suggestions for other colleges i should apply to =) !! thanks!!

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hey everyone. I'm an incoming high school senior, and going along my business of doing college apps =) and now I'm in need of some suggestions for other schools, particularly east coast schools that match the ones i listed below, in terms of academics and my interests. I'm really interested in pre-med (I know this seems cliche, but this has been a life-long ambition of mine, and I'm determined to pursue it), and I'm considering an engineering major. I've done a ton of research on my own, and now I'd like to tap into the experience of the posters on this forum for some advice =) my stats are below, it's brief, but i think it gives a good enough idea of what i have going for me. </p>

<p>these are the schools i'm FOCUSED on for sure, but i'd like to expand this list.
- Stanford (this would be my dream school! ^^)
- Caltech (planning to apply ea to the 7 year med program with ucsd, i know i have an uber slim chance at this)
- UC Berkeley
- UCLA</p>

<p>I'm a male Asian-American.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.92 unweighted
4.65 weighted</p>

<p>SAT: first time - 2180
second time - 2400</p>

<p>SATII: Math IIC:790
Biology:780
Physics: [will take in october, and i'm going for an 800! ^^)</p>

<p>APs: Calculus BC - 5
English Language - 5
US History - 5
Biology - 5
Physics - 4</p>

<p>My MAIN Extra-curriculars:
- Symphony Orchestra (4 years)
- Math Team (2 years)
- Constitution Team (1 year, senior-only team)
- summer research at USC (05')
- summer internship at City of Hope cancer research center (06'), part of a research group that's going to get paper published within the next two years
- volunteering at local hospital (150-ish hours over 3 years)</p>

<p>My recs:
- teacher recs: i trust they'll write good/great/fantabulous ones!
- counselor: blah probably generic. about 900 kids in my class year
- supplemental: summer internship at coh, my mentor says he's going to give me the best rec i could ever ask for =)</p>

<p>that's the gist of it, i have other less significant ec's, and i don't think they'll be that beneficial to me. so yeap! if you guys could give me suggestions on other schools i should apply to or do further research on, perhaps even give me a rough idea of my chances in getting in, that would be lovely, great, fantabulous! thanks in advance! (sorry if i unknowingly broke a forum rule! i don't think i did, though i have a habit of doing so on online forums =[ )</p>

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<p>Columbia, Cornell, and UPenn would be good to look into.</p>

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<p>you seem to have pretty excellent records, wish I had only a little of ur marks/ECs</p>

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<p>Have you looked into the biomedical engineering program at Johns Hopkins?</p>

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<p>Since you want to major in engineering but go into medicine, there would seem to be no reason to shoot for a college with a super-competitive top-ranked engineering school with grade deflation. The reason to put yourself through those sorts of meat grinders would be to get a really great ENGINEERING job afterwards. And fitting in the pre-med bio and chem classes might be tough in such a place.</p>

<p>So it would seem like good schools that HAVE enginneering but don't stress it bigtime might be a good choice. Some of the engineers here would have more and better suggestions, but wouldn't Harvard and Virginia be such schools?</p>

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<p>frozen: thanks! i'll look into them. how are my chances in getting into those schools?</p>

<p>marian: yup, just a little bit. from what i've read online, jhu seems like a pre-med factory, and that competition among premeds is pretty intense there. is it really that intense for pre-meds there, or are the intensity complaints just coming from a small less-motivated group...? i'll definitely look more into the biomedical engineering program though! thanks!</p>

<p>tourguide: yeah, i've been debating about the competition/difficulty issue about engineering as a pre-med for quite awhile now. i'm leaning towards engineering as my major because it'd be nice to have a fallback in case i don't make it to med-school, but the trade-off is tons tons tons more work in undergrad. ahh! hard to balance the benefits! haha yeah. it seems like harvard would be great to do engineering as a pre-med, but it's harvard LOL and my chances are awfully slim in getting admitted there. i'll also look into virginia =) thanks for the info!!</p>

<p>any other suggestions? thanks!!</p>

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<p>Duke, Tufts, Notre Dame, USC, Rochester, Lehigh, Rice.</p>

