Chance/Match Me - bored high school junior needing a reality check and a fulfilling summer for once: MA resident, 3.99 UW GPA, 1540 SAT, 35 ACT, EE, CS, MSE, or IE

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • Asian female, US citizen, no hooks
  • Massachusetts
  • Charter school

Cost Constraints / Budget
Parents say there is no budget, but I am going to ignore that for the sake of my family’s sanity. I’d prefer a school with a lot of merit scholarships so I can graduate without having significant debt. Would otherwise probably receive very little need-based aid.

Intended Major(s)

Electrical engineering with a minor in computer science. I plan to go into material science or Industrial Control Systems/Operational Technology, hopefully get a PhD.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.99, let’s just call it a 4.0 for my dignity.
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.78. School is a little too liberal with this.
  • Class Rank: 1
  • ACT/SAT Scores:
    • 1540 SAT (790 Math, 750 RW)
    • 35 ACT (35 Math, 35 Science, 35 English, 36 Reading)
    • I think these are fine for now, might retake both if the paranoia gets to me. I need to develop better study habits.

List your HS coursework

  • English:
    • 9th Grade: Standard English, writing elective
    • 10th Grade: Standard English, speech elective
    • 11th Grade: AP English Lang (expected 5)
    • 12th Grade (expected): AP English Lit
  • Math:
    • 9th Grade: AP Precalculus (5), AP Stats (5)
    • 10th Grade: AP Calculus AB (5)
    • 11th Grade: AP Calculus BC (expected 4-5, self-studied for better transfer credit), Calculus II-III at local CC (got A’s)
    • 12th Grade (expected): Differential Equations, Linear Algebra at local CC. If I have the funds, I might take some other courses, but that’s not guaranteed.
  • Science:
    • 9th Grade: standard biology
    • 10th Grade: standard chemistry, AP Environmental Science
    • 11th Grade: AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science A, standard physics
    • 12th Grade (expected): AP Bio, AP Physics C: Mechanics
  • History and social studies:
    • 9th-10th Grade: standard US History
    • 11th Grade: AP European History (expected 4-5), standard world history
    • 12th Grade (expected): APUSH
  • Language other than English: French I, French II. Not too rigorous.
  • Visual or performing arts: They’re gonna make me take one next year, pretty standard
  • Other notes: Might self-study AP Cyber if they let me. I think there might be a withdrawal from AP Seminar on my transcript, not sure.

Awards

  • Some school awards for high test scores, I can’t remember
  • Probably National Merit Semifinalist (I fell asleep and got a 1460)
  • Student awards
  • Some completion certificates but those don’t really remember
  • Does my black belt in karate that I proceeded to quit freshman year count?
  • High honor roll all three years of high school so far

Extracurriculars

  • Model UN: 2 non-consecutive years. Secretary in second year, reformed digital infrastructure for record keeping, did financial aid forms, helped manage logistics and funding, etc.
  • Like 5 virtual programs that I’m going to keep vague for my own privacy. Two of them had a sub 20% acceptance rate, only one of these was vaguely STEM-related.
  • 100+ volunteering hours doing administrative work at a library
  • Got accepted into a somewhat prestigious MIT program, so that’s what I’ll be doing this summer.
  • Habitually picking up STEM edX courses and missing the audit deadline

Essays/LORs/Other
I have a feeling LORs won’t be great: AP English, AP Chem teacher. I haven’t sent them info they should discuss.

My essays will be okay. People say I have impressive writing, but I just suck at writing about myself and other experiences.

Have had a mental health issue most of high school that prevents me from doing a lot with my life outside of school, but I’d rather not mention that to admissions officers.

Schools
Looking at my profile, I doubt I’d get into most schools on this list, but my counselor forced me to consider applying. Not in any specific order.

  1. MIT
  2. RPI
  3. WPI
  4. RIT
  5. Rice
  6. Cornell
  7. UMass Amherst

Overall, I hope to get some physical activity and electronic work in this summer to try and make up for what I’ve lost in my personal experiences across high school thus far. Hopefully I will find a job, too because I need work.

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Is it a correct assumption that “no budget” means “no limit” and that they are aware of how much some private universities cost? Or does it mean “no money”, since you mention the possibility of “having significant debt”?

MIT and Cornell offer need-based aid but not merit scholarships.

Why EE if you want to go into MSE or IE later?

