<p>I believe she DOES need some financial aid.</p>
<p>** SAT ** – no subject tests
800 M
800 W
760 CR</p>
<p>** GPA **
4.0? Our averages are based on a 100-point scale. Mine’s currently around 95.5 (94~ freshman, 93.8 sophomore, 95.5 junior). 3-4 students in my class get averages higher than 96.</p>
<p>I’m ranked in the top 5%.</p>
<p>** Classes **
There are no AP courses. I took every honors class offered (though compared to the US curriculum I don’t think that’s saying much…) </p>
<p>** ECs **
My school allows students to join only 1 “academic” club per year. Because I wanted to explore and see what kinds of clubs are offered, I changed clubs every year (yes, I know this looks bad, but I wasn’t thinking about college then! :)). For 3 of my 4 years in high school I joined language-oriented clubs though (that includes yearbook for this year). </p>
<p>I have a lot of community service activities. I don’t really know how to list these because there’s no * one * specific organization that I work for: tutoring – head (for our parish, 5 hrs/wk), Habitat for Humanity (3-4 builds/year), soup kitchen (2hrs/wk), fundraising activities to provide scholarships – finance head (we sponsor around 5 kids each year), church choir – soloist (sometimes we fundraise for special events too), activity books donations to Make A Wish kids – head (3 hrs/wk), recycling program implementation – secretary, and then if there are calamities we pitch in too :)</p>
<p>The others:
EC (environmental activism) – 3, 4
Yoga – 3, 4
CAMPAIGNS (under student council) – we help develop projects for the student body (1 each month) – 3
JA – head. We try to help in the upkeep of classrooms to lessen the workload of janitors – 1, 2, 3, 4</p>
<p>I did a few more over the years but it didn’t really mean much to me and I didn’t really contribute much 
Sooo as you can see there’s nothing about sports or arts. (I am one of the worst athletes :D) Or science for that matter, and I think a lot of technical schools like to see science stuff? But my school doesn’t offer any robotics clubs etc… I did do research work as part of our curriculum. </p>
<p>** Recommendation Letters **
I will be asking my science teacher, and I think this one will be okay to good? I don’t really know 
But she knows me well, she likes me, and I’m one of the best in science My advisor doesn’t really know me that well because there’s only 1 for everyone in the class (200~). But it won’t be * bad *. </p>
<p>I don’t really know which schools I can get in to. I think it will be a far (very far) reach for most of the private schools because I will be applying for FA and they’re not need blind, and my ECs aren’t that strong and I’m told they should be if I’m going to apply to top schools. </p>
<p>SHORTLISTED SCHOOLS (to be narrowed down/changed)
- Georgia Tech – I really really really like it in terms of academics, not so sure about student life
- UW Madison – love everything except the weather
- UW Seattle – don’t know much about it, but it seems okay and I sent my SAT scores to them…
- UIUC, UCLA – expensive, and I think tuition will rise exponentially in those states? is it worth applying to?
- Cornell, Rice, Harvey Mudd – love it. But need to take SAT II
- Vanderbilt, Northeastern, Northwestern, WashU – love it, but need FA so that might hurt worth applying to?
- Stanford – crap shot
- UT, UMich – doable but expensive worth applying?
- UVA, UNC – how is the strength of the engineering program?
- Penn State – my parents don’t like it because it has “state” attached to its name LOL. But I’m also a bit wary of its reputation as a party school (and it’s size)… (I’m social, but not THAT social)
- Bucknell – someone suggested this and it seems okay… anyone know anything about it?</p>
<p>So besides safety, a strong engineering program is a must. Co-op and internship opportunities are very important (engineering schools usually incorporate these into the curriculum). That’s about it. I can adapt to any weather (not that important), though I would prefer warmer climates. Any size would be fine, just not that small (<2,000~) or big (>35,000). Location is urban/ near urban areas; I can deal with suburban if there are things to do in the surrounding area. </p>
<p>Sorry if it’s long
Thanks!</p>
<p>If you’re serious about wanting an urban area, scratch Bucknell off your list.</p>
<p>Bucknell has a good engineering program, and is in a very safe location, but is located in a small town (Lewisberg) in central PA–about 2+ hours from both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. </p>
<p>I don’t know if Bucknell offers engineering internships, but I’m pretty sure they don’t offer any co-ops. (They didn’t offer either when DH went there, but that was over 30 years ago. Things may have changed.)</p>
<p>UNC doesn’t have engineering. The engineering program is at North Carolina State or North Carolina A and T. Some on CC believe that Virginia Tech’s engineering program is better than UVA’s.</p>
<p>UVa & VT both have excellent engineering programs. They are different, and the universities offer a uniquely different experience. It’s not something you can really compare apples to apples. You could not go wrong at either school.<br>
I would strongly suggest an on campus visit to either school, touring the e-school, seeing the campus, talking to students, finding out about research opportunities, if you are interested in either university. The internet is amazing for research, however it can not replace having your feet on the campus.
Having said this, going back to katlin01’s desire to be in an preferably urban area, VT is considered a rural area. UVa is 90min NoVa, and Charlottesville is great. I would say that Charlottesville is more of a small town than suburban… it all depends on how far is too far. I would make a point that it depends on how much you love the school.</p>
<p>90 minutes from Nova to UVA is optimistic, unless by NoVa you mean the edge of Nova in Prince William County. Not 90 minutes to Alexandria or Tysons.</p>
<p>I would definetely say Charlottesville is a town, not a suburb of DC</p>
<p>Uggghhh!!!
I said Charlottesville is more of a small town than a suburban.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>UVa’s location is neither of these things (although I think Charlottesville has plenty to do). I was surprised to see it on the list given the criteria & was pointing this out. It’s really up to the interested party to look and see how far the school is from her perceived acceptable level of civilization.</p>
<p>I misread. I thought by MORE small town, you meant it could also be seen as suburban. I could see someone saying that about UMW in Fredericksburg - a small town that IS on the edge of NoVa. I meant that Charlottesville is not at all in the NoVa suburbs.</p>
<p>^ Sorry for the confusion… the internet is a beast when you leave out body language, phrasing, context, etc. </p>
<p>It is ultimately up to the student to look and see how far these schools are from what they consider creature comforts. If you can’t live without a multiplex, super mall, live theater, and museums, plan accordingly.</p>
<p>Actually, there are plenty of places that offer multiplexes, supermalls, live theater, and museums that aren’t urban centers. For my children, “Williams” always meant “the middle of nowhere”. But every one of those things exists in the Williamstown area (depending on how “super” you need your super mall to be).</p>
<p>Substantial college towns with some independent commercial existence, like Charlottesville, Amherst, or Ann Arbor, or maybe even State College PA, much as I hate to admit it, deserve their own category. They aren’t urban, they aren’t suburbs, but they sure as heck aren’t the farm, either. My niece and nephew grew up 20 miles outside of Amherst/Northampton, in a true small town, and they used to dream of moving to Amherst or Northampton where all the action was.</p>