<p>Seiclan - I am just picking up these abbreviations. CMU is Carnegie Mellon. Duh! Co workers son had the same scores - high math, lower r - I know he took only once and it was 2020. He had very good grades and so so EC. He played a sport but did walk on (not recruited). He is at CMU. He sounds a lot like your son from your posts. I previously suggested Rice , but from these posts that may be a reach. Worth looking though.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We seems to have a few posters from Georgia here. What is the vibe at Emory and GT? What did your daughter say about the kids that she went to school with? Is it a competitive or cooperative feeling. How was the social life at Emory? Any idea how Emory kids do getting into med school (the ones that stay premed of course)?
What do you hear about the M/F ratio at GT? Is it too tough on the guys?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Do you mean the intellectual vibe or the conservative (not left) one? We visited Brandeis a few years ago and it seemed very leftist. DS is not into politics either way but he definitely wouldn’t want a school that was overtly (or predominantly) left. It also had a bohemian feel/vibe (We saw a lot of girls walking around in birkenstocks and long skirts). I have heard similar things about Oberlin (intellectual, quirky, very left). </p>
<p>Georgiatwins- I looked up some of the schools that you suggested but many were small LAC’s. Davidson only has 1900 students total (about half the size of my sons high school). I think that is a deal breaker for him. Also, LAC’s tend to have a too many humanities core requirements for graduation. I don’t think that DS would enjoy that.</p>
<p>Oop-- Brandeis is left of left of left. As is Hampshire, which suggested way back. Wonderfully intellectual but yes.</p>
<p>Ok, this is from two years ago – so take it or leave it.<br>
White Male, No Hooks, New Jersey Resident</p>
<p>790M / 640CR / 660 WR / 33 ACT / 96 GPA</p>
<p>MIT – applied EA, deferred, then rejected
Northwestern – Accepted / Attending
Cornell – Waitlisted, waitlist closed
Brown - Rejected
Carnegie Mellon – Accepted CIT & MCS
Johns Hopkins - Rejected
University of Virginia – 2 likely letters and Accepted School of Engineering
University of Rochester – Accepted
Lehigh – Rejected – probably because we didn’t visit and we’re from jersey
Rose Hulman – Accepted
Rensselaer - Accepted
Stevens Insitute of Technology – Accepted
Rutgers - Accepted</p>
<p>Brandeis is left, but the long skirts could be for modesty.</p>
<p>One nice thing about Carnegie Mellon is that they have pretty generous AP credits you can get out of all your distribution requirements if you’ve done well (4s and 5s).</p>
<p>You don’t have to be an engineer at RPI, we have a friend who was a bio major there. She did research on plants/ecology.</p>
<p>seiclan, if you are in the fortunate position of not needing aid, you can afford to allow your son to apply ED. ED confers a HUGE admissions advantage. Don’t let adcoms or anyone else tell you that this is not true. I think that your son would benefit from this admissions advantage.
And, the schools that I would suggest, given everything that you have said, for ED are Emory or Wash U.
If he picks one of these and applies ED, he may get deferred, in which case he can show huge love.
And, he can apply to the other schools on your list and/or suggestions here.
I am curious: why is it that he does not like hills? It is just personal taste, or is there some medical issue making it difficult for him to walk on them? If it is personal taste, he should get over it; it is eliminating excellent schools.
