KY 11th Grader Looking for Materials Chemistry/Materials Science Programs [4.0 GPA, 35 ACT, 1560 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: Kentucky
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public, Title I
  • Other special factors: Older brother went to Berkeley for CS undergrad, parents are PhD professors in Chinese studies

Cost Constraints / Budget
Assume no constraints because my parents won’t give me a straight estimate but i meannnn they helped pay for my brother’s berkeley undergrad with no financial aid sooooo

Intended Major(s)

  • Material Science
  • Material Chemistry
  • Organic/Analytical Chemistry
  • not off the table: Piano Performance, Musicology, Music Therapy

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0 for now
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.864 (my school uses a weird grading scale so it’s hard to translate to a standard WGPA system but this is what the transcript says)
  • Class Rank: N/A
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35 (36M/36E/34R/34S), 1560 (760RW/800M)

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: Adv. English 2, AP Seminar (5), AP Lang (#)
  • Math: Adv. Algebra 2, AP Precalculus (5), AP Statistics (5), AP Calculus BC (#)
  • Science: Adv. Chemistry 1, Adv. Biology, Adv. Python/React, Adv. Organic Chemistry (#), Adv. Earth/Space Science #), AP Chemistry (5), AP CSA (5), AP Physics 1 (5), AP Physics 2 (#)
  • History and social studies: AP World History (5), AP US History (5), AP US Government (#)
  • Language other than English: Spanish 2, Spanish 3, Spanish 4 (#)
  • Visual or performing arts: Adv. Concert Choir
  • Other academic courses: Junior Research (undergrad material chemistry research at a nearby college)

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
(Include college courses taken while in high school if not included above.)

  • N/A

Awards

  • Science Olympiad:
    • State (2026):
      • Chemistry Lab: 3rd
      • Material Science: 4th
      • Circuit Lab: 4th
  • TSA:
    • State (2025):
      • Webmaster: 1st
  • NFMC Junior Festival:
    • Solo Piano:
      • 6x Superior rating
    • Piano Concerto:
      • 2x Superior rating
  • AP Scholar with Distinction
  • FRC Robotics:
    • SMR Regionals quarter-finalists

Extracurriculars

  • TSA (1 year leadership, secretary-elect for next year)
  • Music Club (founder for 1 year)
  • Recycling Club (1 year leadership so far)
  • FRC Robotics (Media captain)
  • Piano (10 years)
  • KY GSA (summer program, 20 pianists accepted)
  • Encompass Tutoring (co-founder for 1 year)
  • Music Composition (1 year, hobby)
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There are about 69 ABET-accredited materials engineering programs in the US (74 entries in the list linked below, but 5 are duplicates showing former institution names):

A potential risk is that they spent too much money on your brother’s college costs and do not have a similar amount for you, resulting in being unwilling to give you a straight answer. It looks like humanities full professors in Kentucky earn about $100k per year, but if they are of lower rank (e.g. associate professor), their pay will be less, and if they are adjuncting, their pay will be much less.

3

As one approach, consider colleges with notably strong science lab facilities:

As suggestions across geographical regions, potential majors (including in the foundational major of chemistry), selectivity levels and school types, look into Caltech, Lehigh, Harvey Mudd, St. Olaf, Rice, Emory and Hamilton.

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So as I see it - you need to find a school with both interests.

Many schools have Material Science but not Materials Engineering. You didn’t say engineering.

Musicology or Music Therapy will be a tougher get.

I’d start with schools that have Musical Therapy - some major schools include these below. If they’re bolded, they’re ABET in Materials or in case of Bama, Metallurgic - it’s Materials and Metallurgic.So it might serve as an initial short list.

Alabama

App State

Arizona

Arizona State

Colorado State

Drexel

Florida State

Georgia

Kentucky

LSU

Louisville

Minnesota

NYU

Ohio U

SMU

Temple

There’s more - but given your stats.

So when I put it all together, the first school that came to mind was U of Minnesota - if you want a large, prestigious school, strong in chemistry, ABET in Materials Engineering but also has Materials Science and it has music therapy and - now, what are internal transfers like- you’d have to look. They have musicology but it seems it’s a Masters.

