Type of high school (or current college for transfers): public
Other special factors: none
Cost Constraints / Budget - under $100k ideally, budget not a major factor for top schools, merit would be nice or a state school with a lower cost (although not required)
Intended Major(s) Undecided STEM (comp sci, engineering with interest in AI/machine learning, and/or math)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA: 4.40 (no honors or AP allowed Freshman year and only 2 allowed sophomore year), have taken 6 AP and 2 honors classes through junior year, 4 AP scheduled senior year
Class Rank: school does not rank but likely top 5 out of ~400
ACT/SAT Scores: 1470 (800 m, 670 v). Maybe retake for higher verbal.
List your HS coursework - 5’s in AP physics I and AP comp sci A, other AP tests pending
English: 4 years with AP lang
Math: 4 years with Calc BC
Science: AP physics I & 2, AP chem, AP bio
History and social studies: 4 years
Language other than English: Honors Spanish 4
Visual or performing arts: stagecraft (1 year)
Other academic courses: AP comp sci A
Awards
Extracurriculars
Summer research with UC professor
Coding tutor at local tutoring company
Built website to teach middle school students how to code in python
4 years varsity swim ranked in the state with 2 school records. Not recruitable at top D1. May be recruitable at some D3 but likely not the top academic.
Is this per year, or your family’s total budget over 4 years?
Targeting merit aid will require applying to schools that offer generous merit scholarships and where your academic profile is well above the 75th percentile. An out of state public school is unlikely to be cheaper than a California public university without merit aid.
If he still wants to swim, he might be competitive for WPI swimming. It’s a school where being an athlete is less stressful. Pretty easy to double major and move between majors. Admitted to school, not major, so no need to pick one before applying. Definitely a school to check out if he is interested in experiential project based learning.
So Minnesota is an excellent research university for your interests, and it is also in a very fun city, and they have auto merit, and a type of rolling admissions. Some relevant information:
The “undecided” part could affect suitability of some schools, depending on how difficult it is to change into an engineering major or CS, or if there is secondary admission to those majors after enrollment.
Before offering up some suggestions, I have a few questions:
For clarity in addressing you, are you the parent or the student?
What’s the gender of the student (for swimming)?
What kind of college experience is the student hoping for? What things are important to the student besides flexibility within STEM? Some things to think about include:
Significant enthusiasm for intercollegiate athletics?
ACT/SAT Scores: 1470 (800 m, 670 v). Maybe retake for higher verbal. Scoring an additional 30 points in verbal is not that hard to do by fall term of senior year.
Definitely retake the SAT or try the ACT for a higher verbal or reading score. Don’t be stressed out about needing to score a 36 on ACT math should you decide to try it. It shouldn’t matter. Retake in the fall (Oct, Nov, Dec). In your case, I wouldn’t bother with ACT writing or science if you don’t have to take them.
You mention AP English Language. Can you also take AP English Literature? In some schools, AP English is still restricted to senior year, either offering both options or just one option. It’s more common now for schools to target Language to 11th graders & Literature to 12th graders. I would take both if possible. I wouldn’t take AP Spanish unless you can score a “5” on the exam. Also, any additional course under Visual or performing arts or some other elective.
I also assume that AP Physics C isn’t offered at your high school.
I’d put MIT, Carnegie-Melon, Stanford, and UC Berkeley at the top of your list and work down your list from there. If you’re open to colleges from outside the US, University of Toronto is worth a look.
