Would love feedback on chancing and also help us expand our list! TIA! [TX, 1550, engineering/business/undecided & baseball]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Guidelines

  • Please check back to answer questions.

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  • Please do not include your race.
    Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student -US

  • State/Location of residency: TX

  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Top magnet school

  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.)
    Possible athlete try-out/walk-on for certain schools- more likely D3 baseball.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Open, though looking for merit due to high achievement if possible. Will not qualify for needs based aid, most likely.

(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)

Intended Major(s) Engineering- Biomedical, Mechanical or Electrical, possibly also combined with Business . Or Undecided!!

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
SAT - perfect math, 1550 total.
GPA ~ 4.5 Weighted Average (school doesn’t publish gpa or rank as it’s a hard magnet school!)

  • Unweighted HS GPA: (calculate it yourself if your high school does not calculate it) Doesn’t publish *
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.5 (must specify weighting system; note that weighted GPA from the high school is usually not informative, unless aligned with the recalculation used by a college of interest, such as CA, FL, SC public universities)
  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
  • Class Rank: school doesn’t rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1550, (Math 800)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: 2 years Honors and 2 years AP English

  • Math: *(including highest level course(s) completed)*H Algebra II, H Geometry, H Pre-Calculus, AP BC Calculus- score 5, AP Statistics, Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus, AP Computer Science

  • Science: (including which ones, such as biology, chemistry, physics) H Chemistry, H Biology, AP Physics 1&2, AP Physics 3

  • History and social studies: APUSH, AP Govt / AP Macro economics. Honors History and H World Geography.

  • Language other than English: (including highest level completed) 4 years Spanish including AP Spanish 4

  • Visual or performing arts: 4 years marching band / wind ensemble

  • Other academic courses:

  • Digital Communication, Philosophy

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
(Include college courses taken while in high school if not included above.)

  • General education course work: AI course , Inspirit AI with certificate. (Taught by Ivy League grads). Included a collaborative small group AI project in Susainability and Agriculture.
  • Mechanical Engineering course through Coursera.
  • Major preparation course work:
  • Engineering Design, Digital Communication, all science / math courses. Some English courses and History( 2 each), etc.

Awards

MVP of JV team freshman season.
Academic All-District
Captain of Varsity team senior year
Best Musicianship- Freshman year in band
Dance Team Sweetheart sophomore year as a band member.
AP Scholar
Player of the Game - multiple times as a 12-year travel sport athlete.
Multiple Championships and other high placements in travel sports.

Multiple local, city, area level music awards in solos, quartets, and ensembles and as part of the marching band and orchestra.
Several other times we rose to state competitions.

Science Olympiad- winner of many awards at regional competitions. (~ 3 each of 1st and 3rd place)

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
NHS
4-year athlete. Varsity 3 years, JV 1 year. Captain Senior year.
12- yrs travel team athlete, leader on teams played with.

4-yr. musician. As a section leader for last two years. Performing marching band, half time shows, competitions, and in ensembles, orchestras, solos and quartets.
Volunteer fundraising events all 4 yrs. for sports and band.

Member of the National Hispanic Institute and participated in the Great Debate, where they learned research, written arguments, speech, debate and advocacy skills.

PT jobs- Kumon math/reading tutor,
Umpire in youth sports, dog walker/sitter.

ACE Mentorship program - 2 years in Architecture, Construction and Engineering, designed a large-scale urban design project such as a high school and a library with a budget, CAD plans, full project plans, layout, and a final presentation. Worked closely with Architects and Engineers from the city, as well as collaboration with other students.

Volunteered through the church with refugees at a local shelter.

Emerging Leaders Program through City of Austin. Paid, competitive Internship at El Buen Samaritano, a local non-profit. Assisted with volunteers, helped to run the food bank, and taught software skills to minority / underserved K-12 students, as part of their STEM day camp.

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Expected good review from his school counselor, who is aware of his personal extenuating circumstances which he had to manage on top of all of these achievements. Good reviews (we think) from several teachers and a coach.

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)
UT-Dallas
UT- Austin
Texas A&M
USCalifornia (hoping for some merit??!!)
Rice
Purdue
Vanderbilt- probably EA (aiming for merit)
U. Florida
Georgia Tech
MIT
Mississippi State
Alabama
Need to pick 1-2 ivies / “super reach schools” just to try for

Anywhere else we should be looking?
Thanks

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely:
  • Toss-up:
  • Lower Probability:
  • Low Probability:
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Whew, he’s a impressive candidate! You didn’t mention National Merit unless I missed it - will he be a semifinalist? (He’ll definitely get merit from USC, if so… and a full ride, I believe, from UTD.)

