Applying to college

[jalmont]

And lastly... this may not be the experience for everybody else, but I feel like I have to say it: college students in America are often troublingly infantile for their age. I don't know how it is in Europe, and I never went to college in India, but the general sense I get from most of my peers is a lack of seriousness and intellectual sincerity. There's people who are only getting degrees to make stacks of cash, which to each his own, but those of us who are here to legitimately deepen their understanding of their chosen fields and broaden their intellectual horizons are out of luck - especially in the humanities. It's no skin off my back if you want to use four years of English education to write a thesis on Harry Potter Fanfiction (a real example), but there are far too many people who have no conviction, no real intellectual ambition, too many people who "like to read" but "don't have the time these days", too many people who "love film" but think Wes Anderson is a good director, and so on -- it's all shallow and performative, and I don't understand why these guys are spending all this money to be here in the first place. I've yet to find a single kindred spirit at what is supposedly one of the best schools for the humanities in the nation, and the very best for Philosophy, and as a result I fear I'm losing out on the "networking" aspect of college - the age of the Great American University might just be over, or perhaps only open to Ivy Leaguers.

People are majoring in the humanities to make stacks of cash? Are you sure about that?

OK but seriously I just want to start off by saying that I'm not trying to demean the experience you've had and that I'm sorry you've experienced what you have in your college life. That said, I'm not sure your conclusion about American college students (this paragraph I'm quoting) and eaglehawk's is necessarily a fair one. I think your ideal of what a typical college student is not a very realistic one and your expectations of what college should be for students are not necessarily realistic either.

eaglehawk's position that there is an existing juvenile attitude at colleges due to the fact that more of the middle class enrolls in college (I'm not even sure that's necessarily true) seems well and good until you think about the fact that well...the students who are enrolling in college are in the age range 18-22. While I think what henry's saying could be worded better, his general sentiment is correct imo. Are we trying to say that college in the past was more studious, contained more students of the kind that NJ talks about? Maybe. Perhaps it was only the very best who were going to university, the ones NJ speaks of. Or perhaps it is about the same as it is now. Looking at the present, if eaglehawk's quote is right and truly 92% of Americans are getting college diplomas or whatever, then it shouldn't be all the at surprising that not everyone is an intense scholar as NJ feels they should be. the american population is wide and varied and not everyone is a genius. Of course students are going to "infantile"! Many are leaving their bubble of home for the first time and are having their first experience of the world. I think it is asking a lot to expect most students to be the same, and this is including the Ivies or whatever. I think you would be surprised to find that many people at so-called Ivies are not as smart as you might think them to be or that many only want to use the reputation of that school to find that high-paying job...you would probably be surprised to know that many people at ivies are more interested in learning if the class has a curve rather than truly learning the material...college doesn't last forever...

NJ, you seem to have a certain expectation of what a student should be like. And I don't want to take anything away from your opinion, that's fine, I respect that. But I get the sense that when you say people have "no conviction, no real intellectual ambition" you are saying that you have a very high expectation of what a student at a university should be and that not many qualify. And I think your idea of what college should be and what students should be is a strong bias that prevents you from seeing the reality that people have different reasons for going to college and perhaps they don't necessarily line up with your view of what college should be. Maybe partly that is because you haven't found the right people who share your views. And I think unquestionably you are in a difficult position given your status as an international and transfer student in finding those people. I totally empathize with that. But I feel as a result you are blaming your alienation on the fact that everyone else is too "infantile" and not up to your standard. And that's not really fair to everyone else.

Academic competition is meaningless. School is not a competition. There are many reasons as to why people attend university, some good, others maybe not so much. wanting to learn a lot is totally cool. same for just wanting to be able to find a good job. If you are truly interested in "legitimately deepen[ing] their understanding of their chosen fields and broaden their intellectual horizons" then you should pursue that. if other people don't share that view, then that's cool too, it shouldn't effect you at all. IMO I think you are making the mistake of taking your personal social experience in college so far and expecting that everyone should be conforming to that view. in reality, people go to college for many reasons and you will not agree with the choices that people make but ultimately that is unimportant. what is important is that you make the choices that allow you to experience college in the way you want to.

 

[DiscoDucky]

I think this article gives a decent representation to NJ_ 's argument: http://nyti.ms/2h9lJFS

 

[Shrug]

I still stand by my statement that there is an existing juvenile atmosphere at university, and it comes naturally as more middle class people enroll in college.

lol

 

[Electrolyte]

I feel that high tuition costs also only further restrict people to think more practically about their education. My family is in a sweet spot - our income is just high enough that we dont qualify for any aid, but low enough that the 70k$ a year still hurts a lot. Not everyone has the flexibility to be able to prioritize interest over everything else; in fact I've met people who consider doing so to be quite selfish considering the fact that, for example, my tuition over four years forces my parents to withhold retirement for another 10-15 years, and I'm only one of two high-achieving children. And I'm lucky that my parents are trying to pay for me.

I personally don't believe that interest and passion is irrelevant; however, nor do I consider passion and materialism to be mutually exclusive. Is it really that impossible for you to find something you like within the plethora of many possible 'employable' fields? Even then, I feel like very few people are that materialistic that they'd pick a field they abhor just because it's more lucrative than the rest. The average person more often than not weighs interest and passions as a close second after employment prospects, if not already as the most important thing.

