<p>I don’t go to a very prestigious high school, it’s more of a relaxed atmosphere, but the AP programs offered here are great. Most of us that take two or more AP classes a year are all friends so we talk a lot about college.</p>
<p>Personally, I want to get into a really good school like Vanderbilt, Duke, or Umich. I just have a few issues with these dreams. One, I’m afraid I won’t do well in classes if I get accepted. I get all A’s in all my classes right now, but I struggle sometimes (counted I have a ton of EC’s that take up the majority of my after school life). But I’ve tried to look past the fact that my family is extremely distracting from my homework/study session in order to take a guess at how well I would do away from home. I would say half my stress would drop from my shoulders by being away from my family for school.</p>
<p>Also, to add to that, I want to major in ME. I know engineers have a ridiculous courseload, but for my entire life the one thing I always wanted to do was build and invent things. I’ve also always had a strong love for math and physics. So I don’t think the student-major connection would be too big of an issue for me. As long as I love what I’m doing, I should be okay, right?</p>
<p>Don’t worry! If you are doing well in school now despite lots of ECs and a busy home life, you’ll probably do just fine. And if even if you don’t get into your dream school, if you love math and physics, and like to build and invent things, you’ll probably not have trouble getting a job as a mechanical engineer.</p>
<p>My husband is an ME. He worked hard in college but at the same time managed to have a fun social life doing lots of things he loved, and later after he graduated has enjoyed his work as an ME.</p>
<p>I’m gonna be honest and give a perspective different from the cuddling CC will give you. I’m currently a senior at Duke.</p>
<p>There is no magic formula for the predictor of college sucess but from what I have observed, natural intelligence and rigor of high school are the two best predictors. Students who struggle are often not the brightest of my class. College is a continued accumulation of high school. The very best students that I have met came from Sidwell Friends, TJ, etc.</p>
<p>You can’t really predict your sucess in college right now. Don’t let this hinder you from applying to certain schools, but at the end of the day everything should be okay. A difference between 3.2 and 3.6 won’t kill you by the time you graduate.</p>