College List

YeloPen · October 9, 2009, 8:14pm

Hi all,

I’m from San Diego, currently a senior, and I’m trying to finalize a college list. The major I’m currently considering is chemical engineering with a second major or minor in music performance. The colleges I’ve chosen so far are as follows:

Harvard, Yale (early), Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCI

For Columbia, I think I might not apply to the engineering school because I don’t have a math teacher I feel comfortable getting a recommendation from; I believe Princeton’s requires a math OR science teacher, which I can fulfill. For Penn, I’m applying to Wharton in the case that I might become interested in business. For Northwestern, I’m applying to the 5-year engineering and music program.

Now, I’m just wondering whether there are any other schools I should consider that are particularly strong in both areas I wish to pursue. If there are schools I’ve listed not worth applying to, if you could let me know also that’d be great.

I know it’s hard for people to determine, but I also want to know where you all think I have a shot at getting in. Some people say that I can get in anywhere I want but I know people at my school who get rejected with records better than mine. I also go to an incredibly competitive high school (Torrey Pines High School, for those of you know might recognize the name). I’ll try to make things as general as possible…so here goes.

SAT I - 800 Math 800 Writing 780 Reading
SAT II - 740 Math II, 800 Math II, 800 Chemistry, 800 Chinese, taking US History tomorrow!
AP - 5s on all (9 total)

GPA - 3.98 unweighted, 4.41 weighted (total); 3.96 unweighted, 4.71 weighted (10-12); I got one B in second semester in AP English Language.

Piano - 11 years
Clarinet - 7 years; various regional competition awards, don’t want to list them but there’s about 5 as of now; played at Copley Symphony Hall for winning one
Guitar - 1 year (just for fun!)
San Diego Youth Symphony
JV Volleyball co-captain
~250 hours of community service (~200 of which are from Scripps Memorial Hospital)
~100 hours of internship at a private biology company
I was on Academic Team, Speech & Debate, and Science Olympiad but only for one year each.
I also had a very brief summer job TA’ing for a summer school

National Honor Society
National Merit Semi-Finalist
Qualified for National Chemistry Olympiad screening (but couldn’t take the test because I wasn’t a citizen at the time)
Completed Certificate of Merit for both piano and clarinet; competition awards mentioned above

That’s the gist of it I think, hopefully I didn’t leave anything out. I’m also submitting an art supplement to pretty much every school I’m applying to because I started on competitions a little late (I’ve only done like 6 or so, but I placed in 5).

Sorry if I’m getting long-winded, but I would greatly appreciate any info you guys can give me. Thanks!

schrizto · October 9, 2009, 8:27pm

You’re from San Diego, so you must have considered Caltech at some point. I guess they’re not strong in music, however, but they’re such suckers for high test scores.

I’m not that familiar with the strongest music departments, but I think of Carnegie Mellon, UChicago, Duke, and Rice when I look at your stats.

OHKID · October 9, 2009, 8:51pm

Case Western and U Rochester fit you perfectly. Take some time and give both a look-see via internet or guidebooks.

schrizto · October 9, 2009, 8:53pm

Ah, I’d forgotten about University of Rochester! Great music school and good academics. The OP’d get in for sure likely with scholarships. I am not sure about the strength of Rochester’s engineering programs though.

rjkofnovi · October 9, 2009, 9:45pm

Michigan is strong in both areas.

YeloPen · October 10, 2009, 2:25pm

I visited Caltech and I have considered it, but it seems like I wouldn’t fit in there, if you know what I mean. I don’t mean to stereotype people at the school, but I’m not an all-out science/math kind of person.

I’m considering Duke, but I’d have to get another teacher to write me a recommendation because one of mine is from a sophomore teacher. I also considered Rice, but they have a separate music school like Northwestern, except I think it’s more competitive and the audition requirements don’t exactly match the material I’m already preparing for the supplement like Northwestern’s does. What does UChicago excel in? And isn’t Carnegie Mellon a good school for people who want to do CS?

Looking at my list I see all the Ivies plus MIT as reach, NW, Berkeley, and LA as match, and SD and I as safety. Does that sound about right? Or do you think I have a reasonable shot at Dartmouth / Penn?

Thanks for the other suggestions guys, I’ll look into them. Hopefully other people have ideas too!

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