I’m looking for additional opinions on where I would fit in and be realistically accepted for the class of 2020.
School: Public School in Philadelphia, currently a Junior.
GPA: 3.73 UW 3.84 W
All Honors classes, school does not do AP’s
SAT: 1950 first try. 690CR 650M 610W
Planning to take math 2 and physics subject tests.
ACT: Planning to take in June.
EC’s:
FIRST robotics since 2013
Public Forum Debate (JV this year, Varsity next year)
Volunteered at Franklin Institute Museum observatory.
Started and lead a STEAM youth program at The Franklin Institute, where we design a virtual reality exhibit prototype, working with the head astronomer Derrick Pitts, and partnered with Boeing.
Built first iteration of, and am currently working on iPhone app of, a public transportation simulator based on the Monte Carlo method, and aims to create more accurate schedules and service the citizens of Philadelphia. (I intend to finish this summer)
Essay:
Writing about the challenges of learning how to be a leader and work with people while starting an ambitious project.
I’m currently looking at the following with an Engineering/Business/Physics major:
UPenn Wharton/M&T (Know this is a very long shot)
Drexel B&E
Temple
MIT (Yet another incredibly long shot)
Swarthmore
Haverford
Hampshire
Northwestern
Goucher 3-2 program (Transfer to columbia for engineering after 3 years)
University of Rochester
Right now, I’m interested with schools with a tech school feel, and strong opportunities to research/be entrepreneurial/etc. I’d prefer a smaller campus, nothing like Penn State.
At this point I’m mostly looking for other recommendations, and then I’ll make a full chances post on the appropriate forum.
I suggest removing Wharton (as selective as Harvard) and MIT from your list, because your chances are close to nonexistent at both. You might add RPI as a more realistic reach, or Stevens Institute.
Regarding Haverford and Hampshire, are you also (as at Goucher) interested in doing your engineering studies at another school? I concur with the recommendations of Union and RPI as being good matches for your interests. You may need to get your SAT math score up for RPI.
Try running the Supermatch engine on the left side of this page. Then when you have a list run the Net Price Calculators on each school’s web site to see if your family can afford them.
GPA is low for Haverford, SAT is a bit low for Swarthmore, both are very low for UPenn and MIT, and to a lesser extent, at Northwestern and Rochester. Almost your entire list is pushing your stats, your GPA won’t hold you back, it will be your test scores. While above average, these are top-tier schools and your scores mus be top-tier too. Check your percentile score against other applicants on Niche Admissions.
Add some safeties in there, though Goucher and Drexel probably are, and make sure you’ll be happy in them. If you reach like this, you must be prepared to fall back. That’s what I’m doing too, it’s just a gamble.
As for improvement, GPA takes a long time to change, test scores not so much. Though the ACT is different, I went from the 95th to 99th percentile with a week’s worth of studying. I have no reason to believe you can’t.
Good luck.
A lot of the places, besides Drexel, Goucher, and Rochester, are reaches. I definitely recommend adding NJIT, Stevens Institute of Technology, Rowan, RPI, and WPI to the radar.