Looking at D3 schools, Case Western seems like it could fit your parameters. They would likely give him merit, and they allow students to select/change majors freely, and they have a pretty strong baseball team. They care a lot about demonstrated interest. CWRU may strike the right balance - strong and prestigious engineering, generous merit, good baseball. URochester has similar strength and merit potential - isn’t as close to the top of the current bball rankings but they’ve had very good years recently too.

Additional strong engineering schools with D3 baseball: Johns Hopkins and Harvey Mudd both have strong teams (Mudd’s is joint with Claremont-McKenna); Caltech is also D3 but not as strong a team. FWIW, Caltech and Mudd play in the same region with the Texas D3’s (including UT-Dallas, Trinity U, Austin College and several others) so you might get to see him play near home! Mudd gives merit aid to more than a quarter of the entering class. They offer just a general engineering major but it’s very rigorous and offers the ability to specialize within the major, which might work well since he’s not certain about a specialty area.

RIT, RPI, and WPI are additional D3 schools that could be worth a look for merit potential.

Good luck with the search!

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Please note that Vanderbilt does not offer EA. USC, however, does have EA and you’ll want to apply EA there to be for merit scholarship consideration.

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You don’t need Ivies - you need an affordable school that you can get into. The Ivies have no merit. Do you qualify for need or have $90k a year plus ? Otherwise they are wasted apps. Safeties are required. Reaches are not.

You can calculate your unweighted gpa easily. Each A gets 4 points. A B 3 points etc. a weighted gpa is hard to use because each school weights differently. Add up your points and divide by # of classes. That’s your unweighted.

That said, likeky the hardest admits amongst the 166 accredited biomed schools in the us are:

BU
Brown
CPSLO
Columbia
Cornell
Duke
Ga Tech
Johns Hopkins
UMICH
UNC - no EE here
Northeastern
USC
Tufts
Vandy
Wash U

Of these, Ga Tech will have the lowest full pay price. And it’s already on your list.

Run net price calculators and fit schools the student will fit, not just get into. Tons of kids choose safeties - whether for money or as mine did for fit. You have to be somewhere four years, day after day. Cornell and Columbia - very different environmentally as an example.

Let us know the unweighted gpa.

Best of luck.

Fill this out please. Ivies have no merit but this will tell you if you will qualify for need. Otherwise you are $90k plus a year vs the lowest on your list - Bama and Ms State, likely under $20k and UTD in state. Then you decide what works for you. If you define a budget it’s the easiest way to cut your list - if your budget is less than $90k you can start removing schools. For example if your budget is $50k, anything above comes off.

You’ll have stud students at all schools on your list but obviously more at some than the others.

Good luck.

https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/cornell

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I disagree with this. You don’t know what is affordable for this family and what isn’t. Yes, Ivy League schools are expensive, but many find it worth the cost. That’s for each family to decide. The kid is a competitive applicant, and applying to reach schools isn’t a wasted application. My opinion is to go for it.

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Please read my entire post and don’t cherry pick. I say this. It’s why I gave the Cornell NPC and said to have a budget.

But you do need affordable - it’s all I said. And that’s correct (imho). OP says they likely won’t qualify for aid but the NPC will tell them and they ARE seeking merit.

Ivies won’t give them that. If their budget is less, there’s zero reason to apply. Ga Tech is a tad over half the price and Vandy and WUSTL at least have the possibility of merit.

I read what OP wrote and answered OP.

Thank you.

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The OP stated that their budget is “open,” and that they are looking for merit “if possible.”

Given this description, I don’t see any reason not to apply to Ivy League schools. If accepted, and if the cost is too high….they do not have to attend.

As long as there are schools with assured affordability, I think it’s perfectly fine.

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Yea if you don’t have a pre set budget - and you have affordable on your list - which appears they do - then it’s ok.

It’s if you have a budget, it’s still ok but makes little sense.

I noted that as well in my post.

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Their list has plenty of affordable safeties. A handful of reaches is warranted here.

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Reminder that CC is not a debate society. Make your point once and move on, or take the back and forth to PM.

Thank you.

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I agree. There is nothing wrong with having some reaches on this application list given this student has some sure things and targets already.

If engineering is a priority, Cornell would be a good choice as noted.

For a super reach, you already have MIT. Nothing wrong with adding another.

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My immediate thought was to check out some of the UAA schools (the UAA being a D3 conference with a lot of academically excellent members).

Case and Rochester were already mentioned, both seem like good fits academically, both have robust merit programs, some kids like one or the other more. I will note I think Rochester is particularly good for exploration and combining different interests if you go that way. But Case is great too and in fact some kids we know end up seeing where they get the best merit offer.

I’d also mention WashU. People do not necessarily think of them first when thinking Engineering, but they have been investing a lot in Engineering recently, they are particularly good for Biomed Engineering, and they are another school very good for exploration and combining different things. Not many kids get merit, but a few do, and I think you would be at least competitive to be one of those kids.

