<p>Hi everyone! I am intending to major in computer science at either GA tech, NC State (in state school), CMU, or Stanford. What I really want from a college is to be surrounded by exceptional and brilliant people that I can be inspired and pushed by and that I can draw energy from! My question is, am I definitely going to be surrounded by people like this a significant time at just Stanford and maybe CMU, or can I find lots of fellow students like this at all of these colleges? I am just worried that if I go to nc state, I will not feel inspired very much and I will not have as many awesome opportunities as if I were at a more prestigious university! Any input would be appreciated!
Thanks :)</p>
<p>1) Have you been admitted to all of these places?</p>
<p>2) Can you pay for all of the places where you have been admitted?</p>
<p>If you can’t answer yes to both of those questions, it is too early to get worried about this issue. Come back in April after you have your admissions offers and your financial aid packages in hand, and then ask whether A at $B is better or worse than C at $D.</p>
<p>There are brilliant and inspirational students everywhere - NC State will have it’s share too, including those who either couldn’t afford to spend big dollars to go to school elsewhere or didn’t see the value in doing so. Your job, as a student, is to find them. Being one of those people is a good place to start, because stars attract stars and your reputation will get around. The faculty also know who their stars are and, since there may be fewer of them fighting for their attention, you will stand out all the more.</p>
<p>Both moms have good points. Also consider this, not all inspiring students would have the qualifications to get into the prestigious schools for a variety of reasons. It might be easier to find the concentrations you’re looking for at Stanford which is a legitimate concern, but don’t think your opportunities will be limited because you don’t go to Stanford. The number of students has been increasing the past 50 years but the number of slots at “prestigious” schools, haven’t. So you’re going to be finding a lot of talented people elsewhere.</p>
<p>A state university which is decently large and whose student yield includes a significant number of students from the upper range of selectivity (i.e. a large flagship level school) will typically have a significant number of top students present, although it will be a subset of the overall student body.</p>
<p><a href=“i.e.%20a%20large%20flagship%20level%20school”>I</a> will typically have a significant number of top students present, although it will be a subset of the overall student body. *</p>
<p>Exactly…</p>
<p>Large schools generally have a concentration of smart kids in the STEM majors…because those majors weed out kids who can’t compete quite early on. These majors tend to require classes like Calculus I, II, III, DifEq, Physics, and Gen Chem which often weed kids out rather quickly.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter that there are kids across campus who aren’t as academically strong…those kids won’t be in your classes…at least not for long.</p>
<p>happymom- I disagree with you here. OP is trying to research his/her choice of places where he can apply. Why is it needed to spend money and time to fill applications only to later find out that the school doesn’t fit your requirement? One can not apply to all the places and then start researching after getting selected. Please do not discourage asking question. Many beginners have similar questions. </p>
<p>And OP did not raise the question of dollar. It is safe not to guess if he/she can afford the school of his choice. My mom told it is not polite to doubt someone’s financial ability.</p>
<p>*My mom told it is not polite to doubt someone’s financial ability. *</p>
<p>Yes, in normal social situations, we don’t ask such questions…especially in face to face situations. </p>
<p>However, here it’s rather anonymous and students NEED to consider whether a school would be affordable. As you said yourself, applying to a bunch of schools takes time and money…so why not avoid wasted time and money by not applying to schools that won’t work?</p>
<p>We can’t assume that money isn’t an issue, because many kids either wrongly assume that their parents will pay or they wrongly assume that the schools will give them large amounts of money. No one wants these kids to have a handful of unaffordable acceptances in the spring.</p>
<p>If you can swing it financially (and by that I mean with minimal debt), I’d go to Stanford or maybe CMU. There are good students everywhere to be sure, but there are a lot more at the top schools. I transferred from a top state school to an Ivy League school (years ago, admittedly) and found a world of difference in terms of both students and teachers. That said, if finances are an issue, as they are for many, then that must be considered as well.</p>
