<p>I'm humbly looking for someone to chance me, and i get no replies! Please chance me, I say, and I'll be thankful :)</p>
<p>I'm currently a sophomore in Civil Engineering at the university of illinois at urbana-champaign, and am applying to transfer to Northwestern's Applied Mathematics program in Fall 2011. Any advice on the application?
My college GPA is 3.8
Extracurricular activities: Founder of a club, and an active member of two others
Might get a research position this semester, but it's not confirmed, so count it as 'no' right now.
ACT 28: Math:34 Eng:29 Reading:23 Sci:24
I'm not a US native, so my reading skills aren't that good, and as the science part required a lot of reading, i bombed it too :( So ACT isn't very impressive, except the math part :)</p>
<p>High School GPA Unweighted: 4.3/4.0 Weighted: 3.78/4.0 Should I include both on the application?
Class Rank: 13/428 97th Percentile</p>
<p>What do you people think, am I a good fit? Please please please, any comments or advice will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>pretty good shot I would say, 3.8 is a strong GPA for college. You are only a sophomore I think you should include HS GPAs. You will probably get in… but honestly… University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign is one of the best schools you can possibly go for Civil Engineering its like #1 and Northwestern is like #16 for undergraduate, it wouldn’t be that wise to transfer, especially considering the very expensive tuition of Northwestern. Oh lol I just saw the Applied Math, but you should still stick with Civil Engineering more possibilities and more opportunities, especially coming from the school you are already at. Good luck regardless.</p>
<p>Good chance. Other than the great GPA from a top ranked department/engineering school, that Applied Math is not over-enrolled also helps. I guess AM can easily accomodate more students.</p>
<p>xFocus,
I am not sure if Civil Engg actually provides more opportunities, especially when real estate is taking such a hit. Civil Engg market is very cyclical and sensitive to real estate/construction/redevelopment.
In terms of possibilities, Applied Math may even open more doors - quant modelers/analysts are employed in various sectors.</p>
<p>Hey Sam, what about my ACT score? It isn’t very up to the standards with their usual applicants. Do you think they will let me in with a 28? I have a 34 in math though, if that helps.</p>
<p>I serioulsy doubt they care that much about ACT given that 28 isn’t terrible and that you have a proven record of doing well in college engineering coureses.</p>
<p>I did not see Applied MAth in the USN rankings that sam posted in another thread in this forum on NU. Is this a pgm that is distinctive to NU? If not - if UIUC also has it, for example - then has the OP looked at AM at UIUC?</p>
<p>I was interested to hear the OP compare and contrast UIUC and NU. If OP wanted out of CE, then was the pgm you wanted at UIUC?</p>
<p>roderick,
Applied math sorta combines math, engineering and computing into one. NU has a very strong program in applied math. It’s different from many other schools in that it’s housed in the engineering school instead of arts and sciences. Given the emphasis on application, it seems to make more sense to have it under the engineering school. This arrangement fosters close collaboration with other engineering departments. Also, the small student to faculty ratio pretty much means undergrad research opportunity is gauranteed.
[Engineering</a> Sciences and Applied Mathematics : Northwestern University](<a href=“Engineering Sciences & Applied Mathematics | Northwestern Engineering”>http://www.esam.northwestern.edu/)</p>
<p>Sam is right. The Math program at uiuc isn’t focused on applications. It’s rather theoretical. And I looked at the one at NU and its curriculum, it’s truly impressive. Above all, the quarter system opens doors to my interest in economics also, so I can pursue a dual degree and still graduate on time.</p>
so is Applied Math a pgm that is exclusive to NU? Are there other colleges with it? goes back to the other question I posed above - is there a ranking for this pgm ?</p>
<p>but I do hear Sam’s point about looking at where the grads get hired. but the data from his link was anecdotal. It would be nice to see some kind of pie chart of where they get hired - was that list just the superstars and the others are driving cabs or something? Or can we assume that list constituted the WHOLE list of grads from that dept?</p>
<p>Actually NU was ranked 14th in 2006 when USN had applied math and math as separate fields. NU became unranked in 2008/2010 when USN categorized applied math as one of the math “specialties”. It’s rare a program just dropped from 14th to unranked in 2 years; it’s likely because applied math at NU is not part of math department or because USN decided to “disqualify” NU because its AM is in the engineering school.</p>
<p>^Ha! another reason to take rankings w/ a grain of salt - details details. I was asking about rankings to see ‘who is in the group picture’ of this area. As Sam said, usually a pgm will not jump out so suddenly.</p>
<p>thanks for the NRC picture. You do see certain players in this discipline.</p>