In terms of Ivy+ colleges, Hopkins definitely seems like one to explore. If you are OK with D1, then I would suggest checking out Duke and Penn. I don’t necessarily see the other actual Ivies being as strong a fit given everything you described, but Cornell would be the next on my list.

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OP - sent you a private message. Please look for the green envelope in the upper right.

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You don’t “need” to pick ANY reach schools. There’s no evidence that for you students majors their outcomes will be any better than they will be at schools on your list like Purdue, UT and FL where he’s certain to get in.

If you feel the need for reaches, they already have MIT. I’d skip the Ivy League completely and add Stanford. If they really want to apply to an Ivy, Cornell has the largest program and broadest facilities. You won’t get merit money at any of them as none of those schools offer it.

Calculate the actual unweighted GPA. It’s what schools will use and is quite easy to do.

As your student narrows their list, it’s important to sort out what type of experience they want. Rice and WashU will be radically different than UT and FL, better or worse is all in personal perspective.

Lastly, visit as many as you can. It’s important to get a feel for the campus, the facilities and how happy students seem to be.

Good luck.

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Below are my guesses as to what your son’s chances might be at the schools on your list. I left of Texas A&M and UT as I’m unsure what the protocol is for schools without a ranking.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • UT-Dallas

  • Mississippi State

  • Alabama

Likely (60-79%)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Purdue

  • U. of Florida

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • U. of Southern California

  • Rice

  • Vanderbilt

  • Georgia Tech

  • MIT

@aquapt and others have already given you some great suggestions for additional schools your son may want to consider.

One school that he may want to check out is Missouri Science & Technology. It’s mid-sized like several of the low probability schools already on the list and is very well-respected in the field. It would be an extremely likely admit and he would get merit aid here, too. It’s a D2 school.

Rose-Hulman (IN) would be a likely admit. It’s much smaller than most of the schools on your list, but if your family visits Purdue, it’d be easy to add RHIT. It’s another highly respected school, but because of its location, it’s not nearly as popular as it would be as if it was on the coasts, and thus gives out merit aid more generously. It’s a D3 school.

Another option (toss-up or lower probability) would be Lehigh (PA ). It’s another mid-sized school, and for someone who’s interested in engineering or business or just plain old undecided, it has a lot of options. Merit aid would be possible here, though not as likely as at the first two schools I mentioned. College Navigator says that it’s D1.

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If you are considering Purdue, then you should look at the Purdue Data Digest, here, https://www.purdue.edu/datadigest/ , to compare how your student’s statistics compare with those of recently matriculated students? (Specifically the links to “Applications, Admits, and Matriculations” and “New First-Time Beginner Profile”.) That might give you a general idea of admissions chances. Also, Purdue has kept tuition/fees flat for the past 10 years (although I don’t know how much longer that will continue), so it has been a relatively good bargain for OOS students and parents. @momofboiler1 is a good source of information about Purdue, and could probably answer any questions that you might have about the school.

Also, generally speaking, you might want to check out the Common Data Sets for the different schools that you are considering; and specifically Sections C7 and C9-C11. Section C7 lists how the university weighs different academic and non-academic admissions factors. Sections C9-C11 provide objective information for recently matriculated students at the school; so looking at this might give you an idea how your student compares to those recently matriculated students.

The biomedical/mechanical/electrical engineering programs at Clemson might be worth a look; as well as those at the University of Tennessee – home of the 2024 College World Series champions! (Scholarship money likely at the latter, I don’t know about Clemson.)

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Thanks so much for this detailed reply. I appreciate all of the input from everyone, just wanted to clarify that briefly.

His GPA UW is going to be 4.0 or really close to it, as he’s gotten all A’s in high school, right? Or am I missing something??

We will do the NPC soon. I guess the one for Cornell, as mentioned.

As far as ivies, I know no one needs to go there, and I do get the point re: engineering schools and going to one of those.

Regarding Cornell, do you or anyone have a feel for how the local area is right around the school? We’ve been to NYC, though it’s been several years and tbh, I think we only saw Columbia. For Cornell, do students live on campus at all? Or is it just find a local flat type scenario?? Thank you!

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Hi! Thank you so much. I know, I’m exhausted just reading these lists. Unbelievable what this generation is doing and I’m so proud of them.

Child will just miss NMF due to score, we think. Texas is competitive and wasn’t a great test day, unfortunately.

All the best and thank you!

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Thank you for all of your details! I’ve heard Clemson is a nice campus, also he really likes the SEC areas in general. Not too far from home I guess. Will look at what you suggested regarding Tennessee and Purdue!

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Cornell is in Ithaca, which is nearly a 4-hour drive from New York City. 100% of first year students live on-campus, and my impression is that the majority of students continue to live on-campus. This link may be helpful for you:

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