Private high school (top prep school, sends students to T20s regularly)
No legacy, no hooks (not first-gen, not recruited athlete)
Intended Major: Electrical Engineering (robotics/autonomous systems focus)
Academics:
UW GPA: 4.0
Rank: top 3 in class
ACT: 35
15 AP courses by graduation
Dual enrollment: Calc 2, Calc 3, Linear Algebra completed at local colleges by graduation
Awards:
FIRST Robotics Leadership Award finalist
FRC Regional Winner (out-of-state regional)
FRC Impact Award winner (regional)
CyberPatriot: top 6% nationally; cyberquest third national
Merit scholarship from HS ($10K/yr)
Various school-level awards
Extracurriculars:
Founded a national FTC robotics program in a Caribbean country — raised $60K, built 20 teams (~200 students), ran unofficial qualifier events; signed an MOU transitioning official Program Delivery Partner status to a local org for sustainability; in talks with FIRST HQ re: dedicated championship slots. Currently expanding pilots to two more countries in the region (launching before EA deadlines).
Founded a STEM education nonprofit — teaches ~400 students/week locally + ~700/week across three states at 20 weekly sites; partners include Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCA; 90 library partnerships nationwide for unmanned robotics exploration kits (six-figure cumulative reach); raised $40K.
FRC team president + programming & outreach lead — led 35-student team, managed $120K budget, grew membership, led team to first regional win + Impact Award.
Rebuilt school’s engineering pipeline — founded school FTC, SeaPerch, and ten FLL teams (~100 students involved); effectively recreated the school’s engineering program (recommender will corroborate).
Water filtration initiative — partnered with an org in Kenya to fund/build a station that services existing filtration systems (50K+ people impacted, verified by major NGO partners); built direct filtration systems in Malawi and Ecuador (~800 people); led a CAD-for-real-world-design program for 20+ students; raised $4K.
EE research internship (3 years) — university mech/EE department; 3rd author on a paper accepted for scientific review (wearable insole sensing); additional work on supercapacitors.
Robotics industry internship — programmed humanoid robots to achieve proper locomotion for the first time in company history; led a 3-person controls department.
Open-source research project under a T5 university education-school professor — built a data pipeline for a psychometrics database; led grad students; code merged into the main project.
Cybersecurity team VP — led Windows platform; created the team’s first outreach initiative.
Volunteering — biweekly engineering lessons for 20 students (lessons self-created since freshman year); ~4 hrs/wk museum volunteering (9th–11th grade).
LORs:
Physics teacher: top student across multiple years; will focus on problem-solving (expect superlative)
English teacher: multi-year top student; will highlight leadership + applying classroom ideas to real-world initiatives (has a specific anecdote)
Robotics mentor (also a teacher): mentored most of my major projects; will corroborate scope/impact
Counselor knows the full application well
Cost Constraints: ~$300K household income, so little/no need-based aid expected. Full pay is possible but merit money strongly preferred, targeting GT Stamps, USC Trustee/Presidential, Purdue merit. UF ~free via Bright Futures.
Schools:
REA: Stanford
EA: Georgia Tech, UF, Purdue
RD: MIT, CMU (ECE), UIUC (ECE), USC (by Dec 1 for merit), UF,
Thanks in advance — brutal honesty welcome. Also, if anyone has an idea of any other good universities to apply to please let me know, and if there are any gaps I should focus on please let me know.
Assuming you are talking about Florida prep schools like Pine Crest, REG, Gulliver, or AHS - you are an extremely strong applicant, and even a competitive one for the exceptional institutions you listed.
Consider looking into the Robertson scholarship at Duke/UNC (if you like those schools, too) because there is a separate application and will value your background IMO. To me, that will help because can you really target GT Stamps if they are choosing you from their complete EA pool, with no nomination or application? Similarly, assuming you feel UVA engineering is strong enough (i do), ask your high school to nominate you for Jefferson.
Although I think Stanford and MIT will just miss (sorry for that opinion), I think you will do very well among the others including CMU, GT, and every other. 4-5/6 would be my hypothesis.
Your school counselor at your private prep school is the one to talk to! They will know how students from your school, with similar stats to yours, did in college admissions, and can guide you on your list.
You are a strong student, and you have the potential to be accepted at reach schools on your list…or not. Do you consider UF to be your sure thing for admission, that you like? I think Purdue is!
Great profile and school list! I’m assuming you realize some of these do not offer merit, but you have a nice mix. You should also apply EA to UIUC instead of RD.