Calculus 3, linear algebra, and differential equations are likely all the general college math you need as an engineering major – additional math or math-like courses (including statistics) will typically be specialized for your major.

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What was your selection index score? While a 1460 is a very good score, you may be under the cutoff for Massachusetts. I wouldn’t say it’s probable, but I don’t know your selection index.

Please consider taking another year of French senior year to make yourself more competitive for your reaches.

Several of the schools on your list do not offer merit scholarships.

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Would you know any decent engineering schools in the New England area that do offer merit aid? I also ran the numbers for selection index, and I fall below MA’s cutoff, so that’s a nothingburger. As for the French recommendation, I’m considering taking the DELF at some point this or next year if it matters, since the French program at my school is frankly lacking.

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This isn’t an area where I have a lot of knowledge, but I’m sure there are plenty of people here who can steer you in the right direction.

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Compass estimates 223 for MA. Given the higher English weight in the calculation and the stated breakdown of actual SAT it’s quite possible that OP has missed the cutoff but agree they should share the selection index for more insight. That said, given the actual test scores and other things, I don’t think this is necessarily an issue for admissions. Most of the students at our high school this year who got into T10-20s were not actually NMSF/NMF.

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  1. Budget question: I’m trying to leave need-based aid out of the equation for now, since my parents have been intentionally unclear surrounding our financial situation outside of income. They say that I shouldn’t worry, but some things they do are some source of concern.
  2. EE: The material science thing is slowly going out the window now that I’ve learned about ICS security (I just realized I misspelled something in my post), which is a good bridge between my interests in cybersecurity and physical engineering.
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220

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Ok, so that’s an easy commended but almost certain to miss NMSF. But as I said above I don’t think it’s anything to worry about from an admissions perspective - it does potentially close off some funding avenues albeit likely not at colleges on jour list anyway.

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I have never used this forum before, so I forgot to actually add the “match me” part of the post:

  1. Good merit scholarships
  2. Strong networking/co-ops/practical experience
  3. Ideally East Coast
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Perhaps take a look at Northeastern. They are well known for their co-ops and they do have merit for strong students like yourself.

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University of Massachusetts at Lowell. It offers merit scholarships, here: Scholarships for First-Year Students | Merit Scholarships | My Financial Aid | The Solution Center | UMass Lowell

Also, the University of Maine at Orono offers these merit scholarships: First-Year Merit Scholarships for Out-of-State Students | Fall '26-Spring '27 - Undergraduate Admissions - The University of Maine

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Maybe figure out some volunteer work that is less administrative and more focused on helping actual people in need? Your ennui comes through loud and clear in your posts…. I’m sure you are not as bored in real life as you seem online, but I think your personal essays would benefit from a less snarky tone than you seem to have adopted here.

I think you are getting some good suggestions here, but getting an actual budget from your parents is key right now. If merit is “nice to have” that’s one thing. If it’s the difference between you going to college and not going to college- the sooner you know, the more highly targeted your list needs to be.

Have you visited any campuses so far– and has anything resonated with you as “would love it here” or “I’d hate it here?”

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Sometimes academically very strong students (which you are, of course) just sort of breeze through high school without much of a challenge, and then show up at university and discover that they suddenly need to develop good study skills in a hurry. This can be stressful for some students. This might be a bit more common at some academically particularly challenging schools such as MIT or Cornell (which I mention since they are on your list).

To me it looks like you could handle an academic environment that is more challenging than high school. A big issue is: How much more challenging would be right for you, and which school would provide this? I honestly just do not know how a student can be sure of the answer to this question until they arrive on a university campus and see how things go. It might however be worth thinking about.

In a similar vein, for some of the most challenging schools (which is similar to “highest ranked schools”, but probably not exactly the same), doing homework on a Saturday afternoon is relatively normal. Let’s suppose that you were to spend Saturday afternoon doing a really tough homework problem, got it solved successfully, and then went out with friends for a pizza for dinner. Would you be excited that you were able to solve the problem, or would you feel like you just wasted a Saturday afternoon?

You would also be better off to avoid debt if you want to go on to graduate school. This is not strictly necessary, but can make things easier. While PhD’s in STEM fields are typically fully funded, the stipend is just enough to live on frugally and a few extra bucks can be helpful (and might even let you fund an IRA, which is something that might be best if not delayed for the 6 or 7 years that it can sometimes take to get a PhD), and if you go for a master’s degree (either instead or first) in most cases a master’s degree is not funded.