Environments also depend on the school. My university is chock full of people overly passionate about medicine who stay in the library or the lab all day and never come out and socialize. It's basically an epidemic. We have people coming in with published papers and my roommate already has a goddamn patent. Volunteering is common to the point where I feel ostracized sometimes not being part of the volunteering fraternity or the many community social concern programs. Consider also that many internships and jobs favor people with volunteering experience so participation there cannot be pegged purely as non-materialistic either.

And, finally, what's so bad about being a financially motivated? I feel like I still turn out just as exceptional work (if not more) as my passionate peers, considering I can also motivate myself not just with interest but also with self-fulfilment and the expectation of a tangible reward. I'm very passionate about Philosophy but I still wouldn't have majored in it if I wasn't sure it would benefit my employment prospects in the future.

My friends don't know that second part though, they just see me as the stereotypical hipster throwing away their tuition just to major in something edgy. Oh well.

 

[JTD783]

The Princeton app asks that people list a favorite movie quote. I wasn't sure what to put, so I went with this...

"According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. It's wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway, because bees don't care what humans think is impossible."

...I'm literally using the Bee Movie. Good lord, what has my life become.

 

[DiscoDucky]

The Princeton app asks that people list a favorite movie quote. I wasn't sure what to put, so I went with this...

"According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. It's wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway, because bees don't care what humans think is impossible."

...I'm literally using the Bee Movie. Good lord, what has my life become.

I mean, if people can get into schools with essays about Smogon/Pokemon, I don't see why not this one lol.

 

[Bad Ass]

[quote deleted as per user’s request]

Interesting. I go to GT for computer science as well and I quite like it. I'm not without my complaints but on the whole with a little bit of drive you can meet tons of brilliant people and professors at GT to make you better at what you do. Why do you so hate it?

and....well, your post about the decline of the Great American University is extremely pretentious and naive. There are intelligent and thoughtful people at almost every university. I found a cool group of philosophy and literature people at the university of god damn west georgia (which you may be familiar with if you're from georgia. if you're not, it's basically a step below a state school). The key lies in not offhandedly dismissing people because you deem them unworthy of your time (i.e. not a kindred spirit), and actually going out and trying to meet new people. If I sat in my room all day my view of the GT student body would be that it's a bunch of frat boys here to get business degrees and fuck instead of the mashup of people doing crazy and cool stuff all the time.

Point being, whatever you want from college -- especially if you are at a so-claimed top 1 university in your field and ESPECIALLY if that thing is a devotion to learning and ideas -- you can find it. the only thing holding you back is yourself. "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right"

also Electrolyte why you paying 70k a year to go to school? are you going to an ultra-elite private school? if you're just going for an undergraduate degree, surely there are better places. and if you want to get into academia or just higher education, there are some quite good public schools out there which can still springboard you into the best graduate programs. GT, for example (just b/c i'm familiar with it) regularly sends people to every graduate program you can think of. I, as an in-state student, pay a whopping $0 a year to attend. Out of state people, without any scholarships they may have accrued, pay $30k a year, less than half of what you pay. If you feel guilty or if your parents can't afford a huge sum like 70k, keep the idea of a high caliper public school in mind.

 

[Electrolyte]

also Electrolyte why you paying 70k a year to go to school? are you going to an ultra-elite private school? if you're just going for an undergraduate degree, surely there are better places. and if you want to get into academia or just higher education, there are some quite good public schools out there which can still springboard you into the best graduate programs. GT, for example (just b/c i'm familiar with it) regularly sends people to every graduate program you can think of. I, as an in-state student, pay a whopping $0 a year to attend. Out of state people, without any scholarships they may have accrued, pay $30k a year, less than half of what you pay. If you feel guilty or if your parents can't afford a huge sum like 70k, keep the idea of a high caliper public school in mind.

Yes, I go to Johns Hopkins University, so it's definitely private and fairly elite. Not ultra-elite, but basically every school at that level has a 60k$+ price tag per year, so the price is inescapable.

Also, I was Early Decision so I really had no choice. To make matters even worse, I was also given a full ride to Rutgers University, which arguably would be just as good for where I currently want to go / what I currently want to do. That said, things are a lot different for me now than when I was applying for college; back then I had wanted to go to medical school and that is no longer the case. Still, I've had a pretty pleasant experience so far, and I would not transfer even if given the opportunity, unless to a significantly more prestigious school.

All I can do is hope and pray that by the time I'm 32 I'll have struck it so rich that debt won't even tease my mind for more than a second.

 

[Rakan]

I turned down a full ride to Oregon State and instead chose to go to the University of Washington despite receiving less aid. It's a somewhat similar situation although the price tag difference is a little less, considering both are public schools. Of course it's more difficult to make a decision if financial aid is a big motivator, but I'd like to say in the big picture it doesn't really matter where you go to school, as long as you have an enjoyable time and can get a lot out of your education regardless. For me, the biggest deciding factor was Corvallis Oregon vs. Seattle Washington... like, who wants to live in Corvallis.........

 

[toshimelonhead]

I turned down a full ride to Oregon State and instead chose to go to the University of Washington despite receiving less aid. It's a somewhat similar situation although the price tag difference is a little less, considering both are public schools. Of course it's more difficult to make a decision if financial aid is a big motivator, but I'd like to say in the big picture it doesn't really matter where you go to school, as long as you have an enjoyable time and can get a lot out of your education regardless. For me, the biggest deciding factor was Corvallis Oregon vs. Seattle Washington... like, who wants to live in Corvallis.........

A former football coach of ours thought ditching Madison for Corvallis was a GREAT idea.

