<p>ParentOfIvyHope: As a female applicant with an intended major of EE/CS, you may also want to consider MIT, Stanford & CMU.</p>
<p>“Let her get into undergrad and major in what she wants. Too much strategy can backfire.”</p>
<p>I’ll second this. Also don’t listen to people who say engineering is bad for a premed because you can get lower grades. It’s obvious that the OP’s daughter has genuine interest and ability in computer engineering, so it will be easier for her to get higher grades in it than an “easier” discipline she is less interested in.</p>
1 Like
<p>“Wrong. At a selective college like Yale, major would play a large part in admissions. I’d suggest putting a fairly unpopular one down (Geography), b/c @ yale you’re not bound by what you write (your daughter will change it Frosh year), but they still need enough kids to fill the Geography department.”</p>
<p>This is completely inaccurate. They don’t “fill” various departments like that.</p>
1 Like
<p>"She wants to do Computer Engineering and not Electrical Engineering. She doesn’t want to do Computer Science in College of Arts and Science.</p>
<p>Also I’ve suggested her to apply to direct BS/MD programs along with Ivies as that will allow her to pursue Computer Engineering with MD if she gets in."</p>
<p>Who wants her to be the doctor? Her, or you? It feels to me like this young lady is really interested in computers, not medicine.</p>
<p>“That also seems like a really weird course choice path. Are you sure she’ll even be qualified for medical school (let alone accepted by a good one) if she majors in electrical engineering?”</p>
<p>People get into medical school from all different kinds of undergrad majors these days – philosophy, art history – the days of having to be a biology or chemistry major to get into med school are long gone. Why couldn’t she do this?</p>
1 Like
<p>CountingDown: I don’t have any problem with Computer Engineering major but as ‘icy9ff8’ pointed out in #61 the better colleges for doing CE are
Stanford/MIT/UCB/CMU and not HYP.
But she has Yale as her first choice. I thought we were able to convince her to MIT/Stanford but she came back with Yale and Princeton.</p>
<p>Some time high school students really don’t know what they are doing and we would like to show them some reality.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl: “Who wants her to be the doctor? Her, or you? It feels to me like this young lady is really interested in computers, not medicine.”</p>
<p>I’m not interested in medicine and it is she who wants to be a doctor. What I’m trying to convince her that Engineering might not be the best undergrad as a preparation for Medicine.</p>
<p>Engineering is a fine preparation for medicine. As long as you have the prereqs for med school and a high GPA and MCAT scores, the major is irrelevant.</p>
1 Like
<p>Thanks everyone, Let Computer Engineering be the major.
I’m off her neck now. There are many other things to do. I hope she gets what she wants in the end.</p>
<p>“What I’m trying to convince her that Engineering might not be the best undergrad as a preparation for Medicine.”</p>
<p>One of my best friends was an engineering major at Harvard, and she’s now an emegency room surgeon.</p>
1 Like
<p>my point is that if you are on an engineering track , you might not be ABLE to get the pre-reqs for med school- and that is something a student needs to research</p>
<p>When a student decides to change majors is the issue…does she want to get an engeering degree THEN go to med school, or do some engeering and then do premed</p>
<p>People can be whatevermajors they want and then go to medschool, sure, but when did those people change their majors?</p>
<p>Some clarity there is really important, and a student needs to understand the system</p>
<p>An MD and an engineering background will be a huge plus for someone interested in the rapidly expanding field of medical devices. Too many doctors are afraid of electronics, and too many engineers have little or no insight into how a human body operates. As long as she fulfils all pre-med requirements (bio and organic chemistry) in addition to her major, she will be fine for medical school.</p>
1 Like
<p>“CountingDown: I don’t have any problem with Computer Engineering major but as ‘icy9ff8’ pointed out in #61 the better colleges for doing CE are
Stanford/MIT/UCB/CMU and not HYP.
