Chance me for engineering! [rising senior, international in NC, 3.8 UW/4.479 W, 34 ACT, <$30k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • International student unfortunately, pending I-485 application, expecting green card by summer of next year, I know this definitely doesn’t help me for the already insanely competitive admissions process
  • State/Location of residency: North Carolina
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public 4-year
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.): none

Cost Constraints / Budget
Max 30k per year contribution

Intended Major(s): Mechanical/aerospace engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.8/4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.479/5 (academic weight: 4.0, honors weight: 4.5, AP/DE weight: 5.0)
  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
  • Class Rank: 118/663 (top 18%)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 34 ACT (35 math, 35 english, 33 science, 33 reading, planning on retaking), 1490 SAT (750 math, 740 rw)

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: AP Lang (5), AP Lit
  • Math: AP Calculus BC (4, AB subscore: 4). Got a B in BC but an A in AB so this might hurt me
  • Science: Honors Bio, AP Physics 1 (got a B, 3 on the exam), AP Physics C: Mech (taking senior year to make up for my performance in Physics 1), AP Chemistry
  • History and social studies: AP World (4), AP US Gov (4), APUSH (5)
  • Language other than English: (including highest level completed) French 4, taking next year
  • Visual or performing arts: Took band two semesters freshman year, academic level
  • Other academic courses: AP CSP (4), Engineering class in HS (honors), DE engineering class (got a B), music appreciation over this summer (B).

I am mildly concerned because I withdrew from my microeconomics dual enrollment class this summer. I was on course for a B, and having two Bs this summer would bring my UW gpa to below a 3.8, making me ineligible for some scholarships I am applying to. I will be getting a WP (withdraw pass) on my transcript. Please let me know how this will affect me.

Awards

Technology Student Association - Top 5 at 2025 State Competition

Science Olympiad - 1st Place at Regionals 2024, Top 20 at State Science Olympiad Tournament 2024, Top 10 at Regionals 2025

2x American College of Musicians/National Guild of Piano Teachers Founder’s Plaque Recipient

AP Scholar with Distinction

AP Rural and Small Town Award (idek why I have this, I don’t live in a rural community)

AP School Recognition Award

Extracurriculars

  • May 2025 - Present: research position at state school, don’t expect a publication
  • Engineering program participant (Sept 2025-March 2026): created a medical device prototype and presented at Duke University, fairly selective program, got rejected when I applied sophomore year.
  • TSA Member (2024- present)
  • SciOly varsity member (2023-2025)
  • Business summer program participant: developed solution for a business facing a problem regarding website traffic, one week program, non selective
  • PTSA student leader (2023-present): suggested new events, helped recruit members, volunteered at school sponsored events, helped maintain social media and website
  • Sales house volunteer (2024-present)
  • NHS member (2025-present), volunteer at various elementary STEM expos, fundraisers, food drives
  • Church AV member and volunteer (2023-present)
  • Discussion/current events club co founder (starting next yr)
  • Piano lessons and church pianist (2024-present), perform at recitals for students and elderly, perform at church yearly for youth sunday

Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: Yeah, I’m genuinely cooked on these cause I haven’t really started my personal statement yet, but I have some ideas for the supplementals

Calculus teacher: I’d assume pretty good? They received a pretty substantial scholarship at one of the schools I am applying to

Foreign language teacher: Pretty good, knew me since freshman year and had them for a class every year, including this upcoming year

Schools

Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): UNC Charlotte through NC College Connect

  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely: Rose-Hulman (Noblitt Scholars)
  • Toss-up: Clemson (applying to National Scholars Program)
  • Lower Probability: NC State (Park/Goodnight Scholarships), Virginia Tech (Stamps?), Case Western Reserve
  • Low Probability: UNC-CH (applying BME or information science), Duke (Robertson scholars, no chance probably), Rice (would be really interested in ED’ing here but idk if that will help me), Northwestern, JHU maybe?, Cornell, Harvard, UPenn, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, WashU, CMU, Harvey Mudd, Olin (really interested in the unique engineering education that Mudd and Olin would provide. I understand they look for specific fit.)
  • I am currently doubting keeping these schools on my list: Northwestern, JHU, Princeton, Columbia, Yale
  • Fried: Caltech
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Congratulations on your achievements.

Have you run the net price calculators with your parents at all the schools on your list? Here’s Northwestern’s to get you started:

Your list is quite reach heavy, I would cull it at least by half. Perhaps the NPCs will do that for you…no use applying to the need based aid only schools if the NPC isn’t within your price range. The amount of supplemental essays associated with all these schools is a lot, and will be tough to produce A+ work, which is what you need to do.

Not great, but won’t be a complete deal killer. Do you have any grade lower than a B on your transcript?

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I’ve ran the NPCs for most, if not all of these schools, and except for the OOS schools, they actually seem pretty affordable. I don’t have any grades lower than a B

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With regard to Caltech, I have to wonder why you think that it would be a good fit for you. Please do not think of highly ranked universities as “better”. Caltech might be more accurately described as “academically even more difficult”, or perhaps “more brutal” compared to other schools. Princeton, Columbia, and Yale are similarly rather high reaches. I also do not think of Yale as where I would go for engineering. I would just drop these from your list.

