I just got my SAT back and I got a 1510 whoo hoo, combine gpa of a 4.3. I had a 3.0 freshman year which is a little telling of my progression.
APs: 5 Chem, 4 Bio, 5 APUSH, 4 comp sci (ugh)
SAT 2’s: 760 Chem, 760 bio
I’ve started the mechanical engineering club at my school.
I have also won some computer science awards (machine learning projects), have about 400 hours of community service (i believe this is a lot), work part time as a machinist, and I’m currently working on starting my own charity. I would be looking to either apply for computer science or mechanical engineering.I think my application is a little heavy on the extracurricular which can make this a very unscientific process.
I have completed many coursera certifications in computer science and finance.
PS: I’m an Ohio resident and a Canadian citizen. It’s kind of last minute but my previous test score was a 1330 sat so it’s up quite a bit.
Safety: OSU, Lafayette
Mid range: open to suggestions? McGill, Georgia Tech
Reaches: Rice, St. Louis Suggestions?
I’m considering going early decision to a reach if it works out financially. Mostly I’m looking for some reach schools that i could possible ED to, Don’t want to do Vanderbilt (not because it’s bad).
I have looked at a few of your previous threads. It seems like there is great uncertainty about what you can afford. Have you run the net price calculators (NPC) for these schools? It does not make sense to apply somewhere ED if you know you can’t afford it, and you suspect you might not get financial aid based on the results of the NPC. If you get in ED, and can’t afford it, you will have to turn down the offer. You can’t put an ED offer on hold until May 1.
I have also seen previous posters recommend Canadian schools for you. Based on other posts, It looks like you have thought a lot about your list of schools, so I would not alter it too much based on your new scores. Adding Rice and Wash U as reaches is a good idea. Wash U has no supplemental essays, but Rice has 4 - and they take a lot of thought. So if you are seriously thinking about Rice, you need to start working on the essays now. Lehigh might also be a good one to add to your list. Not sure if you need many more schools. I think Georgia Tech is a reach based on out of state and applying to two very popular majors, CS and ME.
Your new SAT score is great, and will help, but once a score reaches a certain level it doesn’t get you into a reach school. All of the other elements have to be there. It looks like your ECs are strong, you have good rigor, and you have an upward trend to your grades. What is your UW GPA?
Congrats on your SAT. I agree with the post above about looking at some Canadian schools seeing as there are a lot of good options and they would be a lot cheaper. I’m also applying to Rice and Wash U so I might have some suggestions for similar schools. You should take a look at Emory, Georgetown, Tufts, and Northwestern which are all fairly similar in size, proximity to a city and admission difficulty. They do have different campus feels though so it’s worth looking into them more.
Thanks for the help guys, the financial aspect for me so an ED prob won’t work. My top choice has always been McGill, but I love OSU as well. Just looking to give myself a reach or two to consider if I get in. Unfortunately I didn’t get much time to figure out if I could ED or not. Seems like I still have a half decent shot even without it.
I’ve already applied to U of T, Mcgill, UBC, and waterloo (even though i don’t really like it).
My biggest concern with a lot of the top schools like Northwestern, Emory, and Georgetown is that they don’t have great computer science programs from what I’ve heard.
I’d put Northwestern in a different tier than the rest in terms of reputation and admissions difficulty. 9% acceptance rate overall last year (7-8% RD acceptance rate). None of the other schools have acceptance rates below 15%. SAT average / ACT range of Northwestern are also quite a bit higher than the other peers (w/ the exception of WashU).
And Emory is in a totally different tier than the others in terms of admissions and reputation (acceptance rate is north of 20% and average SAT is significantly lower than the rest).