 

[Croven]

hey im a junior who's not really sure where to start in looking for colleges, and would like some help from you guys. i'm looking to major in physics/comp sci, possibly double major idk

all my core courses (math eng history science) have been honors/ap since freshman year, and i've had about A- in 40% of them and the rest A to A+. idk my actual gpa since our school is weird, so hoping that's enough. 1550 on SAT: 750 R&W (39 Reading, 36 Writing), 800 Math, and 23/24 on the Essay.

my extracurriculars are very sparse, and are what's going to hold me back. i'm going to have a total of 3 years varsity tennis, ~50 hours of volunteering, and 2 clubs i joined this year. i'm looking to do more this spring/summer, but as of right now my ec's are pretty bad

personal preferences: small classes would be nice (who doesnt like small classes) but not necessary, i also somewhat dislike the city. if a university is in the city i'd prefer it to have its own campus (e.g. i'd probably hate to go to somewhere like NYU). other than that anything is on the table, no preferences in regards to location or whatever

could anyone give me a general list of colleges that have good physics/compsci programs and are in my reach? thank you so much!

 

[Electrolyte]

hey im a junior who's not really sure where to start in looking for colleges, and would like some help from you guys. i'm looking to major in physics/comp sci, possibly double major idk

all my core courses (math eng history science) have been honors/ap since freshman year, and i've had about A- in 40% of them and the rest A to A+. idk my actual gpa since our school is weird, so hoping that's enough. 1550 on SAT: 750 R&W (39 Reading, 36 Writing), 800 Math, and 23/24 on the Essay.

my extracurriculars are very sparse, and are what's going to hold me back. i'm going to have a total of 3 years varsity tennis, ~50 hours of volunteering, and 2 clubs i joined this year. i'm looking to do more this spring/summer, but as of right now my ec's are pretty bad

personal preferences: small classes would be nice (who doesnt like small classes) but not necessary, i also somewhat dislike the city. if a university is in the city i'd prefer it to have its own campus (e.g. i'd probably hate to go to somewhere like NYU). other than that anything is on the table, no preferences in regards to location or whatever

could anyone give me a general list of colleges that have good physics/compsci programs and are in my reach? thank you so much!

*shameless 'self' plug*

I was in a very similar situation and I got into Johns Hopkins Early Decision. We have an amazing Physics and and Compsci program! But, you won't be able to double major in both, unless you are prepared to fully load up, never do anything else, and take summer classes. We have pretty small classes, though intro-STEM will be large (but you can get out of them easily with AP scores like I did). We're in the city but we have our own campus and you don't ever feel like you're in the city until it benefits you (with things like volunteering opportunities, job opportunities, and nightlife).

Your grades seem to be good enough for you to go to basically any STEM-heavy school you'd like. Of course, there are no guarantees, but you've definitely got a decent chance.

 

[boltsandbombers]

hey im a junior who's not really sure where to start in looking for colleges, and would like some help from you guys. i'm looking to major in physics/comp sci, possibly double major idk

all my core courses (math eng history science) have been honors/ap since freshman year, and i've had about A- in 40% of them and the rest A to A+. idk my actual gpa since our school is weird, so hoping that's enough. 1550 on SAT: 750 R&W (39 Reading, 36 Writing), 800 Math, and 23/24 on the Essay.

my extracurriculars are very sparse, and are what's going to hold me back. i'm going to have a total of 3 years varsity tennis, ~50 hours of volunteering, and 2 clubs i joined this year. i'm looking to do more this spring/summer, but as of right now my ec's are pretty bad

personal preferences: small classes would be nice (who doesnt like small classes) but not necessary, i also somewhat dislike the city. if a university is in the city i'd prefer it to have its own campus (e.g. i'd probably hate to go to somewhere like NYU). other than that anything is on the table, no preferences in regards to location or whatever

could anyone give me a general list of colleges that have good physics/compsci programs and are in my reach? thank you so much!

Here's another shameless self plug.
I can't really give you a general list of schools since I wasn't looking for schools with those particular programs but I would strongly recommend considering RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), the school I go to as we have a very highly accredited and advanced computer science program as well as a great physics department. I'm in engineering but I've talked to lots of people from both of those majors and just from a general consensus they think the program has enough challenging and engaging courses and resource to prepare them for a job. You definitely wont be able to double major since the workload is pretty tough for both of the programs, and there are lots of minors available. The school itself isnt really too hard to get into, its just relatively expensive and possibly far away depending on where you live in the US.

RIT is in't actually in the city of Rochester, its in West Henrietta which is about 15 mins away from the city so its definitely not a college town / super busy area but there's generally enough going on in campus to keep you busy.

 

[Rakan]

Self plug #3

University of Washington has a great computer science program (funded by bill gates himself!) especially in undergrad. It's a large department that gets more funding each year. The only downside is that it's such a popular major at UW that it's quite competitive to get into the department. UW is one of those schools that requires you to "apply" again to your department of choice should it be a "competitive" major due to the popularity and the large amount of students. UW itself isn't particularly hard to get into, although it does favor residents of Washington slightly. Out of state tuition is a bit more expensive than resident tuition but it's not even close to most private schools outrageous costs. It also has a pretty prolific physics department (the buildings are awesome and spacious and they have their own library; source: I took the intro series to physics). Campus is absolutely beautiful, really the only downside to UW is that it's a large school and classes might be larger than you'd prefer.

Edit: I would also like to note that comp sci and physics are two very academically strenuous majors that require a lot of time and effort invested to be successful. It is almost never seen to have a comp sci major with another science double major, and if they do, it requires more than 4 years to complete barring credits already obtained via ap or whatever.