You could look at each school. UK - for example - not quite as big as UMN and in the the heart of smaller city Lexington would be another that would work but again, Musicology is only a Masters/PhD.

ASU and Arizona also - as examples - but it seems like Musicology is just a Masters.

It’s really a question of - can you do both - and what are internal transfers like?

Northwestern has an undergrad in musicology - but I don’t see music therapy. That said, it has a Northwestern Music & Medicine Program through its Feinberg Medical School but there is no academic info on it. It’s ABET accredited in Materials Engineering.

UIUC is interesting - they have a Bachelor of Musicology but not Therapy. But they have an Open Music major, where you can create your own, including Therapy - but it’s obviously not on the AMTA Approved List.

Anyway, if you are unsure, you can look at different schools I listed and see which fit - but it seems most schools have musicology on the Masters level but some do Bachelor.

Good luck. You have an excellent profile.

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I looked at materials science/engineering programs a few years back and some of the top programs are MIT, Northwestern, Stanford and Georgia Tech. GT has the added benefits of lower tuition and the availability of merit-based (i.e., beyond need-based financial aid) scholarships. Good luck!

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It could be possible they spent more than they felt was wise and are trying to put off the painful discussion of unfair treatment etc.

UChicago has a unique “molecular engineering” major: Molecular Engineering | Academic Catalog | The University of Chicago;

University of Kentucky has the Otis Singletary scholarship which you should apply to, and it offers a materials science and engineering degree. If you’re advanced, it also offers credit by exam for many classes: Academic Requirements - University of Kentucky

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As a general comment, materials chemistry may rely more on a computational approach in the future. For this reason, you may benefit from considering colleges with an available major in data science, through which you could choose chemistry as an applied domain. Such an approach would allow for a double major in data science and chemistry along with substantial coursework in relevant areas of physics.

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So Materials Science Engineering is a reasonably common undergrad major. Materials Science NOT as an engineering degree, or Materials Chemistry specifically, not so much. To my knowledge that is at least mostly just offered as a specialization/concentration within a Chemistry degree, possibly Physics. Like that is how Cal does it:

That makes it a little harder to investigate, such that you will probably need to dig into each individual Chemistry (occasionally Physics) Department page to find out what they really offer and assess if it might meet your possible curriculum goals.

That said, Caltech has a Materials Science option through their Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science:

In addition to Cal’s program linked above, you could check out the Polymers and Materials Option at Georgia Tech:

UVA’s Chem Department also has a specialization in Materials Science you might want to check out:

And Williams actually has a joint program in Materials Science offered through their Chemistry and Physics Departments:

https://catalog.williams.edu/mats/

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Just to add on to this, you might also look for schools that offer a major in chemical physics. Again, this is not particularly common, but it does get to some interesting elements of materials science.

There are various lists online (looks like those links won’t work here), but I’d again suggest that you might have to dig in school-by-school to see what’s offered and who is doing interesting things in the space.

Here’s an example of one: Wellesley - Chemical Physics

And another: BS in Chemical Physics | Department of Chemistry

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That’s a good idea!

Just poking around, in addition to Wellesley and Tufts, UC-Davis would be an interesting option to explore:

Rice perhaps:

And College of Wooster:

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Many top schools have hard-core stem students who happen to be musicians or artists involved in extracurricular music groups or as music minors. You do not need a major or even a minor in music, just many music groups to join so you can continue performing, plus music courses offered if that interests you. Most if not all of the schools below have those traits plus individual lessons should you choose that.

It is not far off what our DD23 was seeking (she is a musician but it is not her primary performing art). She is a VIPER student at UPenn. VIPER is a 4 yr dual degree program (they graduate with a BSengineering plus science degree) for your interests it could be Materials Science&Engineering + Chemistry. Many engineers on campus seem to be involved in music or arts, as do students from other majors. I strongly recommend UPenn either Engineering(SEAS) or the VIPER program for your interests; the opportunities have been outstanding. Plus two summers have guaranteed funded research jobs, though many choose to pursue other paid stem internships the second summer.

