Match me/Decent stats FL junior interested in engineering [~3.85 GPA, 1510 PSAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hello! I’m a high school junior from Florida, looking for some advice on what colleges to apply to next year as I’ve had a hard time finding much (not really sure how to search). I have decent grades, but I don’t have any impressive awards or extracurriculars.

Demographics

  • Male US citizen
  • Florida
  • Private online school, grades 7-12, about 1000 students total
  • School is based in California and very academically rigorous; well known to colleges on the West Coast but not so much on the East Coast.
  • Other special factors: none

Cost Constraints / Budget
Cost is not a huge concern for me, it matters but it’s not a #1 priority.

Intended Major(s):

Probably engineering. I would like to do aerospace engineering, mostly because it would be epic to work for NASA someday. I’m also kind of interested in political science/international affairs, but I can’t really see myself majoring in that.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

(GPA might not be totally accurate because my school doesn’t report it)

  • 9th grade GPA: UW 3.87, W 3.87
  • 10th grade GPA: UW 3.75, W 4.35
  • 11th grade GPA (so far): UW 3.94, W 4.94
  • Class Rank: my school doesn’t report class rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: I got a 1510 on the PSAT last fall, my SAT scores haven’t come back yet but my best guess is somewhere between 1500 and 1600.

List your HS coursework

My school doesn’t have official AP classes, but there are AP-equivalent and college-equivalent classes marked on transcripts. The AP-equivalent ones are marked with a ~ and the college-equivalent ones are marked with a *. The 10th grade physics is AP Physics C and the 10th grade math is AP Calculus BC. I’m a year ahead of the average English track in my school since I placed into the 10th grade course in 9th grade, but everything else is pretty average except for science; I’ve taken a ton of physics and my 12th grade physics class is the highest science class at my school.

Also, I quit taking language classes at my school so I could get in more science classes. My school accepts credits from Florida Virtual School, so I’ve been taking Spanish classes there for the past couple of years.

The “Core” classes are the ones that everyone is required to take. The 9th grade core is sort of a statistics class and the other core classes are philosophy.

9th grade:

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10th grade:

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11th grade fall:

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The Light and Heat is a thermodynamics/optics semester course. This semester I’m taking Modern Physics. As of now I have all A’s for the spring semester, but my midterms haven’t been graded yet so that’s liable to change xd

12th grade:

Core: Critical Reading and Argumentation
Legal Studies: Constitutional Law
Study of the Mind (psychology/philosophy elective)
Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
Quantum Computing

Awards: none, except if you count National Merit and idk if I’ll get that.

Extracurriculars
I really don’t have significant extracurriculars.

I’ve played piano for about 12 years. I practice a lot, do a few local recitals/competitions every year, and take lessons with a college teacher, so it’s for sure a commitment, but not an impressive one. I like piano and I’m pretty good at it, but it’s just something I do.

I also do a ton of programming for fun, alone and with my friends, but I haven’t done USACO or even taken any CS classes past middle school. But I really love coding and I spent a ton of time doing it, so I would count it as an extracurricular. I’ve joined a few hackathons but haven’t won anything big. Right now a friend and I are working on building our own OS from the ground up. We’ve been working on it for months and plan to continue working on it through the rest of high school. I also run the Python Club at my school with the same friend, but about 5 people come to the weekly meetings and we mostly just goof off.

I also play soccer but just for the city league.

Also, I might get a job with the county this summer, and I did a bit of volunteer work last summer. Nothing more than that though.

Essays/LORs/Other
I think my essays will be decent; I’m a good writer, although I’m not sure how that will translate in college essays. Letters of recommendation should be okay as well. I’m not some super-participator in class, but I do speak up and my teachers know me pretty well (I go to office hours a lot), and I figure they like me well enough.

Schools
I have genuinely no idea where I want to apply, and I’m not sure how to gauge where I would have a reasonable chance of getting in. I’m vaguely interested in Florida Institute of Technology and Stevens Institute of Technology. FIT because of the close ties to NASA, proximity to home, and I love the wetlands. Stevens because it seems like a really good school for engineering (better than FIT I think), and I have family members in the region.

