<p>Finally the madness of college admission results is over. Though I have reasonably good stat (4.0 uw and 4.6w GPA, rank 5/370, SAT 2320 (760,780,780 in a single sitting); SAT2 Math2 800, Chem 800, US Hist 790; ACT composite 35; 9APs) I could not get a place in Princeton and UC Berkeley (because I am an OOS, UCB tightened the OOS quota for this year). I did write good essays and have reasonable EC with a few awards, science research, and over 600 Community Services hours, however, these stat, essays and awards were not enough for them. Oh well, life goes on !</p>
<p>While waitlisted in Stanford, I got admissions at UT Austin, Rice, Carnegie Mellon, Univ of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Case Western and Univ of Minnesota.</p>
<p>With my interest in Chem Eng, I am selecting UT Austin because, I believe, UT Austin, UIUC, Minnesota, Rice, Case and Carnegie Mellon are all about the same in Chem Eng rank, but in my case, Austin will be close to home and also from financial aspect. I presume they all are a rank below MIT, UCB, Stanford and Caltech. Well, let me console myself , I am reserving these big four for my Graduate studies per se.</p>
<p>I have visited both Stanford and UT Austin. Stanford is awesome but Austin is not bad, and if I go to UT Austin I will be close to my family, just over 2.5 hour drive. Looking at curriculums, both UT Austin and Stanford have good courses and I feel I am a good fit. Also, as I am interested in nanotech, semiconductor and energy areas, both have excellent faculties doing research in these areas.</p>
<p>1) My question is how likely I can get in Stanford from waitlist (they say there are about 750 (2% of total ~38,000 applicants))? I know it is hard to say, but based on past records if any one has..</p>
<p>2) Is it worth going to Stanford and paying ~$250,000 for 4 year tuition and room&board ? At UT Austin, I will be an in-state student from the second year as my dads job has been relocated to Texas recently, and UT has given me a good scholarship (over $7,000 per each year for 4 years) through its Engineering Honors Program. So my tuition fees from second year will be less than $5,000 per year. I expect to get some research work too from the second year onward. So, the total will be about $80,000 or less for 4 year tuition and room&board.</p>
<p>3) How well is UT Austin BS Chem Eng Degree recognized? If I maintain a good GPA (hypothetically, over 3.9) and have good summer research experiences, can I get admission to MIT, UCB, Stanford or Caltech for a PhD Program? </p>
<p>4) Finally, hypothetically, if I get a Ph. D from one of these four, will the BS of UT Austin still be a point to frown over when I apply for a job in say Boing, Intel, big oil companies, etc..</p>
<p>My parent are asking me to make up my mind asap. I would appreciate your comments/ advices..</p>
<p>Thanks..</p>