I am 26 years old and am currently enrolled at a CC in NYC. I have had a long and obscure path through life so far leading me to discover my calling back within the academic realm.
A little about myself, I did absolutely horrible in high school because I invested all of my time playing computer games. I was too focused on exploring my interests with building custom PC’s and competitive gaming prior to the e-sport boom. I passed solely on test grades, in-class projects, and did maybe 5% of my homework assignments. I did sub par on my SATs scoring 500/460/500 in 2009 on the old test. I didn’t take any AP classes and did not partake in any ECs. I attended a local CC after high school with no true ambition or inspiration from it as a platform for academic growth. After withdrawing, I spent the following year traveling around exploring my passions in music. I was then scouted by a modeling agency and moved to NYC to meet more inspiring and creative people than the country folk in my hometown corner of Connecticut. As I have gotten older I have drawn more and more attraction to design through working in fashion, this led me to architecture. Two years ago I saved up enough money to do a summer intensive program through PRATT. I gained a phenomenal mentor who is the Core 1 coordinator at Columbia’s GSAPP (Grad school of architecture, preservation, and planning). He tried to bypass typical admissions processes for me to get into schools like PRATT and Cooper Union to further study undergraduate architecture, but I did not get in. I felt that my transcript was just too weak to compete. I later realized architecture was too limiting of a program for what I want to achieve and that I need to study something STEM to suit my personal desires. After tons of research, I landed on nanotechnology engineering as my calling.
I have been at my CC for two semesters while working full-time. My GPA is an unweighted 3.95 and I have taken 5 classes including a remedial Trig, Pre-calc, Eng 101, Lit 201, and Chinese. Next semester I will be taking Chem 1 and Calc 1. I want to get into the absolute best school I can to advance towards my goal of positively and radically revolutionizing society on a global scale. My ambition would be to get into a program like MIT’s Nano/Micro lab, but realistically I know how competitive the top global universities are.
I am seeking realistic and reach goal advice on my current standings, as well as any personal knowledge of professors or programs offered at the highly respected schools in contrast to realistic schools that would suit my position.
How realistic are schools like the UCs? I am also curious about RPI, Northwestern, UI Urbana, UWash, and Rice.
I don’t want to cut myself short of a better education because of money. I could move back home and study in-state at UCONN, but I think I would be miserable.
They aren’t realistic if you can’t pay for them, and whether you ‘don’t want to cut yourself short’ because of money, it is a limiting factor.
Do I think it is realistic for you to get into MIT? No. The others? Maybe, but maybe with help from your mentor. Someone (maybe you) will have to convince schools to ignore your previous grades and scores and just look at your current college records.
Money will still be an issue. Money is always an issue.
For your longer-range goals, a graduate degree might be necessary. If that is the case, then an undergrad degree from wherever it is that you can get it in state would probably work just fine. From the looks of it, you are currently a NY state resident. Check the state residency policy at U Conn and the UC/CSUs before you head there for your degree.
I do currently live in New York, but could move back to my mother’s residence, rent free, in Connecticut and save money living 15 minutes from campus. I understand that any undergrad would be suitable for getting me to grad school given I really excel and aim for top schools post Bachelors. I do anticipate grad school as nanotechnology engineering job opportunities are only possible for those with masters and PHDs.
I am curious to know if Mech eng or Biotech eng would be better suited for me. I would love to work within the area of neural lacing and developing human-computer synergies. I enjoy working more with concepts and design than I do expirmenting in a lab with manufacturing and testing. My ambitions would be to start my own business revolving research and developement in the future.
You likely will need an advanced degree. In that case, you should go for an in-state public university that gives you the opportunity to switch majors if your interests change. One of the larger SUNY schools or UCONN are perfectly fine for this and will not hinder you in terms of getting into a strong graduate program. Graduate programs don’t really care too much about the “rank” of your undergraduate institution, but more about how you have done there, GPA, GRE scores, research experience, letters of reference. Find the most affordable option and do your best.
All you’ve really got right now is a few semesters of intro courses at CC. With no significant prior academic record or test scores, your application is quite weak. You may be best off remaining in CC for two years and getting your best GPA possible. At that point you could transfer to a state university. It would be highly unlikely for you to gain admission by that route to any of the universities you have listed.
If you graduate from your state university with top not LORs and a great GPA, you would then stand a chance at graduate work in a few of the places you list.
Perhaps someone can correct me but I really don’t think you can get into a private university like RPI etc. I think that CUNY’s and SUNY’s and UC’s are possible though as they are pubilic and gov’t funded.
I should clarify, the reason I don’t think you could get into a private university is because of your age. I believe there is a restriction. They offer adult continuing education, but as far as taking one of the mainstream degree courses like engineering or sciences they are reserved for the recent highschool graduates. But again, public universities function differently.
I don’t think there are official age restrictions (except for military academies), but s 26 year old student may feel out of place in the freshman dorms with a bunch of 18/19 year olds. A large private university with a decent chunk of commuter students might still be a fit, but private college with a small undergraduate class where everyone lives on campus not so much.
UConn for undergrad is not a bad option at all. I don’t think out of state publics should be considered due to price. (There are cheap ones, but none that off-hand I would recommend over UConn.)
@GoRedhead - I don’t know of any places that specificaly restrict undergrad admissions to the 18 to 22 crowd. Surely there are a few. Most places even have specific admissions and advising teams for “non-traditional age” students. If the OP wants to live on campus, one question worth asking is if older undergrads are allowed to live in grad student housing. Back in the stone age when I was in grad school, that option was available at Cornell.
I think I have set my goal to apply to UCONN for a spring semester transfer into the Engineering Physics program. Until then I will take my calc and chem course at my CC. Living at home for free and paying in-state at a semi-respectful public university seems to be the most logical move.
The next question would be how to set myself up for the best possible application for grad school and how to select schools from there.
@xdbvdbx participate in research and internships and keep your GPA above a 3.7 all through undergrad. My advice is you should get your AA from your CC especially if you had to take intro classes. Alot of people end up changing there majors after calc 1 and 2. So finish those courses and that’ll help you decide if you really wanna do engineering. It’s better to find out you wanna change majors at a cheap CC than a university that cost 2-3 times as much. But if you wanna get into a good grad school keep a high gpa, do research, and internships. And if group of guys decide theyre gonna make an engine from scratch being a part of that probably won’t hurt experience wise. Best of luck
There is absolutely no problem with your age and gaining admission to any university. In fact, many schools like to have that kind of diversity in their student body. As was mentioned previously, however, there might be some awkwardness if you chose to live on campus with students who are significantly younger than you. By all accounts there is a large difference in maturity between a 26 year old and a 19 year old. I have verified this with my own 2 children…