Match Me! Michigan HS Junior w/ interests in urban planning, civil and environmental engineering, and public policy! (4.0 unweighted gpa, 1570 SAT)

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

US Citizen in Michigan, Public high school.

Intended Major(s)

Like the title says, I have interests in urban planning, civil and environmental engineering, economics and public policy, but also welcome any advice about specific majors or programs in that area!

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.27/4.33
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1570 (770 Math, 800 Reading)

List your HS coursework

AP US History, Bio: 5

In progress: AP Calculus BC, Chemistry, Lang, Government, +4 years of German

Awards

? I don’t think I have any awards… do most highschoolers get awarded things?

Extracurriculars
Work - Grocery Store in the summer, Soccer/Basketball Reffing on weekends during the school year.

Other stuff - Future City Highschool, Quiz Bowl, Lots of Church stuff (Councils and Volunteering), Math Honor Society, German Honor Society. On a moderately successful rec basketball team with my buddies. Also volunteer during the summer on fridays with a different church giving out meals.

Schools
This is really why I am posting this (sorry if I get things wrong!) is to get advice on what sort of schools you think have programs or majors or whatever you think I would be interested in + I could get into.

Currently considering: Michigan and MSU, Northwestern, University of Chicago, Dartmouth (obviously some are reaches)… also interested in maybe going to canada for school… pros and cons?

(I apologize in advance if I got something wrong in the format!) Thanks for your replies!

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What year are you currently?

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The title says the student is a Junior.

OP - Do you have a budget from your parents?

Since you aren’t sure about your major, you may want to focus on schools where you don’t need to declare your major until your sophomore year so you have a chance to explore.

Have you done any college tours yet? If not, start with visiting some schools close to home to see if you prefer large or small, urban or rural, etc…

You have a great profile and I’m sure you will have many options.

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Thanks for your input!

Yep I am a junior, and I do not have a budget from my parents. We are well off… but I should definitely get more information about that. I have toured Dartmouth, University of Chicago and Northwestern. I think Dartmouth was my favorite, but I also liked being in a city - the size range they are all in felt good. I probably wouldn’t want to go any smaller than that. Another thing: I am going to YYGS at yale this summer, so that will be cool to see the campus. Obviously I am lucky to be able to consider any of these options - and U of M in state is something I am more than perfectly comfortable with.

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If you like Dartmouth, you may want to research Bucknell. They should be a match for you and they have some interesting interdisciplinary majors that might appeal to you.

I’m also thinking about Notre Dame. Another reach school but they would like your church volunteering and you would have plenty of time to pursue your interests before needing to declare your major.

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Urban planning/studies can be the tough one here. Some additional schools that you might consider are Brown and UPenn at the reach level. They both have urban studies majors (sidenote, this isn’t urban planning per se, but might be of interest). Brown has a well-regarded school of public policy was well (Watson school). They both also have engineering if you decide to go that way.

Cornell also has some of these majors, but I haven’t investigated enough to know too much about how you might access those majors.

For a target, Rutgers has a particularly well-regarded school of public policy with good coverage of urban policy/planning. It also has a strong engineering school. You can apply to multiple schools at once (up to 3, so you could apply to engineering and art & science simultaneously and then decide when you get in which to choose). The Bloustein school of public policy is available through A&S after you’ve enrolled. You can’t apply there directly.

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We do have some experience with this. I am originally from Montreal, we live in the northeast of the US, and one daughter did attend university in Canada.

Most of the universities in Canada that you have heard of are large. There are a few smaller universities but these are not as numerous compared to the many liberal arts colleges in the US, and are generally not well known. Some of the smaller schools are very good. Actually the overall university system in Canada is consistently very good.

In most cases compared to universities in the US admissions is relatively predictable and is largely based on grades, although for US students most also will consider SAT scores. Of course in your case your grades and SAT scores are equally excellent, which makes admissions very likely (our daughter who attended university in Canada was in a very similar situation, although her SAT was not quite as excellent as yours). Some universities in Canada will ask about ECs but they seem to be less important compared to schools in the US. Some universities in Canada will not even ask about ECs.

