Hi! So I’m looking at some colleges but I feel really lost. My stats are as follows:
unweighted GPA: 3.8462 [I got 2 Bs and a C this year, the B and C are in AB and BC, respectively, and the other B is from AP Environmental Science, I’ve had all As otherwise]
weighted GPA: 4.4038
rank: 107 [my grade has 800+ so I’m not sure where I fall]
SAT: 1560 [800M 760RW]
AP Scores & Courses: Calculus BC 5, World History [3], Psychology [5], CSP [5], Lang [4], APES [4], Comparative Govt. & Politics [5]
My ECs are all over the place, ranging from robotics to orchestra to government. Consequently, the majors that I am most interested in are electrical engineering and english, but I think my grades in calculus hurt my chances of getting admitted as an engineering student since I’m asian
I’m also a NC resident and my dad used to work for UPenn (if that counts for anything).
I’m not sure what other information to include and I thank you greatly if you’ve read this far.
If you would like to create greater assurance with respect to the option of studying electrical engineering, then consider including college choices that don’t admit by major or “school.” Union could serve as one example, and might represent a routine admit for you.
Big Reach: MIT, Stanford
Slight Reach: CMU, Georgia Tech, Michigan
Fit: Purdue, Virginia Tech, Illinois
Safety: Penn State, Ohio State (probably several others - these were just on my D’s list)
I think calling CMU, GT, and Mich slight reaches is a little optimistic. Not saying impossible, but with the info given here I am not sure I see the rigor on the science side these schools want to see for engineering and the class rank is a little low. GT and U of M are very selective OOS for engineering and CMU is even more so. Call them just reaches, but your SAT score will help. I would put NC State on your list as a safety.
What are your economic constraints? That will help with a list.
My parents’ collective income is around 150,000 but I have a younger brother who will be going to college in 10 years, so it’s a while away. I’m also going to be applying for scholarships from FIRST, as I’m part of leadership on a robotics team. Thank you for helping
How much are your parents willing and able to pay? Run the NPCs for some of the schools on your list. Is there a gap between what they afford and what they are expected to pay.
I do not believe being Asian has any effect on your chances but a very typical engineering major without any hooks would.
I like @RichInPitt ‘s list. I’d move CMU engineer up a notch and I would not count on UMich for EA. Pitt is a good match. I like Rice, JHU because they both have new initiatives that might pan out in terms of financial aid for you.
Your weak point are your grades last year. What subjects are you taking senior year?It is probably wise to apply RD for the selective schools to get a good semester of grades on record. If possible, I’d ask for quarter grades to submit too, even for Non early schools to show an upward trend. Two sets of grades thatvway can help
Senior year I’m taking:
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Computer Science A
AP Statistics
Honors American History 2
Orchestra
PLTW Civil Engineering and Architecture
However, I’m thinking of dropping the PLTW and taking AP Bio/AP Chem since I only have 3 lab sciences so far.
Have you taken Physics? If you are going to apply for Engineering any of the top schools are going to what to see physics and the most rigorous on available to you.
With your SAT scores and AP 5 in calc, you should be a good fit in engineering. Schools will look at your HS as well, so the GPA and rank may be fine if from a large and competitive HS. Not being Asian will not matter at all. Certainly in NC, NC State and Duke are great choices for elec. engineering. Moving away a little bit, VaT or UVa or Clemson or GaT.
You need to take some visits and be sure to visit the ‘college’. My oldest two sons graduated from NCSU, one in ChemE and one in Physics. The school tour is overwhelming, but the college engineering (or science) tour was very good and helpful. We visited others as well (Clemson, UVa, VaT, etc) and some they liked and some they knew immediately was not for them. For comparison, they ranked 1 and 2 in their classes and had better GPA’s, but from a poor county so perhaps different competition. AP scores are similar and your verbal scores are much better.
I’m going to be honest that I think Bs and Cs in calculus are going to be red flags for competitive engineering programs.
What are your three lab sciences? Most schools will expect to see bio, chem, and physics and one of those being AP. For engineering, your most helpful class for college will be physics.
How many years of foreign language have you taken?
My 3 lab sciences are bio, chem, and apes. AP Physics at my school is terrible, as in the teacher prefers to torture her students.
I have 3 years of foreign language, Latin. My school doesn’t offer AP or Latin 4 and they also don’t have it online. Thank you for your honesty
Honors physics would be better than none, but it will be noticed that you are not taking the AP Physics which is available. You have to realize that for these top engineering programs you will be competing students that have taken AP Physics C or dual enrolled Calculus based physics.
