Chance me or Match me: EE/ECE [TX resident, top 1% rank, 98.7 GPA, 1560 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State/Location of residency: Texas
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public
  • Other special factors: none

Intended Major(s)
Electrical Engineering/Electrical and Computer Engineering (where it is offered) - want to focus on Robotics wherever I end up going but don’t want to apply Robotics major.
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 98.70/100 (based on my school system)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 106.2 (Weighting is as follows: +10 points for AP classes, +5 points for Honors classes, so 95 in an AP classes is counted as 105 for gpa calc)
  • Class Rank: Top 1%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1560 single score (770RW, 790M), 1570 Super score (770RW, 800M)

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: English 1 Honors(9), English 2 grade level(10), AP Lang(11), AP Lit(12)

  • Math: Precalculus Honors (before AP was created) (9), AP Calculus BC (10), AP Statistics (10), Multivariable Calculus(11), Linear Algebra(11), Statistics 2 (post AP class offered at school) (12) - No more math offered at school

  • Science: Biology Honors (9), Chemistry Honors (10), AP Chemistry (11), AP Physics 1&2 (11), AP Psychology (11), AP Physics C Mech & EM (12)

  • History and social studies: AP Human Geography (9), World History Regular (Self studied before 10th), AP U.S. History (11), AP government (12), AP Microeconomics (12)

  • Language other than English: Spanish 1 (8), Spanish 2 (Self Studied before 10th), Spanish 3 (12)

  • Visual or performing arts: AP Art History (9)

  • Other academic courses: APCSA (9), APCSP (10), CS 2 Advanced (10), CS 3 (11), CS 4 (12).

  • AP Scores

    • 5 on Human Geo, Art History, CSA, Calculus BC (and AB subscore), Statistics
    • Pending (prediction): Physics 1 (5), Physics 2 (4 or 5), U.S. History (4 or 5), Chemistry (5), Lang (5)
    • Did not take CSP or Psychology

Awards
YSEA award - for personal project (11)
Tuition Scholarship award - for personal project(11)
Top 25 in International Data Science Competition (10)
NMSF - almost guaranteed (11)
AP Scholar with Distinction (10)

Extracurriculars

  • High level personal project that won me 2 awards and the research position described below
  • Currently working with professor at T10 university for Engineering: working on developing a drone that can follow a moving object in GPS denied environments using reinforcement learning
  • Internship at local energy company (10)
  • CS Club officer (12)
  • Student leader of team in international data science comp - semi-finalist, 25/400+ teams (10, 11)
  • Robotics team (potential lead, not sure yet) (12)
  • Volunteering at community library (9-12)
  • ECNL soccer player - played nearly every minute of the season (9)
  • JV soccer team captain (10)
  • NHS (10, 11, 12)
  • Math club (9-12)

Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: idk, I am terrible at judging my own writing

  • LORs
    • Professor I am working under now - 10/10
    • AP Lang Teacher - 9/10
    • AP Calc BC/Multi/Linear Alg Teacher - 5/10: completely unsure about this one, could be good, but also could be bad
    • Computer Science Teacher - 7/10: known him for a long time

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): Texas A&M, UTD
  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely: UT Austin (EA)
  • Toss-up: Purdue (RD), University of Washington (RD)
  • Lower Probability: Georgia Tech (EAII), UIUC (RD), UMich (EA), UCLA (RD)
  • Low Probability: MIT (EA), UC Berkeley (RD), Stanford (RD), CMU (RD), Princeton (RD), Cornell (RD)

Open to any matches

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I don’t’ see any budget listed. What can our family afford.

Obviously, you’ll do very well.

UT is assured but let’s say a target for your major.

I think taht Purdue is likely as is UW. If it was CS, UW wouldn’t be but engineering has a 42% OOS acceptance rate.

I agree with the rest but I’m guessing you’ll get into a couple lower and low probability schools.

Your budget will determine others - and you have “matches” already - but keeping in the big schools - UMD, UF, Wisconsin. Some that are strong but easier admits include UMN, Pitt, Arizona State, etc.

As for private reaches, Rice would be a good one while RPI would be a likely. WPI would be a safety as would Syracuse and U Denver.

In the end, you need a budget - it’s not just what your family can afford but what do they want to afford. You can go as low as $20K if money was an issue. You need to know that before picking any schools.

Good luck.

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I think you’ll do very well admissions wise, but you should apply EA to both Purdue and UIUC. They are both public schools so there are no restrictions in doing so and they are both competitive for your major(s). There might not be room if you wait until RD.

Agree that the budget needs to be figured out before you start applying.

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These will all be reaches in RD. Apply EA!

As @tsbna44 mentioned, we can’t provide you guidance without knowing your budget.

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I don’t think University of Washington has early action. But I agree on the rest.

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Oops sorry. I included that by mistake when quoting from OP. Thanks for pointing out.

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I know you don’t want to do a Robotics major, but I wonder if you have looked at WPI. Very good engineering school generally, features a hands-on learning philosophy, and big in Robotics including ties to related companies. And in addition to their Robotics major they have a Robotics minor that can be combined with other relevant types of engineering, including ECE:

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Agree with others that applying EA where possible can improve likelihood of admission.

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I didn’t include a budget as it is kind of a secondary priority. Obviously I want to keep costs as low as possible but not at the expense of a better college.
Please don’t take this the wrong way but I don’t see a point in applying to the schools you mentioned like UMD, UF, Wisconsin, UMN, Pitt, ASU, because they are not significantly better than Texas A&M but cost significantly more.
As for Rice, I did consider it but decided against it as I don’t believe their engineering program is significantly better than UT’s and I wanted to limit the schools in that bracket (roughly equal to UT but much more expensive) and I preferred schools like U wash, Cornell, etc.