You’re obviously a good candidate for all of the schools on your list. Given the importance of financing, it might be a good idea to throw a school onto your list where you are highly likely to receive a strong merit scholarship. WPI is surprisingly good in robotics. World class. You’d be very likely to get a high merit award there. Another school which is very good for robotics and would be a financial safety is Cooper Union in NYC. By 2028-29, Cooper Union will be tuition free and in 2027-8 will charge 50% tuition for all students. That’s 4 years in which your only tuition cost for the entire time will be 50% for the first year. Tuition is currently $45,000 and fees are minimal, about $2000 or so oer year.
Yea, I really see WPI. A couple of students go their with really competitive merit. WPI and Oberlin and sleepers in robotics especially for FIRST students.
As others have indicated, you have made yourself a very strong applicant and will be competitive for admission at just about any college in the U.S.
If you’re targeting Big Merit™ then you may also want to consider:
U. of Maryland and the Banneker/Key scholarship
U. of Texas and the Forty Acres scholarship
Texas A&M may also be worth an app. You didn’t mention being a National Merit Semifinalist…I’m assuming you didn’t take the PSAT your junior year; is that correct?
Also, does your school counselor think that U. of Florida is a safety for you? I would be quite surprised if you’re not admitted, but I have heard stories of high-stat in-state students not getting an acceptance. If that is a concern at all, then I would add another school that would be an extremely likely admit for you.
I am a semifinalist so I will also be looking at those scholarships, thanks. University of Florida is technically a safety for me, but like you said their admissions can be highly unpredictable at times. My main fall back safety is purdue, which is one based off school stats. Thank you for the recommendations
I am assuming the highest rigor in all subjects (or very close)…
You are an amazing candidate, and I am confident you will get into plenty of schools…
I will be surprised by Stanford or MIT. I can think of 2 people when I wasn’t surprised by MIT admits, and they had truly insane profiles (and yours is just below) so that isn’t discounting your accomplishments, which are stellar, and I am not saying impossible at all, but I would be surprised…it is just SO hard and rare, even at high rigor schools. (One of my kids goes to a super high rigor STEM school, and even there, it is very rare for MIT/Stanford…. Harvard/Yale/CMU are way easier honestly)….
I think WPI as a high likely (with lots of merit) if you want robotics is a great idea - you might even be able to (really) do a MS in 4.5 years or double major - they are generous with transfer credits and given your advanced math, would set you up
RPI, RIT would also give you merit and have lots of good resources and teams like Purdue is very engineering-tech heavy schools (but even easier admits). Stevens as well and that is basically in NYC (if you want urban), million-dollar views everywhere and 10-15 minute walk to the train to city - remarkable.
I think the above means Olin, not Oberlin, for First kids?
Case Western is also urban and gives merit. – Has an incredible maker space and is an engineering-heavy school.
Presumptive Semifinalist I assume? The official designations have not been released yet and you shouldn’t list it on any applications you submit prior to the official announcement.
I wouldn’t call Purdue a safety. It’s a likely school for you, but not technically a safety.
Note that University of Florida has its own way of calculating a weighted GPA for its use: Freshman Decision Process - University of Florida . That recalculated GPA is presumably what they show on admitted student profiles.
Love forty-acres for him as well. Not sure whether you have to “hope” to be nominated based on your application (like with GT). That’s how it worked for my son, but there are sometimes other avenues.
You should be applying to most if not all of the top ten schools for electrical engineering. You should include schools like UC Berkeley and Caltech, if these schools appeal to you. Since you would be a “full-pay” student, the financial aid/scholarship awards would vary greatly. Hypothetically, you family might have to pay $400,000 for four years of MIT but only $200,000 for four years at UC Berkeley. And these highly competitive schools are still very interested in enrolling students from traditionally underrepresented groups (African American, Hispanic American, Native American) even in the absence of affirmative action.
You don’t disclose your ACT or AP score breakdown. (34 English, 34 Reading, 36 Math, 36 Science) is different from (36 English, 36 Reading, 34 Math, 34 Science).
Gain some exposure to differential equations and probability/statistics if you can. Calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra are all introductory math subjects. If schools like Caltech, MIT, and Stanford believe that you can pass out of these subjects and ready for a class like “Introductory Analysis,” this could make your application stand out from the rest. Most people don’t begin their undergraduate studies taking subjects like analysis or quantum physics.