You might want to get your parents to run the NPCs for MIT and Cornell, and see whether they are actually okay with the results (whatever the results are). The final cost of some of the other schools on your list might not be possible to know until you get an offer since NPCs do not always include merit aid. The NPCs are not yet set up for what will be your first year of university, but are probably as close a hint of the total cost as you can get at this point.

I was under the impression that industrial control systems use quite a bit of mathematics. It looks to me like you are up for it.

In terms of your list of schools, I think that this is quite a good list. U.Mass Amherst is a very good university. Since you are in-state and you don’t think that you will qualify for much in the way of need based aid, U.Mass is likely to cost quite a bit less compared to MIT or Cornell. You might want to think about what you might do if you were to get into two or three of these schools and if U.Mass were significantly less expensive. You can do very well with a degree from U.Mass, and can go on to a very highly ranked graduate program with a degree from U.Mass.

I have heard that U.Mass Lowell might be a bit more likely to give very good merit aid to very strong in-state students compared to U.Mass Amherst. You and your parents might want to think about what you would do if you got into U.Mass Amherst at full in-state cost, and also got into U.Mass Lowell with a very good or even full merit scholarship. The answer to this question might impact whether you want to add one more application to U.Mass Lowell.

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If you’re looking for scholarship money, you’re less likely to get any at the most competitive schools on your list. WPI, RPI, and RIT are your best shots. I’d look at other good engineering schools in the Northeast for merit aid like Villanova and Manhattan University as well.

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Having dealt with some challenges myself in graduate school, I will just say that a PhD program can be tough on anyone’s mental health, and is a particularly difficult path for those who might already struggle with mental health issues, study habits, and self motivation. It can be tempting for a smart and academically inclined person to slide on into grad school after college because it is the next academic achievement on the list, but it’s not necessary to get a PhD to have a great intellectually satisfying life. If you do end up going to grad school in the future, be prepared with a good support system. Best wishes for an invigorating, inspiring summer!

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This list looks pretty balanced – a couple of reaches, some that are likely to offer merit, in-state flagship.

Folks here can offer suggestions if you feel like you want to expand the list, but you don’t necessarily need that.

I think RPI could be a very nice fit, btw. Excellent EE right through PhD level, not necessarily looking for the super well-rounded student, merit. You could really immerse yourself in what interests you there.

I would focus more on finding what gives you happiness and connection. You’ve done great on the rest.

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Are you willing to consider colleges outside of New England?

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Congratulations on your achievements so far.

I agree that this will be a critical piece of list building. If parents can’t/won’t pay the college’s estimated COA, then off the list it comes. Note that NPCs might not be accurate for students whose parents are divorced, own real estate beyond a primary home and/or own a business. Are any of those the case for you OP? Here are MIT and Cornell NPCs:

If you don’t want to mention mental health issues in your app, I support that. Do you think your counselor and/or teachers will mention this in their LoRs? If you don’t want them to (assuming they know), ask them not to.

Separately, you don’t say if your mental health issues are still impacting your education/ECs/life. If so, I would focus on that over college.

If you do feel you will be ready to go to college in Fall 2027, you should give some thought to the type of environment you want to be in for four years. Do you want a school that’s academically a grind? If not, there are some schools I would take off your list.

I know it’s difficult when adults in your life are giving you school suggestions and/or putting other pressures on you, but…I encourage you to speak up and construct a college list that contains only schools you feel would be a positive environment for you. Have you visited any schools yet?

Other east coast schools you might consider/research to see if they have an EE ABET accredited major, (a range of sizes and vibes, all offer merit, but at some it’s relatively difficult to get):

U Vermont

U New Hampshire

Wentworth

Clarkson

U Conn

George Mason

Western New England

Lehigh

Lafayette

U Delaware

Regarding ECs this summer, getting a job and some physical activity is a great idea!

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I went to post, only to find that as so often happens, @blossom has already articulated what I came to say.

Your academics are more than fine, and you will have no trouble ending up at a great for you college. You need no help there.

What you might be able to use help with is your happiness. Or lack thereof. My advice would be to get out in nature and/or volunteer. Help build trails. Walk shelter dogs. Start a crochet club at a senior center. Stock shelves at a food pantry. Do something for someone else. And enjoy the summer!

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