Chance/Match this student w/ average ecs but decent gpa. Looking for a college with good fit/opportunities [AZ resident, 3.89 GPA, 1540 SAT, EE or ME major]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hey y’all, thanks for helping me out… I’m still learning more about colleges since my counselor isn’t very helpful.

Demographics

  • US citizen

  • Junior

  • State/Location of residency: Phoenix

  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Catholic jesuit school

  • Transferred from a private school in Oregon at the end of 9th grade

Cost Constraints / Budget
Don’t need to worry about budget but scholarships would be nice.

Intended Major(s)

EE or MechE

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.89

  • Weighted HS GPA: 9th grade: 4.03, sophomore 4.39. Since i switched schools the averages are weird cause my old school didn’t have aps or honors.

  • Class Rank: idk but prob top 10%

  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1540

List your HS coursework

  • English: english 1, honors english 2, ap land, projected( AP lit)

  • Math: H algebra 2, ap precalc(5), ap calc bc, proj(multivar and linear algebra)

  • Science: physics, h bio, h chem, ap phys 1, projected(ap physics c)

  • History: world his, ap us history(5), ap gov

  • Spanish: spanish 3, h spanish 3, ap lang, myb ap lit

  • Visual or performing arts: musicians exchange, music production

  • Other academic courses: advanced tech(using a bunch of complicated machines for projects), intro to robotics

  • Religion: a bunch of catholic courses for school

Awards

  • Projected(national merit semifinalist?) hopefully

  • ap awards

Extracurriculars

  1. FTC robotics team co-lead/FRC

    One of 3 juniors mentoring the sophomores and freshman. No adult mentors. I do FRC too, but i’m not a lead.

  2. Co-Started/organized an FLL team out of 5th graders in a underprivileged school. I am basically teaching the kids everything about FLL alongside one partner.

  3. President of the chess club/team

    Got to state last year and we achieved 8th as a team. 2nd in chess esports regionals. Now I organize recruitment, meetings and tournaments. Board number 2 on varsity team

  4. Facilitator for a meeting with group of grieving kids who have lost a family member. I co organize the activities and lead the discussions.

  5. Varsity tennis: got 8th in state for doubles and 2nd as a school team in 4A tennis in 9th grade. 11th grade varsity team 6A

  6. NHS: Service and all, but am aspiring for the VP position.

  7. A bunch of useless stuff: launched a model rocket w/ school, did s&d in 9th, I play 3 instruments but never really did that much in the community with them yet.

Essays/LORs/Other
I have experienced and heard pretty interesting stuff, and i’m not a terrible writer. Have a good relationship with my Spanish teacher.

Schools
I’m kinda open for anything. I wouldn’t really want to stay in the southeast tho, but texas is fine. Would prefer a school in a city, but don’t really care that much. I don’t wanna stay in Arizona, i hate the weather.

Schools that I know about:

UCLA(dream school, love the vibe and area)

UW also amazing

Purdue

U of Colorado boulder

Tufts

Washington university in st louis

GWU

ASU

Ohio State

WPI

Any others?

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Re your choice of UCLA: Were these courses taken at your school? The VPA requirement is very strict for UC schools. It requires a syllabus with a yearlong study and grades provided by the instructor. Given that you play 3 instruments, were you registered in a course in high school? Orchestra, band with grades?

“One year of college-preparatory visual & performing arts required, chosen from one of the following disciplines: dance, music, theater, visual arts (e.g., painting, web/graphic design, film/video, inter/multimedia arts), or interdisciplinary arts.

For information on how a student can fulfill UC A-G admissions requirements, please visit the UC Admissions website.” Subject Area F: Visual & Performing Arts

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With WPI on your list, you should probably also be looking at Stevens Tech, which is every bit as good as WPI. Hoboken, NJ has an urban feel with a lot of young professionals living there. The campus sits right on the Hudson River, and is literally looking right across to midtown Manhattan. Midtown is only a short ride away on the commuter rail.

