<p>GPA - 3.7 UW/4.3 W (IB Courseload)
SAT - 750 M, 740 CR, 760 W (Not retaking)
SAT II - Physics 760, Chemistry 750 Math IIc 790 and US History 790
ECs - SGA (Student Advocate), Model UN (VP), Political Forum, Debate (We don’t have a leadership position technically speaking, but I’m like the unofficial Captain) [All 4 years except Model UN]</p>
<p>Work Experience - Internship at a think tank for the summer. Worked close to 20 hours a week during Junior year.
EFC - $2
Major - Probably Mechanical or Chemical Engineering. Political Science - but academia or law school look like the only options career wise.
Volunteer work - Advocacy group - probably 400+ hours.</p>
<p>Schools under consideration (The generous financial aid offered played a decent role)</p>
<p>MIT - I LOVE the culture. Everything from IAP to Hacks
Harvard - Maybe, the engineering curriculum looks very interesting and fun. Definitely not because it’s Harvard
Princeton - Undergrad focus
Stanford - Academic programs
Rice - Small classes, tons of academic opportunities
Cornell - Location (yes Ithaca) and Engineering Co-op
UPenn - Research being done there
Northwestern - Interesting curriculum and Co-op
Columbia - Research and opportunities looks promising (afraid NYC might overwhelm me)
UVA - In state
UMD - Looks like it has decent opportunities
Vanderbilt - Size, Well rounded, Don’t know much about its Engineering</p>
<p>And as I mentioned Berkeley, UMich, Wisconsin, Minnesota, UIUC</p>
<p>I’d like to attend a well rounded and small school that focuses on undergraduates.</p>
<p>“normal”? With a 2250 SAT? Yeah. I guess that’s normal here </p>
<p>What exactly do you want recommendations on? If you’re talking about schools to choose, most of those seem fit for your caliber. Make sure you have safeties when you apply. If you are considering engineering you may consider some LAC’s as well because some have very good engineering programs. And the classes are small. The school (a LAC on the East Coast) I go to has an excellent engineering department and about one in five students are engineers.</p>
<p>I think you should take a class in “normalcy.” 'Cause your stats are not normal. For CC, maybe; for the rest of the world - no way.</p>
<p>That said, what are you asking of us? That we choose one from your list or that we recommend more schools? It looks like you’ve already done some reseach.</p>
<p>Where do you want to look? Who do you want to go to school with? How much do you want to pay? Do you want football or a kickbutt dance squad? Do you want a religious school? </p>
<p>Sorry, I just noticed I didn’t any such info. I apologize, I thought I had put it all up there :o</p>
<p>Anyway like my stats profile reflects I’d like to go to a small to medium sized school with stellar academics, well balanced (academically and to an extent socially). The atmosphere is along the lines of friendly and intellectual. I don’t care much for Football or religion…</p>
<p>EDIT: Even after 3 posts asking for more information I still left out the most important factor to me. Cost, I want to go to a place where 100% of my need is met or decent merit aid is available (EFC=$2)</p>
<p>If you prefer small schools, cut off some of the giants. OOS, publics tend to be just as expensive as privates, if not more expensive. So I’d replace them (except for maybe UVA) with private safeties where you’d be happier…and probably get more merit money.</p>
<p>Ya but the extreme presence of Alcohol was somewhat of a turn off. Still I did place it over Cornell and Columbia (in my stat profile).</p>
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<p>Back when I was researching MITs culture I came across CalTech (Hacks/Rivalry etc). I thought CalTech was really cool and all but then the website openly stated that the atmosphere would more or less be entirely stressful. Plus I don’t have any Math/Science ECs :(</p>
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<p>I posted the updates to my list in the Parent Forum. I have eliminated all OOS Publics besides UVA. What private safeties do you recommend?</p>
<p>RPI? They’ve been sending me mail since Freshman year and it looks like it’d be more of a safety. I’ve been recently warming up to the idea of it, but I hear the teaching quality is pretty poor.</p>
The school (a LAC on the East Coast) I go to has an excellent engineering department and about one in five students are engineers.</p>