Updated (Am I on the right track for my goals)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Indian
Rising Sophomore (I know it’s early but I want to get a strong foundation heading into sophomore year of HS)

Top 3 Public High School in Illinois EXTREMELY Competitive (Over 1000 students in my graduating class, 4000 overall)

3.8 UW GPA (A sloppy first semester of Freshman year but rebounded with all A’s the following semester)
4.075 W GPA

Looking to bring UW GPA up to 3.9+ and W GPA up to 4.35

SAT Scores:
PSAT: 1250
Khan Academy: 1200

Going to do many workshops and stuff to raise my SAT to at least 1400 by the end of Sophomore year

Sophomore Year: 1 AP 2 Honors
Junior: 3-4 AP
Senior: 4-5 AP

EC’s:
VEX Robotics: Won State Championship - Went to Nationals (Planning for 4+ years, and Eboard as a Junior)
Debate Team (Planning for 3+ years)
FDA ( Future Doctors of America Club) (2+ years and Eboard as a Junior)
Sophomore Class Board (Planning 2+ years and Eboard as a Junior in Junior Class Board)
NHS (National Honor Society) End of Sophomore Year (2+ Years, BTW pretty hard to get into 4.0 W GPA and 25+ Hours of Service)

Research/Internships:
Research studies Biology RIBS at UChicago (Junior Year)
Research Internship (Undecided on where to go as of right now)
Going to attend Dr. Rubin’s Medical Camp

Awards: (Not many)
Design Award and Judges Award in Robotics
2nd in 18U Water Polo State Tournament

Leadership - Team Leader in Vex for Designing

Volunteering/Service:
25+ Hours Library Work (100+ Planned)
50+ Hours Lutheran Home Care (250+ Planned for next 3 years)
0+ Hours Shadowing (100+ Planned)
2+ Hours in Class Boards (50+ Planned)
0+ Hours (100+ Planned as a EMT or riding in ambulances
10+ Hours (250+ Planned Doing volunteering work in InnerView)

All Hours Are Documented!!

My Early Goals for Colleges (Major still undecided either CS or BioChem)

Reaches - UChicago, Northwestern, UIUC CS program, Stanford, Cornell, UPenn, Duke

Low Reaches - UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts

Matches - Not Sure, Any Ideas?

Safeties - UIUC (Bio Chem) (Need more safeties)

Am I on the right track? Any more colleges I could add to my list?

2

Don’t worry about financial aid btw

3

Forgot to add - Case Western BSMD, Drexel BSMD, UKMC BSMD

4

Sorry to pile on more Reaches, but have you considered MIT? It’s incredibly selective, but if you get in, employers will be tripping over each other to get to you. Just be warned, though-you have to do two SAT Subjects-Math I or II, and then either Physics, Chem or Bio.

If you want to read up a list of the highest ranked colleges in the country, I have an article from US & News World Report for you to read here:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-computer

And in addition to that, I would ask your counselor if they know any other schools that’d be good for you. Even if they don’t, it’s likely that they’ll know someone who will!

Either way, though, good luck. It is clear you have a great future ahead of you, regardless of which school you go to.

5

@theakjohnson MIT is a great school and probably gives you the best chance for employment related to engineering of all the schools. However, saying employers will tripping over each other to get you is a bit exaggerated don’t yeah think?

6

The person is what matters not the school. I have passed over MIT graduates in hiring in favor of state university graduates (and vice-versa) for example, if that person’s experience and skills aren’t in line with the needs of the company. All accredited schools of engineering have good placement records. If I ever had the occasion to interview someone who were to suggest that we should “trip over” to hire him/her just because he/she went to MIT it would be a short interview indeed. I’ve never worked for any company that preferentially hired just because the candidate attended MIT (or any other particular school). Most employers look at the person’s capabilities, not just where they went to school. Once one begins his or her career, the importance of the school he/she attended rapidly diminishes and the person’s work and professional accomplishments and track record becomes paramount.

7

@idkName, well, it is a bit of hyperbole. However, MIT has an acceptance rate even lower than most of the Ivies, and world-class scientific education, meaning one of their degrees is highly valued in the STEM field I think that based on your acheivements and your interests, you would be a good fit for it, and it’s good to try to shoot for the top. Since you’re already thinking about college, I would recommend trying to visit the campuses of nearby colleges and seeing if you like them. It’s a bit of a cliche, but it’s your gut feeling on whether you’d succeed at a school that matters most.

8

@theakjohnson oh no, you don’t need to bring up the acceptance rate to show that MIT is a world class university haha. It is MIT. Everyone knows MIT.

@Engineer80 Yep. This is generally it. However, I feel like what you said mostly applies to small-medium sized companies. For tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc, they get way too many applicants. They only spent like less than 10 seconds on each resume. So although you maybe talented, they might not have spent enough time on your resume to notice it. In this case, I feel like going to MIT would benefit you because of the alumni network. If you are friends with someone who went to these big companies, they can refer you. Through the referral system, the recruiter would then pay more attention to your resume. Not to mention, these companies would visit campus, giving you a chance to talk to them and express your talent.

Ultimately, getting hired depends on your ability, not your school. But, MIT provides with the opportunities for the recruiter to notice you. You, however, still need to credentials to even get an interview.

9

I’ll be glad to check out MIT thanks! Any tips or am I on the right track for top colleges from my list?

10

Your SAT score will need to come up a lot. You should be aiming for 1500+ and you will need subject test scores as close to perfect as you can. The rest is on the right track.

11

@momofsenior1 Makes sense, thank you!