Chance/Match Me: BME/Bioengineering/Biology; 3.94/4; 1420SAT (OR resident, <$7k)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics
US citizen, Oregon resident, early college program (graduating class has 52 people)
No sports, APs, IB at my school; only 5 clubs
Second-gen college, no legacy

Cost Constraints / Budget
EFC will likely be higher than what my parents can actually give (net income after taxes, loans, etc. isn’t that high); tough extenuating circumstances financially

Intended Major(s)
Biomed Engineering is my first choice; Biology and Bioengineering are second if school doesn’t offer

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.94
  • College GPA (from DE): 3.77…
  • Class Rank: rather not say
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1420 SAT in May, testing in Nov will prolly get 1480-1520

HS Courses
Just the basic English, Math, History, etc., Mostly my freshman and sophomore year; all As, some were honors and all were advanced level classes or college prep

Dual Enrollment Courses

Math - MTH111 College Algebra, MTH112 College Trigonometry, MTH251 Differential Calculus

Writing - WR121 English Composition, WR227 Technical Writing

History - HST105 History of World Civilization

Science - CS160 Intro to Computer Science, GS105 College Chemistry, BI121 Intro to Anatomy and Physiology, CH221 General Chemistry

Foregin Language - JPN102 Japanese, JPN103 Japanese, JPN201 Japanese, JPN202 Japanese, JPN203 Japanese

Misc - COMM111 Public Speaking, HPE295 Health, PE185VK Volleyball, PE185VJ Volleyball

Awards
-1st place engineering club competition (regional)
-2nd place engineering club competition (states)
-ACT Workkeys Platinum
-School District AVID Professional of the Month
-CTE Professional of the Month (city)
-Spanish Student of the Year (school)
-Community Service Excellence Award (my schools version of the Presidential one; same thing basically)
-National _________ Recognition Program
-Worked with a local videography company, Portland State University, and engineering club’s organization to create a promotional video and starred in said video

Extracurriculars
(Only putting my Common App 10 but I have more if needed to accurately gauge anything else)

  1. Engineering Club (x2 awards mentioned above)
  2. Hospital Volunteer Shift Lead (training students, assigned shift tasks)
  3. Research Internship with Oregon Health & Science University (wrote a research proposal on renal infarction and diabetes and did extensional summer research at lab on weight loss drug effects)
  4. Religious Youth Community Leader (planning events, fundraising etc.)
  5. Student Council Chair
  6. School Cafe Student Manager
  7. 4-H Internship with Oregon State Uni (planned events and school clubs for youth)
  8. Private/AVID Tutoring
  9. Blood Drive Coordinator
  10. Public Library Aide

Total I’d say I have well over at the least 300 community service hours, I need to sit down and calculate it tho

Essays/LORs/Other
My essay is about my obsession/love for Minecraft as my creative outlet because I was limited in the real world, how I learned to express myself when I found the engineering club in HS, and how it led to me wanting to do biomedical engineering. I have been told my most people it’s really good so Im pretty confident and I’d give it a 9.5/10

9-10th History teacher: 10/10; known him for 4 years, super close
Geometry/Alg 2 teacher: 11/10; known him for 3 years, super close, thinks I’m like a math genius or something (I’m really not)

Schools
Safeties: Oregon State, Portland State, PacificU, UofO (All EA if I have time Honors as well)
Matches (I need more): Reed (RD), UW Seattle (RD)
Hard Targets/Reaches: USC (RD), Emory (RD), GTech (RD)
Mega Super Reaches: Duke (RD), Stanford (RD), Northwestern (RD), JHU (RD), Rice (RD)

Anyways please help me Im open to any advice or even a reality check beacuse the people around me’s standard are kinda low and I keep getting glazed even though I know these arent that good.

1 Like
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If you want help - share your rank. Yes it matters in chancing if you have it. Schools will look at you in context of your hs.

We are confidential here for a reason.

That said your safeties are safe. Your matches are likely reaches.

But need more info for a true assessment. Isn’t that why you came here ?

3

Agree we need your rank if you know it, and USC, Emory, and GTech are reaches. Is Ga Tech affordable at full OOS rate ($52K)? Because, that’s what you will pay.

What is your math SAT score? Have you taken physics?

Talk with your parents and get a firm budget. Are you in-state safeties affordable? I would prioritize the honors apps at the in-state schools over your targets and reaches.

We also need to know if you will qualify for any need based aid. Run Reed’s NPC here with your parents…if it’s not affordable/or close, off the list it comes. Net Price Calculator Then, run the NPCs at all the meet full need schools on your list…all that aren’t in budget range have to come off the list.

