Should I shoot for an Ivy or settle, for lack of a better word, with UT Austin?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a rising high school senior from Dallas, Texas interested in Engineering, specifically, chemical. I know UT Austin has an exceptional Engineering program, for a public university at least (although UC Berkley takes the cake on that one), but I'm not <em>too</em> worried about getting in. My question really is with my stats, should I try and shoot for something a little more, prestigious? Places I had in mind are Cornell, Columbia, Rice, and as extremeeeeeeee reach schools, MIT and Stanford. Any thoughts are appreciated. If you think I have zero chance, please go ahead and tell me. And also, I'm a white male if that is a factor. I feel like it makes a difference, although I don't think that should have any say in the matter but what do I know. </p>

<p>-32 ACT Score (I know, I know, that should be a tad higher)
-President of NHS at my school. Our chapter is about ~70 people or so.
-Ranked 14th out of 435
-Member of DECA (business competition) where I have advanced to state both times I've competed and International competition once.
-Mock trial
-Varsity football player and track runner
-I am currently an intern at JP Morgan Chase which is a pretty prestigious internship. This is probably one of my top achievementss
-I was picked by my counselors and teachers to be our schools HOBY representative (also, is HOBY even worth mentioning on an app? Its a pretty big leadership thing but other than that..?)
-I have 2 jobs (also is that worth mentioning?)
-I've been taking AP classes left and right.
-By application time this fall I will have about 50 hours (not including the hours I will have for NHS)
-And lastly I have taken dual credit at community college here in Dallas.</p>

<p>Like I said, you can be as honest with me as you'd like. I'd rather hear a truthful remark than one that will get my hopes up! Thanks to all:)</p>

2

<p>What is your score breakdown? Did you take any SAT2?</p>

3

<p>It was english 31, math 29, reading 33, and science 34. I took the SAT but I didnt do as good. Only got a 2020. My ACT/SAT equivalent should be about a 2130 I believe.</p>

4

<p>I mean SAT2 subject tests not SAT1. Your ACT Math score is a bit low for engineering program while your composite score is fine for top 50 schools but not quite enough for the top 20s including Ivies and MIT. Many of these top schools require subject test too.</p>

5

<p>Oh no I haven’t taken any SAT2. Im sorry I didn’t see the 2! Which do you recommend? I plan on retaking and preparing a lot for the math section so I plan to raise that. But which SAT2 should I be looking at to take? Just the subjects I know really well or are there certain tests which look much better?</p>

6

<p>For engineering, you need Math2 plus one science subject. Just do your best science subject or the one that you just took AP classes. Ideally, you should take the subject test in June right after your AP.</p>