Unweighted HS GPA: 3.71 (Perfect 4.0 through junior year)
Weighted HS GPA: 4.4/5 (+1 for honors/ap)
College GPA: 4.0 (For DE I guess)
Class Rank: 19/445
ACT/SAT Scores: 35 ACT, 1600 SAT
HS coursework (Bolded Courses Taken Senior Year)
English: AP English Language, AP English Literature
Math: AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics
Science: AP Physics C, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science
History and social studies: AP US History, AP US Government
Language other than English: AP Spanish Language
Visual or performing arts: N/A
Other academic courses: AP Microeconomics, AP Computer Science
College Coursework (Bolded Courses Taken Senior Year)
General Eds: Psychology I, Intro to Philosophy
Major Stuff: Accelerated Precalc, Intro to Engineering, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus/III, Engineering Physics III, Computer Science II
Awards
National Merit Semifinalist (Based on perfect PSAT)
Illinois Science Olympiad Silver Medal
DECA State Honors
AP Scholar w/ Distinction
ICTM State Finals Top 5 Individual + 3 Invitational Championships
VEX Design Award + World Championship Qualifcation
TARC (The American Rocketry Challenge) National Qualification
STEM Fellowship Journal Publication
Illinois State Scholar
Extracurriculars
Founded my HS’s first STEM/engineering team, competed in Science Olympiad, VEX, TARC
Large independent STEM project portfolio, published to YT channel w/ ~20k subscribers
Independent research into advanced sensor fusion algorithims, published to STEM fellowship journal. Devised a novel algorithim which corrects environmental interferance in orientation determination systems.
Varsity football player, full time through freshman-junior year. Recieved recruiting interest from D1/2/3 programs (outside of power D1 type schools).
DECA Financial Officer. Founding member of our HS chapter and in my second year worked to fundraise ~$11k for a growing extracirricular group in our school, with 30 more members in our second year.
Broad Key Club/NHS involvement. Outside of that, focused on volunteer work at a specific food bank near me, racked up over 150 hours there and became a supervisor.
Parttime employment through soph-junior year to fund college coursework, extracirricular activities.
Essays/LORs/Other
Recieved concussions from football in fresh/soph year that dropped my GPA in that period, since then bounced back with a 4.0 in rigourous AP + college coursework. I additionally had an undiagnosed lung condition which significantly effected my sleep quality in that same period. These issues have been addressed, but the stain on my transcript remains : (
Since you will be an NMSF, do you have interest in any of the schools that give large scholarships for NMSF (Tulsa) or NMF (assuming you make it which is likely…so Alabama, UT Dallas , etc)?
The OOS public schools you’ve listed will not meet your budget. Even UIUC in state cost for Engineering is around $42k/year unless you qualify for Illinois Promise or Illinois Commitment. Have you run the NPC for the private schools you’ve listed?
If none of these schools meet your budget, you need to find schools that offer big merit for NMSF or high stats.
I would think you would want to take a long look at Iowa State. They are a VERY strong fit for your academically, and they have auto-merit which I believe should get you within budget. Here is their merit aid page for Illinois students:
Of course it is up to you, but I think some people would prefer Iowa State to UIC for engineering, so that would help round out your Likely options.
Would you recommend just becoming a transfer? I have a 4.0 through rigourous CC work, will have done Diff EQ, lin alg, calc 3, eng phys 3, and more before I graduate HS. After that I would probably have to take some electives to just fullfill credit requims.
So I think you could reasonably play this a lot of different ways.
If you want to minimize the total cost of your degree, then for sure a CC/transfer plan could make sense. There are potential downsides, though, in terms of not having the full four-year engineering college experience, including possibly student clubs, some professor interactions, possibly some internship opportunities, and so on.
So you could also go to one of the good engineering colleges that give big offers for National Merit. The only real downside to that is that limits your choices somewhat, but if any of those seem like a good fit to you, then great.
Both these paths may actually get you your degree for well less than $160K total. But if you want more choices, you could also look at colleges like Iowa State that should be within your budget even without a National Merit program. That would make sense if, but only if, the cost was still comfortable and you liked that engineering college for particular reasons.
If you decide to pursue the CC to a 4 year school route for Engineering, you’ll be required to take more than just “some electives” at the community college. But this would definitely make things more affordable if you did 2 years at CC.
Depends on the situation. As an entering transfer, you may have to decide a major on entry, so it may not be the better choice if you are somewhat undecided on major. You may also be expected or required to graduate in 2 (or 3) years, rather than having the option to do so if you enter as frosh with lots of applicable credit. Also, colleges may offer their best merit scholarships to frosh rather than transfers.
Some colleges may have rules specifying whether you apply as frosh or transfer, and require applicants whose college course work was all during high school to apply as frosh.
Since you’ve taken very advanced classes related to your major, I agree CC wouldn’t make sense.
Do you qualify for Illinois Promise?
Have your parents run the NPC on all colleges and cross out any that’s out of your budget.
Seconding Iowa State!
UMN may be within budget with merit.
I’m not promoting trying to graduate in 3 years but it might be doable at GT. It’s a reach for OOS. It would be right around your max budget. S20 did it ISyE and his HS friend did CS in three. Look at the degree requirements.
Maybe look at Auburn and WVU? Auburn has a good Aerospace program. WVU places in NASA.