ECE Cornell and CMU and Match me for other schools (4.0 GPA, 1470 SAT) [TX resident, top 3% rank, <$50k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic, us citizen
  • State/Location of residency: Texas
  • Public high school, classified as rural.
  • Rising Senior

Cost Constraints / Budget
50k per year maximum

Intended Major(s): Electrical and Computer Engineering/ Electrical Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 5.17 / 6.0 (no AP freshman or sophomore, 2 ap junior, 3 ap senior, 4 college classes junior, 3 senior)
  • Class Rank: 5/ 200
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1470 SAT (750 math, 720 english)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English:2 honors, dual credit junior, AP lit senior
  • Math: Alg 1 & 2 honors, geometry honors, College Alg + trig, college precalc +calc
  • Science: Biology Honors, Chemistry Honors, AP Physics 1 (5)& 2, College Biology
  • History and social studies: W Geog and W hist Honors, College US Hist, College gov + ap macro
  • Language other than English: 3 years spanish, 3rd year is honors
  • Visual or performing arts: choir (1 year)
  • Other academic courses: AP Comp Sci A (4)

Awards

BPA National Conference and State Conference 1st place

Extracurriculars
Summer Internship at large engineering firm

Head acolyte at my church for 6 years. Taught and directed kids.

JV Track member 1 year, got first and third place in two races

Notes:

There are no other AP or college classes offered at my school except for AP Art

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Have you done the NPC at these two schools to see if they’ll be $50k because they are double no only need aid. Have your folks fill out. I put cmu On the bottom. Cornell too.

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Cornell and CMU are both very competitive for admissions. So…they are an apply and see situation. Will you be retaking the SAT?

Could you give us a little more info if you want other college suggestions? Where geographically? Rural/urban/suburban? Public/Private? Religious/ secular? Size of the college?

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Congrats on a fine record.

What level was college calc.

If I had to guess, I’d lean no to both, which are very tough admits to begin with but your test is a bit low.

So I would find schools where you can assuredly study what you want and will assuredly hit your budget.

Sure - schools like WPI and RPI would be great. But assuredly hit budget - no. But they can be added as maybe.

Not sure who offers ECE (you’d have to look) but there l’s 400+ accredited EE schools. Not sure what you seek but some names that are sure things for budget and admission, in many cases helped by auto merit based on your performance.

UAH, Bama, and Miss Stare would be less than half your budget. All fine. Others like Arkansas, LSU and more plus Kansas, K State, Miami Ohio, Missouri Science & Tech, Texas Tech, Houston and more would come in below.

Schools that may come in below but not assured beyond WPI and RPI might be Auburn, SDSU, Col School of Mines, Lafayette, Lehigh (check the NPC on the last two), UMass, UMN, Rose Hulman, SMU, Syracuse, Tulsa and Union College.

My list isn’t exhaustive and some will match CMU and Cornell better than others but to give you an idea.

Hope that helps.

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Is there some reason why you aren’t applying to any colleges in Texas?

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I would apply to both Carnegie Mellon and Cornell as “reach” options. But you need to construct a list of 8-12 schools, with at least a couple of in-state options, like a UT & perhaps Rice. Columbia University & Georgia Tech are other “reach” options to consider. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is very reputable for both computer and electrical engineering; their merit aid is extremely limited for OOS applicants, however; the overall cost may be too high. Purdue is another good reputable option to consider.

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Columbia, like Cornell, would need the NPC to see if would hit.

I don’t see a UIUC coming in at $50k. But other large state flagships like Ohio State or UMN, could but won’t assuredly so. Purdue and UF would although UFs cost are rising quickly.

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The first two things that come to my mind are “UT Austin” and “TAMU”. Both are VERY good for your intended major. I am pretty sure that there are other public universities in Texas that would also be very good choices. Rice also comes to mind as a possibility (although you would need to run the NPC to see if it is likely to be affordable).

You are competitive for Cornell and CMU. They are either reaches or high reaches. To me your SAT looks a bit low, although given your intended majors I am more concerned about the math score. Yes 750 is very good, but Cornell and CMU are very competitive for admissions and “very good” might not be quite up the expected score for these two schools. 750 math is below the 25th percentile for both.

You should run the NPCs to see whether either Cornell or CMU will meet your budget. I am assuming that your in-state public schools will.