You can do very well with an engineering degree from any school on your list, including UNC, NC State, or Virginia Tech. These are far more realistic schools to aim for, and will provide you with an excellent education.

Budget could be an issue at some schools (particularly out of state public schools).

One thing that I do not know, but that might be worth checking, is whether or not you would count as in-state for your in-state schools before you get your permanent resident visa (aka “green card”). This might make a significant different both with respect to admissions and with respect to the cost of attendance.

If you graduate with a degree in engineering from, let’s say, NC State, and get an engineering job, you might very well find that there is someone from Caltech or MIT or Northwestern at the next desk, and no one will care where either of you got your degree. In most cases very few people will ask or know where you got your degree. Similarly, if you decide at some point to get a master’s degree in some form of engineering, and get admitted to a very good master’s degree program, you will find that other students in the same program came from a huge range of undergraduate schools. Some will likely come from pretty much any school on your list, and some will probably come from schools that are lower ranked and less well known. Some might come from schools that you never heard of. What you do as an undergraduate student is going to matter a lot more compared to where you do it.

Which might be a very wordy way to recommend that you cut most of the high reach schools from your list.

I wouldn’t worry about it. Taking two classes over the summer is already a bit unusual. Deciding to drop one of them seems entirely reasonable. I do not think that this will matter.

You might be surprised how much overlap there is between music, engineering, and math. Quite a few people are good at all three, and are interested in all three. Either engineering or math is of course likely to be a far easier way to earn a living.

I am going to guess that you know why you are interested in engineering. If this is true, then be genuine in your essays and do not worry about it. As a potential engineering student, they will not expect you to be a prize winning writer as well.

For your reaches, think about why any particular school either would or would not be a good match for you. Then only apply to a handful of the reach schools that you feel would be a good match. “It is prestigious” and “I like Harvard Square” are perhaps not the reasons that you should mention.

This is getting way closer to a good thing to say in an essay. Harvey Mudd is however a reach (I do not know Olin at all).

I think that you are doing well, and the first half of your list makes up a good list.

One thing that I am struggling with and really do not know the answer to is whether or not getting your green card will be helpful enough that it is worth taking a gap year to wait until you get it. I am hoping that this is not needed. Most likely admissions at the various schools on your list would be able to give you some input on this issue. I would be tempted to call or email at least UNC and NC State and ask them.

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https://beta.ncresidency.org/media/umfdlrj1/rdseligiblestatuses.pdf lists what visa statuses can get NC residency for tuition.

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@cpt777 maybe I’m reading this incorrectly, but it looks like you are relying on competitive scholarships to make all of your less reachy colleges affordable. In my opinion, this is a risky strategy because none of these are guaranteed.

Does your family qualify for need based aid? The rest of your list is reachy, but many of those schools will meet your full need as they calculate it to be. Most, however, are need aware for admissions so your financial need could be considered when your application for admission is reviewed. Still, they have very low admission rates.

Have you looked at the University of Alabama campuses (both Tuscaloosa and Huntsville). It’s very possible you could get to your price point at these colleges with their automatic merit aid.

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Welcome to College Confidential, @cpt777!

You’ve got some great in-state engineering programs. In addition to NC State (which is terrific), I would definitely add applications to UNC-Charlotte and North Carolina A&T. Those are the three in-state publics that have the most robust engineering offerings in your state. And the beautiful thing is, the latter two would be extremely likely admits for you.

If you’re interested in mechanical/aerospace engineering, then why would you apply to UNC where they don’t offer those fields and have very limited engineering offerings (i.e. only biomedical engineering)? I would nix this application if you’re pretty set on engineering.

Do you mean the out-of-state public schools? Or all of the OOS schools?

I think it’s highly unlikely that Clemson or Virginia Tech will meet your price point. Thus, I would strongly consider eliminating them. If you’re interested in other OOS publics that might fit the bill, let us know. @thumper1’s recommendation of U. of Alabama is a good one; the Huntsville campus is especially known for aerospace.

I agree with the others that you probably have too many low probability schools and that you may want to reconsider applying to that many. It sounds like Harvey Mudd and Olin really appeal to you, so I would keep those. Make sure you delve into the different schools and figure out why you would want to attend them. Doing that activity might very well remove some of the schools from your list.

You may also want to run the NPC at Rensselaer Polytechnic, Worcester Polytechnic, Wentworth Institute of Technology, U. of Rochester, Clarkson, and Stevens Institute of Technology. If any of them come back as affordable, they would be worth you investigating further for an appropriate fit.

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What about UNC-Charlotte or University of South Carolina for the OP?

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OP stated they have assured admission to UNC Charlotte in their OP, via NC college connect.

Just checking OP…you technically won’t know that until September, is that correct?

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Thanks. Totally missed that!

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How certain is this (especially under the current administration)? If it is reasonably certain, I might consider a gap year - especially given your cost constraints - because having a green card makes you domestic for both admissions and federal funding purposes. Or you could keep this as a back-pocket option depending on the outcomes you get this year.

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