I will assume that you do not have Canadian citizenship and do not have Canadian permanent residence, and that you also do not happen to be a citizen of France or any other francophone country. Let me know if this is wrong. If I have this right, this makes you an international student in Canada, and is likely to make most universities in Canada, including the ones that you have heard of, a bit more expensive compared to the U of Michigan and Michigan State. They might or might not be less expensive compared to Northwestern and Chicago and Dartmouth depending upon whether you qualify for need based aid at the US private schools (it sounds like you might not). In comparing costs keep the exchange rate in mind.

Our daughter who attended university in Canada seemed to take more classes in her major and in related fields compared to our other daughter who attended university in the USA. As far as I know Canadian universities seem to have fewer general education requirements.

I do know multiple people who have gotten a bachelor’s degree in Canada and a graduate degree (master’s or PhD or both) in the US. This is certainly possible, and not all that rare.

And the University of Michigan is also very good. I know a few people who got their bachelor’s degree at U.Michigan and who have done very well (one then got her master’s at Stanford, another is one of the best and most successful software engineers that I have ever worked with). They have certainly made U.M. look very good.

Some of your possible majors are things that you can do with a bachelor’s degree. Some could lead to a master’s degree or some other graduate degree. You might want to keep this in mind when thinking about your budget.

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Dartmouth ABET accredited engineering majors typically need more than 12 quarters (4 academic years).

Chicago and Dartmouth do not have civil engineering.

So if you lean toward the civil engineering side, then consider the availability of it.

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Given they are taking you to the schools they’ve taken you to, then your budget is likely $100K a year. Of course, with your stats, you can go as low as $20K - but I suspect Michigan is a strong possibility for you and State is certainly likely. Michigan Tech might be a bit too narrow, but another outdoors option that likely could meet your educational needs. If you were wanting Michigan but a city, UMN would certainly give you money and would have lots of opportunity. Smaller than UMN would be Pitt, also in a city and strong in the social sciences of your interest.

A different kind of school that would be very safe for you is Colorado School of Mines - loaded with outstanding and academicky students, it’s at the base of the mountains but accessible to Denver. They’ve got civil and environmental engineering, an econ minor, and then minors in Global Politics, an Honors program in Public Affairs (minor), Social Responsibility Minor, water sustainability minor and even a tunneling minor. I’m guessing you could probably meet your interests here, especially if you go toward engineering. Smaller, well respected and outdoorsy.

For a reach, how about MIT - it might be too urban. Cornell - might fit more.

But yes, make sure your folks are willing to spend $100K a year or we are a bit ahead of ourselves in helping you.

Good luck.

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Congratulations on your strong performance in high school! You have made yourself a competitive candidate for most schools.

If you’re interested in civil engineering as a possibility, then I would look at schools that are ABET-accredited for that discipline.

I’m seconding the U. of Pittsburgh suggestion and, if you apply early, I think it would be a likely or extremely likely admit for you. It’s located quite close to another school you might want to consider, Carnegie Mellon. CMU has about 7400 undergrads and is a low-probability admit for anyone, but I don’t think it’s out-of-reach for you. In its Institute for Strategy and Technology it has majors in Economics & Politics; Political Science, Security, & Technology; and a minor in Politics & Public Policy. There’s also a major in Policy & Management. If you go the civil or environmental engineering route, you can add an additional major in Engineering & Public Policy. And if you go for a major in something besides engineering, you could add a major in Science, Technology, and Public Policy. (Descriptions for those can be found in the College of Engineering.) And students at Pitt and CMU can take classes at the other college (or other Pittsburgh area colleges) as part of of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education.

Seconding the Rutgers suggestion, too, and will add on U. of Maryland, U. of Minnesota, and Lehigh. Those schools would probably be toss-ups or likelies, depending on the school.

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I just want to thank everyone so much for responding! It’s pretty incredible to just get such high quality advice from so many people so easily! I’ll for sure add Rutgers, University of Minnesota, CMU and the School of the Mines to my list of places to look into.

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Regarding Canada schools, you can use Accredited Engineering Programs in Canada by program | Engineers Canada to check for civil engineering programs accredited by Engineers Canada. Engineers Canada and ABET have a mutual recognition agreement (see https://www.abet.org/global-engagement/mutual-recognition-agreements/is-your-program-recognized/ under “Engineers Canada Bilateral MRA” and “Washington Accord”).

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