Good luck!</p>
<p>levirm - I am with you on the ED advantage but unfortunately, I don’t believe that he will be ready by October 1 to commit to one school over another. He really dosen’t know what he really wants or needs in a college and thus far is unwilling to introspect on this. He thinks he can be still be happy at UMiami or at UFlorida and may opt to stay instate (though every other day he says he is going out of state). Too much indecision here to commit. He will probably need all of the next 9 months to think about this, mature and see what his ultimate options are. </p>
<p>I don’t know about the hill aversion…I am guessing that he is just thinking lazy. He has no medical issues that would affect his mobility. </p>
<p>Is visiting Carnegie Mellon essential to admissions (as with Emory and WashU)? It is not easy for us to fly all over the country to see these schools and I am hoping we could visit in the spring IF he gets in.</p>
<p>My niece is ranked #2 in her class (3.98 UW), 7 APs (all 4s and 5s) and has a 1360/2060 SAT (760CR/600M/700W). Lives in GA. She will qualify for full tuition HOPE, but the 25-75%tile at UGA for Honors is 1420-1490. Is going to retake this fall for math. Took the June ACT, but her score was not posted in the first batch and I haven’t heard from her recently.</p>
<p>She is 40 points from the full OOS tuition at Bama. Is also thinking about American, BU, Northeastern, Penn State, maybe South Carolina. Finances are a huge issue.</p>
<p>We have a family friend who was salutatorian, 5 APs and 2070 SAT – accepted to Berkeley, Davis and Chico State.</p>
<p>From a post I made on another thread recently for someone in similar ciircumstances:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>seiclan: I’m back. Both of the schools have similar demographics, but students have different aspirations. A significant portion of Emory wants to attend grad. or prof. school where Georgia Tech is more of a hardcore engineering school. Both are collaborative, especially within the sciences (many wouldn’t do well otherwise), but Emory, because of the pre-professionalism is a bit more competitive (students must keep a high GPA), so it is honestly rare to see the averages in very tough pre-med courses dip below 70 except organic chemistry, and depending on how the profs. feel, biology. I swear biol profs. do mindgames by constantly switching the difficulty of the exams not only from year to year, but w/in a semester. The exams oscillate from moderate to very difficult w/some professors. Some of them have mastered design of horrible multiple choice exams that have questions that are each like a paragraph or longer. And then there are only 30-35 questions as opposed to Tech’s 50. Luckily, there is at least one professor who does not do purely multiple choice each semester (normally in bio 142, there are 2 such profs. out of about 4-5) or one prof. who gives easy multiple choice exams (though he is admittedly the worst among them. He isn’t as bad as some of the ones I saw at Tech, but he is nonetheless inferior to the others).
So you have to be motivated or else you won’t benefit from the curve as much if there is one. However, despite this, the atmosphere is actually kind of more supportive here because the classes are smaller (significantly smaller. Classes like chem and bio there have like 200+ students whereas ours ranges from like 50-120, with many bio sections being below 80. This really helps in “weeder” courses) and many of the professors for the pre-med track classes are lecture track and this provides for much closer interaction between them and the undergrads, and this explains some of the grading differences (actually compared them, and they aren’t much different between pre-med track classes at Emory and at Tech, maybe a .1-.2 difference because of the toughness of math and physics at Tech, however, all other classes are curved or average about the same thing. Classes like gen. chem, organic, biology, and upperlevel bio courses). With that said, if you get the 3.5 and 30 at Emory (or Tech for that matter), you’ll probably get into med. school (like 80-90% chance).
Anyway, for some reason many would automatically say Tech for science in Ga., but I think Emory does it especially well in the natural sciences, especially the teaching. Many people are trying to come up w/new, more effective ways of teaching them here (there seems to be more room for experimentation, like having case-based intro. biol, team taught gen. chem. Also, having Learnlink has worked wonders w/teacher student interaction). On top of this, many professors somehow learn all names. Weinschenk (tougher and excellent organic chem. professor) for example has upwards to 180 students (90 per section, he teaches 2 sections so it isn’t like a huge class), and knows all the names. Edwards (tough psyche 110 professor) has like 100+ students learns all names. Soria, freshman orgo. professor (very tough) works closely (he even has his own lab section apart from the normal lab, for those who want it. That on top of playing sports w/his students, and taking them out to lunch, it goes on and on) w/about all 50 of his students so learns there names (even when his class had upwards to 70 students, he learned all of the names). Many of the biol. professors (this is admittedly the smallest of intro. classes section wise b/c they have like 7 sections) learn a significant portion of the names. The guy who discovered the AIDs drug Emtriva also teaches the sophomore organic chemistry one of 2 semesters. He has a 35 person course (provided he doesn’t show his great