Truly average Asian, will chance back!

<p>Asian female from California
Single parent household where mother earns ~50k/yr
Intended major: Aero E or Mech E</p>

<p>9-12: 3.77w/3.49 unweighted, class rank 50 out of 578
10-12: 4.0 w/3.6 unweighted, class rank 29 out of 578</p>

<p>APs taken: Euro (4), Envrio (4), USH (5)
Will take: AP Calc AP, AP Eng Lit, AP Gov</p>

<p>Schedule could not fit in AP Physics, but will be taking regular physics</p>

<p>SAT (Jan): 650CR, 670M, 620W
ACT (June): 33R, 31M, 33E, 29 Sci, 31E/W</p>

<p>Planning to take for SAT II's: Math II, USH, Environmental Bio</p>

<p>ECs:
Civil Air Patrol - 1 year
Soccer, lettered three years, varsity 3 years, team captain 12 grade
Recreational Boxing - 1 year
Red Cross - 4 years
CSF - 3 years
NHS - 2 years
Science Bowl (captain two years) - member 4 years
387 volunteer hours so far
Chinese Club : 10th - Secretary, 11th&12th Pres - member, 4 years
Latin Club: VP 11th&12th - member, 3 years</p>

<p>Special Notes: Hoping to earn Army ROTC 4 year scholarship, GPA and class rank is pretty alright, not anticipating to make ELC (although very close)</p>

<p>Should I retake ACT or SAT I's? I did not really "study" for the tests. I'm planning to only submit ACTs since they're better.</p>

<p>What should I reach for on my SAT II's to increase my chances?</p>

<p>Chances for UC Davis, UCSD, UCLA, UMich-Ann Arbor, UMaryland - CP, Embry Riddle Daytona</p>

<p>The OOS schools I picked based on AeroEng rankings on US News reports. I am leaning towards Embry Riddle, however I am dissuaded by the caliber of students they accept. What other schools good for AeroE or MechE do you think would seem like a good match for me? </p>

<p>Thanks for chancing, leave a link for me to chance back!</p>

<p>First off, I’d like to congratulate you on your excellent extracurriculars, they’ll definitely make the difference in your admissions. Your scores could be improved, retaking the SAT or ACT and getting above a 2100/33 is preferable in getting accepted into colleges like UCLA. However, UCD would be a match just with your scores alone- your E.Cs make it a reliable safety.
UC Davis- safe match
UCSD- match due to sat
UCLA-low reach, if scores improve to atleast 2000, high match, if 2100± match
UMich-Ann Arbor- high match/low reach
UMaryland - CP -high match
Embry Riddle Daytona- match</p>

<p>Thank you! I’ll take the ACTs once more. What scores should I aim for on the SAT II’s to improve my chances at the schools?</p>

<p>Can anyone give me any insight on the three OOS schools I listed or suggest any more schools? I’m rethinking about making Embry-Riddle my top choice, since their profile on CollegeBoard suggests that they accept students with pretty low test scores. Is that a shallow reason to not like a school?</p>

<p>What’s so great about the ECs? I don’t see anything special.</p>

<p>^ hah, I was actually wondering that myself!</p>

<p>I’d like to hear more feedback, please :)</p>

<p>Well have you visited the schools? How do you feel about them? If you do not feel comfortable in any of the schools, just do not apply to the school concerned.</p>

<p>As for ACT/SAT, you have the option to retake the tests. You can take a few SAT subject tests too if you have the time/finances.</p>

<p>Congratulations to you having interesting curriculars that suggest your passion for aerospace, though. They’re good enough to demonstrate your interest.</p>

<p>I have visited the UCs and I loved the campuses. UCLA especially, although I realize it’s a reach for me. Not exactly sure how much of a reach though, I always thought UCLA wasn’t that hard to get into. Now I’m on this forum where kids with 2100+ SATs are worried about their chances for UCLA!</p>

<p>Anyway, I would be happy at any school, I’m sure as long as it has a good aerospace engineering program and a regular student life. I heard that there’s not much of a social scene at Embry Riddle. Plus, the mid 50% SAT scores for Embry-Riddle is in the high 500’s/low 600’s. Although they’re number one in Aerospace Engineering according to UC News college rankings, for schools that don’t offer a masters.</p>

<p>For schools that offer a graduate degree, UMich, UCLA, and UMaryland - CP are up there. I’m also considering Virginia Tech. I’d like to know my chances for Virignia Tech as well.</p>

<p>By the way, 50k is nowhere near the low-income line unless you had some gigantic family.</p>

<p>Well, for one thing, your ECs are definitely better than mine were, so while chemwz might not be so impressed, I still admire the bit of work you did do. </p>

<p>UCLA is hard to get into, but I suppose I might only be saying that because they rejected me (those jerks!) and I had a 2150 SAT, though I did get into Cal. If I were to look only at your GPA (4.0w since UC GPA doesn’t consider freshman year) and SAT (1940), I would say that UCLA is quite a bit of a reach for you. According to the UCLA freshman admission profiles, people with your GPA had an admit rate of about 15%, which is a bit of a guesstimate between the 8% admit rate of 3.7-3.9GPA and the 47.5% of 4.0+GPA. People in your SAT range were about mid 20% admitted, so we can safely assume that solely based on the numbers your chances are a bit low.</p>

<p>That being said, I would say you have a significantly better chance of getting into UC Davis, a prospect which I would warn against only because they are one of the only two UCs that aren’t within range of the beach and what’s California without a beach? Arizona. As for UCSD, your chances are also better here, I’d say you’ve got a 50/50 chance of getting in. The thing with state universities, no matter how prestigious they are, is that they love to go to the numbers first because of the massive amounts of applicants (especially UCLA and Cal, over 50,000 a piece!) I’m not familiar with the other universities.</p>

<p>As depressing as my number-crunching might sound, don’t hesitate to apply! After all, the application for all UCs are exactly the same, and you never know! Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones that’ll get in!</p>

<p>Virginia Tech is a match. Your GPA is a little low for UMD, but you still have a chance. UMich is more of a reach.</p>

<p>Thanks for everyone’s input! I’m done with this chance thread now :)</p>

<p>I’ll go ahead and try to increase my test scores and that’s all I can do now. The rest is left to chance.</p>

<p>Again, thanks everybody, I really appreciate it!</p>

<p>As a CA native, however, I don’t think you would miss the beach that much if you get accepted to UCD. It IS (relatively) close to the mountains if you like the snow, lakes, etc. As an Engineering major, you aren’t going to have a ton of free time on your hands anyways. I would disagree with Loncria that Michigan is a “high match low reach”. It is definitely at least a low reach and probably a mid/high reach, given your scores. I am also not sure I would call UCD a safety school either, but a match for you. Now the good news… you are a female Engineering major. Schools LOVE that and will cut you a little slack!</p>

<p>With a focus on engineering, who needs social scene - unless you need some healthy distractions, yeah? Try Virginia Tech though. You will sure get in there most probably.</p>

<p>Since you’re interested in engineering, AND have been doing ROTC-related stuff, shouldn’t you be looking at strong undergrad engineering schools?</p>

<p>[Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-engineering]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-engineering)</p>

<p>But to answer your question, your class grades are solid. Just bump up those SAT/ACT scores and you’re set!</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

<p>~Fellow member of Class of 2011</p>