Class Rank: Top 10, moves around a lot during junior year. I will know the rank I apply with by the end of the year.
ACT/SAT Scores: 1450 PSAT (760m 690e, 214 selection index), likely NMSF. Have yet to take the SAT but should get 1500+
Coursework
AP classes: Research, Seminar, Calc AB+BC, Stats, Precalc, Physics, CSA, Spanish Lang, Chemistry, Comp Gov, Human Geography.
All honors classes otherwise, aside from freshman math and english
A few dual enrollment classes here and there: Spanish 3, Engineering CAD design.
Awards
Likely NMSF
School chemistry award
National Spanish Exam Bronze in 2023, Silver in 2024.
Various science Olympiad awards ranging from Gold States to Fourth at Brown SciOly science bowl invitational
Possible book award(s), pending the end of the year.
Various school music awards, music honor society officer recognition, etc. Extracurriculars
Highly involved in music starting sophomore year, specifically national music honor society: treasurer in 10th grade, vice-president in 11th grade, will be president in 12th grade.
Significant participation in peer tutoring program, including managing attendance records, organizing programs (such as an SAT instructional group). I think by the time of application I will have around 150 hours of volunteering here.
Science olympiad starting 10th grade, winning gold at first states meeting, placing 4th at Brown SciOly invitational for science bowl event (buzz in science trivia in front of 500+ people)
JV and Varsity tennis sophomore year and onwards.
With the music programs, I also run the school’s AV system as a volunteer. This involves managing complex and expensive equipment for audiences of one to four hundred people, and extensive communication with choral, band, dance, and other extracurricular advisors.
National and spanish honor societies.
I doubt that this is worth including, but I have been involved in my school’s game club every year.
Job Experience / Internship
Over a year at an assisted living working in resident services (mostly dietary, helping people around the facility. This needs refined communication to work with a wide range of ages and cultures
Junior year summer internship at an engineering firm
Essays/LORs/Other
An obvious bias exists here, but I think that I am a very strong writer and have a good read on what each college I am applying to is looking for in candidates. I would imagine that my essays will be a positive from admissions pov.
LORs will probably be from my seminar/research teacher, physics teacher, and maybe calculus teacher. I am in contact with multiple alumnae who would be willing to write LORs for brown, but I’m not sure if these would be better than my teachers.
Cost Constraints / Budget
My family does make >100k/year, but are pretty much unable to pay whatsoever.
Schools
Disclaimer: I definetly don’t have enough safeties, and I probably have misplaced a few schools in this list, as this is one of the parts I would like help with.
Safeties: UMass Amherst, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology,
Match: ??? I have no clue what matches with my stats
Reach: Brown University, Olin, Harvey Mudd, Georgia Tech
Low probability for Georgia Tech as an OOS applicant unless you are valedictorian/salutatorian.
Purdue is excellent at ME and Aerospace; might be a reach for you. Check out how you compare on the Purdue Data Digest, here: https://www.purdue.edu/datadigest/; specifically look at “Applications, Admits, and Matriculations” and “New First-Time Beginner Profile” to see how your stats match up.
You might look into University of Maine at Orono. Check out their Common Data Set, Section C7 for how admissions factors are weighed by the school; and Sections C9-C11 for stats and information on recently matriculated students.
We mostly looked at engineering schools in the upper Midwest, although we did visit Boston University, Northeastern, and WPI; he liked Northeastern more than WPI, and WPI more than BU, of those three. The other schools that we visited were Miami (Ohio), Case Western Reserve, Michigan, Pitt, Cincinnati, and Carnegie Mellon; of these remaining schools, he applied to CWRU (where he was waitlisted); Northeastern (where he was waitlisted); Michigan (where he was rejected); and Cincinnati (where he was admitted).
Since you state that your parents “are pretty much unable to pay whatsoever,” are you looking for scholarship money or other sources to fund your college education?
Yeah, I’m doubtful I will have much for help – maybe a zero interest loan for a semester or two from grandparents. But ultimately I need to keep it under 10-20k.
The class of 2024 NMSF cutoff was 215 for Rhode Island. It is predicted to be 216 for Class of 2025. So I’m not sure this is “likely”.
You need to look at schools that will fit your budget. Run the NPC at all the schools on your list. If they are not close to budget, cut them from your list. Look at schools that give big merit for strong academics. There are a LOT of schools that will give you BIG money.
I might apply as a safety option, however their engineering program is unremarkable; I’ve also been to their campus, know plenty of people who go there and it simply doesn’t seem like the right fit for me. This of course would change if they give me a lot of money.
I’ve looked at some NPCs at some schools. Brown estimated I would be paying 10-15k per year which I think would be manageable. Olin is great and does provide some merit aid to every student, and their NPC says 17/year.
Totally forgot to mention this, but depending on a bunch of factors I might have a private pilot’s license by the time of applications, however it is kind of unlikely due to the high cost.
“Safety” means that you are pretty close to certain that you will be admitted, you are willing to go there, they have a decent program in your major, and you will be able to afford to attend.
The “afford to attend” part means that U.Mass Amherst is not a safety out of state.
I do not know Rose-Hulman well enough to know what your chances are of getting accepted and being able to afford it.
I think that I would add URI and U.Maine to your list.
I need to tour UMaine. URI is probably a no but I might apply. UMaine NPC says 5k, so would be affordable. I have family in Maine, so it’s convenient.
Also, while it is not guaranteed, you might be able to get a well-paying summer internship for summers before junior and senior year.
Also, is work-study part of your financial aid packages? If not, you can calculate how much you could earn each semester working 10-20 hours a week. Brown pays fairly well for TAs in CS (and probably engineering). Higher than RI minimum wage). Lab work as an RA can also be paid or with a stipend.
Hopefully. As I mentioned in the extracurricular section, I have an internship for the upcoming summer. I think most universities offer student jobs, so I will likely end up accounting for that when making a final decision.
So Rose should give you a Half scholarship but it is still over your budget. There are always chances of a full one also. It’s a really small school and basically engineering 24/7. But kids love it there. I would definitely visit before committing if you can.
With a $20,000/year maximum budget, I think that you should apply to your in-state option. URI is ABET accredited in multiple engineering disciplines.
In March or April of your senior year you are going to be looking at multiple offers. One big issue could be that many of them might end up being unaffordable. I think that you want to make sure that at least one of your options will be affordable. Then you can decide where you want to end up based on what sorts of offers come in.
Your great stats are likely to help you get merit aid at some schools. However, even with merit aid some schools are going to be outside your budget. The only schools that we found that were well under $40k per year were our in-state public university and universities in Canada, and the latter was only because our daughters have dual citizenship. We did not qualify for enough need based aid to bring the cost well under $40,000, but many schools do not guarantee to meet full need.
By the way, I think that engineering is a good potential major for someone who is interested in climate science. Actually working to solve the problem has always been far more appealing to me compared to complaining about the problem, and actually solving problems related to large engineering systems is going to require quite a few very good engineers.
I think I ultimately will apply. Especially given the aid that I’ve seen among people who have gone there. One of my friends is studying film at URI and pays like 3k a year. I think part of me just really wants to go a prestigious school, which is at least partially irrational given the possibility of a full or near full ride at a state school.