Rundown of my stats (Yes I know they are not normal CC stats)
GPA: 3.97
I don’t have any AP classes but that’s because I’m doing a dual enrollment program where I go to a college full time both for high school graduation and for my AA degree (which I will get before I graduate high school) Also I have taken hard classes like Calculus and engineering physics and I have a 3.95 college GPA
ACT: 27 Composite E: 31 M: 28 R: 23 S: 26 (Going to try to retake for a 28 or 29 since I averaged a 32 on the math section during practice tests but I have to focus on writing my essay and work and cross country so I won’t have too much time to study.I already studied for 3 months and got from a 24 to a 27).
I am a senior this year so I am super worried about colleges
President of Jewish student union
In a leadership program where we raise money, and do volunteer work.
Award for placing 100+ hours of community service.
Have about 200+ hours of volunteering in total
CCNA Certified (Cisco Certified Network Associate)
XC
Rec Soccer
JSA club
Bilingual (English and Russian)
4th place in Karate tournament out of 50 people
Doing Karate for 4 years and will get my black belt soon
Planning to apply as undeclared but probably interested in STEM
Schools:
I can afford a total cost of around $40,000 a year and I know private schools give a lot of financial aid
I would prefer schools in the top 100 rankings
Schools I’m considering right now (Don’t know if I can afford all of them)
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Already applied)
Rose Hulman
University of Washington - Seattle (In state) (My backup school since they really like instate students)
Rankings don't mean a heck of a lot in the engineering world. Companies that hire engineering undergraduates for internships and permanent jobs want students from an ABET program and want kids from schools which have reputations for rigor.
Public university engineering schools don't provide much financial aid or scholarships to non-residents. Applicants with stellar scores have a better chance at receiving $$, but not a heck of a lot.
The ratio of applicants admitted to the U of Washington is a raging issue in recent years. Many applicants with fabulous grades have been declined in favor of FULL PAY non-residents.
Admission to the UW School of Engineering is a two-step process. Students admitted to the UW must apply for Engineering admission by the spring of their sophomore year, or thereabouts. There's a GPA threshold and not everyone makes it.
A parent whom has much knowledge about STEM schools is Eyemeh. He has often recommended the U of Utah as a very fine and affordable STEM school. Check it out.
My ACT is low for Drexel? I’m on the 75th percentile for them. 23-27 is the range. How is that low? If anything it would be a safety school for me. Especially with my GPA
Try the net price calculator at each school to check what financial aid may be like.
At University of Washington, it is best to try to get a direct admission to the major you want; otherwise (or if you are admitted to the school but not the major), you will face another admission process to enter the desired major.
Purdue and Minnesota do not directly admit to the engineering majors; for engineering majors, you need to complete the frosh level prerequisites with a high enough GPA (3.2 at both schools) to assure admission to the major. Those with lower GPAs may be admitted to the major if there is space.
Since you can pay such a high amount, you are in good shape and don’t have to rely on merit aid because there are many publics that arè affordable for you. Unfortunately for you merit is often based primarily on test scores. Depending on the school and your family income there are privates that may give you need aid, but we can’t tell without your data. Plus you listed no criteria almost at all. This is something I am working through now for someone and it takes quite a lot of hours.
If your parents can provide $40k/yr. then I don’t think cost should be too much of a barrier to most of these schools. You may have to take out a loan, work, etc. to make up the difference but I think it will be manageable. A few of the schools you mention are going to be reaches, the rest are low to mid matches and none that I see are safeties. UW might be a safety for acceptance into the school but not for engineering. The thing is you have good grades and good scores for most colleges. If you were applying to programs other than engineering I would think you could expect to get accepted into a number of these schools. I would say GT and UIUC are your biggest reaches (I don’t know much about Northeastern or Boston U.) the rest are low matches with Purdue and perhaps RH being the two that you are most likely to be accepted to. Purdue may accept you to their university just not to their First Year Engineering Program.
I would look into some other schools that are among the top 100 engineering programs. These could include U of Utah, Iowa State, Michigan State, Iowa and Missouri University of Science and Technology. All are good engineering schools which would give you a near certain chance of being accepted and should be affordable given your situation. Apply to any of the schools on your list just understand that you need a school that you are sure to be accepted to.
If you really don’t like WSU then don’t apply, but I have no doubt there are brighter students than you that attend there. That’s pretty much true of all schools.
Washington may not be that hard to get into the school, but getting direct admission to an engineering (or CS) major is much more difficult.
If you attend Washington without direct admission to your desired engineering major, you will need to earn a very high college GPA (probably >= 3.5) in order to have a decent chance in the competitive holistically-reviewed admission for most engineering majors (industrial is less competitive). You need to have backup plans to either finish in a less competitive major or transfer to a school where you can do your desired engineering major, in case you are not admitted to your desired engineering major at Washington.
Minnesota does not directly admit frosh into engineering majors, but a 3.2 college GPA will assure admission to your desired engineering major. Majors which have more capacity relative to demand will admit students with lower GPAs based on space available.
@ucbalumnus would you recommend I go to UMN over UW? They cost the same and I got into the college of science and engineering there. Would it be a better choice if I wanted to study engineering?