Florida Institute of Technology should definitely be on D_C1’s target list.
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I’m going to respectfully disagree with this.
It’s true that civil engineering is not one of the restricted majors (I think computer science and music technology you can’t switch into, plus a couple more?) – however, Georgia Tech has the #1 ranked civil engineering program in the country right now. It draws tons of applications. Their overall OOS acceptance rate is around 9 percent, and it’s lower for engineering.
But the Urban Planning & Spatial Analytics major is housed in the College of Design, which is the smallest college at Tech. Just my opinion, but if you can build a convincing case for why you’re interested in urban planning (the supplemental essay on Why GT and Why This Major at GT is VERY important), and if you can point to convincing interest in your background – then I think your chances of acceptance will be far greater than if you apply for civil engineering.
My D26 is currently a freshman at GT in the Arts, Entertainment & Creative Technologies major, which is brand new this year in the College of Design. They WANT design kids, as they’re trying to beef up the whole college. The Urban Planning major is only a year old – it launched fall 2025 – so my feeling is that they’re still actively trying to establish it.
Just my two cents on this – you’ve gotten lots of advice about affordability, etc. But purely in terms of getting accepted to GT, these are my thoughts.
(Edited to add: we are in-state for GT, and we have similarly amazing state merit scholarships like Florida does – so my D26 gets free tuition. It would be hard to turn down a similar deal at UF! I am perhaps biased, though, as I’m a Florida alum. 
)
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It is hard to get outside scholarships that are large enough to really matter much. I think that both daughters got some, but it was like $100 here and $50 there. The scholarships that are large enough to really matter in many cases come from the school that you are applying to. For public out of state universities sometimes this is possible, but it can be tough in many cases.
Regardless, assuming that you do not apply ED anywhere, you will get to see the offers before you decide where to attend. This brings up another issue…
The University of Florida is a very good university. You can do very well with a bachelor’s degree from UF. Being in-state is good fortune. Of course if you get accepted (which seems relatively likely to me) you will have earned this with your great results throughout high school.
These both sound very good to me. Most importantly they are interesting.
They say that for the top schools you should do the ECs that are right for you, and…
…whatever you do, you should do it well. If you have started a club that has 30 members and is entering competitions, then you have done a pretty good job.
I think that you have a good list (I am trusting that USF really is a safety – I am however not from Florida). You are a competitive applicant at any school on your list.
Apply for the major that you want. Then go to the school where you get in for the major that you want. I do not think that GT considers your major when deciding whether to admit you (MIT definitely does not consider your major for purposes of deciding whether to admit you – they do consider it for deciding which freshman year advisor you are assigned to). However, even if these schools did consider your major you should still apply for the major that you want to study.
Mostly I think that you have a good list, you are doing very well, you should look at the offers before you decide where to attend. Keep your budget in mind, and do not underestimate how excellent of a school the University of Florida is.
100% - school over major. You have a lifetime ahead of you. You want to study what you, at least now, think you want to study.
You know who Ga. Tech grads work with? UGA, Kennesaw, W Georgia, G Southern, and more. Oh, and this Syracuse grad. You know who are the higher ups in these relationships of well seasoned employees. A directional and the one with a K.
You can be successful from anywhere. You know why - because of you - you are the secret ingredient.
Personally, if your budget is strict, I’d remove Ga Tech. But they do have the Stamps Scholarship - but that’s literally a one in a gazillion chance. But I would not apply to any schools that, assuming the budget is as you state, you don’t have a 99%+ chance of attending even if you do get in.
@SpreadsheetMom“the supplemental essay on Why GT and Why This Major at GT is VERY important), and if you can point to convincing interest in your background – then I think your chances of acceptance will be far greater than if you apply for civil engineering”
Except GA Tech eliminated its supplemental essay this year.
Perhaps weave it into the personal statement.
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Really?! Wow, I hadn’t heard that. Man, my kid stressed over that essay – and after she had it written for another major, we read about the new AECT major that sounded perfect. So the revision wrote itself – “I was just about to hit send on my essay for Literature, Media & Communications when I learned about AECT…”
I wonder why they eliminated it? I hope it wasn’t to try to solicit even more applications and game their acceptance numbers.
https://news.em.gatech.edu/2026/07/29/admission-supplemental-essay/
Many schools eliminated or reduced their supplemental essays this year. Perhaps for well intentioned reasons (GT says it was to reduce the applicants stress) or perhaps they were getting too many AI generated essays.
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Interesting. I just read that press release and didn’t know UGA had eliminated theirs as well. My D22 applied there, and it was back when the supplemental essay was still, “Tell us a funny story about something that happened in high school.”
She wrote about something so silly and nerdy that I could not stop laughing. 
But hey, she got in. I think the following year they changed the essay to, “Tell us about an influential book you read” – or some such.
Yeah, maybe they were getting AI-generated junk, and it just wasn’t worth it. Alas.