Things I’m looking for:

  • smallish/medium school (small class sizes is the big thing)
  • East Coast, southeast or mid-Atlantic slightly preferable
  • STEM focus
  • not interested in varsity sports or big party culture
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First of all - great job so far. You’re doing really well, and I expect that you will have many possible colleges.

I’ll let other people weigh in on those, I just wanted to comment that, with a PSAT/NMSQ of 1510, you are a National Merit Semi-Finalist, no question. So you should add that to your profile. It won’t make that much difference for admissions, but it could make a very large difference in how much you will need to pay.

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Check out the University of Tulsa. Great engineering school, “Goldilocks” size (not too big, not too small), average class size is 13, and full tuition for NMFs.

If you’re looking at Stevens, check out NJIT. Full cost of admission for NMFs.

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Congrats on your record but what does this mean?

Can you afford $100K a year? $80K? $25K? You need a #.

Am I reading correctly you have just one year of foreign language? You said you are taking more - but is there a transcript for these courses?

You can work for NASA from many schools - whether Florida Tech, Johns Hopkins, Oklahoma State - the school isn’t necessarily limiting.

You can major in Aero or MechE, etc. You can minor in a policy type class, double major or maybe do an MPA later.

I wouldn’t worry about who knows your school. Is it an online school?

Many schools don’t require ECs and they have really smart kids walking around - so you’ll have options - but you do need to start with a budget, unless you can afford $100K a year.

So you’re a Florida resident? You start with what can I afford - and your statement on cost doesn’t change that.

I wouldn’t rate Stevens better than FIT - I would say FIT is more Proximus to space launches. A UAH isn’t that that far - and is surrounded by space / aero companies. It’s not called Rocket City (Huntsville) for nothing. But do you want a UF large type, etc. Do sports matter or greek life, etc. so these things, in addition to budget, are what you need to figure out.

But since you noted smallish / medium, I thinking:

Florida - FIT and ERAU

Mass - WPI

New York - RPI

Those are aero. For MechE, easily transferrable, same schools plus:

Alabama - UAH (Mech/Aero)

NY - Clarkson, Rochester, RPI

PA - Lafayette,

Tennessee - Tennessee Tech, UT Chattanooga

Good luck.

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What level of Spanish will you complete by the time you graduate high school?

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This is a very good EC. You have shown commitment to an activity that you care about, plus the ability to stick with it for a significant period of time, invest and lot of time and effort, and do well. I worked in high tech for my entire career and you might be surprised how many engineers and computer science professionals and mathematicians are also quite good at music.

I would too.

This is another good EC.

I personally think that your ECs are fine. It sounds like you did what was right for you, did it well, and showed a commitment to some specific productive activities.

Looking at your grades, it looks like you did particularly well in mathematics. I was a math major, and at least I found that there are jobs for math majors. You might be surprised how many things there are in this world that only work because someone did the math. At least in my experience math majors end up in a rather wide range of careers. Having some knowledge of computer science is very helpful for a math major, but you are strong in this area also. There are a number of math-heavy fields that could consider (eg, physics, CS, AI, machine learning, econometrics, operations research, acoustics, …).

Regarding budget: You might want to find out whether or not your parents would be comfortable spending $100,000 per year for your bachelor’s degree, and if you ever get to the point of considering graduate school whether spending this much for a bachelor’s would impact their ability to help you with the cost of a master’s degree.

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You are very accomplished. Be confident and apply everywhere you want!

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Hi, thanks for the response!

I don’t know, I haven’t talked much with my parents about finances yet but I will. There are a lot of great scholarships Florida has for high PSAT scorers, but it’s not completely clear whether I count as a homeschooler or an out-of-state student under Florida law, so I may not qualify.

All my Spanish classes from Florida Virtual will be on my official transcript. I’ve taken Spanish 1 through 4 and done fine in all of them.

