Chance Me for Civil/Environmental engineering (Mich Resident, 4.0 gpa, 1520 Sat)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics
US Citizen (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student
State/Location of residency: Michigan
Semi Rural HS (800 students)
No Hooks
Cost Constraints / Budget
Not entirely sure of the finances, but I think I could go to any school Full-pay.
Intended Major(s)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
4.0 GPA UW
4.44 GPA W
Class Rank: 1/198
ACT/SAT Scores: 1520 Sat (770 Math, 750 R&W) 1480 PSAT (224 Selection index)
APs: Calc AB (5), English Lit (5), US gov (5), Psychology (5), Statistics (5), US History (5) (these are just the tests Iā€™ve taken so far)
List your HS coursework
(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)
English: Adv English 10 (9th), Honors English 11 (10th), AP Lit (11th), AP Lang (12th)
Math: Calc AB (11th), Calc BC (12th)
Science: Adv. Chem (11th), Physics (12th), AP chem (12th), AP Bio (12th)
History and social studies: APUSH (10th), AP Gov (11th), AP Psych (11th)
Language other than English: Took Spanish 1 & 2
Other academic courses: AP macro (9th), AP Micro (11th), AP Comp sci Principles (12th)
Awards
School all A honor roll all three years so far
School academic award (high gpa)
School academic hall of fame (high gpa, ap scores, sat)
Math and science competition (county wide) - 2nd place Statistics 2024, 3rd place calculus 2025
Quiz bowl - League championship in both regular season and tournament ALL three years of HS, placed 8th at states in 2024 + 2025, i improved from (50th to 15th individually)
2 Varsity Letters - Bowling & Quiz Bowl
Scholar Athelte award for bowling as well
National Merit Semi-Finalist (im 99.9% sure I qualified)
Extracurriculars:
Quiz bowl (4 yrs) JV captain freshman year, highest scorer, Varsity past two years, became captain this year, top scorer in terms of accuracy and # of questions at state tournament, big improvement from last year) Dominant in local league + competitives, competitive at state level, against large suburban and private schools in detroit and elsewhere. 32 weeks a year, often 2 to 3 hours a week
Varsity Bowling - Fun but im not amazing, 4 years, steady upward momentum , from terrible to mediocre, scholar athlete award. 15 weeks a year, often 6 to 7 hrs a week.
Independent Demography research on population trends in detroit. Collaboration with my apush teacher, studied how the construction of freeways in detroit pushed both the white population to flee and pushed blacks further into poverty. ā€œWhite flightā€ personified essentially. Spring 2024, 2 to 3 hours a week
Flint metro league math and science competition - Annual competition, teachers select students to compete in subjects, ive gone three times so far - Algebra 2 (9th - 4th place), Statistics (10th - second place), Calculus (11th - third place). About 14 schools participate, 12 people per subject.
Quiz bowl self-study - self study regimen for months to improve at state tournament, ongoing - 3 hours a week - improved from 50th to 15th, hoping for all state my senior year (top 10)
Volunteering at local church on weekends - work in the kitchen, prepare pancakes in particular as well as set up and clean up of tables, bond with my community - 40 hours total - Sep 2024 through present
English Tutoring and Essay help - Iā€™ve proofread countless essays of lower-level english classes during my 9th, 10th, and 11th grade years while providing one on one feedback and advice to individual students. About 50 hours total.
National Honor Society - A member my junior and senior year. Helped raise over $1000 for st. Jude this past spring.
A Hobby, Geography Tiktok account with 2500 followers, purely for my enjoyment, share meaningful demographics

Essays/LORs/Other
My LORs are very strong and personal. From my AP lit teacher and my AP calc teacher as well as my quiz bowl coach. Iā€™d say the same for my essays, definitely above average.
Schools
UMich Ann Arbor - Likely (Given Iā€™m Instate) EA
Purdue - Likely (Iā€™d Assume? Not entirely sure here)
Kettering - Safety (Would apply for mechanical not civil here)
MSU - Safety
Cornell - Reach - RD

2

This is a good time to have a talk with your parents to make sure. Full pay at Cornell is currently listed as $96,268.

Do you think you might actually want to do mechanical engineering, or is this just a fallback option?

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3

This is just a fallback.

4

Donā€™t know if UM is likely but the rest I agree with. You have a strong background. If you waited more ā€˜likelyā€™ strong programs after UM, Purdue and Cornell, you can go Penn State, UMN and Wisconsin, all strong. But MSU works and youā€™d get Honors but donā€™t just jump to Honors. See what it entails and if it interests you.

