<p>Stats:
SAT (retaking): M:670 CR:600 W:610
GPA (overall): 5.47 on a 5 point scale
GPA (unweighted): 4.9 on a 5 point scale
ACT: 25 (not even bothering with this test)
Rank: 25 out of 604, placing me in the top 4.1% of my class</p>
<p>EC’s:
Speech Team Captain
German Club
Math Team
Givs program (aid teachers for a year in the classroom)
Stage Guild member (donated 100+ hours to my schools theater program)
Math tutor three days a week after school</p>
<p>Awards:
Nation Honors Society
Math, English, German National Honors Society
VFW Scholarship winner in my local VFW Auxillery
Presented speech on Memorial Day to my town</p>
<p>Really nice recs:
German teacher
Member of my state’s senate
Math teacher</p>
<p>University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a computer science-specific honors program that you may be interested in called the Raikes School.</p>
<p>nintendo64,</p>
<p>What state do you live in?</p>
<p>Many midwest flagships are extremely good in CS. If you are a competitive applicant for your state’s flagship, that’s where I’d start.</p>
<p>^ He/she lives in Illinois…stalking is fun. </p>
<p>U of I just happens to be one of the best engineering schools in the nation. That should definitely be one of your top choices.</p>
<p>OP’s stats look pretty good for U of Illinois except for those test scores. SAT M 670 is just barely over the 25th percentile, and probably below the 25th percentile for engineering/CS. Despite strong GPA and class rank, that makes Illinois pretty reachy.</p>
<p>You might look at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Decent engineering/CS school with slightly lower SAT scores. Located in a sort of borderline area on Chicago’s South Side, though.</p>
<p>At the other extreme geographically, Michigan Technological University in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a quite good and often-overlooked engineering school. Your stats are definitely competitive, but you’d be paying OOS tuition.</p>
<p>Another good bet: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, in Terre Haute, Indiana. Excellent small engineering school where your stats would be more competitive than at UIUC.</p>
<p>lol thanks skywalker</p>
<p>@bclinktonk I looked at u of I at urbana and for engineering my combined test scores (M+CR+W) are 40 points below the middle 50% and my rank has a 5% lead on the bottom of the middle 50% and is 2% behind the top of the middle 50%. So do you think my gpa and rank can make up for test scores?
Source: [U</a> of I Admissions: Freshman Admission Requirements](<a href=“http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/requirements_freshman.html]U”>Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<p>Well I think you have a better chance than your numbers suggest, since you have strong extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Minny</p>
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<p>I think your GPA and class rank will help a lot and you have a pretty decent chance of admission to UIUC. Since you’re in-state and want to do computer science/engineering, one of that school’s greatest strengths, I think by all means you should apply. I’m just saying your test scores, right now anyway, are a little on the low side to allow you to be confident of admission. So you should apply to some “match” and “safety” schools. I hope you get into UIUC. Good luck! In the meantime, you might want to consider retaking the SAT in the Fall to see if you can pull those scores up just a bit to match the rest of your credentials which are stellar. (Oh, I see you’re already planning that—good move!)</p>
<p>@bclintonk Thanks! Keep you fingers crossed for me :)</p>
<p>And definitely study for the SATs (take lots of practice tests in the College Board Blue book) or get some tutoring if finances allow. You’re bound to get those scores up! (Another option is to try the ACT). I second the suggestions to also apply to Rose Hulman and the University of Wisconsin.</p>