<p>I live in a little town in the south east corner of the state.</p>
<p>There aren't any "real" mts in ND, we have some large hills but compared to MT we have no mountains. I like living here and this year we didn't get as much snow as normal. But it is still fairly cold. NDSU is a good school and so is UND, though the dorms at UND are shoe boxes! At girls state I was in Brannon and I think my bathroom at home is bigger than that dorm.</p>
<p>Rufio, my son agrees with you that Olin is unique and wonderful, and he will go there rather than MIT if he gets in. After watching him go through the grueling process of college apps this past year (MIT, Caltch, Harvey Mudd, Stanford, UCB, etc), I would suggest that you keep up the great EC's, and try to develop a pattern with your ECs that shows a particular passion and lots of intiative. My son, too, was told he would get in anywhere (we've yet to see except for MIT), but the competition is so fierce, you never know. Olin is only going to get harder to get into as its reputation grows.</p>
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Rufio, my son agrees with you that Olin is unique and wonderful, and he will go there rather than MIT if he gets in. After watching him go through the grueling process of college apps this past year (MIT, Caltch, Harvey Mudd, Stanford, UCB, etc), I would suggest that you keep up the great EC's, and try to develop a pattern with your ECs that shows a particular passion and lots of intiative. My son, too, was told he would get in anywhere (we've yet to see except for MIT), but the competition is so fierce, you never know. Olin is only going to get harder to get into as its reputation grows.
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<p>Thanks for the imput, it is both good and bad at the same time to hear that there are people in the same situation as me.</p>
<p>By the way, I hate to dig up an old post, but I wanted to know everyone's opinion of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Also, my parents are still set on my going to Mines, and they attribute the lack of selectivity and the missing ranks to the fact that the school is well-known only in specialized areas, like Petroleum and Mining Engineering. Is the school weak or just underrated?</p>
<p>Oh and also, Cal-Berkeley looks like a great school that is relatively affordable. What's your opinion of it, and would I get in?</p>
<p>RPI mentioned in my previous post has this thing where one person per school can get half tuition to go there if the guidance counselor writes a special recommendation letter. At my school we have had one student per year, usually one of the best students academically (on the math/science side), but the school is not selective, yet it still has a reputation for a good program.</p>