But she has Yale as her first choice. I thought we were able to convince her to MIT/Stanford but she came back with Yale and Princeton.”</p>
<p>I think you’re counting your chickens before they’re hatched … these are all fine, fabulous schools, but no matter how brilliant your daughter is, her chances of getting in them are slim because the chances of ANYONE getting in these schools is slim. </p>
<p>You really, really need to look at some schools that are lower on the USNWR rankings but are still fine schools instead of putting all your eggs in this Ivy (and maybe MIT / Stanford) basket. </p>
<p>I suspect that your daughter is starry-eyed over the Ivy Leagues and isn’t really thinking about the best place for a computer major.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl: "You really, really need to look at some schools that are lower on the USNWR rankings but are still fine schools instead of putting all your eggs in this Ivy (and maybe MIT / Stanford) basket. </p>
<p>I suspect that your daughter is starry-eyed over the Ivy Leagues and isn’t really thinking about the best place for a computer major."</p>
<p>True; She is ivy obsessed and will consider Stanford/MIT/CMU/Caltech.</p>
<p>For Safeties she is looking into direct medicine schools, so If she won’t get into her reaches/high matches, she will look into matches/safeties direct medicine schools.</p>
<p>“You really, really need to look at some schools that are lower on the USNWR rankings but are still fine schools instead of putting all your eggs in this Ivy (and maybe MIT / Stanford) basket.”</p>
<p>This is extremely important. No matter how accomlished your D is, her chances of getting into the schools that you listed are less than 1 in 10. Most of the applicants for such schools are very accomplished. Most get rejected because there aren’t enough spaces in such schools for all of the amazingly accomplished students who want to attend them.</p>
<p>Far better to build your D’s list from the bottom up by first finding a safety that she loves, knows she will gain entrance to, and that you know you can afford. Proceeding as you’re doing leads to disappointment for most people.</p>
<p>If by direct medicine schools, you means the programs that one enters college being guaranteed a med school slot, those also are very difficult to gain entrance to, and are reach schools for all, no matter how stellar the applicant is.</p>
1 Like
<p>I found this info on your D from one of your other posts. Her stats and activities are wonderful, but she’ll be very typical for the pool of applicants at places like Ivies, MIT, Caltech, and her odds of admission to any of those schools will be as long as anyone else’s. More reason to build her application list from the bottom up.</p>
<p>SAT: 226 (80(M)/73/73)
SAT IIs: 770(M2C),780(Chem) both Sophomore year
APs: AP Scholar with Honors.
10th: AP Calc BC (5), AP Chem (5), AP Euro (5), AP Comp Sc AB (5)
11th: AP US History, AP Biology, AP Physics C, AP Statistics
She is taking English Hons.(3) but will take AP English Language and AP Env. Science too.
Research:
She is also taking research in her junior year and is working on MSA (Multiple Sequence Alignment) and is fluent in Java.
ECs:
JETS: 9(3rd), 10(1st, Highest score National), and will be participating in 11
Model UN: 9,10,11, Best Research Paper. Hon. Mention Delegate
Speech: 9,10 (Finalist at 2 events)
NHS, > 100 hrs of community service,
Youth Advisor at Health Trust for 2007-2008.
Tai Kwon Do, Piano
ParentOfIvyHope is offline</p>
<p>True; She is ivy obsessed and will consider Stanford/MIT/CMU/Caltech.</p>
<p>For Safeties she is looking into direct medicine schools, so If she won’t get into her reaches/high matches, she will look into matches/safeties direct medicine schools.>></p>
<p>By direct medicine, you mean things like a 6 or 7 year BA/MD program? These are not safeties for ANYONE. These are reaches just as much as the Ivies are reaches.</p>
<p>Your daughter is undoubtedly very bright and accomplished, but you are both dreaming if you think that only Ivies are reaches and that BA/MD programs are matches / safeties.</p>
<p>If you truly care about your daughter’s future, which I’m sure you do, you are going to need to get her off this fixation with the Ivies, get a lot more realistic about the chances of acceptance to top colleges, stop thinking that excellent scores and EC’s = automatic shoe-in at any top college, and get a lot more comfortable with the truth that there are many, many excellent schools in this country that will provide a great undergrad education and a springboard to medical school, beyond those at the tippy-top.</p>
<p>There is no college in the USN&WR top 30 that is a safety. For anyone.</p>
<p>can’t you just say youre undecided?</p>
<p>becuase that isn’t “strategic” enough</p>
<p>"“At a selective college like Yale, major would play a large part in admissions. I’d suggest putting a fairly unpopular one down (Geography),”</p>
<p>I suggest putting Geography too…it is so darn unpopular that Yale does not even <em>have</em> a Geography department! Yale will jump at the opportunity to start a department with your daughter in it. </p>
<p>[Academic</a> programs | Departments and programs | Yale](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/departments/index.html]Academic”>Departments & Programs | Yale University)</p>
<p>“I suggest putting Geography too…it is so darn unpopular that Yale does not even <em>have</em> a Geography department! Yale will jump at the opportunity to start a department with your daughter in it.”</p>
<p>Isn’t there a rule about placing warnings on posts that make readers spit or choke? I think there is Vicariousparent!</p>