Try me! Where would I fit in?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Wow, so far this is the most helpful board on CC, so I'll give this a try :)</p>

<p>junior female at a MA public high school
moved here from China in 7th grade, so I have an interesting mix of Western & Eastern culture & propaganda, wow, they're different...</p>

<p>Major: engineering, currently I'm looking at biomed, but anything really, except civil; maybe a minor in business & participation in music ensembles/orchestras/etc.
Environment: not too secluded, contact with civilization outside campus is good</p>

<p>GPA: 4.9/5.0 (approx. weighted), or 4.0/4.0 (approx.)
Rank: not yet revealed, but probably top 3 of 360
PSATs: 73CR, 80M, 74W
SATII Bio E: 750 (freshman year)
SATII Math IIc: 800</p>

<p>Current classes: AP Lang (probably going to get a 4), APUSH (probably going to get a 5), AP Calc (going to get a 5), H Spanish III, H Human Physiology, H Chem
Senior year: AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Econ Micro & Macro, then, I'll take 2 of the following: AP Bio, AP Phys (independent study w/ teacher), AP Stats, AP CompSci (independent study w/ teacher), H Spanish IV, math class at local college</p>

<p>EC's~
+ FIRST Robotics: 9-present; programming team leader
+ Academic Decathlon (USAD): 9-present; VP (president next year); various medals in each round
+ Entrepreneur's Club: 10-present; treasurer (president next year); currently, we're starting a TI calculator sale/rental business in the school, predicted launching time is this fall
+ Donor Awareness Group: 10-present; webmaster; raising awareness of organ donation throughout the school, but it's really not that big of a club... I joined because my friend, the old webmaster, did not get a good knowledge from the school's Web Design class & was having serious troubles with it, and I maintained personal sites (html, php, perl...) as a hobby
+ Amnesty International: 10-present; fundraising treasurer; we do letter-signingings and host holiday card action, but it's not big either
+ Math Team: 9-present; won recognition at local, state, and national levels; 3-time AIME participant, may make USAMO this year <em>crosses fingers</em>
+ 10 years of violin: freshman year was principle 2nd violin at Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra; sophomore year joined Repertory Orchestra of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, this year is in Senior Orchestra; played in pit orchestra for school musical
+ I did volunteer work in spurts, as a math tutor, computer tutor, town public libary volunteer, Walk to Cure Cancer volunteer...</p>

<p>Summers~
+ freshman: Girls in Engineering, Math, & Science--weeklong residential program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; GBYSO (orchestra) Summer Camp--weeklong pre-season camp
+ sophomore: Stanford University Mathematics Camp--four-week residential program, it made me want to apply EA there so bad :D. intern/volunteer 80hrs with a post doc at UMass Medical School, assisting her project by testing whether the supplies she purchased were usable/reliable
+ junior: applied to RSI & Cornell Nanobiotechnology Center internship program, but probably going to end up getting a summer job /intern instead</p>

<p>So glad you made it all the way here, sorry that was so long. Any thoughts as to where I can fit in? Thanks for all input!</p>

2

<p>I think you'd get in anywhere you applied (your credentials are outstanding), but to tell you where you'd <em>fit in</em>, you'd have to tell us more about your personality/what you're looking for in college.</p>

3

<p>Okay, that's fair. Let's try again:</p>

<p>When I was at SUMaC last summer, I loved the environment--intelligent, helpful people with humor and an uniqueness about each of them. It was a math camp, but beside the math talents, there were breakdancers, martial arts fighters, jugglers, musicians, chess champs, atheletes... Although half the people there were juniors, they weren't fretting about college and were genuinely having a good time. We have afternoon study sessions in which everyone attacks the day's problem sets in the lounge, then we'd go to a student play, movies, concerts, field trips, etc. So generally a dedicated (they didn't mind hard work and we worked together to understand the lectures), mixed, uplifting environment, I guess. Oh I miss them... if college life could be like that, I'll look forward to it even more.</p>

4

<p>Wow, congrats man. Those stats are nice.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
... if college life could be like that, I'll look forward to it even more.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>There are colleges that are like what you describe. Your description of what you enjoyed about the math camp sounds pretty much exactly what my daughter has enjoyed in her first year at Swarthmore. In fact, those qualities pretty much define Swarthmore.</p>

