I’m a rising senior from a good public school down here in Mississippi. We have around 400 students and the school is pretty competitive. I’m looking to apply for Early Decision at Rice as it is my first choice. Other than that I will apply to Cornell, Columbia, Notre Dame, Duke, and Carnegie Mellon. I am planning to study mechanical engineering as my interests lie in math and science. A concern I have is applying to the engineering school when I have talents and awards in writing that highlight my application. With these credentials, what are my chances of admission?
-Class Rank: 7/400
- GPA: 4.5 weighted / 4.0 unweighted
- PSAT Score: 234 - (just took sat and will definitely qualify for national merit finalist)
- Act - 33
- National Honor Society
- Mu Alpha Theta (math honor society)
- First Place Winner of 2015 Jackson Essay Contest (won $800 - statewide/was a big deal)
- 2015 Mississippi Scholastic Press Association 3rd Place Winner in the Newspaper Reviews Carry-in Category
- 2015 Sewanee Award for Excellence in Writing
- Spanish Honor Society (hispanic background)
- 2015 & 2014 National Spanish Exam medal winner
- Junior award for best male writer
- English departmental award
Current School Activities
-Co-Editor, newspaper (formerly, Reviews Editor and Staff Writer)
- independent science research study program - Mississippi State University - 2 years - plan to have work published by end of summer which would be huge because the software we are developing is new and my employer has not been published yet
- Key Club
- officer of rock climbing club
- published in school literary magazine multiple times and years
- I write book reviews for local coffee shop website
- organized charity soccer event for key club
Employment History
-worked as camp counselor 30 hours a week for 2 summers for autistic children
Volunteer Work
- Habitat for Humanity (75+ hours)
- Relay for Life (2013-5 Team Captain)
-Mercedes Marathon - Random key club volunteer stuff - over 200 hours