 

[DiscoDucky]

hey im a junior who's not really sure where to start in looking for colleges, and would like some help from you guys. i'm looking to major in physics/comp sci, possibly double major idk

all my core courses (math eng history science) have been honors/ap since freshman year, and i've had about A- in 40% of them and the rest A to A+. idk my actual gpa since our school is weird, so hoping that's enough. 1550 on SAT: 750 R&W (39 Reading, 36 Writing), 800 Math, and 23/24 on the Essay.

my extracurriculars are very sparse, and are what's going to hold me back. i'm going to have a total of 3 years varsity tennis, ~50 hours of volunteering, and 2 clubs i joined this year. i'm looking to do more this spring/summer, but as of right now my ec's are pretty bad

personal preferences: small classes would be nice (who doesnt like small classes) but not necessary, i also somewhat dislike the city. if a university is in the city i'd prefer it to have its own campus (e.g. i'd probably hate to go to somewhere like NYU). other than that anything is on the table, no preferences in regards to location or whatever

could anyone give me a general list of colleges that have good physics/compsci programs and are in my reach? thank you so much!

For a person like you, you're definitely qualified for some competitive programs. I don't know if your schools is a magnet (or has a strong academic reputation), but I can give you tips in general.

ECs: Varsity Tennis for 3 years is definitely a big plus since athletics naturally take up more time than an ordinary school club. 50+ hours of volunteering is definitely good, since schools like to see that you're doing extracurriculars outside of school. If you're planning on entering the STEM side of things, I would highly recommend finding a high school research position at a local university. Depending on how fruitful your research is, you can submit a paper for the Siemens competition or Intel. Siemens usually release results before regular decision deadlines, and if you make it as a semifinalist or a regional finalist, that's a humongous boost to your credibility academically.

General comments on Schools: Since you're very much into smaller class sizes and seem to be a good fit for some Liberal Arts colleges. The benefits to a Liberal Arts college is that there's a greater focus on teaching. At bigger universities, professors often juggle teaching and research, moreso focusing on the latter since that's where a good portion of their income is coming from. Contrary to its name, majoring in a STEM at a Liberal Arts college won't mean you won't get a job (at least if you go to a top 10 LAC). Also, it's easier to double major at an LAC than at a bigger university. Many of the top institutions for STEM are located in cities, but they usually have a centralized campus, so this shouldn't be too big of a problem.

I've included a list of strong STEM schools with a short description following each one. Although some may disagree with me, I use the Graduate program rankings as a factor for deciding what school is best for your intended major. This usually includes the strength of the research programs there, which is critical for an education in undergraduate Physics. Also, graduate CompSci rankings usually correlate with undergraduate CompSci reputation. :

Safeties: Schools that You Should have No Problem Getting Into
University of Texas-Austin: Although a bit low on the rankings, don't let that fool you. It has strong Physics and CompSci program. However, it is a public school, so expect some large class sizes. Since your stats puts you in qualification range for an Honors college placement, you can get extra enrichment out of that.

University of Maryland-College Park: Again, public school strong in both the Physics and Computer Science curriculum. Has an interesting Honors college system that place you in honors programs based on your interests(digital design, entrepreneurship, research, cybersecurity, etc.)

University of Wisconsin-Madison: Another STEM public powerhouse. Big downside is that it's situated in a really, really cold part of the U.S.

University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign: If we're going off of graduate program rankings, UIUC is probably should be your top 3 safeties for the programs that you're applying to. #5 in CompSci and #9 in Physics on Graduate level, indicating high levels of research activity. Sadly, school's in the middle of nowhere (I literally drove there once for a competition and it's just two hours of wheat and cornfields from Chicago).

University of Washington: Rank 22 for Physics. Rank 6 for Computer Science. Also a strong STEM school. Seattle's also a growing center for entrepreneurship, so you can definitely look into that.

Range: These schools should generally be in your range

University of California schools: Berkeley is obviously your top choice, but the other UCs are equally good for both Physics and CompSci. Pros to this is that it's all one application that you send to all the UC schools (i.e. UC-Berkeley and UCLA use the same application, no difference in essays). You still have to pay for each application though (as well as sending test scores to each school individually).

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: Also a STEM powerhouse. Suffers from the same geographical issues as Wisconsin. Also has academic reputation (which comes in useful if you plan on going on with post-BA degrees (J.D., M.D., M.S., Ph.D., etc.)

Tufts University: Not necessarily strong for its CompSci or STEM, unlike the schools I stated above. However, it retains a LAC-sized classes with decent research activity that undergrads can get involved with. To give you the scope of how small class sizes are, 2/3 of Tufts' classes have less than 20 students in it. Also very close to Cambridge and Boston (Cambridge moreso for research. A couple of Tufts kids I know do research in CompSci at MIT labs).

Cornell University: #7 in Physics. #6 in Computer Science (Graduate). It's a suburban Ivy League. Not too solid on research in these areas though. That's for you to look into ;).

Swarthmore College: Liberal Arts College. Great focus in undergraduate teaching with 3/4ths of its classes having less than 20 students. The reason I say that this is a range instead of a reach for you is because of your hours spent for volunteering.

Reaches: These schools are a bit of a stretch. Going to need a hella good essay or recommendations to pull you through this one.

Amherst College: Liberal Arts College. Same strong focus in undergraduate teaching.

Carnegie-Mellon University: CompSci powerhouse. Not so much for Physics though (Rank 1 for CompSci ahead of MIT, Rank 36 for Physics). Very hard to get into for CompSci. May be easier to first get in for Physics and see if you can get a CompSci degree alongside that.