Agree- in some cases the absence of the specific supplemental essay is IMO a loss. Several years back I was working with a student who wrote an absolute killer essay for GT. It spoke to GT’s core values, it very directly aligned with the school’s mission statement, their personal goals that perfectly fit their planned major at GT, how their personal life experiences led to this planned pursuit, etc. It was clever, fascinating and well written. Whether that essay helped that student get their admission into GT will never know, but in this OP’s case that opportunity is no longer there, other than through the CA personal essay.
You really need more schools on your overall list.
Not because you won’t get into one (or more of the ones on your current list) but because;
And the 40k/yr COA budget doesn’t line up great with all your schools on ‘list price’.
You may find quite a bit of variance between list price/ COA versus what you are actually offered on admission. Having more strong options improves you’re chances that not only do you have more schools to choose from (admitted) but that you may have a strong program or two which makes a significantly better offer.
FAFSA isn’t really something to hang your economics on applying - lots of schools report high % of students receiving financial aid. These can include students receiving Federal Loans on full pay bills. You really want to look for the % of students receiving grant / scholarship aid. The ‘average’ amount of that grant or aid may not be all that helpful though.
Also, for the schools you are interested in - take a look at their CDS (Common Data Sets) and browse over Section C7 (I think) which tells you things like if class rank is Very Important to Not considered etc. This may help you evaluate your resume individually.
You sound like a fabulous candidate. I do think it’s important to be very comfortable with your sure things - are you excited to go to USF? If so, great, you don’t need a ton of schools if you love your sure thing and can afford it.
Have you spent time on the FIRST scholarship page? I don’t think applications are open yet, but you can start looking at what is offered. WPI and Northeastern both offer full tuition scholarship for FIRST participants (competitive of course). Georgia Tech has a scholarship, but last year it was just $5K and non-renewable. They change a lot, University of Rochester used to have a huge scholarship, but I think it maxes out at $8K a year now.
If the NPC for MIT works, other private, “expensive” schools may also work with financial aid, but they will also be competitive.
Best of luck to you!
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I thought full Bright Futures also covered Florida public university room and board costs (why the university is often in the position of giving students checks and students come out ahead)?
Florida Student Scholarship & Grant Programs
No. Bright Futures covers only tuition & applicable fees: 100% for Academic Scholars & 75% for Merit Scholars. The applicable fees for both FAS and FMS recipients include the activity and service fee, health fee, athletic fee, financial aid fee, capital improvement fee, campus access/transportation fee, technology fee, and tuition differential fee. Room & board is not included.
Students do not receive any funds directly from the FL Department of Education; funds are disbursed by the postsecondary institution after the end of the drop/add period each term.
Huh. Maybe it was people who had Florida prepaid + Bright futures? My kid is OOS there with grandparent waiver, which is amazing on its own bc FL in-state tuition/costs are more affordable than other places, but I swear there are FL friends who have everything covered by way of various FL initiatives. I tried to Google, and that was the suggestion that came up – that FL prepaid can “free up” Bright Futures for room and board? Or maybe the friends had other scholarships that “freed up” Bright Futures money for other costs?
Sorry..I know this is off-topic of chancing for GT… so to the poster, good luck – from my experience with 2 kids and their friends applying around, and knowing many people from FL (born and raised there, still have family there), I think you are a great candidate, that if you like USF, you will get in there, so that is fine for a safety. My kid is not an engineer but two of his UF housemates are, and both seem to have strong professional options (and FWIW, both are OOS finding work options with a UF degree OOS). The UF admitted student profile for this year took another jump up; from a Board of Trustees meeting earlier this month, 1430-1520 was the admitted students’ 25-75% SAT range; 1410-1500 was the enrolled students’ 25-75% SAT range (with all students having to submit a score). It’s been a very good fit for my kid, but it is his vibe – the big, the sports, good social outlets. Again, good luck to you!
Bright Futures is accepted by private schools in Florida, but it is at a set amount which is about what tuition is at an instate school (so $8000 or $9000?). U of Miami is an exception, and they give a much bigger amount as a BF allowance. BF can only be used as tuition at some schools but that usually isn’t a problem since private school tuition is higher. Only problem would be if you got a full tuition scholarship from that school or from a private fund, as then BF can’t be used for room and board or fees.
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Yes they say they do, as is written here: " Major Selection in the Application Process | Undergraduate Admission. "
“When you apply to Georgia Tech as a first-year applicant, you do not apply to a specific major or college. However, on your Common Application, you are asked to select an intended (primary) major and may select an additional major of interest (secondary). We ask you to do this because consideration of your major is an important part of our application review process, as we seek to ensure an academically diverse first-year class. In our review of your application, we look for evidence of your interest in and preparation for the major/college that you list on your application”
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Good list and very solid applicant. I would reverse GT and U-M. And if there is an even lower category for MIT, that is where I would place it.
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Welcome back
That’s definitely motivational. I just get concerned when there are ISEF winners or people that coded apps that has 1k+ downloads. I just hope that I am able to show my passion for urban design through my personal statement. Also, is it true that it looks worse if you have no cohesion in your ECs even if they are each individually impressive (ie coding a web app while doing medical research where they have no connection)?
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Thank you! I will definitely look at FIRST scholarships. However this will be our first year competing as the first year was dedicated to setting up the club.