4

One more thing - I’d take a school like Reed and Pacific off the list. Why ?

If there’s any chance you will want to do engineering, it can’t be there. Better to go to a school like Lafayette or Union if you want an LAC and engineering.

Otherwise Engineering is out short of a 3+2 which isn’t a great way to start.

2 Likes
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My rank is 8/52

6

Oh really, I have family in Georgia so I visited and I really liked the school i didnt realize the OOS cost

7

Do not qualify at all for need-based, my rank is 8/52

8

I have fee waivers and was recommended to do so by my counselor. I could take Reed off but not Pacific.

9

My math is a 690… mostly a time management thing because I did not prepare for it at all. I could easily get 750 ish by Nov with proper practice

10

I would love any recommendations to beef up my targets/matches since most my of reaches are likely unattainable and the goal is to be OOS and in-state is a last resort if we can’t afford those.

11

I dont care about LACs, im actually realizing i dont know much about colleges so I would appreciate alllll the advice

1 Like
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Yes, if you are potentially interested in engineering, you should only consider schools that have engineering. Most small liberal arts colleges don’t have engineering, especially something as specialized as biomedical/bioengineering. Instead it is big public schools that are often very strong in engineering.

Have you looked at the Western University Exchange (WUE) schools? These are schools in the Western states that offer discounted tuition to other residents of other Western states, which gets you close to in-state prices. Here are the WUE schools that offer biomedical engineering or bioengineering:

Keep in mind that many engineers who work in the field of biomedical engineering actually have degrees in mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. ME and EE can be great because they are more flexible and found at more schools.

I noticed that one of your awards was for “CTE professional of the month.” Did you know that a student can become a US Presidential Scholar (a really prestigious award where you get invited to the White House and given a medal by the President) due to accomplishments in CTE? You have to be nominated by your school principal. This is a category where they always need more nominees. I couldn’t find a link of how to do the process in Oregon, so I’m linking to the instructions for the state of Iowa: https://www.acteonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CTE-Presidential-Scholars-Program-Info-Letter-2020-sm.docx.pdf
I think the initial nomination is due by the end of October. But since your school is small, maybe they will do it if you ask?

2 Likes
13

So if you look in the common data set - for Emory for example - 84% are in the top 10%. At USC only 67%. At Stanford, it’s 96%.

So you can make assumptions off that given you’re not 10%. Not sure why you wouldn’t share.

Btw you don’t need more matches. You need 1-2 schools that you’d love to attend and can afford.

Good luck.

14

No sure why Pacific. You can’t do engineering.

OOS is not an issue depending on budget.

For bio engineering (best to start there and pivot if it’s not for you), look at

UAB - under 30k

Arizona 40k ish

Colorado State WUE school- tuition 21k

Florida Tech - very aggressive

U Florida - mid 40s

Kansas State - likely sub 30

Louisville - likely sub 30

Miami Ohio

UMN high 30s

Ms State $20k

UNR - WUE school so very reasonable

Purdue low 40s

That’s just some.

15

There’s an accrediting body called ABET that does engineering accreditation. For some fields (like mechanical or civil engineering), it is extremely important. For other fields (like computer engineering), it’s not a dealbreaker for an employer. I don’t know where biomedical engineering falls on that spectrum, but you can use ABET’s site to find accredited programs: APS

What kind of school experience are you looking for? These are some questions that might prompt your thinking:

  • What size school do you prefer?
  • What size classes do you prefer?
  • Are there areas of the country you prefer (or prefer to avoid)?
  • What are your preferences with respect to urban/suburban/college town/remote campuses?
  • How do you feel about significant enthusiasm for intercollegiate sports?
  • How do you feel about Greek life (fraternities/sororities)?
  • Are there any additional interests you want to pursue outside of your potential major?
  • Are there any other factors (like politics or religion) that will play a role in your college selection?

Knowing more about what you want can help us to provide more targeted suggestions.

1 Like
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The list I sent was from the abet website.

17

Size doesn’t matter toooo much, I would prefer to avoid the general midwest and new england area and go to an urban school. I am indifferent to greek life and will definitely not partcipate in it.

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I just want a school that has decent dorms, good for major, food options for religious dietary restrictions and fun ish activities

19

Didn’t want to share because the reason I have rank 8 with my UW being decently high is because I’ve taken more difficult courses than my classmates and there is grade inflation due to the STAMP (second-language proficiency test) which gives 12 free As (Almost a whole school year of As)

20

at pacific Id do bioinformatics, not too picky as long as I can do bio and technology/engineering in some sort of way, also they give good aid for students from my school so :man_shrugging: