Research and transfer/international student application

akaisora
Fri, 23 Aug 2013 17:57:45 +0000

Hi there. I wanted to hear what people have to say about this. I plan on studying Electrical Engineering; probably double major or minor with physics. My main interest is research and E.E is the closest engineering major to physics and a major that can warrant me a scholarship and a job were I live; I want to get my masters, PhD and hopefully a nobel prize ( yeah, you’ve heard/read it) but I need a job to start funding anything and live?

I completed one year in college. I got there by mistake as I intended to attend a honors/prep program then apply abroad as a freshman. I didn’t do well on the first semester but here are my records:

First semester:
Completed Physics honors, got a D because I didn’t study for finals; I enjoyed physics and did well at first.

Failed precalculus, despite completing calculus and doing well at high school; I even did well at integration and the shapes that you use integration to get. It was my fault for not taking things seriously and not adapting to college.

Dropped a programming/engineering course, ENGR112, C++ and matlab.

Failed English course.

Second semester:

Got an A in university level English/writing research papers.

Got a B- in ENGR112 ( c++ and matlab); I could have gotten an A but I did a 3 weeks team project on my own and neglected finals.

Failed precalculus; guess what? It was perfect until mid-term when someone “individual” wanted to prevent students from using calculators and I ignored the whole course and focused on the matlab project.

My current GPA: 3.35
TOEFL: IBT 97/120.
SAT: I will take the exam in October and subject test in November.
ACT: None.
AP: Didn’t know about that until last month; wish that I knew about it during highschool.
Race/ethnicity: Not Asian ( no offense).

I plan on joining math club, debate club and semi-conductor research. I also want to start a physics club since none exists here. I am going to take chemistry this semester but I want to add engineering design and English II; calculus I is next semester and physics I has a CI as prerequisites.

Feedback from instructors: Lab instructor said that I have good skills as an engineer, and I even attended a quantum cryptography lecture that many professors and students attended; I like the subject of quantum computing.

I am applying to Northeastern university and I am self-studying some subjects and higher level physics, as my main interest is research. I always wanted to join professors at doing research. I studying for SAT currently, and I plan on doing a project. I wanted to experiment with fusion/plasma reactors but I am will try another project with a different thesis/goal.

I want to hear opinions on this and what should I do.