<p>The things that are a little unique in your description are the loving the academic challenges, the working together aspect, and the embracing/mixing of unique kids from all backgrounds. Those qualities in a campus culture are somewhat harder to find; however, those colleges do exist.</p>

<p>The secret codewords to look for in the admissions books for those characteristics would include "intellectual", "academically intense", "diverse", "quirky", "strong sense of community", etc.</p>

6

<p>Obviously, MIT, Stanford, Cal, CalTech, Michigan, Cornell, Princeton, Northwestern, and if interested in Biomedical, Duke and Boston University.</p>

7

<p>wow, you look like you can go wherever you please! Good luck on your college search!</p>

8

<p>Check out Brown, its awesome. Vassar as a safety. I think you would particularly enjoy Harvard.</p>

9

<p>I have a friend who went to Brown this year and he seems to like it. It works their students pretty hard, I know that.</p>

10

<p>Really? Thanks!</p>

<p>Hehe, BU--I spend about 5 hours there each Sunday because GBYSO was founded by the BU music department. It'll be interesting if I go there for 4 years after this.</p>

<p>that brings out another one of my questions: if I want to be an engineer (provided that I'll probably go get a master's degree), should I look at LAC's? How well will their science/math/comp sci majors prepare me? I looked at Vassar, and I liked the neurobiology program.</p>

11

<p>Some of the LAC's offer an undergrad Engineering B.S. degree. This provides a good fundamental engineering background as part of a liberal arts education. Excellent placement into Engineering grad schools. For example, Swarthmore's engineering department has been around since the late 1800's and is considered to be top-notch, albeit hard as nails academically due to the large number of course requirements (math, physics, engineering, etc.) It is definitely not for the faint of heart.</p>

<p>This is an excellent approach, and for many kids, a safer approach than enrolling in a pure Tech school. One of the most common transitions is that kids who have focused on math/science in high school get to college and find out that's not what they want to do. If you find that out at an Engineering School, you are kind of stuck. If you find it out in an Engineering or Science program at a liberal arts college or university, you have options. Plus, the exposure to other fields along with engineering means that you might not be such a geek -- a valuable quality if you end up persuing engineering management in the private-sector.</p>

12

<p>Yrael, I'm sure you met my friend who did SUMaC last summer. Your stats are extremely impressive. Apply anywhere because you have a shot.</p>

13

<p>Oh wow--who is your friend? A first name is fine.</p>

<p>Since you know a lot about Columbia (congrats on getting in ED!), what do you think of it for me? Thanks :].</p>

14

<p>Well, based on what you want to do and your EC's I would say you would make an excellent match at Columbia. Columbia is really trying to improve their music department and accepted a lot of musicians in the ED round. The faculty:student ratio is 7:1 and the Fu School of Engineering is rapidly rising in the ranking charts.</p>

<p>I took an engineering course this past summer at Columbia (the Gateway Course..I also applied to CC, not Fu) and my best friends at Columbia are the teachers of the class. It was a great program and the biomed at Columbia is becoming an extremely popular major with undergrad engineers. </p>

<p>I don't know what is your first choice at this point, but if it is Columbia, then you will have made a great decision.</p>

<p>My friend's name is Dustin (hopefully there is only one...he has bushy hair and is tall).</p>

<p>Good luck with you applications in the fall and hopefully that New SAT today wasn't so bad!</p>

15

<p>You have stats eligible (at this point) for any college, and EC's too. But bear in mind the low admit rates to the colleges mentioned here. </p>

<p>Bigger question is what you will like, and you know yourself better than we do. Also what are the essential features of a college? For instance I thought you might be a good U Chicago type, intellectual and good at math and science, but they emphasize the theoretical and don't have pre-professional programs, like engineering for undergraduate majors. They do have wonderful access to doing research with the grad school department professors. </p>

<p>Interesteddad is saying to take a look at Swarthmore, a really impressive school you might otherwise overlook, because it is small and unique and fit a social and academic scene you seem to like.</p>

<p>Columbia is somewhat like Chicago in that they both have extensive core requirements. Schools like Brown are very interesting because they do not have core requirements and you can design your own program.</p>