And yeah, my school is online. I can’t say too much about it without giving it away, but academically it’s a really great school with really good classes and teachers.

Again, thanks for the great response!

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If you get NMF, that will open other options - maybe not the school size - but for example, Alabama would be basically free - free tuition (5 years), housing 4 years - and a yearly stipend which mostly covers food. Others full tuition. Smaller Tulsa mentioned upthread but not in your area - tuition and room.

Budget is always A, B, and C - and would you qualify for - not just PSAT but Bright Futures?

It’s tough to look at colleges - until you have an idea of what you can spend.

But some of the schools I noted will all be reasonable - like $40K and less - most likely - especially the ones down south. Of course, $40K may not be reasonable to your family.

So you really need to understand finances. And then come back.

But you have some names to look at in the meantime - just to learn more about college.

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Re jobs for math majors – don’t forget actuary. Sounds dull as dishwater, but it can be quite engaging for the right personality, and very well paying.

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Unfortunately I don’t think I qualify for Bright Futures. You have to be either enrolled in a Florida school or be registered as a homeschooler in Florida for 2 years prior. Under their definition of home education I am homeschooled, but we (my parents and I) didn’t realize that I should be registered as a homeschooler until very recently.

I might qualify for the Benacquisto scholarship program. I’m not sure though, the requirements are kind of unclear for my situation.

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@Melissa96 Can you help OP sort thru whether they might qualify for Benacquisto?

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That’s the route my daughter took, finance major, accounting and math minors. It was easy to get an internship, had many offers, and it came with a job offer after graduation. I think she’s studying for her 5th exam (gets a bonus after each she passes). She’s literally studying now, she gets a day a week to study. Her work environment is great. She’s only 8 months in but still gets excited about what she’s learning.

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Does your online school provide college counseling? Your transcript is unconventional enough in certain ways that I am hesitant to guarantee you will meet the recommendations/requirements for any given selective college. Maybe, it would just be nice if someone with first hand knowledge of who gets admitted where from your school can confirm that.

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Even though it’s an online school my school is pretty cracked. I think last year it was ranked in the top 10 private schools in America; the acceptance rate is ~30%. The average SAT score is something like 1500 and the graduation rate is 100%. I don’t have specific numbers, but a lot of kids get into really selective colleges. I have some 12th-grade friends who have gotten into Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and Brown with large scholarships.

By my school’s standards I’m ahead in English and science, maybe slightly ahead in math. I have middle schoolers and freshmen in my multivariable calc class though, so it’s definitely an unusual school.

My school does have college counseling. I’m probably going to talk to my counselor after spring break about some of these things.

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Definitely make use of your college counselor, they should be of great help to you (you are at a very good high school.) Tell them what type of colleges you are interested in and go from there. They should know what you will need curriculum wise to be competitive at your set of colleges. Good luck.

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Rose Hulman Institute might be a place that would be interesting to you.

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Not sure about these information. It seems these schools do not have merit based scholarships, only need based aid if that was what you meant, which will vary from person to person.

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OP- you are getting some good advice on this thread.

I’ll just add that you can get a job at NASA, JPL, and many other aerospace/aviation/space related organizations with a degree in Math, CS, Physics, Geology, Astronomy, Oceanography as well as engineering. So if you haven’t had a chance to read some course catalogs to see what courses you would take in a variety of majors– and compare it to some of the engineering paths- you might want to do that. Engineering is great- and so are these other fields. There will be a lot of overlap (all of these disciplines require math and physics proficiency, for example) and a lot that is distinct. So take some time to do a little research- it may help you narrow down your interests (or broaden them- which is also great!)

Agree that talking to your HS counselor is an important next step. And getting some budget guidance from your parents– there will be a major difference between “sky’s the limit, we’ve been saving for college since the day you were born” and “We can afford $45K per year, including transportation, lab fees, books”.

You sound terrific!

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Yeah, I don’t know the details but I know a lot of my friends have gotten need-based aid as well as money they’ve gotten from outside scholarships.