Williams College: Liberal Arts College. One of the biggest draws for it is its OxBridge tutorials. Essentially, students learn about topics in the class from fellow students. Usually paired off, one student prepares a paper/presentation, and the other student critiques it. Switches off every week. Definitely something that might pique your interest.

Harvard, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia: These schools are what I consider core Ivies for Computer Science and Physics. You can mix Yale in there too, though I consider it a "Humanities" Ivies alongside Brown and Dartmouth.

Stanford University: Best of a lot of things. Strong research in Physics (Rank 2) and Computer Science (Rank 1), proximity to Silicon Valley (imo very overrated but w/e), and strong entrepreneurship culture if you think research isn't your thing. Very hard to get into. Good luck.

MIT: Rank 1 on both disciplines. That's really all I have to say. MIT speaks for itself.

University of Chicago: Strong in Physics, not so strong in CompSci.


Here's my semi-exhaustive list for you. If you want any extra information let me know. Croven

 

[GatoDelFuego]

hey im a junior who's not really sure where to start in looking for colleges, and would like some help from you guys. i'm looking to major in physics/comp sci, possibly double major idk

all my core courses (math eng history science) have been honors/ap since freshman year, and i've had about A- in 40% of them and the rest A to A+. idk my actual gpa since our school is weird, so hoping that's enough. 1550 on SAT: 750 R&W (39 Reading, 36 Writing), 800 Math, and 23/24 on the Essay.

my extracurriculars are very sparse, and are what's going to hold me back. i'm going to have a total of 3 years varsity tennis, ~50 hours of volunteering, and 2 clubs i joined this year. i'm looking to do more this spring/summer, but as of right now my ec's are pretty bad

personal preferences: small classes would be nice (who doesnt like small classes) but not necessary, i also somewhat dislike the city. if a university is in the city i'd prefer it to have its own campus (e.g. i'd probably hate to go to somewhere like NYU). other than that anything is on the table, no preferences in regards to location or whatever

could anyone give me a general list of colleges that have good physics/compsci programs and are in my reach? thank you so much!

Your credentials definitely make you a strong candidate. You don't honestly have too much to worry about on that front, and 3 years of tennis is great. Being passionate about your extracurriculars is going to make more of a difference than suddenly joining 4 clubs your last couple years. Do you happen to know your class rank / how competitive your school is in general? That can be useful information to determine your credentials. Lastly, what state do you live in?

Starting to look at colleges strong in physics/computer science is a good start. However, the truth of it is that basically any school with a competent STEM program will fit your needs. The question really comes down to what YOUR interests are going to be after college. Sorry if it seems like I'm being condescending, but what's the reason for those two specific majors? I'm guessing as a junior right now you're currently enrolled in computer science and physics classes and are doing very well in them, and probably want to continue in that field. That's great, but in my opinion you should be trying to think farther ahead forward.

For some context: I'm an aerospace engineering student at the university of Alabama, halfway through my master's degree. I do a lot of visits with high school kids about our aerospace program, mostly juniors. Some inquire about getting a physics degree; something to keep in mind is that a physics degree is not a simple extension of Newtonian physics, but rather a more specialized degree with focuses on things like energy, heat transfer, particle physics, etc. In my engineering classes, we also do a lot of programming for mathematical solving, but that doesn't make me a computer science major, which (from my two CS roommate's experiences) focuses more on software development, learning multiple languages, circuitry, and operating systems. Now, if you already know all this and I sound like a condescending ass, I apologize, but I've seen a lot of classmates go into degrees thinking they're something when they're not.

I always knew I wanted to be involved in the aerospace industry, but didn't settle on being an engineer until about a year before college. I didn't fully pick a specialization in aerospace engineering until three years into my program. I definitely didn't know what kind of career I wanted as a freshman in college, because there are so many options. But I knew it was in a field that I was incredibly passionate about (aerospace). So my question is, is there a specific field that you have a particular passion for? Or is there a certain job you are interested in (for example, being a researcher at a government lab, think CERN or something, or would you rather be a software engineer at Oracle, or would you want to be a computer analyst for a solar energy company)?

I would say it's pretty likely that you don't know what career path you want to take, which is OK. If you're studying something you are interested in (which it seems you plan to), then the studies will come very easy. But I would strongly recommend you start taking tours of colleges close to you so you can see what you want in a campus. Trust me, location and campus style matters a HELL of a lot more than the academic ranking of your program. Flexibility and the ability to switch majors a bit is a huge plus as well. For example: MIT or Stanford or UIC are fantastic schools with fantastic opportunities. But if you don't want to be surrounded by thousands of other students pouring hours of time into studies and the extreme "academic culture" of competition, you might not enjoy your time in college.

Basically, focus on what you want first, rather than looking for the highest-ranked school in the specific field. It's going to pay off in the long run for you. Academic connections matter in college, and you have just as much opportunity to make them at a "lesser-known" school with a STEM program than the number 1 ranked school.

