Need some safeties/probables (thinking of EE, CS or double major)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a senior at a very small, extremely competitive high school. I want an Engineering major (leaning strongly toward Electrical, but also strongly considering a dual major with EE and Comp Sci).</p>

<p>I need some safety or probable schools (current list at bottom of post). I prefer large over small schools, and urban over rural. Family income is ~$80k/year so cost is a concern. I don't want to go to school in the South and I'd prefer West or East coast over Midwest.</p>

<p>My stats:</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA on 4.0 scale:
9th grade: 3.72
10th grade: 3.95
11th grade: 3.95</p>

<p>Tests:
8 5's, 5 4's on AP Tests
2280 SAT, 800 SAT II Math II, 780 SAT II Physics, 750 SAT II US History</p>

<p>Activities/Honors:
-A bunch of AP Scholar awards including Natl. and Distinction
-NHS/NJHS (all years)
-School Newspaper (11th, 12th)
-Debate (11th, 12th, won a couple tournaments last year, Natl. Forensic League member with Degree of Honor)
-Volunteer intern with local city IT Dept. (10th, 11th, 12th, won Bronze level President's Vol. Service Award)
-Member of school's Leadership Council (11th, 12th)
-Volunteer Tutor (10th, 11th, 12th)
-Paid Tutor (10th)
-Some Wordmasters award I need to dig up
-Filmmaking and electronics hobbies</p>

<p>Schools I'm currently considering:</p>

<p>(Safety) Arizona State U. (Would be in Barrett, the Honors College if I go to ASU)
(Safety or Probable?) Case Western Reserve U.
(Reach?) Northwestern U.
(Reach) Brown
(Reach) MIT
(Reach) Cornell
(Reach) CalTech
(Reach) Stanford</p>

<p>Besides safeties/probables, I'd appreciate any advice as to which competitive schools I should add to or remove from my list.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>With your stats I would imagine your in-state flagship would be a safety as well.</p>

3

<p>Nice list. </p>

<p>I’d remove Brown - not really that strong in engineering, not easy to get into, kind of a waste of time. </p>

<p>Rochester, RPI and WPI are good probables, all 3 very different schools though. </p>

<p>For other coastal reaches or matches, CMU, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, USC, Harvey Mudd. Lehigh is probably a nice match - they care a lot about demonstrated interest. Cooper Union is a reach - they were free, but seem to be doing away with that.</p>

4

<p>Purdue, U of Michigan, UIUC.</p>

5

<p>Have you run net price calculators on all of the schools? Is Arizona State affordable on need-based aid or assured scholarships?</p>

<p>CWRU is not a safety because “level of applicant’s interest” is important in admissions.</p>

6

<p>For electrical engineering you might consider Clarkson (somewhat near Montreal and a true safety–you would probably get a significant amount of merit $ to negotiate with other schools), Tufts (suburb of Boston), Harvey Mudd (ok not a safety).</p>

7

<p>Clarkson doesn’t meet OP’s criteria at all - it is small and remote, though I agree it is a safety and would likely offer merit aid.
How about BU and Northeastern? Have you considered those?</p>

8

<p>UMichigan is a good one because you can apply early and will likely get a response by December. I’d also look at Carnegie Mellon, Gerogia Tech, Purdue, UTexas, UIUC (some of which may be rolling as well, I just don’t know). I know many of these are outside your geographic preference. As I’m sure you know many of your schools are reaches for anyone.</p>