Stressing too much over this, I need some Direction

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Through the last two months as a Junior I have been spending wayyy to much time worrying about my college decision, and I'm not even to that point yet. Let me tell you a little about myself so you could possibly help me:</p>

<p>Male, unreported ethnicity. Parents went to USAFA (father), U Maryland - Okinawa Branch (mother)
PSAT (no prep): 76 Math (missed one question, gah!), 64 Writing, 59 Verbal
SAT will be taken on the first New SAT test date in March.
Took AP Stats freshman year, 5
Took AP MicroEcon soph year, 4
This year taking AP Calc BC, AP Physics B, AP Art Studio</p>

<p>Class Rank (though it's not officially published): 4 out of 125
GPA: 4.259 w, 3.99 uw</p>

<p>Just accepted to UC's post secondary education opportunities program to take more Calc and Physics</p>

<p>Next year will take AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Gov, AP Art, along with a couple UC classes, and Honors English, and Computer Programming.</p>

<p>So with that said, I am looking at schools but I am having trouble figuring out if they are reach/match/safety schools for me. Since I am the first student in my school to do UC PSEOP, take AP classes as a frosh, take AP Calc BC & AP Physics as Junior (does that help any for getting into schools?), all I ever get told by peers and many teachers is that I can get into whatever school I want. This I know is not true. But since no one is giving me guidance on what schools I will be able to get into, I was hoping someone at these awesome forums could help me out. </p>

<p>Here is my top ten:
1. F.W. Olin College of Engineering (not because it's free, either)
2. Colorado School of the Mines
3. Rice University
4. Caltech
5. MIT
6. University of Colorado - Boulder
7. Georgia Tech
8. Harvey Mudd (don't know much about this one, but it has been recommended to me, I'd love to learn a little about it)
9. Rose-Hulman
10. Purdue</p>

<p>Chosen major varies a little between schools (I just love math and physics, any specialization is fun). For most I would look at Materials Science and Engineering, ME, or Aerospace depending on what is offered and what I finally decide. In the case of Caltech or Mines, I would most likely choose Geology at Caltech, and Petroleum Engineering at Mines. But see this is where I get so stressed. There are so many things that I enjoy doing, so many different majors I would like to do. Which schools are reach/out of reach, match, and safety (if any) for me, and where else should I look at? I am leaning towards small schools obviously, but am not limited to that. Ah I know many people are going through the same thing as me, and that is a little comforting, but also intimidating because of how competitive the schools are that I am looking at.</p>

<p>[Mods please move this if it is in the wrong place, I thought it to general to go in What are My Chances?]</p>

2

<p>"8. Harvey Mudd (don't know much about this one, but it has been recommended to me, I'd love to learn a little about it)"</p>

<p>if you want a school with any sort of campus DONT apply here, the school has a tiny campus with not very much going on. i visited and was immediatly turned off by the number of empty kegs outside of the dorms and the arrogance of the tour guide who thought that over 50% of their students scored a 800 on the math section of the SAT. also the graffiti in the tunnels of caltech with "caltech sucks! -HMC" made me hate HMC. you dont mess with caltech, you just dont. btw, im not from caltech, i didnt graduate caltech, i did not even apply to caltech, i just love the place.</p>

<p>i dont know anything about Olin, sorry.
but id say you have a good shot at most except mit/caltech. the lack of ECs, USAMO, and low PSAT (for those schools) are whats gonna hurt you. remember, caltech is fairly number driven, with an average SAT of 1510 for their enrolled students.
good luck!</p>

3

<p>Whoops, I completely forgot to mention ECs:
-4 year soccer, JV Captain Sophomore year, starter on team that lost in the state finals Junior year
-Mu Alpha Theta member, 4 years (first ever 4-year member)
-Math Competition Team Captain (no awards yet)
-Spanish Club as underclassman
-Started the MLK Jr. Dream club at our school
-NHS member 2 years
-I'm going to run for student council something for senior year, maybe president.
- 120+ community service hours (its required at our school)
- Founder of youth group at my church</p>

<p>Hmm, HMC doesn't sound too good. I'm going to visit Caltech in a month, so maybe I'll drop by there just to see for myself.</p>

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<p>CU-Boulder and Rice are two VERY different schools. I happen to like them both! Let's see what your SAT comes out to be, but you seem to have the credentials for Rice. Rice is a perfect size and I think you would love it. CU Boulder probably has some good departments in which you are interested, but the bottom 50% of the student body is not going to be an academic match for you.</p>

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<p>Which kind of engineering do you want to study?</p>

<p>I would rank your schools as follows in terms of overall desireability for engineering, reflecting my personal opinion. This would not necessarily correspond to selectivity. Cal Tech, MIT, and Harvey Mudd are probably the three reaches. Purdue and two Colorados safeties. Rice and Georgia Tech good matches. Olin and Rose Hulman are selective but so "different" I am not sure what to think.</p>

<p>MIT
CalTech
Rice
Purdue
Harvey Mudd
Georgia Tech
Olin
Rose Hulman
Colorado Boulder
Colorado Mines</p>

<p>You should also consider:
U Michigan
U Illinois
Carnegie Mellon
Princeton
Cornell
Berkeley
Stanford
Columbia
Texas Austin</p>

