Looking for Target/Reach/ Safety private schools preferably ED [CA resident, 3.6UW, 35 ACT, statistics, economics, chemical engineering]

Looking for Target/Reach/ Safety private schools preferably ED. Looking for school that is in suburbs

Demographics

  • CA
  • Public HS - slightly competitive
  • Asian

Intended Major(s) - 1. Statistics 2. Economics or 3. Engineering (Non Computer Science-Mostly chemical Engineering)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.6
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.2
  • Class Rank: Not available
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35 ACT

Coursework:
Sophomore:
AP Calc BC (C) in Sophomore year(5),
AP World History (B),AP score 4
Honors English (B)
Biology (A)
Physics (B)
Junior:
AP Chemistry, (A)
AP US History, (A)
AP Spanish Language (A)
AP Statistics, (A)
AP Biology, (A)
AP Computer Science A
(A)
English (B)

Extracurriculars
Published cybersecurity research paper
Passion project involving 100+ kids at kids club (through school)
Launching new club at high school in senior year
Volunteered as basketball coach for local school for 5th graders
Plays Varsity golf

Any cost constraints?

No. If it’s right college, budget is not an issue

Lehigh might be a good target for you. Big engineering school. In a suburban neighborhood.

2 Likes

The University of Rochester would be another to consider. Also SMU.

2 Likes

If Lehigh seems appealing, you might want to check out Lafayette, Union, and Bucknell. I don’t know that Id call any of these 4 suburban, but all have leafy, sef- contained campuses.

4 Likes

Agree with all of these. If you are able to visit, the three in Pa (Lehigh, Lafayette and Bucknell) can be done in two days. Bucknell is more rural but Lehigh and Laf are located in smallish cities.

3 Likes

Are you looking at any public schools? There are many very good public schools that are often better for engineering than private schools.

And why do you prefer ED? Unless you have a 100% favorite school that is also affordable, I wouldn’t recommend an ED application. If you don’t even have a list of a schools yet, finding that favorite school seems a long way off.

1 Like

It’s not a private school, but if there’s an interest in chemical engineering, I’d strongly recommend looking at U. of Delaware. For a student like this kid, it would be a safety.

Some questions your kid may want to think about (and then if you could share the answers) are:

  • What size classes will your kid do best in?
  • What size school does your kid prefer?
  • Does your kid have any climate preferences (including, potentially, the amount of sun a location receives)?
  • Are there particular states or areas of the country your kid prefers (or prefers to avoid)?
  • How does your kid feel about Greek life (fraternities & sororities)?
  • How does your kid feel about significant enthusiasm for intercollegiate sports?
  • Are there any particular interests that your kid would like to pursue while in college, outside of academics?
  • Will there be any other influencing factors on the college decision (like religion, politics, etc)?

If this is something your kid is excited about, go on ahead. If your kid is doing this in the hopes of moving the admissions needle, don’t bother. Generally, admissions officers are interested in looking at commitment and impact in an activity. A club started in senior year won’t have had time to reflect that by the time admissions applications are due.

4 Likes

We wanted to increase his chances to get admitted and hence the ED. Open to any other private or public schools. His primary interest is in statistics and we wanted to start somewhere where college size is small (does not necessarily need to to be in the suburbs in suburbs either)

ED does not always increase the chances of admittance. It often includes recruited athletes, legacy and donor kids, and other institutional priorities. You can’t just look at the ED acceptance rates and assume it means a higher chance of admittance. You need to really understand what goes into that number.

5 Likes

We are looking a small size schools (can be public or private and do not need to be in Suburbs). Weather wise- prefers cold climate to hot/tropical weather. He is interested in sports (golf primarily) and ideally would like to major in 1. statistics and minor in data science or economics or 2. Engineering ( Leaning towards chemical as he has done well in chemistry). Lastly, the club that he is starting is around sports and analytics as he is highly interested in that area. He has attended 1. summer program at Wharton for data analytics,2. completed two data science projects and lastly his passion project is getting elementary kids interested in Math through sports and analytics. This club is really a continuation of that passion/interest.

These schools all have varsity golf teams. (I did not specify the gender, since I’m unsure if your kid would be interested in participating in a varsity team, but I figured having any varsity teams means that there would be nearby golfing opportunities.) Additionally, all of these schools are ABET-accredited for chemical engineering.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Clarkson (NY): About 2700 undergrads

  • Manhattan College (NY): About 3100 undergrads

  • Rose-Hulman (IN): About 2200 undergrads

  • U. of Dayton (OH): About 8400 undergrads

  • U. of Idaho: About 8800 undergrads

  • U. of Tulsa (OK): About 2600 undergrads

Likely (60-79%)

  • Colorado School of Mines: About 5700 undergrads

  • Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY): About 5900 undergrads

  • Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ): About 4100 undergrads

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Bucknell (PA ): About 3700 undergrads

  • Lafayette (PA ): About 2700 undergrads

  • Lehigh (PA ): About 5600 undergrads

  • U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Villanova (PA ): About 7k undergrads

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Carnegie Mellon (PA ): About 7k undergrads

  • Tufts (MA): About 6800 undergrads

  • U. of Notre Dame (IN): About 9k undergrads

  • Washington U. (MO): About 8100 undergrads

5 Likes

ED makes no sense - unless you are 100% certain that it is the right school. With ED, your odds of admission may go up but your odds of being bought (merit aid) will go down immensely. You are making a four year decision, going to be on campus day after day after day - so you need to attend a school where you know you want to be. The student will have no issue getting into fine colleges, ED not needed.

I hope he is starting a club for his own desires and not college. It’s too late.

The first I think of - and it hits what you need - except small - is U of Delaware - no ED needed. It’s top notch in ChemE and strong in all the other areas mentioned. It’s not huge in regards to other flagships.

Colorado School of Mines

Dayton

Florida Tech (coastal breeze)

Lafayette

Lehigh

SUNY ESF

RPI

All seem to meet the criteria you are interested in (not sure about golf). All are ABET accredited.

2 Likes

Second the comment on UD - it’s top5 for ChemE

The lists above are heavy on private schools. I would suggest some publics that are strong in ChemE.

Reach

  • Michigan
  • Georgia Tech
  • Virginia

Target

  • Delaware
  • Penn State
  • Wisconsin
  • Purdue
  • UC Santa Barbara
3 Likes

Statistics and data science as majors would be largely redundant, though statistics majors would go more in depth in theoretical statistics (and more advanced math as needed), while data science majors would do a more broader treatment with some computing and some applied area (like economics).

Check carefully for any smaller schools for how much they offer in statistics (which may be combined into the math department at smaller schools).

Regarding engineering, note that industrial engineering may be more of a fit for a student who likes statistics.

2 Likes

One school that might make sense to check out would be Case Western. A great school, with all of the majors you’re interested in (see here). (I’m never confident about my ability to properly allocate schools to Likely/Match/Reach, but I would guess it’d be a Match for you?)

4 Likes

I think that Case Western is a great suggestion, and they like demonstrated interest a lot. It doesn’t have a golf team (at least it’s not listed in IPEDS data), but there are surely golf courses in Cleveland, and there are lots of professional sports teams in the area, too.

2 Likes

I believe this is info on club golf at CWRU.

3 Likes

And I think you will find info about colleges with club golf here:

1 Like