<p>I’m a junior in high school looking into engineering. No specific type, but mechanical and civil have really caught my attention.</p>
<p>Of course, I’ve been getting loads of letters from colleges ever since I scored so highly on the PSAT. I’m in all honors/AP courses, and my weighted GPA is about a 4.3. My SAT score was a 1440/2150, and I’ll probably be retaking it later this year.</p>
<p>I want to narrow down my colleges to a “top ten.”</p>
<p>Which schools should I look into that fit my interests and grade types?</p>
<p>1 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br>
2 Stanford University (CA)
3 University of California–Berkeley *
4 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
5 U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
6 Georgia Institute of Technology *
7 Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
8 Cornell University (NY)
9 California Institute of Technology<br>
10 Carnegie Mellon University ¶
11 University of Texas–Austin *
12 Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
13 Princeton University (NJ)
14 Virginia Tech *
15 Texas A&M Univ.–College Station *
16 Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities *
17 Northwestern University (IL)
18 Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY)
19 Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
20 Johns Hopkins University (MD)
21 Ohio State University–Columbus *
22 Lehigh University ¶</p>
<p>My suggestion for you to not look at overall school ranking that much. Being humble during the whole college application process won’t hurt either.</p>
<p>I’d look at the top 20-30 schools and pick among the ones that seem to fit you as a person. Take a few in the top 10 as possible reaches (since nobody’s really guaranteed a spot in them), some in 10-20, and maybe one or two below. Going to a school that’s ranked #5 instead of #1 isn’t really a big difference, you’ll get the same basic classes at both places. What’ll change is how much you get out of the classes due to how well you fit in with the atmosphere of the school.</p>
<p>I think caltech is actually quite a poor choice for undergrad if you plan on studying civil engineering. Their program isn’t even ABET accredited, which is pretty much THE most important factor in college selection if you plan on being a practicing civil engineer. </p>
<p>Aside from that, their civil engineering program seems to only consist of earthquake engineering, which is only a tiny part of this major. </p>
<p>Go elsewhere if you plan on being a civil engineer.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon University
Cornell University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (apply as early as possible)</p>
<p>^ Sounds about right, though I don’t know about Princeton. It also seems like a bit of a reach and you might need more safeties and matches than just Urbana Champaign.</p>