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<p>Where are you from? I'm going to guess you're in-state for Berkeley. </p>

<p>Since you're interested in premed and engineering I'm surprised Johns Hopkins and/or WUSTL aren't on your list. </p>

<p>What other UCs are you considering besides UCB and UCSD? Davis might be a good one, and Santa Cruz might make a good safety (it seems like they have good science programs there). </p>

<p>Also - I visited the University of Washington and they have excellent science resources, new buildings and labs, etc. And they have an honors program if that interests you.</p>

<p>I've heard Dartmouth is really good for engineering. </p>

<p>I know you're primarily interested in the east coast but if you're looking at Caltech why not also Harvey Mudd? Mudd's a good place if you also want some liberal arts along with your math and science because you can easily cross-register with the the other Claremont colleges and they're all right next to each other.</p>

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<p>You are very competitive and given you are pre-med and not intending to be an actual engineer I would focus on the top 15 USNEWS schools as reaches. What type of atmosphere are you looking for?</p>

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<p>You said that you want an engineering degree to fall back on if you don't get into med school, but with your excellent high school profile and test scores, unless you completely change your study habits, it is very unlikely that you wouldn't get into medical school. And you probably would have an easier time getting top grades for medical school if you didn't have to take the difficult engineering classes. Although this path is tough, it is not impossible to go to med school with an undergraduate engineering degree, but the one person I know who did this had to go to summer school to do so. So factor this into your decision.</p>

<p>Penn is a great choice, I think they allow qualified seniors to take some classes at their medical school. And if you decide not to go the engineering route, think about Brown which has a special undergraduate/medical 7 year degree program.</p>

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<p>Also be aware that most engineers at the top schools go into business/ banking/ consulting because its much more financially lucrative. Given this fact I would focus on the best "fit" among the top schools.</p>

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<p>kenshinx08:</p>

<p>Assuming you are a California resident,
UCB/UCLA: Match (Engineering)</p>

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<p>MIT and Harvard.</p>

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<p>lol don't go to harvard for engineering</p>

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<p>Basically I've witnesses that there are two categories of engineers.</p>

<p>1) Go to an "techie" engineering school like GaTech, Purdue, Illinois, etc and get a B.S. in engineering. Then work for Boeing, Bosch, GM, whatever as an actual engineer.</p>

<p>2) Go to a top 5 engineering school or Ivy-caliber school. Major in engineering but don't actually become an engineer. Go to professional school (mostly med school business) or get a job in consulting or investment banking.</p>

<p>It sounds like the OP is in category 2, not category 1 and in that case ANY of the top 15 USNEWS schools is a great choice. So pick the school you like the most among the top schools.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone, for the input! Yeah, I'm a California resident. Suburban so-cal to be more exact =)</p>

<p>As for an atmosphere I would personally like best, I really am not sure myself. I've only visited a few colleges up and down California, but I haven't been to a single one out of state, something I'm really regretting at the moment, and time obviously isn't my best friend at the moment to do that haha. For the most part, I can adapt and love any school I guess, as long as it suits my academic needs and as long as I can find some close friends. </p>

<p>And yeah, to put it the way slipper did, I'm in the 2nd category of engineers, that is to say if I DO pursure an engineering major. I'll look more into the Ivies, and the other colleges mentioned up there. Why not Harvard for engineering, atomic?</p>

<p>Again, thanks everyone for the help!</p>

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<p>Kenshin,</p>

<p>Atomic is referring to Harvard as an actual feeder school into engineering firms (for category 1 people). Harvard is no great feeder into places like Boeing and other engineering firms. But for people in category two as an undergrad learning experience its terrific and it lines up its graduates for the BEST grad schools or most elite banking/ consulting firms. </p>

<p>As for finding the best "fit," I would go to the bookstore and pick up a copy of both the fiske guide and the Princeton Review 331 top schools guide. I've found them to be 100% accurate in their decriptions of social life. You might find you like most schools and apply to all eight Ivies, but you also might find a great school you might have otherwise ignored (say Amherst or Northwestern) if you had not researched enough.</p>