•Junior: White Male who lives in Florida but would prefer out of state schools
•Major: Nuclear/Chemical/Or really any type of—> Engineering
•SAT: 2060 (M-750 V-660 W-650)
•2-Score: 1410
•GPA: 3.82 (5.55 weighted)
•Class Rank: 17 of 508 (96.7th percentile)
•AP Courses: Human Geography, Environmental Science, World History, Paychology, US History, Physics 1, English Language Conposition, Statistics
•Extra Circulars: Varsity Basketball, President and founder of school’s only nonpartisan political debate club, Vice President of class, Science, Math, and Social Studies honor society member (Leadership in Science), member of student body executive board government branch (36 students of roughly 2500), Best Buddies club (works with special needs kids), Teens against drugs and alcohol, Math Tutor, youth basketball coach
•Additional Information: I placed top 25 in the state at a geography trivia competition ran by National Geographic and Google (GeoBee) at Jacksonville University in 8th grade, I know it’s not high school but would I be able to include it in my applications? Also this summer I’m most likely going to be attending an engineering camp at a university for a week or two. Also I am a designated “AP Scholar with Honors” meaning I’ve passed at least 3 AP exams
Does anyone have some schools I should look into? Also there is a relatively high chance I will crack my class’ top 10 by next semester if that has any weight in your suggestion.
Everything sounds pretty phenomenal, I really suggest looking at the joint engineering program at Davidson College. The program allows you to acquire a degree at Davidson, but then transfer to Columbia for an engineering degree, as long as you complete all the prerequisites at Davidson first. From what I’ve read it seems like a pretty interesting opportunity and I think you should look into it. I’d suggest studying more in the reading and writing sections and try retaking the SAT once more just to really give your app that extra vamp. in my opinion your EC’s look great, so I think you should really check out the dual-degree program. heres the link: http://www.davidson.edu/academics/engineering
I’m open to any geographic region, I don’t care whether or not the school is more traditional as opposed to being “new-school” and tech-aged. I prefer large research universities over smaller colleges but I’m not completely opposed to smaller private colleges if they excel at what I want to major in, and I’d prefer to not live in a rural region, I love the Urban settings but I’m not going to weight location heavily
Are you planning on taking AP Calc next year?
If you want to be seriously considered for Engineering programs you’ll need to take an AP Calc class-Statistics just wont cut it.
Price isn’t a worry right now because there is a strong possibility that I will have a lot of my entire (even extended) family pitch in to send me to college and I have a very large family, this is my situation because I’m the only kid in the family that is going to attend college for a reason other than sports
You may want to get an actual number on that “strong possibility” of your extended family “pitch[ing] in”. They may be willing to pitch in, but the amount they were thinking of may not be as much as you think, since they may not realize what college costs these days.
There are 21 schools with bachelor’s in nuclear engineering programs. University of Florida is the only in-state public one for you. Most of the rest are out-of-state publics, typically with high prices and no or little financial aid for out-of-state students, but some have large merit scholarships. Two are private (MIT and RPI), and one is the USMA (for those who want to become Army officers). See http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx
For chemical engineering, your choices are much wider. If you are unable to get clarity on family contributions, http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ lists a number of big scholarship safeties for your stats:
Alabama
Alabama - Huntsville
Tuskegee
Howard
Florida A&M
Louisiana Tech
Meaning that the family members will reduce their financial contribution if you get a lower than 3.5 GPA in college?
This subject has come up in the context of merit scholarships where a high GPA must be maintained to renew the scholarship up to four years. The usual consensus is that a 3.5 GPA renewal threshold can be stressful, since it is not easy to do in college. How much will they contribute if your college GPA falls below 3.5?
Be aware that if you make a low GPA in college, your transfer options may be more limited. Note that some schools (including UF) only accept junior level transfers, so if you lose the family funding after frosh year (the riskiest time GPA-wise), you may have to transfer to a lower cost school that takes sophomore transfers, or go to a community college and then transfer as a junior.
You may want to choose a school whose net price is UF-level or lower – if through a merit scholarship, one with a lower renewal GPA than 3.5 – if you do not want the stress level of maintaining a 3.5 college GPA.
Rensselaer was mentioned. I think it has everything you are looking for, particularly since you are qualified to both get accepted and do well there. I regard 3.5 or higher as an achievable college GPA for a student who is both prepared and dedicated. Your high school grades are the strongest predictor of this. Btw, considering your intended major, I was surprised not to see AP Chem on your schedule. Does your school offer it? Good luck!
Certainly, a 3.5 GPA is achievable, but having it be mandatory in order to stay in school (because funding will be withdrawn at a 3.4 or lower GPA) is another thing altogether.
Realistically, I think the OP’s family may weigh both GPA and the difficulty of the school when deciding on future funding. At least the case should be made for this, as excessive strictness may only discourage the OP from reaching his potential.
Beyond that, I think the OP should be offered some sense of what a typical college GPA may be. At Harvard, it is 3.67, for example. It can’t hurt to know that, even if at an engineering-intensive school it may be less.