<p>I’m looking at top state (engineering) schools like UT austin (instate), Michigan, Illinois, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, Cornell, Caltech (dream school?)</p>
<p>What aspect of my application could be best augmented, considering I’m a junior?</p>
<li><p>Is admission to top engineering state schools very “number” based, meaning very high SAT, SATII, GPA= admitted?</p></li>
<li><p>Consider an applicant with weak ECs, no stellar class rank (top 20%, 4.0 UW, 4.39 W=me next year). What would be the most EFFICIENT and BEST way to increase admission chances:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>a. Work a lot on ECs, without being sure if you are ever going to get leadership positions.
b. Work a lot on your SAT/SATII, and “overkill” it. To me, it would mean to increase a 2100=>2300, and a few 800s SATIIs tossed over.</p>
<p>If you were such applicant, what would you do??</p>
<p>work on both…? you still have time
try to get an internship over the summer… do lots of volunteering… etc
take SAT IIs in May (same as your APs, so less studying involved)
start on SAT Is early (January?)</p>
<p>Well, I know that both are important, lerm89. I’m trying to find a harmonious compromise_which ends up looking not that harmonious.</p>
<p>I plan to have a total volunteering hr of 120, and do an internship/enroll at a university class in physics during the summer if possible.</p>
<p>However, leadership position is a completely different beast… Getting into clubs and actively participating guarantees nothing that you will end up being an officer, because it’s based on your popularity (which is hard to acquire if you are a new student at the school).</p>
<p>That’s why I start thinking about my last chance: SATs and SATIIs. THose are the things I feel I can control. However, I’m still hesitating because I don’t know how much state school value those over ECs.</p>
<p>Gaffe, well, we have 20ish co-valedictorians (4.0UW, 4.6ishW) each year. If my register didn’t mess up my transcript, I would have easily ended up valedictorian, since I basically take all APs with A+. However, she counted ALL my foreign courses as nonhonors, nonweighted courses, which brought my weighted GPA down to 4.33 (instead of 4.8 I think). That puts be barely top 20%.</p>
<p>That’s why I try to make up with a very high SAT score (I’m aiming 2250-2300 next year). I know it will be very hard for a nonnative english speaker to get that score, but all my transcript/ECs are already messed up.</p>
<p>You might want to consider Texas A&M for engineering. It’s a very strong program there…</p>
<p>edit: sorry that i didn’t really answer your question. i think state schools do consider numbers more than other stuff, but idk. try to do some kind of significant volunteer work, organize a fundraiser for charity, etc.</p>
<p>A&M has about a 70% admit rate. Idk what the admit rate is for out-of-staters, but I think that if you have a good GPA and SAT score you should be fine.</p>
<p>I think the universities you have listed, except Cornell, are rather numbers-focused and will accept you without impressive leadership positions if you have the scores. Do ECs that you really care about and work on the SATs.</p>