Rice in Houston would also be worth a look, very good in Engineering. Also look at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. And University of Pittsburgh, University of Wisconsin, and University of Maryland, which is right on the edge of DC. Maybe University of Minnesota?

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Yeah, musicians exchange is a class w/ grades. Basically a band. Also prob gonna do h jazz band senior year. I should have enough

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Your parents are ok with $100k per year?

What is your PSAT score?

If this is Arizona State University, it looks like you meet the admission requirements for the school:

and your majors:
https://degrees.apps.asu.edu/bachelors/major/ASU00/ESEEEBSE/electrical-engineering
https://degrees.apps.asu.edu/bachelors/major/ASU00/ESMAEMBSE/mechanical-engineering

Which UW?

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This kind of statement always confuses me. Either you’re willing and able to pay $400K over four years…or you’re not…and if you’re not, then how much are you willing/able to pay. Most MechE/EE schools will bring you similar outcomes.

What don’t you like about the Arizona weather? What is your preferred weather?

You’re a bit early but - every school on your list is “possible”. UCLA and if UW is Washington wont’ see your SAT (well UW may).

When you ask, if others, what do you seek? You have smaller Tufts and WPI, Urban Ohio State, etc.

There’s tons of great schools - from School of Mines since you like Colorado to UMASS since you seem to like Massachusetts. Or BU to counter GW…or if you want big city, then UMN. ASU is an odd choice since you want to leave Arizona.

I’d start with budget - yes, you likely have one (or don’t say merit would be nice and put Tufts on your list as they have none so you’ll be close to $400K..) - and then what you want - size, urban, rural, sports, etc.

Thanks

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ASU is more of a safety. Its really weird, I can technically afford 400k much but we would MUCH rather have something lower than this. Smth like 300K. If these schools are possible, should I be trying to aim higher in terms of colleges?

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NMSQT hasn’t even happened yet for juniors. I’m guessing OP assumes they will get a good score.

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You currently reside in the Southwest. Are you stating that you would like to leave the Southwest?

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Higher for what ? For MechE, short of a few schools, the where matters little. Mine turned down Purdue with merit for Alabama. Well he interviewed with 19 companies by Xmas and had 5 offers. He interned with two top 5 school kids. He went back a 2nd summer. They weren’t invited back. In his work cohort he has Michigan, Purdue, Washington, and Cal Poly but also Akron, Buffalo, Utah, W Michigan and more

You need ABET accreditation. The name is less relevant.

If you are a NMSF, Tulsa will be free. An NMF, Alabama gives you five year tuition, 4 years housing and $4k per year (which would cover food). Tulsa has the highest concentration of merit scholars. Alabama amongst the most, if not most. My son’s first year roommate was from Scottsdale. Others have good offers too - UTD is one often mentioned

So is saving $200k or $300k or $400k worth it to you when the outcome will likely be similar ?

So focus on what you want in a school - Smith is all women and small. OSU is massive. Some schools have or near gender parity. Others are mostly male. Some are huge with big sports, others aren’t.

Sounds like Tufts should be removed, based on budget.

If you want reach schools, then go ahead as long as that you have an assured and affordable safety that you want to attend (that doesn’t sound like ASU).

Tell us what you want in a school…you will be somewhere four years, day after day - going to a harder admit just because it’s a harder admit is sort of silly.

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@cgro27 when did you take the SAT and get a 1540?

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I’ve actually never thought about this. My parents and and my friend group care a lot more about rankings than anything. So for engineering, does ranking/prestige matter as much as it does for majors like finance/business. Another reason i heard is that in tougher school, people are surrounded by more motivated people and thus become more motivated

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For engineering, short of a few schools. Not so much. I wouldn’t, for example, say Smith is prestigious for engineering. Not WPI or GW, nor Tufts, fine as they are. Prestige is in the eye of the beholder. But top engineering schools aren’t necessarily the top U.S. News overall.

Think about it. you’re going to invest hundreds of thousands. Be where you want to be?

There are motivated and non in every major. That said, few can make it out of engineering if not motivated, regardless of school name.

