<p>Hi Parents- I'm told you can help a lot with my college list. My May SATs are in and my list needs some tweeking...too many dream schools and not enough match/safeties...
Highest SATs in two sittings: CR 620, M 690, W 680, will take SATIIs and ACT in June, probably retake SATI in fall
GPA - 4.6W on 4.0 scale, IB student
ECs - Varsity Soccer and Swimming all years, club soccer and swimming, many athletic awards, probably attractive to Div 3 schools (working with a few coaches), 200+ volunteer hours, some leadership, a few clubs (leadership although nothing amazing), most of my time is dedicated to sports and school work (very time consuming)</p>
<p>I love Chemistry and would like to study chem engineering or chem.
These are some schools I'm especially interested in:
Johns Hopkins, Georgia Tech, UFlorida, Penn (ultra dream I know)
These are some schools that have contacted me or seem interested for sports:
Brandeis, Ohio Wesylan, Oxford at Emory, and a few other very small schools that I don't know much about...if it makes any difference, I'm a white female...</p>
<p>Any suggestions to improve my chances at some of my dream schools? Any suggestions for schools I should think about? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Do you have a certain size or location in mind? Bucknell has strong engineering, and the swim team did very well this year. They have a strong athletic culture on campus. It is small though--only 3,500. Despite being rural, kids manage to road trip quite frequently to NYC, Washington D.C., Philly etc...</p>
<p>Tulane - strong in Engineering, esp. (I think) Chem E. This year your stats had the potential for merit $$. Not sure what next year would bring. Also not sure where they stack up in swimming and soccer - this year they rank v high in baseball (men). Very cohesive Chem E group when we visited for Engineering Scholar Days. Lots of female in the group, too, fwiw. Student President of TECHS(Eng honor society) is a female chemE.</p>
<p>Dreamer ~ a Couple of thoughts: How about Penn State? Good school, and you might match thier student profile since your scores are a bit above average for them. Also, perhaps USC (my undergraduate Alma Mater, I admit) would be a match, or a match/reach, but they might like to have you if you are from the east and a white female. I received my undergrad Chem E degree from USC and it has served me well.
Where do you start out geographically, and is your current plan to go on for a technical graduate program? Or are you more interested in a program that turns out engineers with an emphasis on practical, hands-on skills for industry?</p>
<p>The fact that you are a female will be a HUGE advantage if you are applying to engineering schools. A friend of my son had similar stats to yours & not only was she admitted to every school she applied to but she was offered enormous amounts of merit money. She chose CMU.</p>
<p>Wow! Thank you all so much for your thoughts. I am from Florida, but not afraid to travel from college. My family is from the northeast, so I am quite interested in going there. Actually I'm still feeling stung by my scores today. I really thought I did better. I had just taken 5 AP exams the week I took the May SATs...guess that was a big mistake. My verbal and math actually dropped : ( but my writing went up. Anyway, I want a strong technical education from a strong school. Hands-on sounds great. I'd really like to play soccer too if I could. CMU is actually a strong womens soccer and engineering school, so I'm looking into that. Penn State soccer is a little out of my league I think, though a great school. Tulane sounds interesting too. I'm signed up to take the Chem and Math IIC exams next weekend, so I guess I'd better start studying. Sometimes I feel like I never get a break. Ugh!</p>
<p>Prepping for Chemistry and IIC is a lot less problematic than the SAT I, so I think you will do well. Make <em>sure</em> you get enough sleep for at least 3-4 nights before the test, and best of luck!</p>
<p>I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned the University of Rochester. They have a strong chemical engineering program and your scores and grades would make it a very good match. Trinity College in CT. is a liberal arts college with a good general education program that would also allow you some cross-ties in chemistry. Trinity would also be a match school for you.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Johns Hopkins and Georgia Tech are probably both going to be reachy for you unless you can get your scores up. The "female factor" will help at Georgia Tech, but won't help much at Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>Some of the D3 LACs have 3/2 Engineering programs. I think Wesleyan is one but there are others; not sure as Engineering is not my area. Could be athletics would be a boost at a D3. Isn't Hopkins D3 too?</p>
<p>Dreamer, check out Furman. They have a dynamite chemistry faculty and program. As I recall from our visit, 13 or 14 faculty with a total of 40 junior & senior majors. This is just an amazing stat from a LAC with only 2700 students. And they have HUGE success in placing students in both industry and grad school.</p>
<p>Actually, Furman recruited a couple of soccer players from my area in the past. I'll certainly check it out. I'm really hoping to get a boost from athletics from a D3 school. Thanks to everyone for your great suggestions. It's really nice to hear good things about schools that aren't Ivies or in the top 20 at US News! : )</p>
<p>I would think carefully before taking the SAT I for the third time. I think that admissions people may not feel that positively taking a test several times. I do think taking the ACT might be a good move. Maybe only take the SAT I again if you find that you're scoring way highter on practice tests than you did your first two times.</p>
<p>In your place I would be willing to take the SAT I again, but probably only after putting a good deal of time and energy into prepping for it, and feeling comfortable from the sample tests that my score would likely rise 100 points. On the other hand, if that is possible, you would put yourself into a much improved situation for merit aid and/or honors colleges.
Is there a coach you can ask about soccer recruitment?</p>