 

[Croven]

GatoDelFuego

first, just want to thank all of you for replying. since you asked for it, i'll give you what i know on class rank / school etc. our school doesn't do class ranks so i'm not exactly sure where i am, but from talking to friends and my general knowledge, i'm in the top 5% of my school, 2% if a bit lucky (probably not 1%). my class has around 500 students. the reason i say i have few EC's is because most of the students at my level in the school have been doing clubs like science olympiad since middle school and some already have leadership positions in their clubs. granted, none that i've talked to has a varsity sport, let alone 3 years, so hopefully that'll balance out somewhat. again not sure about school competitiveness, but we typically have 1 student a year get accepted into each ivy / top school (barring stanford, which has only accepted swimming recruits from our school). for example, 3 seniors i know this year have been accepted into CMU, princeton, and harvard. they don't accept more than one student from our school, from what i know. I live in New Jersey (side note: i can get in-state tuition at UT austin due to a parent living there, so that's at the top of my safety schools)

regarding why i want to do physics/comp sci: i've always been interested in science, so i was trending towards that general area for as long as i can remember (also knew i didnt want to do med or law). messed around with a lot as a kid (paleontology, geology, lord knows what else) but settled on astronomy since i was 8. helps that my cousin is an astrophysics professor, that probably influenced me. high school physics courses made me realize i like physics as a whole, and yes im somewhat aware of what the degree entails. ap physics 2, which im doing now, starts to move away from general newtonian mechanics and to pressure, thermo, and modern physics. also reading what i can find on my own, so interest in physics is pretty set in stone.

not gonna lie, i just picked up programming this school year; our school has 3 courses, compprog 1, 2, and ap comp sci, most of which focus on java with a little python. (i did html css and a little javascript maybe 4ish years ago, but html and css aren't really coding languages and didnt much with them either way) i'm doing fairly well in the classes, and really enjoy programming, especially the logic and thinking that comes with difficult projects - i do side projects at home whenever i'm bored and get an idea - but ur right, i know just about nothing of what the degree has. mostly i was considering it due to recent interest and knowing it has a lot of career options. also comp sci has a lot of use in physics, but its more likely similar to how you use programming in engineering, or at least it's not necessary to do a double major. still unsure.

lastly, yeah i wasn't going to go by the ranking of colleges, i've read this thread enough to do away with that idea. i just didnt really know where to start looking based on my stats; prior to this, i only knew the names of ivies and other top rated colleges (stanford, mit). very grateful for Electrolyte , boltsandbombers , Omicron and especially eaglehawk for showing me colleges i hadn't heard of and giving me a basis to start from, so thank you all for that! hope this post illuminates some things that were unclear before for you, gato.

 

[DiscoDucky]

GatoDelFuego

first, just want to thank all of you for replying. since you asked for it, i'll give you what i know on class rank / school etc. our school doesn't do class ranks so i'm not exactly sure where i am, but from talking to friends and my general knowledge, i'm in the top 5% of my school, 2% if a bit lucky (probably not 1%). my class has around 500 students. the reason i say i have few EC's is because most of the students at my level in the school have been doing clubs like science olympiad since middle school and some already have leadership positions in their clubs. granted, none that i've talked to has a varsity sport, let alone 3 years, so hopefully that'll balance out somewhat. again not sure about school competitiveness, but we typically have 1 student a year get accepted into each ivy / top school (barring stanford, which has only accepted swimming recruits from our school). for example, 3 seniors i know this year have been accepted into CMU, princeton, and harvard. they don't accept more than one student from our school, from what i know. I live in New Jersey (side note: i can get in-state tuition at UT austin due to a parent living there, so that's at the top of my safety schools)

regarding why i want to do physics/comp sci: i've always been interested in science, so i was trending towards that general area for as long as i can remember (also knew i didnt want to do med or law). messed around with a lot as a kid (paleontology, geology, lord knows what else) but settled on astronomy since i was 8. helps that my cousin is an astrophysics professor, that probably influenced me. high school physics courses made me realize i like physics as a whole, and yes im somewhat aware of what the degree entails. ap physics 2, which im doing now, starts to move away from general newtonian mechanics and to pressure, thermo, and modern physics. also reading what i can find on my own, so interest in physics is pretty set in stone.

not gonna lie, i just picked up programming this school year; our school has 3 courses, compprog 1, 2, and ap comp sci, most of which focus on java with a little python. (i did html css and a little javascript maybe 4ish years ago, but html and css aren't really coding languages and didnt much with them either way) i'm doing fairly well in the classes, and really enjoy programming, especially the logic and thinking that comes with difficult projects - i do side projects at home whenever i'm bored and get an idea - but ur right, i know just about nothing of what the degree has. mostly i was considering it due to recent interest and knowing it has a lot of career options. also comp sci has a lot of use in physics, but its more likely similar to how you use programming in engineering, or at least it's not necessary to do a double major. still unsure.

lastly, yeah i wasn't going to go by the ranking of colleges, i've read this thread enough to do away with that idea. i just didnt really know where to start looking based on my stats; prior to this, i only knew the names of ivies and other top rated colleges (stanford, mit). very grateful for Electrolyte , boltsandbombers , Omicron and especially eaglehawk for showing me colleges i hadn't heard of and giving me a basis to start from, so thank you all for that! hope this post illuminates some things that were unclear before for you, gato.

o boy New Jersey. I would recommend Rutgers, but as a fellow New Jerseyan, I would almost always recommend Maryland over Rutgers since they end up giving out more money to top students.

Assuming you're a guy, tennis season starts soon, and since you're a Junior, you can talk to your coach about recruiting. I don't know what your specific stats are, but it can definitely help you get to Division II and Division III schools (i.e. Johns Hopkins, Wash. U., even MIT if you're lucky). You should start talking to college coaches soon if you're interested in playing. I know a lot of students tend to shy away from varsity athletics. I personally believe that you should at least get your foot through the door with athletics and then decide if you want to continue that or not. I know one or two of my track and field teammates in high school went to UPenn for D1 football and pole vaulting. One dropped varsity athletics after his freshman year and the other his senior year. Most importantly, they get to stay enrolled at UPenn and, because Ivies don't do athletic scholarships, not lose any financial aid/scholarship because of it.