Btw you are going to school - not your parents or friend group.

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mb that is what i got on a few practice tests. I plan to take it november tho.

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Please come back here once you have a real SAT or ACT score…and your PSAT score. Right now, you are guessing based on estimated scores. I hope your real scores come out as well as you hope.

For CA colleges, those SAT or ACT scores won’t matter. But don’t hope for merit aid there because as an OOS student, that isn’t likely.

Some of your colleges don’t give merit aid. Or it is very competitive merit aid.

For engineering, you would be best served to look at ABET accredited schools.

Have you looked at Colorado School of Mines, or CalPoly SLO?

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Engineering is not one of those majors where prestige matters. Engineering is hard everywhere and you will be challenged no matter where you go!

There are rankings of undergraduate engineering, specific for major. For Mech E programs - 1/2 the schools in the top 10 are public flagships (Berkley, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Purdue, UIUC, UT Austin). Usually when people are talking about prestige, these aren’t the schools that come to mind, but these are the engineering powerhouses. All these schools have very strong recruiting, amazing facilities/labs, strong students, etc… The EE rankings look similar.

And then there are the engineering schools without graduate programs that are also very well regarded - Rose Hulman, Harvey Mudd, Olin, Bucknell, Cal Poly SLO, Cooper Union, etc…

If you continue on your current trajectory with grades, rigor, and projected scores, you will be a competitive applicant. However, and this is a biggie, you are OOS for all of the state flagship schools and they all give preference for their instate applicants. You are going to need to figure out a list that includes matches.

You’ve already gotten some good suggestions from other posters. I suggest you start thinking about what matters beyond ranking. Do you want large or small? Urban or rural? Hands on or theoretic learning? Do you want a school with co-ops? Once you have answers to those questions and actual scores, posters here will be able to give you a better sense of schools to consider.

Keep up your hard work!

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UCLA calculates their UC GPA’s based on 10-11th a-g course grades and will weight OOS AP/IB or UC Transferable DE classes taken during this time so you need to complete Junior year to determine where you stand in terms of academics and GPA.

Here is the UC GPA calculator and UCLA focuses on the Unweighted and Weighted GPA’s: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Here is a link to the UCLA Freshman Profile for 2024 admits. The GPA listed is the Weighted UC GPA so you can see the # of applicants, admit rate and the 25-75th percentile GPA admit range of each major in the College of Engineering: First-Year Profile by Major - Fall 2024 | UCLA Undergraduate Admission

UCLA offers good need-based aid to California residents and very little merit aid. They do have scholarships for prospective student that you can apply for on their financial aid website. https://prospective-ugstudents-ucla.academicworks.com/

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For reference, this is OP’s Chance Me thread from 4 mos ago.

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Similar responses.

OP - you are solid academically, you have solid ECs….but you have no test score.

When you have that (not a projected score), come back. But recognize, that most schools will lead you to the same place. But all are not the same - so figure out what you want in a school. Some will be smaller or larger, some will have big sports or greek life, some will be urban, suburban or rural…and some will have gender parity. Some will be more tech biased and others general universities. Some may send more to grad school while others right into the work place.

Some, of course, will be near $400K - and others $80K - unless you get NMF, then some will be free to $50K, depending on which offer you took. Discuss a true budget with your family. Smith, btw, like Tufts, is over $90K a year (but they do have merit). Only 28 of 645 first years got merit in the last cycle so the odds aren’t great.

Really lots to think about….you’re in good position here but your question is premature.

But you should go check out schools - ASU and U of A are both large - but very different. U of A, in my opinion, is more “campusy” - and I say that as an ASU alum. If you’re traveling to other cities on vacation, add a school visit or two on each - see a mid size, smaller, etc. See different environments, etc.

That’s what you can do right now - figure out, forgetting the name (think of them as nameless), the type of environment you’ll excel - engineering is hard and you’ll want the right environment for you.

And please don’t report scores that haven’t happened. Projected is not the same as you said - 1540. You’ll see.

You’re premature with the question - but best of luck.