What colleges are great for people who have a 4.7 wieghted gpa, 1460 SAT, club girls soccer, over 60 hours of math tutoring experience, and runs a program to serve kids in section 8 housing? Her desire is to make a difference in the world through study of biochemistry or biochemical engineering.
I think you are going to be more specific such as where you live and what year in school she is.
we live in Loudoun County, VA and she attends a highly competitive school. She would like to go to a school recognized for biochemistry or biochemical engineering. She is a junior, but this is a projection based on past grades and current SAT scores
First school that comes to mind is University of Rochester. Others will have more recommendations for schools to look into.
UVA seems like a solid option for her.
Weighted GPA is meaningless to others who do not know what the weighting system is. Unweighted GPA and indication of how hard the course selection is would be more informative.
Thank you for kind comments. Additional information would be 4.0 unweighted gpa, 9 AP across humanities, math and sciences, and genuine interest in servant leadership. top math calc bc, highest level of languages is level 4, and ethnic under-represented minority background
Since you are in Virginia, you have many good instate options to consider. UVA and VT for engineering (chemical with concentration in biochemical issues) or biochemistry outside of engineering. William & Mary doesn’t have engineering but has a biochemistry minor. Of course, your child may change their mind about engineering or choice of major altogether , so look for overall social and financial fit as well.
Your daughter’s transcript is stronger than her SAT. Her application would be a slam-dunk at many fine, competitive schools that have interesting programs where chemical and biological engineering are applied to interesting and important real-world problems (example: http://www.clemson.edu/degrees/biosystems-engineering ) If her ambition is to get into the most competitive schools possible as a STEM major, then bumping the standardized test score up a notch would be a help, as those schools are (as the cliche goes) “a reach for everyone” and strengthening the testing side (even though a 1460 by any normal standard is a great score) could help to tip things in the right direction. The math subscore will be particularly important when applying to STEM programs.
A few questions:
- When you say she wants to make a difference in the world, what is she picturing? Does she have a particular interest in systems-level issues like environmental sustainability? Or is she picturing things more like advances in the medical and/or pharmaceutical field that will help to relieve suffering and extend life for the individuals affected? Different schools have different strengths and emphases, if she wants to look for opportunities to apply what she’s learning to real-world challenges.
- What kinds of schools would be most financially advantageous? Could your family afford, for example, the out-of-state cost of UC Berkeley (around 65K/year), where the School of Chemistry houses both Chem and ChemE, and offers one of the top programs in the world for these fields? How about Georgia Tech (~$52K/year OOS) which ranks second only to MIT in undergrad ChemE… and UMichigan (#7 in ChemE and a particular innovator on the sustainability front) which offers need-based aid to low-income OOS students but otherwise costs $62K/year? Or… do you have documented financial need such that private U’s with good need-based aid will offer the best possible package? Or, do you not qualify for financial aid but need to keep out-of-pocket costs down through prioritizing schools with generous merit aid or low in-state costs?
- Would your daughter be happy at a STEM-focused school, or would she prefer a more balanced environment where there are also many students studying humanities and social sciences?
- Other criteria: bigger vs. smaller, urban vs. suburban vs. rural, climate, distance from home, male/female ratio, availability of Greek life, etc.
- Does she hope to play soccer in college? If so, at what level?
On the whole, if she is on the fence between biochem and ChemE, it’s usually best to start out in engineering with the option of switching out, because switching INTO engineering is difficult at many/most schools, with certain exceptions (Rice and Case Western Reserve U being notable examples of “open door policy” schools where students can switch freely among majors. Both of those schools would be excellent choices for her interests btw.)
I am very appreciative of all of the information. Although our family has a solid middle class income, because her intention is to earn a Master’s degree and possibly PhD level, we have to be very careful financially. Merit aide is a necessity unless it is in state or low cost to begin with. She enjoys studying and reports minimum text anxiety. She would like to stay within about 15 hours drive of NoVA unless there is some reason to go elsewhere or she does not get into a school closer to home. Due to her ethnic identity of being mixed ancestry, she has some minimal fear of living in certain areas of the country where it is less diverse. I’m sure she will overcome that fear though. She has not narrowed her focus down beyond biochemistry / biochemical engineering / chemistry as she wants to expand her knowledge of the sciences while making that decision. She enjoys learning in a wide variety of fields, but would enjoy a different approach tot he study of history than what is taught in public high schools. Her true passion is STEM. Highest hopes to any parents as well as students themselves who are reading this thread especially those helping. She has mentioned wanting to learn more about pharmaceutical research and shown interest in clean water…
Since finances are important, might be good then to look at costs and run net price calculators at schools you are considering, determine your EFC. Even the prices for instate options are climbing and both UVA and Virginia Tech have a surcharge for engineering. . UVA is over $37,000 a year instate these days for engineering. Virginia Tech is somewhat less. Depending on your financial situation, EFC, you may need to cast a wide net if you are looking for merit. UVA, for instance , gives primarily need based aid, not merit.
Even with administratively unrestricted major change policies, it is still better to start in engineering, due to the more critical prerequisite sequencing and the need to take “harder” or more advanced versions of some courses like physics and math. For example, physics for engineering majors tends to be accepted for biology majors, but physics for biology majors is not accepted for engineering majors.
A student starting in biochemical engineering can easily switch to biochemistry. But a student following a typical biochemistry curriculum may find that switching to biochemical engineering requires “catching up” on the engineering-required physics and math, unless s/he made sure to choose those in the first place.
Note that PhD programs worth attending are funded (tuition waiver and living expense stipend), so parental contribution at that stage should be minimal.
Case Western might be a decent choice.
Taking 1 more SAT to get to 1500+ would make Rice, Vandy, and WashU targets as well.
What are your thoughts on 3/2 programs like liberal arts schools with relationships to strong engineering schools? Also, do colleges consider midsemester grades when it comes to applications? Due to taking a hands on lab course of interest, at current trajectory, she will have 4 AP and 4.5 weighted gpa / 4.0 unweighted at end of junior year but given the fact that she has not had a B since 7th grade, we are hoping for the 4.7 by end of senior year. Math this year is Calc B/C and she will take multivariable next year. Will this affect her?
Both of my sons are engineers and we never considered 3/2 programs. Very few kids go on to get engineering degrees from those programs… Doesn’t mean it’s not possible but I would look closely at particular programs/outcomes before going down that road.
Students rarely complete the engineering part of the program by transfer to the “2” school. This can be due to a number of things:
- Not admitted to the "2" school (often high GPA minimums or competitive admission).
- Cannot afford because the "2" school is too expensive or FA is not good enough (or known in advance), and it is five total years instead of four.
- Students at LACs may prefer the small intimate environment and the relationships they have built at the LAC and not want to transfer to the big university environment that they wanted to avoid in the first place.
https://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/engineering/questions/ says that, at Carleton, there are 50-60 students (or about 20 per year) interested in engineering, but only 0-3 per year transfer to complete the 3+2 program.
Give your location, West Virginia University may be an option. They are extremely generous with scholarships and with her stats she may be positioned to have at least $20k in merit awarded. My son was accepted for engineering and has been awarded $17k in merit awards (not financial aid). We are OOS.
Another factor that goes into grades/scores is ORM (Overly Represented Minority). Stats and acceptance numbers vary vastly for ORMs.
@CaDad2019 The OP said her daughter is an " ethnic underrepresented minority" applicant with “mixed ancestry.”