U.Mass Amherst might be a possibility. Some merit aid might be possible. However I do not think that it is a safety, you would need significant merit aid to meet your budget, and if you were to also get into UT Austin and TAMU I do not think that I would go all the way to Massachusetts and deal with real winters just to go there.

I like your ECs. I do not think that anyone will be surprised nor bothered that you didn’t take AP Art (I wouldn’t take it either), nor will they blame your for whatever limits your high school has in terms of availability of AP classes.

I think that you are doing very well, are likely to continue to do very well, but my best guess is that for a bachelor’s degree you are more likely to continue to do very well at somewhere other than Cornell or CMU. It is probably worth an application (assuming that the NPC results are okay) but I would consider both as reaches.

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But note that UT Austin is highly competitive for engineering and CS majors. Texas A&M has secondary admission to specific engineering and CS majors, requiring a 3.75 college GPA to assure one’s top choice of major (computer engineering and computer science are popular enough that they have little space after the assured admits). The automatic admission that the OP is eligible for does not include automatic admission to the desired major.

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I would add Pitt to your list if you like CMU. Swanson is an excellent school and with your stats you could get a good aid package (though it’s somewhat unpredictable). Pitt students can take classes at CMU so you’d still be able to experience it a little.

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The OP needs to get over a 1500 imo, with a 780 math to be really competitive at Cornell or CMU. However a rural HS from Texas with only 5 (?) APs could be a big advantage in admissions. OP should check with their counselor on how the HS did with those kinds of colleges and the gpa and scores needed.

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It is a dual credit course at my school offered through a local community college.

My other planned universities to apply to are: UT Austin, UT Dallas, TAMU, Purdue, UIUC. Im planning to take the September SAT so hopefully that can get my score up.

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If you really want to retake the SAT, you may want to wait for October or even later, if you can. Just make sure not to miss any application deadlines. You already have great SAT scores now: 720 (95 percentile) in Reading/Writing & 750 (95 percentile) in Math. Any motivated student with these scores can handle the work at almost any college. This means can achieve an “A”, “B”, or “C” grade performance level. The admission committees want to ensure that every admitted student can graduate with a degree, preferably in four years or less. Even schools like Caltech & MIT, the “extreme reaches” are within your reach; standardized test scores are just 1 percent of the whole application package for the “reaches”; the other 99%, the rest, will matter much, much more.

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Very much less so for in-state and OP is from Texas and is 5/200 in their class.

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I would lose UIUC - won’t hit budget. Or add one that can - Ohio State maybe/likely will as an example. Penn State, Wisconsin won’t. But your Southern states are your best bet. Arizona State is another.

What if you get into UIUC ? Now you have an issue - you’ll want to go but budget wise you can’t come close to affording it.

You have one assured, affordable to study EE/CE - UTD. Are you ok if that’s the only choice you have ?

Still don’t know what math level. DE doesn’t describe - Calc 1, Calc 2? What would the hs equivalent be ?

Ps - did you do the NPCs I put above - with your family. Can you afford $400k if you don’t get aid ? When you have a budget, you build based on it - not based on names.

If your budget is strict, then don’t bother with schools certainly above (like UIUC) that you have near zero chance to afford.

Successes in the major come from all over You aren’t interested but as an example Alabama shows a 92% knowledge rate. So they know about most everyone. 97% have positive outcomes. $82.7k average. U Mich is $86.1k. They don’t show the knowledge rate, but some top schools, like Ga Tech has only 35% and a high amount can’t find job rate). These kids are often interviewing and working at the same place. Salaries aren’t far off and in this example a student would save $60k a year.

So open your eyes to schools you can necessarily get in (for your major) and afford - whatever they are. That’s what your list is missing beyond UTD.

As my son told me when he chose a non ranked engineering school over a top ten one - employers don’t care. Rankings are to sell magazines and for parents. Companies don’t care. In most cases, I believe the evidence shows he is right.

I do think some are a cut above - and you have two on this chance me. But you still have to be able to afford them and get in.

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These stats are nonsense. “knowledge rate” is flawed. A quick google search will inform why. Less than the 35% of GT even bothered responded to it.

The peer group at GT will be superior to that of say a University of Alabama which makes those schools worth it to many. Below are few better breakdowns of career outcomes of the top engineering schools:

Career Outcomes From Top Engineering Programs - Ivy Scholars

Furthermore, according to Department of Education Data Georgia Tech ranks in the Top 10 for median salaries for engineers 4 years post grad at 119,000. On the other hand, University of Alabama ranks quite low with a median salary of $70,000.