<p>Seems you need to learn about the different schools as a step to take before actually picking them.</p>

16

<p>Wow... a girl involved in math and science- boy they'll love you when admissions times come around.</p>

<p>Here's what came into mind:
Johns Hopkins
Yale
Stanford
MIT
Caltech
WPI
Harvey Mudd</p>

<p>But as always, you have to decide what you want before going school-searching...</p>

17

<p>Dustin! While waiting for a lecture, we stuck 13 pencils, pens, highlighters, erasers... in his hair--and they stayed! we stopped at 13 because that's all we had :D</p>

<p>You mentioned that Swarthmore is one of the few LAC's that offer B.S. in engineering, what other schools?</p>

<p>Another question: Many schools I looked at had student reviews that said they were swamped with work and overstressed... how accurate is that assessment? In particular, Harvey Mudd, Cornell, Swarthmore, CalTech, maybe more. I can work if necessary, but not if it is year around and I can't see daylight.</p>

<p>Thanks for the pointers! I guess campus visits are the best ways to tell.</p>

18

<p>Ewww. That is what many of the schools Raspberry listed bring to my mind (sorry!...and except for Stanford and Yale, which are awesome.) I think you want a strong engineering/ science curriculum but you also want a cool community with awesome people (which a lot of tech schools lack).</p>

<p>The LACs are great places, but they often require a fifth year in order to get a B.E. or B.S in engineering degree. </p>

<p>I think as a school you would like Brown and Vassar the best, but since you want to be an engineer consider Princeton, Cornell, Stanford, Yale, and Penn. All "campuses" with good engineering.</p>

<p>Personally I would go early for Stanford. Great community, great engineering, and people don't work themselves into the ground.</p>

19

<p>
[quote]
Another question: Many schools I looked at had student reviews that said they were swamped with work and overstressed... how accurate is that assessment? In particular, Harvey Mudd, Cornell, Swarthmore, CalTech, maybe more. I can work if necessary, but not if it is year around and I can't see daylight.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is probably the most difficult issue for high school students to get their arms around because college is SO different. Here a few random points to consider:</p>

<p>a) Unlike high school, you are not in class for eight hours a day. A typical schedule would only be 12 hours of class a week -- only 2 or 3 hours a day on average. Most classes meet three times a week for an hour or two times a week for an hour and a half. A seminar might meet once a week for three hours. There is a LOT of downtime for studying and having fun.</p>

<p>b) I found, and I think many college students find, that the more engaged you are in the classes, the less the work seems like work. There is something to be said for a school where the majority of the students are highly engaged in their academics, unlike high school where the smart kids feel like they are viewed as a "weirdo" minority by the slackers. When the reading is interesting and the professors entertaining, the work doesn't seem like work.</p>

<p>c) If we are talking about elite colleges, there is more variation between students in the workload due to major and course selection than between two similar schools. For example, math/science/engineering majors are demanding at all top schools. That is why you find comments about Harvey Mudd and Caltech being so tough. They don't offer anything but really challenging majors. </p>

<p>d) Many students who say they are "overstressed" have probably done a poor job of balancing their schedules -- doing silly stuff like taking two science courses with labs at the same time or four courses that are all highly writing intensive or taking an extra course. You want to use a little intelligence in picking your schedule each semester so you have some harder courses and some easier courses, some courses that are bit more of a grind and some that are more fun, some professors that lay it on heavy and some that are little easier. In short, almost any college can be as easy or hard as you want to make it.</p>

<p>e) Students have a lot of fun at even the most demanding colleges. My daughter has never said that she finds the workload at Swarthmore to be unbearable, just the opposite. Her description is "It's OK; it hasn't been that bad". She says she has been able to get the reading done and assignments completed nearly 100% of the time so far. The two most striking things she has said over and over are how much fun she has with her friends (campus parties, dinner in Phila, a weekend trip to NYC) and how much she loves her classes. The second one is pretty unusual, as freshmen classes usually aren't the sort of thing everybody "loves". Usually, the fun courses come later.</p>

20

<p>Harvey Mudd, Cornell, Swarthmore, CalTech</p>

<p>All of these are known to have extremely demanding programs.</p>