Ok, I will do that. Isn’t it better to do graduate regardless though?
Depends. CE can lead to both hardware and software jobs. People going to software skip grad school usually. If you are interested in grad school regardless, then it is does not matter.
Demographics
- US permanent resident
- State/Location of residency: New Jersey
- Type of high school: Public magnet high school
- Other special factors: N/A
- Budget: Estimate of 70k, exceptions for top private schools on this list (Ex: Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, UIUC, etc.)
Intended Major(s): Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering (depending on which of these two is more hardware based at each of these schools)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores:
- Unweighted HS GPA: 3.83
- Weighted HS GPA: N/A
- Class Rank: N/A
- SAT Score: 1520 (1540 superscore, 770 math, 770 english)
List your HS coursework
(Most of the honor courses have also been dual enrolled at Bergen Community College)
- English: Honors English 1 and 2, AP Language and Composition (4)
- Math: Honors Math Analysis 1 and 2, Honors Geometry, AP Calculus AB (5), AP Calculus BC (5)
- Science: Honors Physics and Chemistry and Biology, AP Physics 2 (4), AP Physics E&M (4)
- History and social studies: Honors US History 1, AP Human Geography (5)
- Language other than English: Honors French 1 and 2
- Dual Enrolling courses in upcoming senior year, which as NJIT’s Waves and Modern Physics, Syracuse University WRT 105, and Syracuse University MAT 397
Awards
- AP scholar (2023)
- Ap scholar with distinction (2024)
- National Honors Society
- NSDA Certificate of Membership (2023)
- National Forensic League Degree of Honor (2023)
- AI Certification completion
- AI ambassador leadership program
Extracurriculars
- Planning to publish an AI research paper in some high school journals (paper already written, undergoing submission processes at journals like JSR [Journal of Student Research])
- Did AI ambassador program learning about new developments in industry from professionals working at Meta, OpenAI, etc.
- Basic AI/ML certification with group project (3 people) developing a model to detect pneumonia using chest x-rays
- Research Intern at Stevens Institute of Technology ECE Lab (ongoing)
- Paid Internship at a company developing an AI study tool for SAT/ACT testing for 5 months (2023)
- Volunteer Coach assistant at a competitive Debate Club/Competed in debate club tournaments for 6 years as well
- Volunteer Math Tutor at non-profit organization for underprivileged kids
- Conducted multiple free public speaking workshops for young children in my town to develop their skills and help them get over stage fright.
- Top 12th semifinalist at national level in StellarXplorers competition (2023-2024)
- Platinum level in States Cyberpatriots competition (2021-2022)
- Part of tech-side development team at health-tech startup (ongoing)
- Working on Altium Designer certification (should be finished in a month)
- Mobile App development class (developing my own app for android using react native)
- Java coding class? (been using/learning Java for almost 2 years)
- Presented about importance of civics education as student representation on invitation from town education department at montclair state uni
Essays/LORs/Other
- AP Calc AB teacher: knows me really well, have a good relationship with her, confident that I will get a good letter
- AP Lang teacher: same as the Calc teacher, confident I will get a good letter
- Engineering academy teacher (major-based HS): also has a good relationship with me, will provide examples of my leadership from group projects we have done in class.
- School counselor
- Letter from health-tech startup admin?
- Letter from my research paper mentor? (undecided)
- Letter from stevens professor? (undecided)
Schools
(Will EA every college that has an EA option)
- Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): Rutgers New Brunswick, NJIT
- Extremely Likely: Virginia Tech, ASU-Tempe, SUNY Binghampton, UPitt, Rochester
- Likely: Purdue University, University of Maryland College Park, Stevens Institute of Technology, UMass Amherst, UNC Chapel Hill
- Toss-up: NYU
- Lower Probability: Carnegie Mellon, UIUC, Cornell
- Low Probability: Georgia Tech
Please put your updated college list on this thread.
Here is the response I was typing to that one when it was closed:
Most colleges want only two LORs. One from a STEM teacher you have had and one from a humanities teacher you have had. Some schools will allow a supplemental LOR, and others simply wont read them or allow them.
So…your LOR list is way too long.
The first two are all you need. Your counselor will do something as part of their counselor stuff.
The rest…you might not be able to use…at.all.
I think UNC should be moved to the low probability category. You are OOS, and they have a hard limit on the number of OOS students they accept. It’s low probability .
If you plan to apply to UMass and UMD-CP absolutely do so in the early round. Otherwise, those are low probability as well.
New post merged by moderator
I think your tiers look pretty realistic! Good list!
1 Like
You are a strong candidate, but I think you’ve overestimated your chances for admission. Even if your academic stats place you at the 75th percentile or above at a school, that doesn’t make it a “likely” admit for you if it only accepts about 10% of its applicants.
Assured means that there are some set criteria for admission and that if you meet those criteria, you are guaranteed admission. Do any of the New Jersey publics do that?
Below are my guesses as to what your chances for admission might be at the schools on your list.
Assured
- Arizona State (if @ucbalumnus confirms)
Extremely Likely (80-99%)
- NJIT
Likely (60-79%)
- Rutgers New Brunswick (suspect that engineering is a more challenging admit which is why I placed this one here, but @DadOfJerseyGirl may weigh in)
- Binghamton
- UPitt
- UMass (I think CS would be a toss-up, but for engineering my guess is here, but others may weight in as well)
Toss-Up
- Stevens
- U. of Rochester
- U. of Maryland
- Virginia Tech
Lower Probability
- Purdue
Low Probability
- Carnegie Mellon
- Georgia Tech
- NYU
- UIUC
- UNC-Chapel HIll
4 Likes
For Arizona State University, see https://admission.asu.edu/apply/first-year/admission for general frosh admission requirements.
Then look up the major at https://degrees.asu.edu/ to see if it has any additional requirements.
2 Likes
Fwiw, when we visited UNC Chapel Hill last spring, the admissions counselor noted that they admitted only 6% of out of state applicants. I’ve got to assume that number includes recruited athletes which makes Carolina an even harder admit, regardless of qualification.
I agree it’s a likely for OP.
I’d also consider Purdue a “toss-up” if applying EA, and UIUC “lower probability” instead of “low probability”.
1 Like
thanks for giving me a more realistic ranking!
1 Like
Yes, I believe I meet all the requirements for ASU so assured is a good ranking.
1 Like
Also, I believe I was mistaken about UNC- Chapel Hill. Their website says they do not have an engineering major and reddit says that NCSU is the engineering school. Is this true? @AustenNut
1 Like
UNC CH does not have your majors, although it has CS. In NC, you can find your majors at NCSU, NC A&T, and UNC Charlotte.
1 Like
You can apply to ASU and hear back in 1-2 weeks as they are rolling. I believe they do not need essays (unless applying to honors college, which can be done later) or recs.
Except for biomedical engineering, UNC-Chapel Hill is not a school for engineering. @ucbalumnus has provided other NC options that are.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.