Some college questions

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am currently a junior in high school and have started the exciting yet overwhelming task of looking at colleges. </p>

<p>I live in Wisconsin and want to become an engineer. Right now I'm interested in civil engineering however a lot can change over the next few years.</p>

<p>My general high school info after sophomore year:
Weighted gpa 4.29
Class rank: 3 out of 356
No varsity sports, but 2 years of soccer and 1 year of track
Student senate, fbla, sadd, nhs
High honor roll
Church volunteer work</p>

<p>The colleges that I'm interested in are below and included are some questions. Sorry for any typos as I'm doing this off my phone.</p>

<p>Uw-Madison: I've been to some engineering camps there and am impressed. Also some family members have gone to madison in the past and have nothing but great things to say. The instate discount is great, but it is true that they don't give out as much financial aid/scholarships? </p>

<p>Georgia Tech: I believe I am visiting Georgia tech sometime in April and am very excited. I've heard great things about their engineering program, but I've also heard that their workload is rigorous and the surrounding area is lacking as far as social events are concerned. Is any of this true?</p>

<p>Penn: I was also impressed by Penn and their campus looks beautiful. In the engineering rankings and lists I've seen, however, they haven't been ranked as highly as the other schools I'm interested in. Also it's very expensive, but I hear they do give out a substantial amount of financial aid.</p>

<p>Cal-Berkeley: this school was originally my first choice (these schools are in no particular order) but my counselor told me that they require fine arts credits to apply. God has not blessed me with artistic or musical talents and I only have .5 credits that would be considered fine arts. That being said, it's a great school and the location seems perfect. </p>

<p>Milwaukee school of engineering (safety school): this is my safety school, and it's not a bad one to have. I've heard that the dorms are extremely crowded and my engineering credits in high school would only transfer over a selective credits. It's also really close to home, which has it's pros and cons. </p>

<p>If you attend any of these schools, or know of any other schools I should look into that'd be super helpful! Also if you just can help clear things up it'd be appreciated! Thanks in advance. I'd also like to head where other similar people plan on applying to.</p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone using [URL=<a href="http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1%5DTapatalk%5B/URL"&gt;http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1]Tapatalk[/URL&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

2

<p>I’ve also taken the ACT as a first semester sophomore without writing and received a 29. I didn’t study at all and just wanted to see what it was like. I’m taking it again with writing as a junior during April and hope to get a 30-32 </p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone using [URL=&lt;a href=“Tapatalk”&gt;Tapatalk]Tapatalk[/URL</a>]</p>

3

<p>Wisconsin is the school to beat.
For engineering in particular, in my opinion it’s hard to justify paying a big price premium for an out-of-state public university or for a private school. Berkeley won’t give you enough aid to drive the net cost down to Wisconsin levels. UPenn (or another selective private school, like Cornell) might. Use the online Net Price Calculators to estimate your bottom line. </p>

<p>If Penn (/Cornell/Hopkins/WashU/other) turned out to be competitive in net cost with Wisconsin, the decision starts to get tough. Should you attach much importance to the engineering rankings? Should you attach more importance to the overall rankings? Hard to say. Some people would advise ignoring the rankings altogether and focusing on “fit” (including personal preferences for location, campus atmosphere, etc.) Others have a strong bias toward more prestigious schools. At the Ivies, many engineering majors have no intention of becoming practicing civil/mechanical/electrical/chemical engineers. They’re aiming for the bigger bucks in investment banking or business consulting.</p>

4

<p>Thanks! This helped a lot!</p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone using [URL=&lt;a href=“Tapatalk”&gt;Tapatalk]Tapatalk[/URL</a>]</p>

5

<p>You have reciprocity with U of Minnesota, and also get a tuition deal there. </p>

<p>Cal-Berkeley is going to be expensive if you need FA. They are a state university, and you will be paying OOS tuition with limited FA. What exactly is your financial situation? You will want to sit down with your parents and run the net price calculators for each school to see what you might get for FA. The calculator is usually a link on the Financial Aid page of their website (which you can usually reach through the admissions page). Odds are very good that Madison and U of MN will be your cheapest options, but the calculators will help you figure that out.</p>

6

<p>Will do. Cost is definitely a major factor for me. I knew about the reciprocity with Minnesota, but I don’t know much about the college. I may visit there since I’ll be up in the twin cities this summer anyways.</p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone using [URL=&lt;a href=“Tapatalk”&gt;Tapatalk]Tapatalk[/URL</a>]</p>

7

<p>There is no reason for you to go to Cal. Yes, it is a nice location. But are you looking for a vacation or an education? They have no magic way of teaching that makes the material easier to learn. You use the same textbooks and take the same classes you will at any other school. Engineering education is accredited by ABET so the programs are similar almost no matter where you go. You can get the same large classes and lack of personal attention that Cal will give you at your instate public. Furthermore there is no financial aid to cover the out-of-state tuition, since that would defeat the purpose of bringing in OOS students. But if you’re still determined to go there, as a CA taxpayer let me thank you and your parents in advance for your $100K+ gift to the UC system.</p>

8

<p>If tuition is a major concern, take off Georgia Tech and UC Berkeley. Fwiw, of the Berkeley students I know, only one regularly goes to San Francisco. They seem to mostly stick to the actual city of Berkeley.</p>