I donā€™t get Kettering for your interest. Thereā€™s a gazillion schools that will meet your interest. Since you have Cornell, youā€™re willing to go more than a few hours away

if you get NMF and can go for free or close to, but not at this list, does that open your mind to others, likely in the South ?

5

I live in the metro Detroit area. Kettering is just very close. Cornell is about the furthest Iā€™d want to go. So 7-9 hour drive in any direction from me, basically a one day trip.

6

I wouldnā€™t bother with Kettering then, because there are plenty of great schools in Civil.

Are you looking for more suggestions?

7

Yes. Iā€™m mostly looking to stay in the midwest/rust belt region. What Iā€™m mainly looking for are a few more backups.

8

For safety, you already have MSU which is great, have you looked at Michigan Tech as well? Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering | Michigan Tech

UIUC could be a good reach for you, itā€™s a top school for Civil.

Iā€™m honestly not sure what Cornell would give you for Civil over schools like U Mich, Purdue, and UIUC, but you might just like something about it?

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9

For Cornell, I like Ithaca. Thats about it. Also, I just want to see if I could get into a school that competitive.

10

Drop Kettering please. Itā€™s not a fit. You have many within your range. Penn State is top notch.

It seems you want big well rounded schools. You donā€™t need Kettering as MSU is a shoe in.

But hereā€™s others that are safe and have accredited environmental and Iā€™m guessing Civil too. Thatā€™s only 109 nationally. These are within your 7-9 hour range.

U Buffalo

C Michigan

U Cincy

Mich Tech

SUNY ESF - and you get many benefits of Syracuse

Ohio State - likely

Penn State - likely

Pitt

Toledo

Not mentioned but focused like Kettering - Rose Hulman, which has Civil accreditation but itā€™s in the Civil and Environmental department. Itā€™s also, removing schools granting PhDs, often recognized as the top engineering school in the country. Not knowing your comfort for super small and more isolated, but on paper a much wiser choice than Kettering.

You definitely need to have a budget first though b4 choosing schools. What can your family pay but more importantly what are they willing to pay?

If itā€™s $30k, as an example, schools like Purdue must come off.

Good luck.

ps - a lot want a school like Cornell. UIUC is likely as hard. Nonetheless, the Cornell app is more work. Get your others done first. Then what if you get in. Itā€™s too far but would you say no ? Why put yourself in that position.

My daughter had the exact same idea so I get it. She couldnā€™t go. We are full pay and itā€™s above the budget I put forth . So she didnā€™t bother. Northwestern would be a closer sub.

Good luck.

11

Iā€™ve had discussions with my parents and they have always told me that my college expenses will be ā€œtaken care of.ā€ I donā€™t know why they are so secretive but cost doesnā€™t seem to be an issue for me.

12

I suggest that you have another conversation with them, and get a firm budget number of what your family can afford without loans. They might indeed be able to afford any collegeā€¦ or they may not be aware of the full range of college costs, or they might be thinking about taking out loans.

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13

Iā€™ll be honest - thatā€™s scary when people say that. May be true but it scares me. Maybe show them Cornell will be $400k and ask if ok. Of course they meet need.

U Mich will be high $30s per year for tuition, room and board. Not books etc. The last two years is higher and I may be wrong, but I believe engineering gets a surcharge but not much.

Many parents say what you say and kids find out later they canā€™t afford or would have to take crazy loans. Given the major, outcomes likely wonā€™t be different, mostly determined by location placed. So loans should be an absolute no no I hope they can afford anything but many donā€™t realize what college costs. Or make financial statements with no ability to fulfill them

Hereā€™s a sample, for civil:

Rose Hulman - $74.5k

UMICH - $73.8

UConn - $72.8k - Rio far - just a data point

OSU - $72.7k

UMN - $69.9.

Iā€™d suggest you all formalize a max number, one that wonā€™t strain the family. If it is $400k, then congrats.

Good luck

14

In the Detroit region, there are Wayne State University, Lawrence Technological University, and University of Detroit Mercy with ABET-accredited civil engineering.

That can expand your list of universities considerably, if you do not have cost constraints. Within the state of Michigan, there are also Michigan Technological University and Western Michigan University.

Expanding to IL, IN, MN, OH, PA, WI as well as MI, there are many more, according to APS

15

Sharing a link to OPā€™s previous thread for reference.

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16

Ann Arbor/State/Purdue is a great start. Ithaca is a great college town, and itā€™s hard to duplicate that scale with engineering schools, but you could try Madison WI. If you are looking for other smaller school options, consider RIT.

17

Personally I would choose UMich in state over Cornell full pay and would therefore ED UMich, but thatā€™s just me.

Civil engineering generally isnā€™t a very prestige-sensitive career if your goal is to become a civil engineer and not, say, a consultant.

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