What are my chances at the top-engineering schools?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I am an upcoming senior, and I want to get into MIT but I feel some of my credentials are not strong enough. I also would like to know what I should do in my senior year to make myself look better. </p>

<p>Schools I’m looking into:
MIT, John-Hopkins, Purdue</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9
Class Rank: Top 20% (of my most recent school)
ACT: 26 (I will be retaking it in the fall, I am disappointed in this score) </p>

<p>Courses:
Freshman Year:
English 1
Natural Science
Algebra 1
World Geography
French 1</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Geometry
Honors English
Biology
German 1
World History</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Trigonometry
Algebra 2
German 2
US History
English 3
Chemistry
Intro. to Engineering and Design </p>

<p>Senior Year:
U.S. Government
Economics
Some form of Honors English
AP Calculus
Physics
Bio-technical Engineering </p>

<p>ECs:
Art Club</p>

<p>Awards:
I’ve been to 4 art shows and every time one of my pieces has won an award. </p>

<p>Hobbies (don’t know if this helps or not)
Drawing, painting, welding sculpture.</p>

<p>Additional Info:
I’ve attended two different schools in my HS experience so far, and I will be attending a third for my senior year. This honestly makes my chances at getting recommendations a bit more difficult, I don’t know many of my teachers all that well. But I could try to get to know the teachers this year, if it would help. Art is a big thing to me as you may be able to see, not big enough that I would get a degree for it though. I don’t know if artistic engineers is common, but hopefully it helps in some way. </p>

<p>Looking at my EC’s, I really think I should have more. So I already know I should pick up some more of those to do. Would taking the SAT help at all? Or will the ACT score be enough? I really want to get into MIT, but I think I may not cut it. So what could I do to in my senior year to get me into MIT?</p>

2

<p>MIT is a reach even for students with exceptional grades, ECs, etc. Raising your ACT score, or trying the SAT and see how well you do on that, is a good idea. Have you thought about taking SAT subject tests? I think a lot of engineering schools want or even require the Math II subject test. Even so, MIT seems like a huge reach for you. </p>

<p>Trying to add on good ECs is difficult at this point, since you’re a rising senior and you’ll only have a couple months before the application deadline. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to start soon!</p>

<p>Does your school offer more APs other than ap calc? Taking more could show colleges that you’re up for a challenge, and that you’re not afraid of a heavy and difficult course load.</p>

3

<p>That’s what I was afraid of. No big deal on MIT though, I’m also looking into applying to UIUC, Cornell, Iowa State, GA Tech, John Hopkins, and Purdue. I know some of those are a long shot, but what would be my chances for those? I have already applied to University of Iowa, but I decided to really look what else is out there. And the title of “Best party school” kind of worries me. </p>

<p>I’m looking into going into Chemical Engineering, so out of those listed above which is the best in that particular field? Also how is the social life/culture of those places. I am going to college for mainly academics but I want to have some social fun. And thanks for the reply swamp. </p>

<p>Also my school doesn’t seem to offer many AP classes, just AP Calc., Bio., Government, English, and Economics. All of which I could go into, although I would not prefer the english-related ones.</p>

4

<p>I’m not too sure myself about Chemical Engineering programs at specific schools, but you can check out the “majors” section of the forums here. Usually there’s a thread in there that lists which schools have a good program in that respective major. Before I discovered that section, I had trouble deciding on what schools to pick for an International Relations major. Check the “majors” forum out, and if you can’t find a thread that gives you what you need, just make one :)</p>

<p>Once you’ve found a few colleges with good chem engineering programs, you can check out each college’s profile at collegeboard and princeton review to learn more about it.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>