Since you raise an anecdotal scenario, I would provide one of my own. My kid is going into into his sophomore year in Engineering at GT. He landed a fabulous internship this past summer in the Midwest partly do to being at Georgia Tech. It came up many times during the interview process and was expressed to him how impressed they were of GT. He was invited back next summer as well. His friends have had similar experiences.

Lastly, Forbes also recently did a survey of C-Suite Executives rating their experience with Georgia Tech graduates and for the third year in a row GT had the highest rating of any of the New Ivies.

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Let’s not go here.

I didn’t suggest U of Alabama. In fact I noted it was an example but it’s one school that diligently works to collect data and provides it in an easy to use format.

I suggested the student widen his search and used an example - given they have a budget and except for one school, listed a bunch that could happen but could also very well not happen.

Knowledge rate is not flawed. What’s flawed is that 1/3 of Ga Tech students bother to report. That’s a school that does not chase that. If a school shows a 90%+ knowledge rate, that means they know what 90%+ of what kids are doing.

The point is back to engineering is not prestige driven in most cases - and I was simply informing OP, using published stats, to show they should widen their eyes, especially when they have a budget. Hence I used the UM and Bama example. Ga Tech provides overall knowledge rate but not by major. btw - they show 66% of kids who wanted a job in aero got one (they measure success that way, not including grad school) at a median $85.5K. And I’m glad yours had a successful experience. You don’t think kids from other schools don’t get internships all over? Mine interned with (and lived with in a summer air bnb) two Ga Tech kids. He got a return invite - they didn’t. That doesn’t mean one school is better. That means, one kid meshed with the organization better or did what they perceived was a better job). And there were kids from Ole Miss, and LSU and Tennessee Tech, and UTK and Texas something (I think A&M there). There was an Olin too but that was the 2nd summer I think. And mine had 5 or 6 offers and 19 interviews by Xmas. There are a lot of schools that provide success - including the one your kid attends but not only that one.

And in his hiring cohort of 150 (engineers, supply chain, health/ergonomic people) - you had engineers from top schools and you had engineers from schools like Akron, Utah, W Michigan - and guess what - they all earn the same and do the same roles - and develop their careers from there). That’s the point that I’m making - and the salaries schools report show that - hence the example I gave.

But flawed - we can disagree.

And I would not use DOE data which likely relies on kids with loans. The GA Tech like kids at Bama are there on merit - they won’t have loans.

You’re a Ga Tech homer - I get it. But the data is not flawed - it’s reported on what is provided to the schools by students or that the schools can glean.

Nonetheless, you missed the point and mine started well above the # you quoted and his 2nd and 3rd year out made 6 figures. But it’s besides the point.

Again, the point is the OP should look at a variety of schools that can achieve budget and where they can attend. That’s the point.

I made the comment because they have a hard $50K and he’s looking at UIUC - which they can’t achieve. Even Tech today is over $50K but wasn’t for a while.

Even if it could achieve budget, it can’t - it’s not assured - and the point was not to just find a school in budget but to find one that can achieve near assured admission and budget - unless OP was ok attending UT Dallas.

Please don’t change the message that was given.

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Not a homer just factual. Georgia Tech is widely considered one of the Top Engineering and Tech programs in the country. This is not by accident and is not based on conjecture but their reputation in the industry. Not sure that is being a homer but rather a realist. Also, it’s actually from the perspective of a parent whose kid actually attends there and can already see how it has already advanced my kid not just career wise but also how he has challenged himself academically among similar peers . That’s all. My experience and we find it well worth every penny of the OOS cost.

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While need-based aid is not impossible for an out-of-state student at GT, my guess is that GT would not come in under budget.

My rough understanding is that very few large publics will come in under 50k for an out of state student, absent either need-based aid or merit. (Maybe Purdue after merit?) For the ones that do offer need-based aid out of state, always use their Net Price Calculators, but most do not promise to meet full need, so they are a gamble - I would put them as financial reaches.

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Since this is a Chance Me, please keep the thread focused on the OP. Also a reminder that CC is not a debate society. Acknowledging that debate is not allowed but continuing to do so is not acceptable. Points made. Time to move on or start a new thread.

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