<p>Great, be sure to apply to their competitive merit scholars program and Calhoun honors college.</p>
<p>Given your interests AND, if you desire to remain in the eastern U.S.A., you might wish to consider Rensselaer Polytechic Institute, which is making great efforts to attract female STEM students. Much personal attention and support at RPI. See if you can reach out to a ‘Women in Engineering’ club member at RPI. As for SD School of Mines & Technology, it’s a very good and rigorous engineering university. The Chemical Engineering Department there may be of interest to you. SD Mines is well regarded by employers and graduate schools. Many members of the student body are active in clubs like Engineers Without Borders. Like Runner22 said, it is also a great bargain at about 20K per year for non-SD residents.</p>
<p>Also think about…
Case Western Reserve University
U of Rochester
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
U Maryland Baltimore County
Illinois Institute of Technology</p>
<p>Thank you for your suggestions @LakeWashington !</p>
<p>Any other suggestions? :)</p>
<p>It’s impossible to have all these ECs and be committed to them. Make sure you are careful with what you list on your applications</p>
<p>Are you more interested in pure scientific research or in the engineering aspect? Don’t rule out New College of FL, as an alternative, if the former. Their students earn lots of NSF grants and have impressive opportunities for internships and independent study. You could easily get in and attend for very little money, and so they’re a financial and academic safety for you (they’re part of the FSU system). They don’t offer and Engineering Major, per se, but they have a lot of Envi. Sci./Biology/Chemistry offerings, and the focus on independent study and research projects might suit you. It’s just a thought, if you didn’t like the prospect of attending UF. </p>
<p>Thank you for your suggestions! I do love scientific research but I like the design of engineering and whatnot. I have looked at New College and I believe I have mixed feelings about the place. Some things I really like and others the opposite end of the spectrum. </p>
<p>I understand your feelings about NCF. It’s tiny and idiosyncratic. It seems to work out splendidly for some students, as demonstrated by their outstanding per capita production of Fulbright/Truman/Goldwater scholars and high grad school admission rates, but not so well for others, as demonstrated by their lackluster 4-year graduation rates. </p>
<p>I would suggest looking in to Olin and Webb. Engineering schools with very small, VERY tight student body and alums. Olin is as hard as MIT to get in to for a guy but much easier for a girl (they like to keep the student body 50/50). Olin gives everyone a half-tuition scholarship and Webb is free tuition for everyone.</p>
<p>You would probably get a lot of merit scholarship money from both CWRU and UMiami. They’d be safeties for you. Case has a pretty impressive PhD production rate as well.</p>
<p>Actually, RPI, RIT, WPI, and Stevens would probably all be safeties for you where you would get a lot of merit money. Stevens has a full-tuition scholarship as well.</p>
<p>Girls who like tech and have great everythings are rather rare, so I think you’d be more likely to get great merit aid from the smaller tech institutes than the state U’s you’ve been looking at.</p>
<p>I thought of Olin, also, but they don’t seem to have a Chemical Engineering major. Would that be a deal-killer?</p>
<p>I looked at Olin and I actually kind of like the idea of being one of only a few people in a little place. I wasn’t sure if I’d like that before, but I kind of feel like now I don’t want to be one of a million…I want to be in as unique a program as possible. I guess that’s why I want to be one of the elite scholars at places like Georgia Tech, Clemson, and UVA… 
As terrible as that sounds, I just want to do something no one else in my HS graduating class will do as far as college goes. </p>
<p>And Olin does have design-your-own-major, so I am pretty confident that I can do the things I want to there. It’s a question of fit I suppose. Also, I ran the net price calculator, and it’s still REALLY expensive even with the half-tuition deal. </p>
<p>What do you think of Cooper Union in terms of fit for me? I’d be happy to tell more about my personality</p>
<p>Yes, say more about your personality.</p>
<p>Cooper Union is definitely a work-hard kind of place.</p>
<p>I’m a highly curious, perceptive, and hard-working person in my opinion and in the opinion of others (I’ve been doing polls to help with my essays). I often notice things that other people don’t, and my teachers say I am “intellectual” and have a “beautiful mind.” I have a very good work ethic, as I took AP/IB courses last year–all IB with HL Maths, Chem, and English (our school’s max) and I did double-science in Physics while taking several online courses including AP Bio and APES. I’ve started a club and I hold leadership positions in several clubs. I come across as serious and observant to most people. I try to be very friendly but I’m not always the life of the party (lol, never) because of the way I interact with others. People often can’t tell whether I’m having fun (sometimes people think I never have any fun because it’s common for me to not be visibly excited about things). I love to learn new things and to challenge myself academically. I love to figure out people and things, and I love cats and the environment. Anything else specific requested? 
Just trying to provide as much info as possible. </p>
<p>Have you considered the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara? If not, then do. You can design your own program, majoring in Physics, Computer Science, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Math, or Biology (along with Art, Music, or Literature), while taking courses or minoring in subjects in another college at the University (e.g. Engineering). A dear friend of mine attended CCS as a visual artist during its early days, in the 1970s. It’s an amazing place. The out-of-state tuition might be a deal-killer, but it sounds like a great place for you. </p>
<p>@woogzmama I read into it a bit – it seems really, really cool! I don’t know, the money (transportation included) would definitely be a major concern. But thanks for looking into what would be good for me! @PurpleTitan forgot to tag you when I added things! </p>
<p>Based on this thread, is it looking like I might fit better at a smaller university rather than a huge one? </p>
<p>A couple of things:
- If your HS has many applicants to the schools on your list, then you will surely be evaluated first against those other kids. Maybe even from all applicants in your school district. You can go to your guidance counselor and ask for the stats for the entire school district (they keep A/D/Wlist, GPA, scores, ECs, FA, etc) and lots of info not on Bb (if your school has that).<br>
- Pare down your ECs into a handful that really mattered. Example: If you started in MuAT early on then worked up to the pub rel role (which in our HS is an elected position), that would be good. If you won any awards, that’s good too.
- lakewashington@ had a good list of schools, and I would also add CSMines (they are NOT all about the environment). URochester has given very generous merit aid to kids from our HS. Also, McGill in Canada now has a joint BA/BS degree that combines Humanities and Sciences into a single discipline. Overall, on “paper,” your stats look really good (although for the Ivies, it would be nice to see SAT I’s). Just get some help putting together your total application package, because you will invariably miss something!</p>
<p>@Leyland SAT Is are preferred? I’ve never seen that, so I got a 2280 on the SAT and didn’t try again…was this a mistake?</p>