<p>yesdee -</p>
<p>I took the original post to mean that the applications had already been filed, which means that the OP is being anxious about things that may not turn out to be important. Until the admissions and financial aid offers (if needed) are on the table, the OP shouldn’t be expending energy on this. </p>
<p>If as you believe this student is making his/her initial list, then you are absolutely correct that money is a factor that must be taken into consideration when creating that list. This begins with sitting his/her parents down and having The Big Money Talk. The OP needs to know what his/her family can afford, and what the colleges are likely to think that they can afford - often two very different things. As m2ck points out, all too many families neglect this step and find out very late indeed that they can’t afford the places where the student has been admitted.</p>
<p>
The average SAT scores for engineering at NCSU are 600 V and 660 M. SAT scores aren’t everything, and mom2collegekids is right that a lot of kids get weeded out, but that is still a far cry from Stanford and CMU. (Based on test score percentiles alone, ~5-10% of engineers are on par with a typical Stanford student.)</p>
<p>NC State does have some highly intelligent people; some of the smartest people from my high school ended up there. You’ll just have to work a bit harder to find them than you might at some of the other colleges you applied to. On a positive note, Raleigh is a nice and rapidly growing city, and State has a pretty good quality of life. For engineering-related fields, it’s definitely the best bang for your buck in the NC area. From what I understand, engineering is one of the most egalitarian career fields, and attending an elite college rarely provides a salary premium.</p>
<p>*The average SAT scores for engineering at NCSU are 600 V and 660 M. SAT scores aren’t everything, and mom2collegekids is right that a lot of kids get weeded out, but that is still a far cry from Stanford and CMU. (Based on test score percentiles alone, ~5-10% of engineers are on par with a typical Stanford student.)</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Could you provide the link for the avg scores of the NCState engineering student? Is that for incoming frosh? </p>
<p>* For the fall of 2011, the average **first-year student admitted to the College of Engineering **had a weighted high school grade point average between 4.2 and 4.6 (unweighted 3.4 - 3.8), or mainly A’s and B’s; 60% of all new engineering freshmen were in the top 10% of their high school graduating class. The middle 50% of incoming [eng’g] freshmen had SAT scores in the 1170-1350 range (on the original two-part SAT, critical reading and math) or ACT scores in the mid-to-high 20’s. Students are required to submit new SAT scores with the writing component.*</p>
<p>The above is from NCSU’s CoE website. I don’t know if NCSU makes an effort to include a good number of URMs in its CoE, but if it does, then that can affect its range. Southern schools that make an effort to include a good number of URMs in STEM majors do take a “hit” in their test score ranges since those scores are often much lower - because often those students’ K-12 education has not been as strong.</p>
<p>And, again, the scores of frosh aren’t that relevant. Eng’g likely heavily weeds. I imagine that a good chunk change their majors within the first few semesters.</p>
<p>Anyway…I’m not saying that the NCState eng’g students are on par with Stanford’s, etc, but the NCState kids also aren’t likely ones who super-studied for the SAT and took it 10 times to get an amazing superscore. NC kids who are heading to NCState for eng’g may only take the SAT once or twice to get a “good enough” score and then they’re done. </p>
<p>I’m no longer impressed by the top reporting stats at the top schools because too many of those kids have tested themselves to death and then it’s super-scores that are being reported. </p>
<p>And, once you’re “good enough” in math and sciences, top scores are not what makes a great engineer.</p>
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<p>I think that’s a very insightful goal. The aspirational push could come from the occasional highly-impressive peer, but it’s much more likely to come from the overall culture of the setting - the typical student at a campus as opposed to the exceptional one. In that regard, CMU and Stanford would be quite different from NC State. GT is a whole different phenomenon, because it tends to draw students who are more single-minded and committed to their calling rather than all-around high achievers.</p>
<p>There will be more top students at prestigious schools (eg Stanford) but less prestigious schools (NC State, which is perfectly respectable) will still have their share.</p>