Demographics: Japanese/ Japanese citizenship only/ Female
Intended major: Mechanical or electrical engineering
Stats
-IB semester grade: Physics HL (6) Chem HL (6) Math AAHL (7) Spanish SL (7) English A SL (6) Global politics (5)
-IB predicted grade: Physics HL (7) Chem HL (6) Math AAHL (7) Spanish SL (7) English A SL (7) Global politics (5)
our school don’t do rankings
-SAT: 1460 currently, trying to take it one more time
In-school activities that I have done
-MUN: chair
-Student council: secretary
-Peer tutoring: math
-school house system leader
-robotics: founding member/ won fourth place (it was a really small competition)
-TEDx: gave a speech
Extracurricular
-went to a not-famous summer campus which was about engineering
-school representative for the city stem competition in grade 7
-300 hours of work experience in an engineering firm
-40 hours of work experience in a local hospital
-anti-plastic campaign activist
-won 4th place in research paper competition held by HOBY
Essay: assuming that it will be decent
LOR: will be decent
Budget: full paid
I have only transferred to an international school in grade 9 so i really have no extracurriculars or special activities that makes me stand out which makes me really concerned…
Can you be brutally honest and match me with some schools THANK YOU
It may offer some additional insights, and there are most likely other similar threads that you can see other comments about.
I’m not an engineering person, to be upfront, but some things I’d like for you to keep in mind, mainly regarding cost. You stated the following in your post:
However this can mean a variety of things. Being that you are applying as an international student, financial aid is severely limited. While some colleges do supply full need to international students, those are hard to come by and most don’t give any at all. If your family is willing to front any cost, than you can disregard this.
With the Student Visa you will need to enter the United States (if you apply to the US), your family will need to demonstrate that they can afford to pay 12 months of college and potentially more, something to be cognizant of as you calculate using NPCs and more.
It looks like you will be a strong applicant and I’m paging @MYOS1634 who may be able to help with how your grades will convert.
Clarification on what “full paid” means will be helpful. Is your family willing and able to spend $90k (or more) per year for college? If not, then we need a budget of how much it is willing to spend.
Additionally, what kind of college experience are you looking for? Some questions that you may want to think about include:
What size school would you prefer?
What size classes do you prefer?
Are there regions/states that you would prefer to live in (or prefer to avoid)?
How do you feel about Greek life (sororities/fraternities)?
How do you feel about significant enthusiasm for intercollegiate sports?
Are there particular opportunities you want to pursue while you’re attending college?
How would you describe the vibe of the people you would hope to find on-campus?
How do you feel about urban/suburban/small town/remote colleges?
Will religious or political sentiments play a role in your college decision? If so, how?
Once we know more about your budget and what you want out of your college experience, we can then be more helpful in offering suggestions.
Okay, I’m going to give you some names of schools. You can read about the schools on their websites, see their virtual tours, and try and get a feel for them. Once you’ve done that, you might find that you have some preferences.
Rose-Hulman (IN)
George Washington (D.C.)
Santa Clara (CA)
Iowa State
There are small, medium, and large schools, rural, college town, and big city schools, some with big school spirit and some where sports are not really a thing. They’re all good schools, but all very different. What appeals to you? What turns you off?
My son is a rising high school senior and is at Rose-Hulman doing an engineering camp right now. It’s a small school, but he said he’s really enjoying it so far. We did a tour with a female engineering student, and she said she is happy at the school and with the support they receive. Their career outcomes for engineers are really good. The 75th percentile SAT last year was 1460, so it could qualify you for some merit.
Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio has a lot of partnerships with Honda. Honda also has manufacturing and research and development facilities in central Ohio. Dublin, Ohio which is an adjacent city of Columbus is home to many Japanese executives.
There isn’t good merit aid for incoming international freshman, so you do need to be full pay and they are need aware for international admissions. It’s important to apply by their early action deadline to secure a spot in engineering.
On the common app indicate you are interested in mechanical engineering. It is easy to switch to their electrical and computer engineering department if you change your mind. But ability to switch into mechanical engineering isn’t offered for incoming classes. These policies have been in flux lately.
If robotics is still an interest for you, you might like WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute). It’s a smaller school, mostly STEM majors, very strong in engineering. They give merit aid and, in the past, gave significant awards to women (although I understand a female benefactor has died so some of the female only awards seem to have disappeared). But they are great at robotics, and very strong in MechE and other engineering disciplines.