6

<p>What's the MLK Dream Club?</p>

7

<p>"Rice and Georgia Tech good matches"</p>

<p>That's very reassuring. All I hear are good things from both schools, but especially Rice. It seems like everywhere I go there is someone who sent their kids to Rice and they love it. I will be visiting it in a month or so, right before I see Caltech, and it is likely that Rice may end up #2 on my list. Sorry, nothing beats out Olin. Its...just....perfect.</p>

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<p>The Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream club has its roots in this:</p>

<p>“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.</p>

<p>By saying that, our club believes that we should try to live out this dream by no longer acknowledging our ethnicity in society. The club is very new, but we are on a campaign right now to end our school's support of Black History Month because it simply is completely against King's dream. It does nothing but promote a new segregation that is not needed in society. Next fall we plan on taking the initiative to encourage everyone in the school to not mark their ethnicity on College Apps, SATs, and Proficiencies. Yes, this is a very idealistic club, but it is founded on principles and is becoming very popular once people figure out what it is.</p>

<p>Another great quote:</p>

<p>“There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.”
-Barack Obama, US Senator from IL (D)</p>

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<p>Harvey Mudd is a very well respected liberal arts school with a science and engineering focus. Very demanding program. I'd discount the above poster's superficial impressions and find out about it for yourself. <a href="http://www2.dof.hmc.edu/academic/default.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www2.dof.hmc.edu/academic/default.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Olin sounds like a great school, but the entering class is so small that you have to consider it a long shot. You seem to have a good list of reach/match/safeties on your list, though.</p>

<p>You should start now to develop your verbal side in order to be competitive for the top highly selective schools on your list. I guess your PSATs point to about a 1350 SAT which is decent but below average for the accepted students at the HSC. I'm sure that exceptions are often made for a lopsided student with really advanced skills, though.</p>

<p>It's not important to focus on your expected specific college major at this time. You are leaning to science and engineering so that's good enough for now. You might think a bit more on this after you have acceptances in hand, when deciding which schools to choose. </p>

<p>I'm not sure how you'll find time in the day for 6 classes plus some college classes. It's not really necessary.</p>

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<p>Wow, sounds like the MLK dream club is a branch of the KKK.</p>

11

<p>Yes I do have a life. I made homecoming court freshman year (is that something to include on a college app) and am generally liked by my peers, although I am better friends with those older than me. I posted ECs a little late too, sorry.</p>

12

<p>"Wow, sounds like the MLK dream club is a branch of the KKK."</p>

<p>Lol I've heard that quite a bit. And although our club tries to not mention race, keep in mind whose dream our club is based on. Plus, I am/was (we prefer to be called Americans now) a Native American, and the other two founding members are/were Jewish and Costa Rican. Another of the first members is/was Syrian and Lebanese. This is quite a statement in our school because of the majority (90+%) race that attends.</p>

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<p>Well it's a discussion for the cafe, not here, but really it does sound like a movement born to eliminate affirmative action, where I'd prefer to eliminate the need for affirmative action. I don't think the race of the kids joining matter, I'd really like to know if someone nefarious is behind this.</p>

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<p>North Dakota State University has a good engineering program from what i've heard. A definite safety school for you.
<a href="http://ndsu.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ndsu.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>If you want more info on Olin, check out the Olin forums on this site. </p>

<p>Xforums (search "Olin" and "Xforums") would also be a good place to ask questions.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for everyone giving their input on this, it was exactly what I was asking for. I think y'all know more about who can get in where than anyone I know, and a second/third opinion was definitely appreciated.</p>

<p>NDSU sounds really cool. Is Fargo a nice place?</p>

<p>Oh, and thanks for the link for Olin. Ah that is such an awesome school. I was there for the open house this past fall and I fell in love with it. Everyone was so nice, and we could tell it wasn't just a show y'all put on for us. Stuff like white-board signups for kids who need rides into town and notes on doors letting visitors know they can come look at their room and take some of the candy inside, that really sends a good message to us. Honestly. Such a family atmosphere. I just hope I get in. Perhaps this is what Caltech is like, but I don't know if anything can compare....</p>

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<p>Fargo isn't a BIG city but it has pretty much everything you'll need. The downtown area is being renovated and was featured as a town turning "hip" by the LA Times.</p>

18

<p>Those Dakotas sound like nice states. You must get lots of snow up there. And there are mountains too (or are there), lots of stuff to do outside.</p>

<p>Oh, and bettina I'd love to discuss this too, just not here. We seem to have a fundamental disagreement on whether or not affirmative action is needed anymore. That's where our opinions start to vary.</p>

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<p>The only mountains are small ones out in the west which are not by NDSU or UND the two major colleges in North Dakota. There are alot of outdoor activites though such as skiing in Alexandria, MN. There is alot of snow though so if you're not used to it, it will be a big change.</p>

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<p>Ah no worries about the snow, I'm in Colorado almost more than Ohio during the year. Having to snowshoe to class may be an inconvenience, but I'm up for it :) . Closest I've ever been to ND is Ann Arbor. Do you live there/ go to school there Corey?</p>