Schools with great materialsE and chemistry departments, or similar(applied physics has a lot of overlap with materials engineering and physical chemistry, as does molecular engineering) plus a culture of many students with experience and interest in music and arts on campus:

UPenn

Northwestern

Stanford

Harvard

UChicago (the engineering they have is molecular E which is very similar to materialsE)

Princeton

Swarthmore

CMU

WashU

MIT (thanks @Blossom)

Hopkins

*For all of the above you apply to the school, oftentimes the engineering school because that is where Materials Science usually is, but not to the major. That is ideal: it allows you to look into Materials Engineering vs Applied Physics(sometimes in the Engineering school) vs MechE or ChemE. At all of the above even if Engineering school app is required, changing from the Engineering to Chemistry or Physics is easy.

**Second Edit: almost all of the schools above have a music theory or similar major, or minor, or both. Most allow some combination with a primary stem major, though if the career goal is stem then the music major or minor is not needed, OP could take music courses as electives. With all of these schools changing majors from Engineering to music would be fairly easy. Going the other way is doable but more difficult.

If you want a bigger school: UCB, UCSB, Michigan. Ours wanted smaller.

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Note that this concentration includes courses from the materials science and engineering department, which offers a materials science and engineering major:

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Other than me, I don’t see anybody who checked for these majors as well.

This isn’t a hobby but a possibility. I think OP needs to find a school that offers these. Obviously if they choose performance, it will be audition based but music therapy and musicology are very narrow majors but there are schools that have it plus Material Science programs.

OP should start with those.

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MIT has a ton of musicians- both those whose primary involvement is on campus, and those who perform with other Boston area groups. The math/science brain nexus is a well observed phenomenon!

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I don’t recommend UChicago for anyone interested in engineering.

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My guess is the set of colleges that actually offer a Materials Science (not Engineering) major, and a Music Therapy major, is going to be very small. Perhaps empty, although I have not officially checked.

Even if we expand that to organized Materials Science concentrations within another major like Chemistry, I am not sure it will include many options.

The good news is in a career field like music therapy, you don’t actually need to do an undergrad major in Music Therapy, hence why they are not so common. Of course the same goes for materials science, plenty of people are going to go into that career path with an undergrad degree that just says Chemistry, Physics, or so on.

OK, so in practice, the OP is going to probably need to have some flexibility, and that’s fine. Since they listed Materials Science and Materials Chemistry first, it makes sense to me for them to start from that direction.

All that said, the College of Wooster does have a Music Therapy degree option:

But again they have Chemical Physics, not Materials Science per se.

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This is why I created the list in my first post.

OP can then find from here - schools with material science. Musicology at the undergrad level is tougher.

But UMN and UK are great choices to provide this student with options. UMN is renowned in the chemistry side of things to boot.

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To my knowledge, neither of those offer Materials Science (not Engineering) as a major, or even organized concentration.

Of course they could do a general Chemistry or possibly Physics major with an eye on taking electives relevant to Materials Science. But you can do the same thing with Music or Psychology majors that are not specifically Music Therapy majors.

Again, I think it is very likely the OP will have to pick which direction they want to come from with the more specific major options.

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Yes -there’s not a ton of material science - in and of itself. Some but not all ton.

My main point being - if OP isn’t sure on day one, they need to find a school that would best keep their options open - which would require starting with the narrowest major and going from there to find that subset that can cover both angles.

Some schools will have materials as a concentration in chem as noted.

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I would suggest that doesn’t really help when multiple possible majors of interest are very niche.

Instead, I think at that point the more practical approach is to prioritize. If there is like a 50% chance you will be interested in Niche Major A, 10% in Niche Major B, probably you should go with a college that offers Niche Major A, at least as long as it offers something that would still let you pursue B as a career, even if that might then require a Masters or such.

Trying to decide which is the nichiest of A and B doesn’t seem helpful to me. If they are both nichey enough to be rare, and there is little or no overlap in colleges offering both, then you just have to deal with that by choosing the best possible compromise. Which likely means forming some sort of reasonable prioritization.

Anyway, it would be helpful if the OP could clarify. Is, say, the option to get a certified Bachelor’s in Music Therapy a hard necessity, with the Materials Chemistry stuff being more flexible? Or the other way around?

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