<p>Honors/AP Courses:
- Honors Earth Science
- Honors Biology
- Honors Chemistry
- Honors Physics
- Honors Geometry
- Honors Algebra II
- Honors Precalculus
- AP Statistics (AP score: 4)
- AP European History ( AP score:3)
- AP Calculus BC (pending)
- AP Macroeconomics (pending)</p>
<p>Other Courses:
- Business Management 1&2
- Intro to Engineering Design
- Architecture 1
- Metals 1
- French 1&2</p>
<p>ExtraCurriculars:
- Concert Band (9th grade)
- Rocket Club ( 9th-12th grade, Captain since 10th grade)
- Junior Varsity Tennis ( 10th-11th grade)</p>
<p>Awards:
- Academic Interscholastic Award (11th grade)</p>
<p>My mom,uncle, aunt, and cousin all attended the U of M- TW.</p>
<p>I would say a high match or a low reach for CSE. I think you will get into the university in general, but CSE is very competitive. Only 30-40% of their applicants get in, compared to 50% of the university in general. CSE has an average ACT of 30.6, so you are a little lacking in that department. </p>
<p>Your class rank and GPA are okay. Your extracurriculars aren’t very good. Your Honors/AP courses help a lot because UMN is looking for a rigorous curriculum and rates that as one of the most important deciding factors.</p>
<p>Do you have any talents or something different about you? I’m definitely not an admissions officer, I’m a high school senior, but to me, you seem like just the average applicant. It’s hard to show anything special about yourself on U of M’s application because they have no essay and really only look at your curriculum, test scores, and rank. </p>
<p>I’m also applying for U of M. It’s my top choice school and I also want to get into engineering. We are pretty similar when it comes to test scores and class rigor, but different in extracurriculars, GPA, and class rank. I’m less in GPA and class rank, but more in extracurriculars. I also have a bit of a background story as to why my GPA and class rank are so low, so that is to my advantage. I think U of M might wonder why your GPA isn’t a 4.0 because you don’t seem all that involved in anything otherwise. This is not meant to sound rude in the slightest. If you have some kind of circumstance, the application does have a Special Circumstances section where you could explain if you had a family, personal, or economic issue that held you back.</p>
<p>I would give you a 75-80% chance of getting into the university overall and a 30% chance of getting into engineering.</p>
<p>For CSE the average ACT score is 31 and the average class rank is top 6.4%. Getting into CSE is getting more and more competitive every year. I remember when we were there over the summer for orientation, during one of the presentations they said that the average ACT score for those admitted to CSE is the highest ever.</p>
<p>Have you applied yet? I would apply ASAP. The earlier you apply, the better chance you have of being admitted. When we took our daughter there for her first campus tour in the Spring of 2012 they even told us that the earlier you apply, the better chance you have of being admitted because as the process goes on, there are less and less slots available to admit students. Although there are not essays or letters of recommendation required for the application, they do have a place where you can add supplemental information that does not fit elsewhere on the application. In one of the supplemental boxes, my daughter added how she spent multiple hours each week babysitting her 7 year old brother, and she wrote about several engineering camps that she had attended over the summer while she was in high school.</p>
<p>Last year my daughter applied on October 7th, was accepted on November 19th and received the Gold National Scholarship (which gives OOS students instate tuition) on December 20th. Here are her stats for comparison:</p>
<p>ACT: 31
Unweighted GPA: 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.3
Class Rank 17/520 (top 3.3%)
5 AP Classes
12 Honors Classes
Lots of EC’s including 200+ hours of community service and leadership positions within her clubs and organizations</p>
<p>She is currently in CSE and really enjoying it so far, but it is HARD. She is doing very well, but there are a lot of kids struggling in their classes. Most engineering majors are taking chemistry, physics, calculus, a CSE class that everyone in CSE is required to take, an engineering class related to the type of engineering you want to study, and some sort of liberal arts class. The requirements to get in are high, but they have to be so that the students don’t struggle once they get in. Good luck to you!</p>