Disgruntled applicant wants to be gruntled for ED2 [NJ resident for chem, 97.1 GPA, 1570 SAT, need FA]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • Status: US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: New Jersey
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.) First Gen

Cost Constraints / Budget
Submitted CSS with a $86k income, low assets, am applying for financial aid

Intended Major(s) Chemistry :grinning:

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 97.1
  • Weighted HS GPA: Not done for my school
  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
  • Class Rank: 31/~450
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1570 (800M, 770 EBRW)

List your HS coursework

Mostly APs and honors throughout, DE Orgo Chem and Multivariable Calculus at city college

Chemistry (5), Statistics (5), World History (5), United States History (5), Spanish Language & Culture (4), English Language & Composition (5), Calculus BC (5), Physics 1 (5),

Senior Year: AP English Literature & Composition, AP Physics C, AP US Gov and Politics, AP CSA, AP Enviro Science

Awards
US National Chemistry Olympiad National Exam Honors (Top 150); Nat. Finalist this year and last year
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Championship Qualification - top 10%
WUCT Open Tournament Bronze Tier Honors
Science Olympiad Medals (various, for state & local)
National Merit Semifinalist, National First-Generation Recognition Program for Outstanding Academics
(PVSA Gold went to Add. Info)

Extracurriculars

Shortened for brevity

Research Assistant at Princeton University on bioorthogonal chem, published in a good journal as 2nd author
USNCO & Chemistry Olympiad: create ~10 sets of mock exams for ~10,000 international people; personally tutor ~50 intl students; promote org’s events
Robotics Team Manager / Social Media Manager for school’s team
Science Olympiad EM for chem lab
Elected Home Room Senator – Student Senate
Judo Black Belt Holder and instructor
Food Server and waiter (pretty significant, 10hr/week, 52 weeks a year)
Food Bank Volunteer and school volunteer tutor
First Chair Alto Saxophone – Church Orchestra
Internship for immigration law
Essays/LORs/Other
I got my LoRs from (1) BC Teacher and (2) AP Lang Teacher. Both I have a strong connection with and was the best in the class, but idk how much my AP lang teacher wrote (shes very old :grimacing: :grimacing: and idk if she remembers me that well). I also have a LoR from (3) the professor who I did research with at Princeton and it’s very good.

My other essays were about average. Personal statement was unique but I feel like my writing is not great, and supplementals are also okay, as I showed a couple of my friends and they thought they were good but not spectacular.

Schools
ED1: Columbia SEAS (Chemical Engineering) - Deferred
EDII: Hopkins at Krieger
RD:
Rutgers
Pitt
Harvard
Northeastern
Princeton
Dartmouth
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Yale
Cornell
UVM
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU)
Northwestern
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Notre Dame
Brown
University of Pennsylvania (Penn)
Stanford
New York University (NYU)
Duke

2

Are all of them affordable based on their net price calculators?

3

Yes
 Highest NPC I saw was for Yale @ 20k. But most of them are somewhere around 10k with student contribution. OK with taking loans or getting parental assistance at that point.

4

Even UVM ?

Why are you disgruntled? You clearly have acceptances here.

I’m surprised a Pitt or UVM would be under $20k but if you say so. With your stats, there are under $20k options at others for sure.

Do you prefer Columbia ? If you do, you take a chance applying ED at Hopkins.

Btw if you want ChemE, you might run the NPC for Delaware and Minnesota. Likely better choices.

The top ranked overall aren’t necessarily the top for ChemE and you’ll find it to be a major, if you want to work as an engineer, the where won’t necessarily matter. If you want consulting, etc that will be different.

My son met a Columbia grad at another organization at trivia night in Ogden Utah and said he made more. Why they talked about that I don’t know. But Alabama was out earning Columbia.

So if you end up at Rutgers instead of Hopkins, don’t fret.

So you’ll be fine.

Best of luck.

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You’re a strong student. Congratulations on your achievements.

You probably know this already, but your entire list is very reachy except for Rutgers and UPitt. Is there a reason you didn’t apply EA to Rutgers? That would likely have come with some merit money.

6

Thanks a lot for your response.

I didn’t run the NPC for either Pitt or UVM because I would be satisfied at Rutgers for 5k/year, but I had to put some other safeties on my list, because I thought it would have been foolish to lock in a list with only one safety. Admittedly, some of classmates are also applying to these schools, which is why I applied, but there definitely were better choices for safeties with less cost. But I don’t think I’ll have trouble getting into Rutgers.

