Mechanical Engineering chances and ED school

CX380LAX
Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:00:01 +0000

I am looking to apply to Columbia, Cornell, U Penn, Duke, UC Berkeley, U Mich Ann Arbor, and other mechanical engineering programs of that caliber.

I am a California resident. I don’t know where I should ED. I really want Columbia but I feel that it’s a longshot for me even if i am applying ED. Am I better off ED’ing to Cornell/Duke/U Penn as there may be a chance that I would get in for ED but not RD?

Here are my stats:

Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0 (straight A’s)
Class Rank: 1/796

Courseload:
Freshmen Year – Geometry P, Bio Honors, Spanish 2 Honors, English 1 Honors, PE, World History P
Community College – Intermediate Algebra
Summer – Precalc Honors
Sophomore Year – AP Calc AB, AP Comp Sci, Chemistry Honors, English 2H, Track, Spanish 3 Honors
Summer – American History P
Junior – AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Spanish Lang, AP Chemistry, English 3H, Track
Summer – Music Appreciation
Senior – AP Psych, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Econ, AP English Lang, IB Math HL

SAT:
Highest per test date: 780M, 760W, 630R = 2170
Superscore: 780M, 760W, 660R = 2200

PSAT:
National Merit Commended (212)

AP:
Comp Sci – 4
Calc AB – 5
Chem, Spanish, Stats, Calc BC – Pending
AP Scholar w/ Distinction

Activities:
Track – hurdles 10th/11th grade
FIRST Robotics Team – 10th grade; Los Angeles Regional Winner
FBLA – 10th/11th/12th; Board Member, Sponsorships Officer; Placed top 10 at state
CSF – 10th/11th/12th; Treasurer 2012; 64 community service hours
Leo Club – 9th/10th/11th/12th; Director of Lions International Publicity, District 4-L4 Activities Director, District Newsletter Editor; 500+ community service hours
Link Crew – 11th/12th; Captain
Pocketful of Sunshine – 11th/12th; Treasurer
American Cancer Society Relay for Life – 4 year participant

Awards:
–“Top 10” student; 10th
–2011 Outstanding Volunteer in City; 10th
–LA County Fair Community Hero of city; 11th
–Lions Student Speaker Contest winner
–FBLA Sections: 2nd Global Business; 6th Marketing
–Misc. awards from FBLA and Leo Club for completing certain projects
–JPL invention challege: 2nd place regionals
–FIRST Robotics Competition: Los Angeles Regional Winner

Misc:
–Southeast Asian
–Male

Personal Statement:
I’ll most likely talk about the robotics team in which I dedicated 25 hours each week for 7 weeks. I was the youngest in the team (sophomore) and the team only lasted for 1 year because the adviser quit even though we won regionals. I am the only member from the original team still going to the school because the others have graduated. I spent the past year working to bring back FRC (A LOT of work and road blocks) for senior year and will be Team Captain/President. While coordinating FRC, I also worked with local middle schools to form a solid robotics program that spans from middle school into high school where students at a younger age are able to participate and the older ones will serve as mentors. FRC has not only inspired me to focus on engineering but has also allowed me to incorporate business and public speaking skills from FBLA as well as computer science that i learned from taking AP Comp Sci.

So, what are my chances for ED/RD Columbia, Cornell, U Penn, Georgia Tech, Stanford, U Mich, Duke?

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