Also, I have a general idea as to which school you're currently at, but it's not ranked very high in the state or nationally (assuming that I made the correct assumption). In that case, I think your reaches might be a bit harder now, but don't fret. Again, I strongly urge you to try to get yourself involved in research if possible. Even if you don't make it to the competition level, your primary investigator (the professor you work under) will write a strong recommendation (mostly) if you do hard work there.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

GatoDelFuego

first, just want to thank all of you for replying. since you asked for it, i'll give you what i know on class rank / school etc. our school doesn't do class ranks so i'm not exactly sure where i am, but from talking to friends and my general knowledge, i'm in the top 5% of my school, 2% if a bit lucky (probably not 1%). my class has around 500 students. the reason i say i have few EC's is because most of the students at my level in the school have been doing clubs like science olympiad since middle school and some already have leadership positions in their clubs. granted, none that i've talked to has a varsity sport, let alone 3 years, so hopefully that'll balance out somewhat. again not sure about school competitiveness, but we typically have 1 student a year get accepted into each ivy / top school (barring stanford, which has only accepted swimming recruits from our school). for example, 3 seniors i know this year have been accepted into CMU, princeton, and harvard. they don't accept more than one student from our school, from what i know. I live in New Jersey (side note: i can get in-state tuition at UT austin due to a parent living there, so that's at the top of my safety schools)

regarding why i want to do physics/comp sci: i've always been interested in science, so i was trending towards that general area for as long as i can remember (also knew i didnt want to do med or law). messed around with a lot as a kid (paleontology, geology, lord knows what else) but settled on astronomy since i was 8. helps that my cousin is an astrophysics professor, that probably influenced me. high school physics courses made me realize i like physics as a whole, and yes im somewhat aware of what the degree entails. ap physics 2, which im doing now, starts to move away from general newtonian mechanics and to pressure, thermo, and modern physics. also reading what i can find on my own, so interest in physics is pretty set in stone.

not gonna lie, i just picked up programming this school year; our school has 3 courses, compprog 1, 2, and ap comp sci, most of which focus on java with a little python. (i did html css and a little javascript maybe 4ish years ago, but html and css aren't really coding languages and didnt much with them either way) i'm doing fairly well in the classes, and really enjoy programming, especially the logic and thinking that comes with difficult projects - i do side projects at home whenever i'm bored and get an idea - but ur right, i know just about nothing of what the degree has. mostly i was considering it due to recent interest and knowing it has a lot of career options. also comp sci has a lot of use in physics, but its more likely similar to how you use programming in engineering, or at least it's not necessary to do a double major. still unsure.

lastly, yeah i wasn't going to go by the ranking of colleges, i've read this thread enough to do away with that idea. i just didnt really know where to start looking based on my stats; prior to this, i only knew the names of ivies and other top rated colleges (stanford, mit). very grateful for Electrolyte , boltsandbombers , Omicron and especially eaglehawk for showing me colleges i hadn't heard of and giving me a basis to start from, so thank you all for that! hope this post illuminates some things that were unclear before for you, gato.

You will definitely be able to get into any non-"ivy" school with that kind of resume, so check out some stuff in eaglehawk's "range" for sure. Just based on your placement in the US, touring MIT/ivy schools will be simple. I'd definitely make a trip to UT Austin so you can see how you like the school as your top fallback (if you haven't already), and I would recommend you go down the east coast and check out some stuff (NC state-Raleigh is a space grant university and is not in the middle of a city, though fairly close to one, as well as Maryland-college park). Purdue and UIC are also good ones to visit, being in Literally The Middle Of Corn Fields (which was a dealbreaker for me, but might be different for you). Based on a couple trips you can start to see what it is you're "looking for" in a college.



You can also go to the university of Alabama. Tuition for yourself would be completely zero thanks to your SAT! Scholarships are definitely something you should be looking at once you find a campus you like.

 

[SingleThunder]

GatoDelFuego

first

I don't know if this is helpful for you, but part of my own thought process when choosing a college was going off what I pictured as a college campus before I even was thinking about college. Basically, what I thought was ideal. IMO this part is near the end of the college process: i.e. if the college has your major, surrounding area, student life, dorm sizes and quality, tuition costs, campus size, private vs public, technical school? (if you want that). Should be easier on you if you already have some idea on a major/field of interest. Good luck with your search!

Always check dorms; some can be bad

 

[eden]

This is what confuses me.

I get bumfucked by my school (TX public magnet) so my unweighted GPA is sub3.3 (I don't really show a huge upward trend or anything), but my test scores (2250+ sat, 7/9 5s on APs, 800s on math 2/bio, 750+ physics subject tests, etc) show that my grades don't reflect how much I really know about a subject; I feel like the automatic reaction from an admissions officer to this scenario is "damn this kid is lazy" rather than "damn that school is hard." Is there any way I can let them know that it's mostly the latter?

why my school can go fuck itself

Many classes (lit, precalc, physics, chem) are structured so that only like 5 people get As, so everyone that doesn't run on coffee is a straight-B student. My recs are probably going to be average as shit since I'm pretty average at school, but I would say my essays would be pretty decent compared to what people post on r/applyingtocollege. Guidance counselors don't have any connections and are 90 years old so anyone they would have known are dead already. To top it all off, I live in Texas, and my class size is about 165 kids, so top 7% for auto-admit to UT is like 11 kids (and UT rarely accepts non-auto kids). Sure, I'm probably prepared for college now blah blah whatever; I'd rather have a higher GPA.

