible for a clerkship. She’s finished the study portion, however, so my parents don’t have to pay tuition anymore.

My parents don’t own a business–my mom is a county microbiologist and works at a side job as a clinical laboratory scientist. My dad is a retired (due to medical problems) hardware engineer.

13

Yes, I’m aware of those exchange programs for clinical rotations for 4th med students. My son is going to do one. I wasn’t aware that graduates of foreign med schools could do them as well.

Is you sister a US citizen

14

@mom2collegekids yeah. She was born and raised here (went to the same high school as me), but decided (after one year at UCSD here) to go straight to med school in India since it’s really difficult to get into med school here and it would cost a lot of money (it costs a lot of money either way, but my parents had to pay for fewer years because she went to India).

15

CMU takes out freshman year to recalculate the GPA. It is definitely geeky and students are accepting of everyone. They have the engineers and computer science kids but also the art/design and drama kids, all on one campus. My S has friends in both camps. However CMU is not known for merit unless they really want you to choose them. Their male to female ratio is skewed with more males but I would think that this means a higher acceptance rate for females in the sciences.

16

It’s hood that you are starting early with a college list but you still have a way to go do don’t rush into this. Focus on some SAT prep to be ready when you take it. And have fun in high school.

17

I meant “good”