I haven’t decided that I definitely want to be a chemical engineer in the future, which is why I applied as a general chemistry major at Hopkins. But I am passionate about the science, which is why I want to pursue something in it within academia or industry as a researcher or something like that. That’s also why I think going to a better-ranked school is better for me, personally, giving me more opportunities in the future.

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To be honest, I should have EAed Rutgers, but I was a bit busy with EA applications to Chicago and MIT and was deferred from both also. But even without merit aid, need-based aid covers almost everything in my case.

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8

If I can be honest and $20k were your goal, then you should have ensured sub $20k schools - with your stats and this list isn’t complete but Alabama, Ms State, UAH and more.

When a budget is involved, you have to make trade offs.

If for some reason Rutgers doesn’t come through and nowhere else does, you can still make it happen I believe.

But applying anywhere unlikely to make your target is silly - because an unaffordable admit is a rejection. Edit - reading your full note yiu acknowledged this. Thx !!

Best of luck. You’ve got a great background so I hope good things happen.

Ps better ranked doesn’t necessarily equal better outcomes. It may but not always.

Good luck.

9

How do you get to $5k at Rutgers? NPC at $86k income isn’t close to that. Do you qualify for some special programs?

I agree that Pitt and UVM are unlikely to get anywhere near $20K

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Hi, I would be a commuter at Rutgers. Since housing won’t be a cost factor, with the Scarlet Guarantee I would be looking at somewhere around 5,000 per year.

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If you can afford $20k a year, do you want to love at home ? If it’s $5k a year, it might be $20k with a dorm. And other schools will be less than $20k.

If you can’t afford I get it - but living at home isn’t the ‘college’ experience.

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It is probably the college experience for a large percentage of college students.

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My point is if they’re talking about other schools and a $20k expense is ok that they have places they can experience that as a resident.

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I’m not too fussed about it, even if it does come to pass. There’s always the option of moving to on-campus residency after my freshman year, but I’ll have to see how enjoyable the experience of living at home will be. My biggest concern with that is that it may be hard to participate in clubs, school events, and getting to know more people, but I’m hoping I get accepted to one of my reaches so that I can be away from home (and New Jersey, even though I love this state) for a formative time in college

15

I agree - especially with your major which is a brutal major.

But hope is not a plan.

You should start thinking about where would be affordable

It’s just one school but for example at Alabama, you’d get $30.5k off based on stats. So you’d be $3400 tuition. Under $20k overall. It’s why 2k kids from the Tri state area are there abd so many high stat kids - getting bought.

There are other examples.

You should research and be ready.

Here’s the other thing - you can’t always trust the NPCs. Many report the actual comes in higher.

I wish you luck but yeah I think you benefit from being on campus - especially in the major.

How long would your commute be ??

16

ChemE and Chemistry are very different majors – more so than almost everyone realizes. Tell us more about your feelings on one major vs the other, and the kind of careers you think you might like.

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FWIW I know students who had good college experiences as commuters. The trick is to not just go to class and leave campus – these students got involved in ECs, studied at the library on campus, got a commuter meal plan so they could eat with friends who dormed, etc. It may not be ideal, but with effort, it can work just fine.

Hope you end up with affordable options where you can dorm – but if commuting is the best option I’d encourage you to make the most of that experience.

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I note there are a variety of private colleges which are excellent for Chemistry, and which might get on budget for you with need or need+attainable merit, and that are far less Reachy than the ones on your list. If you just prefer to commute to Rutgers, that of course is fine, but it might be nice to have alternatives to consider if you don’t get into a Reach (as many people do not).

Of course a lot of those colleges had past application deadlines, and in fact some are today. But others are still coming up, and if you liked we could help you find some like that. Let us know.

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Rutgers is a terrific school with strong academics, so it sets a very high bar as a Likely/Safety.

That said, having a 2nd Likely/Safety is never a bad idea. Since you are National Merit, you may be interested in the following thread which describes the schools that give big merit (up to a full ride) for NMSFs/NMFs. Maybe throw in an app to one of these?
Big merit NMF/NMSF schools and their specialties

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20

Lots of good advice here. And congrats on an amazing HS CV.

Getting back to your original question, which seemed to be a chance me for your ED2, the reality is that with these top mid-to-low-single-digit acceptance schools, no matter what your stats and accomplishments, it’s a lottery. Your accomplishments buy you more tickets in that lottery than most applicants but short of a major “hook” no one can feel confident they will get in and none of us can forecast it. Not getting in doesn’t mean all the applicants were stronger, just that they had something specific the AOs were looking for.

That said, my guess is among all your applications you will have of great options when the dust all settles by April at the latest. Good luck.

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