Large, competitive public high school (2000+ students, ~1400 average SAT)
International background (attended middle school in China)
Extenuating circumstance: 2-year academic gap due to family crisis, where my older brother in the US was diagnosed with malignant brain tumor and I was depressed after my mother went to the US to take care of him (parents divorced, left me in Shanghai and a family friend to take care of me).
Moved and resumed school here in 10th grade (technically 11th because they assigned me by age) Finishig high school in 3 years to fulfil graduation requirements. (11th, 12th, 12th again, I just view it as 10th, 11th, 12th)
Former ESL student (exited in a year)
Cost Constraints / Budget
Not a priority
Intended Major(s)
EE/ECE(Electrical and Computer Engineering) GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
3.94/4.14 UW/W(+1 for AP/Honors) All A/A+'s besides one B+ in English
No class rank.
Planning to apply for test-optional since I have little time to prepare for SAT/ACT meanwhile I need to prepare for TOEFL.
List your HS coursework
Because of ESL and graduation in 3 years, I have little chance to take more honors or APs
Honors Chem, AP CSA, AP Precalculus(required before taking AP Calc) in 11th grade
Will hopefully take in 12th grade: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Macro, College Engineering (gain college credit from Stony Brook) and an independent study in linear algebra by MIT OCW.
Skipped and self-taught algebra 2 to take AP Precalc so I can finish BC before graduation.
Awards
An award from Math & Computer Science Department
Team placed 6th in a regional math tournament.
Team qualified for FIRST Robotics World Championships.
Extracurriculars
Robotics Club (11-12), will be the electrical head(12).
Mathletes (11-12), represented for school in the regional tournament.
Coding Club (11-12).
Have several photographic works selected in school district and local art exhibitions.
Independent Electronics Projects: Built XY plotter, telescope control board, RGB matrix, and more — all designed solo from circuit, code to PCB
Barely any ECs in 10th grade because I was trying to adapt and fit in back then.
Essays
Essays in progress, possibly about how my enthusiasm in EE help me get through the challenges. I hope to make it compelling and show some resilience here if it matters.
Schools
ASU, University at Buffalo, Binghamton University, Temple University, NJIT, Clarkson University, Stony Brook University, UMass Amherst, CU Boulder, Rutgers, Penn State, Lehigh, RPI, University of Rochester, UMD, Virginia Tech, BU, all UCs, TAMU, NYU(Tandon).
I know some of them are going to be super hard but I just wanna give them a try🥲.
Let me know if there’s any other schools that suitable for me.
If ASU is Arizona State University, go to its web site to verify whether you meet the course work and GPA requirements for automatic admission to the school and your desired major.
Other engineering schools to look at in the Northeast might include Stevens Tech, City College of NY, Manhattan University, Worcester Tech, and Union College.
Despite your mentioning it in the thread title, you don’t seem to be a non-traditional student. You’re 17-18 and going to college right after high school, correct?
Must you graduate HS after three years? That is often not a positive, and can be a negative in college admissions. Simply meeting HS graduation requirements often does not mean one has the breadth and variety of courses that competitive colleges want to see. For example, at ASU, which is not all that competitive, they list the following requirements. Since you don’t meet those, you will have to go thru a separate review process:
You’ve attended HS in the US - TOEFL will be a formality. You don’t need to prepare for it, just review the format and check out what’s expected. 1-2hours prep, max.
For EE/ECE an SAT or ACT math result will be really really helpful so I’d shift to test prep the time you thought you’d dedicate to TOEFL prep. As a former ESL student you should get accommodations for the verbal part, ie., a bilingual dictionary in your native language (with the translation but no definition). Make the request now for the August test.
Your Year 10/Grade9 transcript in Shanghai would have to be provided with translation.
Were you in a Shanghai/Chinese school or preparing iGCSEs? You may want to provide transcripts from Year 9&10/Grade8&9.
At that school, did you have Chinese as a main subject/primary language? Did you take art and biology there?
Hopefully you have a 5 on AP Precalc.
