<p>I am a high school junior, and I need some guidance in forming a list of colleges and figuring out what tier of schools I should be aiming for. In general, I’m interested in math, electronics, and computing. Right now my list of majors includes Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science. I plan to determine which of these (if any) will best fit me during college.</p>
<p>Before I list my stats, I want to say that even if I were to be accepted into a top-tier school, money will be the deciding factor of where I go. My parents have not saved up money for college and have not allowed me to get a job, so the major part of my tuition will have to come from merit and financial aid. I am not willing to build up an enormous debt for an undergraduate education. That being said, I’m not too picky about the “name” value of my school, but ideally I do want it to be known in the field of computing.</p>
<p>For the sake of this post, I would like you CCers to suggest some schools regardless of cost, and if you can, some schools with the possibility for a nice merit scholarship in mind</p>
<p>Here are my stats. I will keep some of my extracurriculars general for the sake of anonymity.</p>
<p>General ECs:
Music:
Member of my city’s youth orchestra
Member of a local university brass ensemble
School marching band
School concert band
I teach private lessons to other musicians that play my instrument
Section leader sophomore and junior years</p>
<p>Clubs: (Note: clubs are not a prominent part of my school and are teacher-run.)
Member of 2 service clubs and 2 language clubs</p>
<p>Awards/Recognition
Music:
Top chair at All-Region freshman, sophomore, and junior years
1st chair All-State sophomore year, results pending for All-State this year
I have twice performed as a featured soloist competition winner at an out of state university
Will attend my state’s Governor’s School for the Arts this summer (it is similar to a month-long summer college program, awards 3 college credit-hours)
Soloist awards at 2 marching competitions</p>
<p>Academics:
Won state-wide writing competition (about 70 winners are chosen)
210 on the PSAT, expecting National Merit Commended, but I’m just below my state’s average semifinalist cutoff
34.25 on ACT without Writing (36/32/35/34), recently took it with writing, scores pending
Plan to take SAT II Math II and Chemistry this June
4.0 UW GPA (my school doesn’t have weighted averages as far as I know)
Very likely to graduate valedictorian</p>
<p>AP/IB: none. My school offers no AP courses. Instead, we have dual enrollment courses at a state university. These are all junior/senior classes. I am currently enrolled in 1 as a junior, and I plan to take 4 out of the 6 dual enrollment courses at my school by the time I graduate (the two I won’t take are art and theater classes). I have taken the most rigorous courses my school offers.</p>
<p>Community service: I am aiming to have 100 hours of community service before I graduate, but I’m not sure if that will be feasible. My summer is almost completely taken up by music-related activities.</p>
<p>I realize that for a prospective engineering student, my ECs are very music-heavy, but I have done the best I can. To my knowledge, there are not very many opportunities to participate in science fairs, math competitions, etc. in my area, so take that for what it’s worth.</p>