compassion by overloading 32 people like last semester), so often learns names (Soria is a collaborator for the course and will sometimes instruct as Liotta will often have speaking engagements abroad. Overall, being in close contact to Liotta could not hurt one’s Emory career at all). The math courses are very small (ranging from like 30 in regular and business calc. to about 45 in life-sciences), so a good prof. will learn names (unfortunately, unlike the sciences, many of them are not good. At least life sciences is pretty good across all sections). All of this makes for a much different experience from what you’ll get at Tech in these key pre-med courses. It’s up to a student to decide if they like this closer approach better. Some may find such interaction intimidating, mainly because they will often be put on the spot, and it’ll reflect if they are not prepared for class. Many professors will do random “cold calls”. This especially goes for Soria, Weinschenk, and Edwards. Different strokes for different folks I guess, but I have to say that the abnormally nurturing nature of sciences here has helped me significantly.</p>
<p>Their ratio: Many of the guys at Tech don’t like the ratio and thus try to meet girls at other institutions. What’s weirder is that it seems that the ration extends to management and the liberal arts school. </p>
<p>As for social life: Neither have too much of a stereotypical social life (but Tech is a little closer to it) because Tech is a tough engineering school and we are top private w/no D-1 sports. All I can say is that Greek life certainly has a presence here and there is definitely a party scene (though not really but so dominant). Since Tech is in mid-town, there is technically more to do. However, we have a huge shuttle system (2nd largest in Atlanta metro) that can take students to or near places of interest if they want to leave the Emory area (on weekends there is even a Lenox Mall Shuttle and an Emory experience shuttle which takes people to popular destinations in Atlanta). And of course both have awesome academic and social events throughout the year (theirs is generally more relevant to the sciences whereas ours is a mix and more than often multi-cultural events). We have a huge park if your student likes the outdoors (I live on the otherside of campus, so I often walk through that forest to get to my campus apt. it’s really nice).<br>
Both campuses are nice, but I think we have the aesthetic advantage. Both use lots of modern architecture (I really think some of the Tech buildings are really cool on the inside in many cases), but Emory looks a bit newer (we’re much smaller, so it’s easier to renovate and/or do new construction around the whole campus whereas Tech must do it piece by piece) and it seems that we have much more green space. While the historic area of Tech by the library and Tech tower area is really nice, we have stuff (aside from the park, actually that plus another nature trail) like woodlands on campus (Baker Woods is one, one time me and my friends went under the tunnel of the library and then we found the “source route” of Bakerwoods) that essentially surround the library (Baker woods is separated from this by a bridge).<br>
Emory is a really nice campus unless you only like traditional or regional forms of collegiate architecture. We don’t employ Gothic, which is typical of many top colleges or any type of brick which is also common of universities (especially in the south). It has stucco, marble, and red-tiled roofs, with exception of the B-School side of the campus. So it’ll take some getting used to if you are a fan of that stuff.</p>
<p>Also, another person mentioned “Emory’s flavor of the month” admissions policy. Sounds about right to me. Seems to be focusing on getting money/revenue moreso than rank. For example, it’s been getting really serious yielding the international students. Last year’s freshman class consisted of 17% international students and Oxford had like 20%. I’m surprised they’d go. However, I think the education there for the first two years will be better than it is here for a lot of people. It’s a really cool place w/an innovative curriculum and teaching pedagogy. Normally when a prof. here wants to try out an interdisciplinary course w/a different pedagogy, they go teach it over there for a semester. Teaching is excellent across the board there.<br>
Anyway, I stick by what I said about it being kind of safe to have between 1350 and 1500 (again, Emory is essentially admitting on par. Seems as if it avoids being like Brown or Vanderbilt by admitting significantly higher than what they’ll yield). Emory seems a lot into “class-shaping” and “enrollment management” (in fact, if I haven’t said it before, they are about to get real serious with this aspect).</p>
<p>“Is visiting Carnegie Mellon essential to admissions (as with Emory and WashU)?”</p>
<p>seiclan, I honestly don’t know. Maybe someone on this thread has better information about this.</p>
<p>State: Minnesota
Class of 2011
Female, athlete (good, but not heavily recruited); Not URM</p>
<p>GPA: 3.85 (UW)–inner-ring suburban school with strong academic reputation; all IB or AP classes (except for PE and band)
SAT: 1980 (CR 710 M 660 W 610)
ACT: 32</p>
<p>Accepted:<br>
Wellesley
Macalester
U of MN (Twin Cities) Honors program
U of MN-Morris
Carleton (after wait-listed)
Kenyon College
Coe College
Grinnell</p>
<p>Waitlisted:
UChicago
Tufts
Carleton (then offered a place, but declined it)</p>