Anyway, I want to do EE/compE, but I'm not entirely sure where else to apply. (already applied to UT and TAMU, got into UH (go coogs!!!!!!)). Out of state public schools are not an option since money is an issue. Good private schools with engineering are beyond me bc GPA is way too low. I'm applying to a few liberal arts colleges because I feel like they will be much more holistic (and also like having Asian males) and will major in physics there. Any schools that you guys could recommend even though it's so late in the process?

Have you considered applying to UMass Amherst? I have/had similar stats to your and I got a 12k$ scholarship out of it. My GPA was a tad less than yours as well/UMass Amherst has decent acceptance rate, a solid EE/ECE program(very rigorous though) and with reasonable recommendations you probably will accepted to be honest. I understand the worry though, my school had really difficult classes above the AP level with credits that didn't convert directly, so I'm sure if not anything else my application also gave the impression of an extremely lazy student. Also in all fairness most recommendations are nothing spectacularly out there. Afaik you can still apply to umass amherst till like march through the common app, definitely take a look imo.

Maybe if you actually learned something in college you wouldn't have written a post so embarrassing. Holier than thou attitudes "spewing" from my post? I'm guessing you're in engineering.

EDIT: I had something insulting to say about you looking down on engineering majors, but I didn't really look at from your point of view. Everyone makes their own decision on what path to follow, it's not my place to judge you. I don't agree with your preconceived notions about the inherent impurity of engineering as a discipline, but that again is just an opinion from me. Stand by the fact that dumping 160k on an intellectual pursuit isn't a luxury all of us have. Apologies.

 

[toshimelonhead]

Have you considered applying to UMass Amherst? I have/had similar stats to your and I got a 12k$ scholarship out of it. My GPA was a tad less than yours as well/UMass Amherst has decent acceptance rate, a solid EE/ECE program(very rigorous though) and with reasonable recommendations you probably will accepted to be honest. I understand the worry though, my school had really difficult classes above the AP level with credits that didn't convert directly, so I'm sure if not anything else my application also gave the impression of an extremely lazy student. Also in all fairness most recommendations are nothing spectacularly out there. Afaik you can still apply to umass amherst till like march through the common app, definitely take a look imo.



EDIT: I had something insulting to say about you looking down on engineering majors, but I didn't really look at from your point of view. Everyone makes their own decision on what path to follow, it's not my place to judge you. I don't agree with your preconceived notions about the inherent impurity of engineering as a discipline, but that again is just an opinion from me. Apologies.

Ok let's go through these claims one by one:

Out of state public schools are not an option since money is an issue.

A lot of southern public schools will throw money at students with profiles like yours. Oklahoma gives craploads of money for National Merit Scholarships (a good friend went there), and you can go to Oklahoma State for the equivalent of in-state tuition. Just looked it up.
Good private schools with engineering are beyond me bc GPA is way too low.

Good private schools with engineering are used to students with profiles like yours because engineering is known to beat up GPAs of aspiring engineers. Adcoms are not dumb, except those in Texas where they are handcuffed by Texas legislature.
I'm applying to a few liberal arts colleges because I feel like they will be much more holistic (and also like having Asian males) and will major in physics there.

Probably your best bet. Also, look for schools with separate honors colleges (public and private). A good honors program can match the quality of a flagship state school and provide more individual attention.

Any schools that you guys could recommend even though it's so late in the process?

Get your Texas backups ready to go, find private liberal art schools that can throw money your way, and find neighboring out of state publics who get your situation because of a stupid law prohibiting you from getting into Texas. Don't fuss about it, make sure your school sends its school profile along with your app, and good luck.

Oh and BTW GPA rigor might matter in high school, but it does not matter as much in college. Don't do the same thing again and expect employers to be nice to you. #Lessonlearnedthehardway

 

[DiscoDucky]

Ok let's go through these claims one by one:

Out of state public schools are not an option since money is an issue.

A lot of southern public schools will throw money at students with profiles like yours. Oklahoma gives craploads of money for National Merit Scholarships (a good friend went there), and you can go to Oklahoma State for the equivalent of in-state tuition. Just looked it up.
Good private schools with engineering are beyond me bc GPA is way too low.

Good private schools with engineering are used to students with profiles like yours because engineering is known to beat up GPAs of aspiring engineers. Adcoms are not dumb, except those in Texas where they are handcuffed by Texas legislature.
I'm applying to a few liberal arts colleges because I feel like they will be much more holistic (and also like having Asian males) and will major in physics there.

Probably your best bet. Also, look for schools with separate honors colleges (public and private). A good honors program can match the quality of a flagship state school and provide more individual attention.

Any schools that you guys could recommend even though it's so late in the process?

Get your Texas backups ready to go, find private liberal art schools that can throw money your way, and find neighboring out of state publics who get your situation because of a stupid law prohibiting you from getting into Texas. Don't fuss about it, make sure your school sends its school profile along with your app, and good luck.

Oh and BTW GPA rigor might matter in high school, but it does not matter as much in college. Don't do the same thing again and expect employers to be nice to you. #Lessonlearnedthehardway

Is it that top 7% of the class rule?

 

[toshimelonhead]

Yup, it's the top 7% rule.

 

[RODAN]

Hello. I am Twenty One years old. I have been a NEET for the last 4 years of my life. Today I finally nutted up and applied for Multiple Universities. It feels like a huge weight was lifted off my back and now I can get to working on the rest of my life to make up for all these wasted years.

I made it in. God bless you all.