I might be wrong but I have always seen my list split into 4 tiers in terms of “quality” (considering engineering program specifically, but also adding some value due to brand)
The lowest tier: Texas A&M, UTD, Purdue
Second: UT Austin, U wash, Cornell, UCLA, UIUC
Third: Georgia Tech, UMich, Princeton
Top tier: MIT, UC Berkeley, Stanford, CMU

I usually use this split to consider my own personal ranking. For example, Out of the bottom 2 tiers, UT Austin trumps everything as it is the best mix of low cost and quality but every school in the second tier beats every school in the lowest tier regardless of cost. Similarly, if I get into any of the Third/Top tier colleges, I would likely choose them over UT, despite the higher cost.

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The reason I put UIUC and Purdue as RD was because I don’t want to be rushed on the other EAs as they are the ones I desperately want (GT, UMich, MIT). I created a calendar with deadlines for myself and the early months are already packed with Texas A&M, UT, GT, Umich, and MIT, with UCs not too far after as well. I didn’t want to cram in 2 more colleges that are lower in my preference anyway

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I did consider WPI but ultimately decided against including it as I don’t think it is significantly better than Texas A&M which will be much, much cheaper

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Many publics have much more limited space by the RD round (especially in popular majors). It benefits you to apply in the early round.

On the other hand, for MIT I’m not sure there’s a benefit to applying early. Early vs Regular | MIT Admissions

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But money for most families is finite. It may not be your top priority, but your family has a certain amount of money they can afford to spend on college, so your list needs to take that limit into consideration, even if you are willing to pay more for a college you feel is a better fit for your goals. Would spending close to $100,000/year be both possible and comfortable for your parents? If so, fantastic: any college in the US would be in the realm of financial possibility for you. If not, that needs to be a consideration when developing your list.

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Yea I don’t want to say I don’t have a budget but I would be able to afford MIT, CMU, Princeton without needing financial aid, but at the same time, If I get both Georgia Tech and UMich, I would likely choose Georgia Tech as the tuition is significantly lower. And like I said in a different reply, I don’t see a point in applying to schools like WPI as I would choose Texas A&M instead because of the lower cost and the relatively similar engineering program levels

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Better talk to your parents about the price limit (and use colleges’ net price calculators as needed), since you do not want to find out next April that all of your admissions are too expensive.

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Budget is always A, B, and C.

If you have unlimited funds, then it’s not. If you have a target cost or your parents can only afford X or are only willing to afford Y regardless of how much money they have, then it is that #.

Stating that I would not look at UMD, UF, Wisconsin, UMN, Pitt, and ASU because you don’t see than as better than A&M and they come at a higher cost is perfectly reasonable. You said open to any matches - and the first three were while the last three were strong safeties.

But nothing wrong with your logic on A&M - an excellent school in its own right.

As for Rice, what if you don’t get into UT for engineering? You need a back up. Plus, they are different - one is uber urban and huge and the other is in an urban area (not downtown) and not huge - so in this case, there’s also fit - which fits you more? Plus, Rice has the residential college system, which is very different.

I do think you’re wrong on quality - because I think every school listed - those you and I listed - are all excellent. You will find engineering is a major loaded with smart kids - or they banish. And while we actually don’t know quality (you are looking at ranking, I believe), all these schools will do very well. Short of a few schools, most engineers will make similar - and it will be based on location, not on where you went to school. Surely, the MITs of the world are the exception to this.

At A&M, you run the risk of getting into engineering - but not your major - secondary admissions.

So these are the kind of things to think about.

The other thing again - is budget - can you afford MIT, Stanford, Princeton if you were to get in - or would you be forced to take a strangling level of loans that would be near impossible for you to get out of.

Some food for thought.

Good luck.

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If not interested, don’t apply. If you’re not going to hit the EA deadline, find others where you won’t be penalized for applying later.

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WPI has 7 week terms…it’s a smaller school, etc.

A&M is enormous - in population and area.

I think you are missing fit here - what do you want in a school - beyond “prestige”.

You will be somewhere four years, day after day. You want to be happy and comfortable where you are.

You’re likely to get the same level of job out of most schools you mentioned.

For example, my son is a MechE in a program with 150…probably half MechEs. They run the gamut from UWash and U Mich to Purdue to Akron, SUNY Buff and W MIchigan. All have similar roles - and all make the same - paid on location. My son (Alabama) was at trivia night in Utah and met a Columbia grad from another company - and my son was astonished he made more - not sure why they discussed salaries but…

If that’s the case on A&M/value, you really don’t need to apply to schools like Purdue at all - which is another like A&M - where you don’t necessarily get the major you want because after the first year, everyone chooses and you have to meet the criteria/rank of those seeking spots in the major - and be one of the lucky to get that specific major.

The point - find the right school for you - not just A&M is better. A&M is different vs. better. Yes, it’ll have better value than any school except ones that pay you to go - like Alabama, where your cost would be $20K-ish a year all in with automerit. Of course, that won’t meet your prestige threshold - but the point being I think you need to refocus on your day to day needs vs. a ranking made for parents and kids and for a publication to make money.

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That makes sense. Thanks!

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But note that Purdue’s secondary admission to engineering majors auto-admits with a 3.2 college GPA, while Texas A&M’s secondary admission to engineering majors has a 3.75 college GPA for auto-admit.

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