<p>Hey, so I want to major in either Chemical engineering or actuarial science while in college and have been looking at the following schools:</p>
<p>U Penn
Cornell
Duke
Illinois (Urbana-champaign)
Wisconsin-Madison
Johns Hopkins
Vanderbilt
Georgia tech
Purdue
Texas-Austin
Rose Hulman Institute of Technology</p>
<p>Here are my stats now:
I live in Illinois and go to a nationally recognized public high school.
ACT is 35
SAT is 2160 however, I've only taken it once.
SAT 2 chemistry 800
Unweighted GPA is 3.7
Weighted GPA on a 5.0 scale is 4.25
I've taken nearly the hardest course load possible (with the exception of one class) </p>
<p>Ap classes and scores:
Ap US history 4
Ap Chemistry 5
Ap microeconomics
Ap macroeconomics
Ap Calculus (AB and BC)
Ap biology
Ap physics B
Ap statistics
Ap computer science
Ap environmental science
Ap Lit
Ap psych</p>
<p>The ones without scores are classes I am currently in or taking next year as a senior.</p>
<p>My Extracurriculars are:</p>
<p>Brothers keeper (service organization for a Native American reservation)</p>
<p>Uniting People (a club I created to help unify the student body and abolish social cliques and barriers)</p>
<p>Latin club</p>
<p>Will be in National Honors society</p>
<p>FIRST FTC robotics team (2x state qualifier out of only 2 years competing) </p>
<p>Sports:
Varsity water polo (2years)
Varsity swimming (3 years, can't be 4 due to broken back)</p>
<p>U Penn Reach
Cornell Low Match
Duke Low Match
Illinois (Urbana-champaign) Safety
Wisconsin-Madison Safety
Johns Hopkins Low Match
Vanderbilt Low Match
Georgia tech High Match
Purdue High Match
Texas-Austin Low Match
Rose Hulman Institute of Technology No idea</p>
<p>UT Austin has one of the best engineering programs (top 5 or 10) in the country, and the Engineering Honors program is even better. If you do chemical engineering, you can easily get a job in Houston, which has the highest number of chemical engineering jobs in the country (high paying - $$$). I am going to UT next year and would be happy to answer any questions about applying that you might eventually have next year.</p>
<p>Thanks! I haven’t visited UT in a few years but what I remember of it, it was a pretty nice campus. Plus, the warm weather is definitely nice. I’ll probably be asking a lot of questions this summer when I begin applications.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention, I also work as a life guard over the summer, have won multiple awards on Latin exams (such as the national Latin exam and national etymology exam), have played drums for 8 years and played with multiple bands (planning to record an album this summer). Also, to strengthen my ECs I plan to either become an engineering intern with the army or do research at Northwestern. In addition, I plan to take and hopefully pass the first actuarial exam during or right after senior year.</p>
<p>My school stopped ranking a few years ago but they do approximate percentiles, according to which I am around the top 25% GPA wise but I have nearly if not the most rigorous courses.</p>
<p>If you are only top 25% GPA-wise, then you have no chance at any of the schools you listed. It doesn’t matter that you took the hardest classes available.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say no chance, but it is not ideal with a 3.7 to only be at the top 25 percent. The test scores are saving you, your chances are basically what the others have said.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know duke, Upenn, and Cornell are definitely reaches because of my unweighted GPA. Also, I’m top 5-10% for weighted GPA. I’ve thought about JHU a little, but not so much tufts.</p>