<p>I am currently a Junior in High school and here are my predicted stats-</p>
<p>3.2 Unweighted/3.4 weighted GPA
32 ACT</p>
<p>12 Honors classes
1-2 AP classes
1 Year of PSEO
4 years of FIRST robotics</p>
<p>I’m looking to get into a Mechanical Engineering program and here are my schools</p>
<p>Stretches-Cornell, Georgia Tech
Reasonable-University of Minnesota TC, University of Madison,
Fallbacks-North Dakota State University, Arizona State University</p>
<p>I currently live in MN, and am a First Generation College student. Are those rankings true for me, and do I have any chances for my stretch schools?</p>
<p>Edit: For Community service, I’ll have probably 50 Hours with my church and 1 completed and 1 planned mission trip to mexico(not counting these as hours)</p>
<p>Cornell-reach b/c of GPA. I hope you could get in though! that would be awesome. work on your essays! ACT is def. in range
Georgia Tech-not sure! i would say match/low reach. act is great! and robotics stuff is awesome. I would probably take SAT II subject tests (math level II, some science) to show off your science/math ability and for Cornell =) </p>
<p>University of Minnesota TC-in
University of Madison-in
North Dakota State University-in
Arizona State University-in/match</p>
<p>Lots of AP classes is also great! If you’ve had an upward trend in GPA thats also a good factor</p>
<p>Are essays that big of a factor on college apps? I believe that essay writing is a strong point of mine, and I am friends with/visit/talk to 3 former english teachers on a regular basis who would most likely be willing to assist me in essay writings.</p>
Yes, essays are really important for college apps, especially for privates! (at least that’s what I’ve learned) so work hard at writing really strong ones to help you stand out! I recommend letting your English teacher read it when you’ve finished so that they can help you catch any grammar mistakes and what now.
Because you’re still a junior, you still have a lot of time to bump up that ACT score (which is strong already, but why not try again to see if you can do better?) to balance out your GPA and boost your chances for your reaches.
Being in the FIRST robotics team helps since it pertains to your major, and I would advise you to try and get some sort of leadership position out of it too! Try having ECs that pertain to what you’re interested in going into for college as much as you can (:</p>
I figured since I was applying to an IT school, it wouldn’t be very important at all. Glad to hear it is.</p>