Chance Me Chem E U Mich and more [PA or DE resident, 4.0 GPA, 1560 SAT]

[Jakelolno8]

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Residence: Pennsylvania/Delaware (50/50 parental custody)
• Income: Not gonna say exact but upper middle class
• Grade: Rising senior

Intended Major(s): Chem Engineering

Academics

• GPA/Rank (or percentile): 4 UW and a 4.28 on a 4.5 weighted scale. No rank but top of my class is 4.3
• 12 APs after this year
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Stat, rest is stupid electives/study hall

Standardized Testing

• SAT/ACT: 1560 (800M, 760R)
• AP/IB: 5 (AP Bio, Euro, Comp Sci, Micro, Macro, Calc AB) || 4( AP Lit)

Extracurriculars/Activities:

FBLA - PR (12th grade)
I am PR for my FBLA chapter and this year I’m tasked with raising thousands for our SLC and running a committee.

STEM Club - Treasurer (12th grade)

Help put together in-house events and manage money

STUCO– Event Chair for Charity Drive and MORP (reverse Prom, 11th grade) and HOCO (12th grade)
Ran committees and raised over 2500 food/toiletry items and HOCO obviously the whole school attends and MORP has over 300 attendees and I helped set up and run the events and committees

Tutoring Club - PR/Co-founder (11th and 12th grade)
I run the social media, accept new tutors, and control department/subject heads

Part Time Job (11th and 12th)

I worked at mod pizza and I work 10 hours a week and help train new employees. I also am the second most senior member at our establishment

Mini-THON BOM Committee Member (11th and 12)

I was a committee member for the business operation management team for my schools version of Penn State’s THON. I personally raised $100 and for the committee I helped in raising a total of over $10k

JV Track and Field (9th and 10th)
Ran both distance and sprints and one 3rd place in my relay at a regional competition in my sophomore year (didn’t run junior year due to injury)

Awards/Honors:

1. 3rd Place PA FBLA Mobile App Dev 2024 (Made Nationals)
2. 9th Place PA FBLA Mobile App Dev 2023
3. Student of the Month
4. Some AP award I forget which one
5. NHS/German NHS

Essays:

I’m trying my hardest but I’m unsure as of now how much I’m cooking so I’ll say conservatively 6/10 because I still trust in myself

LORS:

AP Bio Teacher (Will be gas she pulled me aside saying she wants her kids to be like me and emailed my parents a paragraph as to why I was such a good student)

AP Lang Teacher (Had me Freshman and Junior year and really liked me and glazed me but maybe not as much as my bio teacher)

Counselor (1600+ kid public school. He hardly know me lol)

Schools I’m Applying To:

• Reaches:
  • U of Mich (EA)
  • GA Tech (EA)
  • UT Austin (EA)
  • Northwestern (RD)
  • CMU (RD)
  • Notre Dame (REA)
• Targets:
  • UMD College Park (EA)
  • Purdue (EA)
• Safeties:
  • University of Delaware (EA)
  • Drexel (EA)

Please be honest. All my friends are smart so I don’t know what to base myself off of and my parents went to school when it was easier so they think I’m as good as in anywhere just because of my SAT.

[ucbalumnus]

Cost constraints?

Note that University of Michigan uses both parents’ finances to determine financial aid, so be sure to include both of their finances when using its net price calculator.

[tsbna44]

I think your profile is great - but your ECs seem to lack tenure - so you have many but only 1-2 years.

So you can certainly get into U Mich - but will you - I can’t say.

So you don’t want to say your income - and it doesn’t matter. But you need a budget.

Tuition, room and board (no books, transport, pizzas) this year is $76,500 for the first two years and $80,500 the last two years.

Again, that’s just tuition, room and board - not football games, nights out, ubers transportation from home.

Can you family afford that -well over $300K over four years. If so, do they want to afford that?

So your income doesn’t matter - but your budget does.

Now for less than half the price (after merit), UMN is also one of the top ChemE colleges in the country - so that’d be a safe alternative. It’s tied in US News with U Michigan at 11 and both are behind Delaware - on your list.

UDel is a safety - but for ChemE, I don’t know. Likely but you might find out given it’s ranking if it’s a tougher admit than the rest of the school. But I’d still expect you to get in.

So get with your folks or folk and get a $$ figure - how much they are willing to spend per year. You might find yourself applying to schools they’re unwilling to afford. And that would change your list.

I think your classifications are great.

Best of luck.

[NiceUnparticularMan]

As I am sure you know, Delaware has an absolutely fantastic ChemE program. So much so I would personally find it hard to recommend many other programs to a person who was in-state for Delaware.

I’d be particularly unsure it would make sense to consider publics where you would have to pay a lot more OOS. I’d actually be more inclined to check out the NPCs at places like MIT, Stanford, or Princeton, just to see what they say about costs.

All that said, I agree you could also check out Minnesota. That is another great program and I believe with merit aid it would at least be closer to in-state at Delaware.

Purdue is also relatively inexpensive OOS, although ChemE is not necessarily one of their top specialties. But if you were not sure about ChemE specifically that may be a good option.

But otherwise, this could be a short list situation, which is fine.

[momofboiler1]

I think this is a good list with a great mix of schools. U M is a tough admit for out of state but you should be competitive.

My d was a Chem e at Purdue, they have a great program with strong career outcomes but different industries ties than U Del.

I’d encourage you to look at first destination surveys and look to see what companies new grads are going to and where in the country. There is overlap but some schools have stronger ties to chemical companies, others to pharma, polymers/materials, food/ag, fuels, etc…. Chem es work in so many different industries that it could be a way to help you sort your list and preferences.

[momofboiler1]

One more note, if co op is important to you, some of the schools on the list don’t offer a well supported program. And one school is glaringly not like the others (ND).

[AustenNut]

I think that your categorization of the schools on your list is pretty correct. You’re very fortunate that you’re in-state for UDel, as it’s extremely well-known for Chem E.

The big question, as has already been mentioned, is your budget. Is your family willing and able to spend $90k+ (Northwestern, CMU, Notre Dame)? If not, has your family run the Net Price Calculator at those schools to get a sense of affordability? Additionally, Michigan is likely to cost full price, so you’re looking at $75-80k/year. If a school is not affordable and if it does not offer sufficient merit aid (and some, like Northwestern and CMU offer none), then you should eliminate the school from your list.

ND may have been the outlier for @momofboiler1, but CMU and Drexel were the outliers for me when I was looking at your list (the others seem to have pretty big sports spirit, particularly around football). Does the spirit around athletics matter to you at all, or did I misread your list?

If athletic spirit is important for you, have you considered some of your other “in-state” possibilities, namely Penn State or Pitt? I’d second the rec of U. of Minnesota, and you may also want to consider Ohio State. If you like co-ops AND athletic spirit, you may also want to consider U. of Cincinnati. I suspect that all of these schools would be likely admits for you. If you’re looking to add a reach, I’d consider Cornell which is not quite as sporty as the others, but far moreso than CMU.

[ucbalumnus]

@AustenNut

If not, has your family run the Net Price Calculator at those schools to get a sense of affordability?

Be sure to check each school whether it requires both parents’ finances for financial aid. If so, include both of their finances (rather than the finances of only the parent providing the most financial support) when using the school’s net price calculator.