<p>Please help. I have reaches more than covered, and enough safeties, but NO matches! I plan on majoring in either Chemical or Electrical Engineering. </p>
<p>Stats:
3.8 GPA (will likely go up 1st semester next year) UW/ 4.3 W
2120 SAT (650 M/670 V/800W) (I'm not sure what happened here; retaking in October and practice tests say I should be expecting 780 M/ 750 V)
SAT IIs: 730 Math II (no time to retake, unfortunately), 720 Chem, 690 USH
competitive private HS - 10-20% go to top 10 colleges
African-American female in CA</p>
<p>My ECs are okay; I should be able to present them well. My essays should be excellent. Here's the list so far (QB = applying through Questbridge): </p>
<p>Reach/Super-Reaches:
MIT (QB)
Stanford (QB)
Princeton (QB)
Yale (QB)
Rice (QB - app forwarding)
Cornell
Brown
UC Berkeley (legacy - does this help?)
UCLA</p>
<p>Safety:
Purdue
U Washington - Seattle
UC Santa Barbara
Virginia Tech (maybe)</p>
<p>In the match range, consider Wisconsin and Illinois. Wisconsin don’t have a cap on OOS students. Illinois does but as an African American woman in engineering with strong credentials, my guess is you’ll get some attention. A little more reach-y: Michigan (no cap on OOS) and CMU. All these schools would be quite strong in both Chem E and EE. Also strong in Cme E but not so much EE: Minnesota. For a smaller school, Cal Poly SLO and Bucknell are good bets.</p>
<p>UCB: Thanks for the clarification about Cal. I’m considering dropping Brown, but I think I’m keeping Yale - I’m really REALLY in love w/it - would be my first choice if its engineering was stronger. Quick Question: Which ones, exactly, are more matches than safeties? </p>
<p>Titan: do you really think Cal and UCLA could be matches? UC admissions (esp. with UCSD) has been REALLY weird this past year; I’m a bit hesitant to call the top 2 UCs matches.</p>
<p>Worrie: I thought about JHU, but it’s a little too pre-med focused for me. And considering I don’t really want to do biomed, JHU is out.</p>
<p>bclintonk: I’ll definitely consider Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. If Michigan and CMU are more reachy, though, I think I’ll pass. I’ve definitely got enough of those Cal Poly SLO, unfortunately, is a no-go with my parents. They think anything with ‘UC’ attached to it is automatically x10 better than any Cal State. I hadn’t thought about Bucknell; I thought they were more of an LAC? I’ll look into that a bit more.</p>
<p>nooob: I thought about UCSD; I’m still deciding about that one. CMU was on my list for a while, but I cut it out because it’s still a little too much of a reach.</p>
<p>I’d check out Rochester. It has a good reputation for merit aid. I’d say a low match</p>
<p>Tufts should also be good. I’d say a high match. </p>
<p>Bucknell is one of several LACs with an Engineering department, Lafayette, Trinity College, and Smith are others. However it is very isolated. LeHigh is closer to a true engineering/science school but also smaller than most on your list.</p>
I would say:
Berkeley (chemical engineering is a match… electrical engineering is more competitive for admission)
USC
UCLA
Rice
Cornell
UCSD
Michigan
Wisconsin</p>
<p>IMO, those are matches…no guarantees for admission, but you’ll likely get into several of these schools.</p>
<p>UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCSB
Cal Poly SLO</p>
<p>are safe bets.</p>
<p>Of course, MIT, Stanford, Princeton and Yale are reaches for everyone, but worth a shot.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d just check off some lower tier UCs to cover your safeties. It’s minimal effort and expense for peace of mind.</p>
<p>Your 650 Math is the only thing keeping you from being q match at a few of your reaches, especially Berkeley and UCLA. 3.8/4.3 is very strong and above UCB’s average, especially considering you are at a competitive HS.</p>
<p>If you can get that score into the 700s, it will make all the difference in the world.</p>
<p>That is the ONLY thing that sticks out from your stats. And for engineering, that one score is super important.</p>
<p>you have a 1320, it will be very hard for you to get into an Ivy…I am a little confused why people are saying Berkeley, hopkins and Cornell are matches? I would say that Berkeley is, but Hopkins and Cornells with your scores probably are reaches.</p>
<p>Dunnin/UCB: I knew my Math score was low for engineering at most of those schools; to be honest, I’m not quite sure what happened. But as I said, it should go up in October to at least mid-700s. </p>
<p>SO, final list (based on the assumption that my math score is what I expect it to be in October): </p>
<p>Reach/What-the-hell-may-as-well:
MIT
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Brown (maaaaaaaaaybe)</p>
<p>Matches:
Cornell
UCB (chem.E)
UCLA
Rice
UCSD (maybe)
Michigan/Wisconsin/Illinois (one of these, but which??? differences/comparisons anyone???)</p>
<p>Safeties:
U Washington - Seattle
Purdue
UCSB
Rochester?</p>
<p>I’ve considered lower-tier UCs as safeties, but honestly none really appeal to me or have as great of an engineering program. </p>
I like all of these…if I were to choose, I’d pick UW over UMich. UW is about $10k less per year than UMich for out-of-state students…plus, UW’s chemical engineering program is better, IMHO.</p>
<p>I’d choose Illinois if you’re leaning towards electrical engineering (it’s one of their best programs).</p>
<p>^ Wisconsin’s also easier to get in and the overall caliber of its students, while close, is not quite as strong as Michigan. I really like both schools and both towns. I think Michigan’s got an overall edge in academic prestige, including overall a stronger engineering school, though in particular programs Wisconsin has the edge. Illinois admits very few OOS students, very different from Wisconsin and Michigan in that regard. And IMO, Champaign/Urbana just doesn’t compare to either Madison or Ann Arbor as a college town. But it’s a great engineering school.</p>
<p>So, I’m assuming the difference in quality between Wisconsin and Michigan is somewhat negligible in regards to engineering programs at the undergrad level? Difference in prestige doesn’t matter too much to me, as long as it’s not a huge make-or-break difference. At this point it would just come down to fit, correct? </p>
<p>I think UIUC is out because at the undergrad level, a difference of only a few numbers in the rankings isn’t going to mean much, while quality of life (I wasn’t impressed with the really low %age of OOSers and what I’ve read about the town) is much more important. So I’ll choose between Wisconsin and Michigan, though I’m leaning towards Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone for your input! Any info on pros/cons of Wisconsin vs. Michigan would be appreciated!</p>
<p>^^ FWIW, US News ranks Michigan’s undergrad engineering school #7 with a 4.40 rating, just a smidge behind #4 (tie) Caltech, Georgia Tech, and UIUC (all in the 4.45 to 4.51 range). Wisconsin’s a bit further back at #13 with a 3.96. Or to put it differently, there’s a bigger difference between Michigan’s 4.40 and Wisconsin’s 3.97 than there is between #1 MIT’s 4.79 and Michigan’s 4.40.</p>
Cal Poly SLO, unfortunately, is a no-go with my parents. They think anything with ‘UC’ attached to it is automatically x10 better than any Cal State. I hadn’t thought about Bucknell; I thought they were more of an LAC? I’ll look into that a bit more.</p>