<p>Secilan, curious as to why your S is not applying to UF, where the premed and engineering programs are wonderful. They are also really ramping up the honors program to make it more meaningful, and the honors dorms are really great.</p>
<p>It is best to Visit Emory seiclan. It’ll definitely display interest which is a factor at Emory. I have no idea idea how WashU works (some people claim that they do very weird things when it comes to recruiting/admissions).</p>
<p>Secilian, my son had similar stats 1950 except math 650 cr 650 writing 650. Top 10%. But extensive extra curricular activities, such as president of large club and varsity track. An URM. Applied to 12 schools this year: Emory Wake vandy BC UF FSU UM BU Uof Mich and 2 very safe schools. We are in Florida.accepted Emory bc FSU honors um uni of Mich wake and UF honors. Wait listed vandy. Oh also Cornell but was denied. My son is also quiet and doesn’t like to over exert himself (translated somewhat lazy). But is a very dedicated student and likes to do well. After all the acceptances he hadn’t seen bc so we flew there. Rented car, no one from his school goes there and there are lots and lots of stairs to climb and of course the weather. All in all he said the curriculum didn’t offer exactly what he was looking for. um was too close to home. Wake known as work forest. Emory - no football or lack of sports in general. Uni of Mich- too far, too cold. So little by little process of elimination for the best fit took him back to UF his first choice where he will be attending in the fall. It also helped somewhat that about 15 other kids from his school are attending. For UF honors it’s all about the essay you write after you have already been accepted to UF. I hope this helps a little. As Lenny2 asked why is UF not part of this process?</p>
<p>I am sorry, I did not post his entire college list, just the schools that may have a problem with his stats (the reach schools). He is DEFINITELY applying to UF. Possibly applying for the honors program (it is another essay so who knows). His eldest sister graduated from UF (advertising major/anthropology minor) in May of 2010 so he is very familiar with the campus and likes it very much. It is a definite contender but he “thinks” he would prefer to go out of state for college. “Me thinks” we have another Gator (or maybe a Cane) in the house but that is another thread entitled “who knows your child better…you or the child”. </p>
<p>readalot - Please don’t be offended by this but since your son is a URM, “some” colleges may be more lenient with his lower SAT scores. My son is a ORM. I believe that private OOS schools judge his SAT’s more harshly, especially the CR and W. Your son got into UF Honors with a 1950 SAT and the UF Honors SAT criteria/cutoff is a 2070. I do very much appreciate your thoughful and informative post. It is just that the rules are a little different for kids who have some kind of hook (URM, athlete or from some underrepresented state like Iowa).
That said, I would love to hear from you this fall about UF Honors and whether your son feels it is worth it vs. not being in the program. Is your son going to live in Hume (Honors dorm)? I am wondering if we should do the “official” UF tour with DS even though he knows the campus from visiting his sister a few years ago.</p>
<p>D was accepted to NYU with a 1980 SAT and 32 ACT…HS valdectorian with almost 102 weight GPA and tons of ECs…as a Theatre major at Tisch her academics were weighted half and audition was weighted half.</p>
<p>My son did not see Carnegie Mellon until Accepted Students weekend so it is certainly not “essential”. That said, CMU does admissions by schools so strictly speaking I can really only say it wasn’t essential for SCS.</p>
<p>
If you go to Caltech you’ll never see a multiple choice exam again until the GRE (at least according to our two tour guides.)</p>
<p>OK, this falls under the category of “who knows your child best, you or the child”, but it pertains to this thread. This is a multiple choice test (sorry, Mathmom :)) Circle as many answers as are correct.
Assuming that a goal is to work hard in college, learn a lot, and do well:
1)Does your child work well when surrounded by peers who are very hardworking and take academics very seriously? Is your child motivated by these peers?
2)Or, does your child work well when there is a variety of students, at different achievement levels, and he or she will be one of the top achievers? When others are going to party on Wednesday night and your child has work to do, will your child do the work?
3)Does your child value a “ticket” - connections, name recognition, etc.?
4)Does your child work well when surrounded by peers AT his or her academic level?</p>
<p>These are the hard questions, but if you can answer them you will come up with your strategy.
If 1) or 3) is correct, your child should apply ED (!) to a realistic reach. For the OP’s son, this is Emory or Wash U. Understand that the chances of admission go way, way down if he does not apply ED. You will, as a parent, influence the student by taking him to those schools, ask “Can you picture yourself here? Could you be happy here?” If the answer is yes, then it is ED for him.
If 2) is correct, your child will target state schools with a wide range of students, who have a wide range of SAT scores.
If 4) is correct, your child will target schools such as the University of Rochester or Case Western (flat!) and apply RD., along with CMU as a reach (just a little hilly on part of the campus).</p>
<p>Another note - people may think that ED closes off options. In fact, ED opens the option of a reach school if that is what you want. Some students need to be pushed a bit on this.</p>