Well, I didn’t wait for any answers, but I’ve come up with some schools that the student may want to consider. I believe, though the family should confirm, that there are no restrictions switching from engineering to CS to math at any of these schools. They also all have D2 or D3 swimming, though Missouri S&T only has it for men. The schools are sorted by my guesses as to the student’s chances for admission:
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Clarkson (NY): About 2300 undergrads and has D3 swimming for men and women
Missouri U. of Science & Technology: About 5600 undergrads and has D2 swimming for men
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (IN): About 2300 undergrads and has D3 swimming and diving for men and women
Likely (60-79%)
Colorado School of Mines: About 6200 undergrads and has D2 swimming for men and women
Florida Institute of Technology: About 3700 undergrads with D3 swimming for men and women
Illinois Institute of Technology: About 3100 undergrads with D2 swimming for men and women
Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY): About 5700 undergrads with D3 swimming for men and women
Worcester Polytechnic (MA): About 5600 undergrads with D3 swimming and diving for men and women
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ): About 4200 undergrads with D3 swimming for men and women
U. of Rochester (NY): About 6600 undergrads with D3 swimming and diving for men and women
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Case Western (OH): About 6500 undergrads with D3 swimming and diving for men and women
Low Probability (less than 20%)
Johns Hopkins (MD): About 6400 undergrads with varsity swimming for men and women
New York University: About 29k undergrads with D3 swimming for men and women
Tufts (MA): About 7100 undergrads with D3 swimming and diving for men and women
I had debated whether to include Carnegie Mellon which has D3 for swimming for both sexes, but I feel as though I heard that there’s difficulty getting into CS if one isn’t accepted from the get-go. Since it’s just a vague recollection from me, it’s something I would make certain of one way or the other, as it otherwise seems as though it would be a good school to consider.
Regarding interest in math, are there any subarea interests, or a desire to have many subareas available? Smaller math departments have not have offerings in all of the usual pure and applied math subareas.
Since you’re interested in CS, engineering, and math, I’d consider taking the AMC 12 if you haven’t already. With your SAT Math 800 and strong STEM profile, a good AMC 12 score — and especially qualifying for AIME — could give colleges another objective signal of your math/problem-solving strength. It’s not necessary, but it could be a nice addition to your application, especially for math-heavy majors.
Most definitely! With AMC & AIME scores, Essenay would make a very competitive candidate for all of the top STEM schools. He should apply to most if not all the STEM (colleges/univ with <5% and <10% admit rates) under this scenario. The chance for his acceptance to at least 1 or 2 “reach” options would greatly increase, and he would very likely get admitted to any safety. His high school math department should support him taking the test.
To answer a few questions, I’m the parent and student is male. School does not offer physics C. Student did not want to take AP English lit - does he really need this? He does not enjoy reading fiction.
He doesn’t have strong preferences around school size. He is not a partier so likely not into the Greek system. He is not nerdy but is a serious student and wants a school with strong outcomes and friendly/nice students. He would prefer to swim varsity but is open to a strong club team. He is not particularly political or religious. We are willing to pay $90k/year for MIT, but not sure which other schools are worth full price.
A few schools that are recruiting him for swimming:
MIT
Harvey Mudd
Colorado School of Mines
Pomona
Johns Hopkins
Case Western
Dartmouth
Lafayette College
Williams
Swarthmore
Bowdoin
Washington and Lee
Amherst
Trinity U
Tufts
Some of these schools are very small with no engineering so he’d major in math/CS. We aren’t very familiar with many of them. Many do not offer merit aid, and we don’t know if they are worth full price.
We may look into WPI based on suggestions here. He is also considering larger schools like GA Tech but not sure his chances of getting in. He would swim club there (they have one of the top 3 club swim teams in the US).
Regarding the recruiting list, I don’t think his current SAT score will clear the bar at MIT. Coaches there do not get as much pull with admissions as they do at other schools. If he’s being recruited by Dartmouth, I’m curious why he hasn’t been in touch with other Ivies that do have strong engineering. Cornell definitely comes to mind.
My nephew attends Colo School of Mines, is on a club team (hockey) and loves it. He really enjoys the level of sports at the club level. The swim team is varsity, and IMO, the school provides a balance between academics and sports. If you look at the roster for any team, almost every athlete is some kind of engineer, so your teammates are handling sports and classes and understand what is needed to get the work done but still do sports.
The “offer” you speak of has no financial component at all. MIT does not give merit and as a D3, no athletic scholarships. The offer is admission to MIT with an agreement to commit to the sport for 4 years. At best a 50/50 shot. When my kid was being recruited in a different sport, MIT was the only program that they had check a box on the recruitment form saying they would commit to 4 years of their sport. Not legally binding of course, but something to consider. OP mentioned not knowing if MIT was worth it as a full pay family.