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<p>You’re attending some sort of leadership conference, but it seems you don’t do much except go to meetings. Instead, is there a way you could use this position to propose and enact changes in your community? Or outside of that, even: what can you do to make your community a better place? The same goes for your volunteering and church work. Don’t just do menial tasks, take initiative and find ways to improve the system. Look for a need that you can fill. Start things.</p>
<p>IB helps, yes. Colleges like to see rigor.</p>
<p>You are a Texas resident. Good. Under the top 10% rule, even with the scaleback, you should be admitted to UT-Austin, which is affordable for you and a pretty awesome engineering school. So that’s your safety, provided you like it. (Any field of engineering in particular?)</p>
<p>Vandy is not particularly known for engineering, although it’s a great school. With your major in mind, I would recommend schools like Cornell, CMU (reach), Case Western, and RPI (match), although honestly I’m not sure Case Western and RPI are worth attending over UT. You might feel differently. If you want smaller, LAC-type schools…not many offer engineering. Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd (reach), and Smith (female-only; match) are the only ones I remember.</p>
<p>–ah, aid. I knew I was forgetting something. You can only afford $25,000 a year–have you tried estimating your family’s EFC yet? See if it matches up to what you can pay. College Board has an estimator on their website, as do Princeton and Williams–but of course Princeton and Williams are two of the most generous schools in the country, even among full-need institutions.</p>
<p>Question: Is it logical/ a good idea to try to be in the honors program at a tier 2 school rather than the “regular” program at a tier 1 school?</p>
<p>And kelly92- thanks! I will definitely look into that.</p>
<p>Haavain- thank you! I never really thought about it that way! So would starting this summer be too late?</p>
<p>I missed the part about engineering before. Scratch Duke and Virginia then most likely. </p>
<p>Don’t get involved in *anything *just because you think it might look good on your record. Do what you like. Follow your passions, as we say endlessly around here. We say it endlessly for good reason.</p>
<p>I don’t know what my passions are!! </p>
<p>I guess I’ll be doing some heaving thinking tomorrow after the TAKS test!</p>
<p>It’s never too late. Find something meaningful (that you enjoy, echoing Marsden) to do this summer.</p>
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<p>Ah, the big fish/small pond question. Along with LAC v. research university, it’s one of the great debates of college selection. Think of it this way: at a school like Cornell or Vandy or Harvey Mudd, everyone gets the kind of individualized attention and challenge that a, say, UGA Honors student gets as a perk of the honors program. The difference is that the UGA Honors student is big man (or woman) on campus but just another face in the crowd at Cornell. Of course, if the student has the ability to be top dog at Cornell then that is much better than being top dog (dawg?) at UGA.</p>
<p>Which environment do you thrive in? Some people are used to being the best student at their HS and when faced with thousands of kids who are as smart or smarter than they are, they buckle under the pressure. They lose confidence. Other kids are driven even harder by increased competition–they use their peers as a benchmark and push themselves more as a result. It depends on what kind of person you are.</p>
<p>I chose the small fish/big pond route but there were other factors in my decision.</p>
<p>Ah you taking the science taks tomorrow too?</p>
<p>yeppppp! </p>
<p>Haavain- thank you! That was very insightful. I think I tend to do better in a big fish/small pond situation… I don’t know actually!</p>
<p>lol. Think about it, and apply to a range of colleges in the meantime. You have time.</p>
<p>There aren’t too many small engineering schools out there that aren’t incredibly difficult to get into. Most of them are big state U’s. Lehigh, Bucknell, CMU (6000 students) are some smaller schools that come to mind. You will match all of these as long as your grades are more A’s than B’s and you have the appropriate level of honors and AP courses. If you can’t afford the small privates like those, then you can’t go wrong with UTexas. Other privates that are perhaps a bit easier to get into are Case Western, RPI and Univ of Rochester. Harder to get into are Harvey Mudd, Princeton, Cornell, Rice. USC is a good engineering school, too, but is larger than the others.</p>
<p>I was looking at Case Western and since the acceptance rate is 70% among other not as high score ranges does that mean that I can do better?</p>
<p>Case Western is pretty self-selective, so I would be wary of relying too much on the admissions rate to gauge chances. That said, I think you have an excellent chance there, though I don’t know how much aid they’ll give you.</p>
<p>Rose Hulman is a small engineering school that has been the #1 engineering school for programs that end at undergrad for years and years. It is a great place to look. Social life can be a little off at times, but there is a big frat scene (where there is a place for everyone). Worth looking into, though if you change your major from engineering, you are very limited there.</p>