Because of ESL top colleges are likely to be more lenient for foreign language, however you do need classes covering world history, US history, and 1-2 more social science subjects.
Make sure your senior year shows a balance of classes - 4 STEM classes, AP Macro, and English +? : unless AP macro is a year long class at your school, add a 1/2 credit in art or social science.
SUNY Bing, SB, Buffalo should definitely be on your list as targets (Buff is a safety) . Add RIT, Rowan for likelies. Don’t forget to apply to Honors colleges where applicable (at SUNYs it’s often by invitation only but at other universities you need to apply by the EA deadline, often Oct 15 or Nov1). I would add another safety.
U Rochester is a reach but a good one.
At Penn State, submit your AP Precalc score and don’t forget to mention it in your personal statement. Your SRAR needs to be submitted by Oct 15 and your test scores received by Nov1 for the application to be considered EA. If possible, submit a SAT/ACT score but any score (AP Precalc for instance) helps in evaluating your math readiness.
Generally I think that you have a good list. Some of the SUNY’s would be very good choices and if I understand your post you are in-state in New York (for university admissions I am pretty sure that being a permanent resident is the same as being a citizen). U.Mass is a good choice, as are VT and multiple other schools on your list.
It is not obvious to me that BU or any of the Universities of California are worth the cost (assuming that you are out of state in California). NYU might be in the same category. While these are very good universities, so are other schools that would be way less expensive and that are already on your list. Having divorced parents can also make financial aid uncertain at private universities in the US. I suppose that you can apply to multiple schools and see what offers come back (and I expect that you will get multiple acceptances from your list).
If you are graduating from a high school in the US that teaches in English, then I do not understand why you would need to take the TOEFL. Also, to a large extent attending high school in the US is preparing for TOEFL. The point is that you can speak English like any of the rest of us for whom English is our native language. The quality of your post and your high school diploma pretty much make this point.
I do not think that you need to take linear algebra in high school. Make sure that you have a list of classes that you will do well in for senior year, and be cautious about jumping ahead in math. Pretty much any good university can teach your linear algebra after you get to university.
I think that you are doing very well. Best wishes.
Arizona State University does allow testing to the proficiency level of second year high school or second semester college to fulfill its requirement, according to Course competency requirements | Admission | ASU .
You are right that I’m going to college after high school around the traditional age, but I guess a 2-year gap and 3-year graduation can somehow be considered nontraditional? Sorry for the confusion.
I’m not sure if that’s possible for me to stay another year given that I’m already one year late. Does that mean I have almost no chance to get in if I can’t meet their course requiremetns?
Yes, that’s what it means.
But you would likely have what they want from Shanghai “middle school” ie. When you were 14 + the 3 years in a NYS high school.
Freshman year/last year of middle school/Year 10/Grade9 in Shanghai “counts”, you need to have that transcript translated into American terms (*. ) and included in the documents sent to the different colleges.
(* For instance, if your transcript just indicates MATHS because “everyone knows” Year9 Maths is Geometry and Year10 Maths is Intermediate Algebra, you need a little annotation beneath the translation for the American reader.)
Sorry for not making it clearer ealier, the situation is that, I had no formal schooling for 2 years after finishing 8th grade in Shanghai, so technically I have never completed 9th grade in Shanghai, but only 3 years of high school here. I’ve been wondering if colleges can make exceptions in cases like this, especially if they understand the full context and see how did I “catch up” after the 2-year gap, or it’s something that will automatically disqualify me from being considered?
Do include your 8th grade transcript (typically you’d be doing Geometry, English as a second language 4, Biology, Physical Science, Art… Which would be HS classes in the US).
On your “brag sheet” include the fact your familly pulled you out of school for 2 years while they cared for an older sibling with cancer - then brought you to NYS where you had to adapt to the new school after 2 years “unschooled”. If you didn’t spend your whole time playing videogames, include what books you read, if you went to art exhibits, museums…
They will count the classes from middle school that would be considered HS in the US as long as the translation includes details such as the ones I described upthread (ie., “Maths” is “Geometry”…)
