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Getting in to a Top Tier College?
IvyLeague Engineer asks: "I'm currently a senior at a top rated public school and I look forward to majoring in Electrical Engineering. I've already been accepted into Carnegie Mellon University, so I don't need to worry about any 'safety' schools. However, I still have my sights set on getting into a school such as MIT or Cal Tech. My grades are high (95.6 on a 100 scale), I have several leadership positions in clubs, however I'm pretty sure that's not enough. What else can I do to improve my chances of being accepted there? I've already been deferred from early action at both institutions and I'm afraid it's too late to do much at this point. I'm sure there are other people like me wondering just what it takes to get admitted to a prestigious college."
Speaking out of personal experience, I attended one of the schools you mentioned for a year and then left because I couldn't stand being in a nerdfactory like that for four years of my life. I now attend the University of Washington and couldn't be happier -- the quality of the women is SO MUCH higher, the academics aren't terrible, and I'm not getting raped with student loans. If you really want to sit in your dorm for the next four years and spend your weekends drinking Mountain Dew and playing Xbox, then you'll probably fit right in at the one I mentioned (no names here), but if you want a legit, well-rounded college experience, I'd examine larger public options within your state.
This is apparently especially true in Canada. I have a nephew who is from the US, but is studying science at a university in Canada. Back at Christmas we were talking about what higher education is like there. He was saying that about 75% of the students in his graduating year are made up of "visible minorities". It's absurd to call such people "minorities" when they are clearly in the majority.
Beyond that, he finds that they get preferential treatment, even over Canadians. With many of the TAs being Indian, he says that they tend to treat Indian students better. Mind you, that may be because the Indian students are the only ones who can actually understand what the Indian TAs are saying.
He was even telling me of one situation where a group of Indian students were openly "collaborating" on a test that was to be individually written, in plain sight of the Indian TA. The TA apparently knew they were cheating, but wouldn't do anything about it. It was only after several other students writing the test actually yelled at the TA to take the cheaters' tests, fail them, and then kick them out that something was done. But my nephew was saying that apparently those Indian students went to the professor, outright denied the cheating, likely made threats of filing a racism complaint to the professor's higher-ups, and were allowed to rewrite the test. Of course, in any American school those fuckers would've likely been booted from that course, at the very least.
So if you are a minority, maybe Canada is where you should go. It sounds like you'll get preferential treatment, you'll have free reign there to do what you want, and they don't have the guts to stop you.
What you do while you're in college matters more than which college you do it at. Let's say person A goes to Harvard and spends their time smoking up, drinking, and barely passing their classes, while person B goes to West Podunk State, where they graduate with high honors and had a leadership role among students. Which person would you expect to be accepted to a graduate program? Which person would you hire?
Secondly, the stats you quoted are just fine for getting into a good school. Don't listen to your parents on this one: They're view of what's average is probably developed by what they hear from their friends about their kids, which is typically exaggerated. Usually a combination of mostly A range high school grades, good SATs or ACTs, some extracurricular involvement, and a compelling essay (that shows them your personality, this is crucial) are all you really need.
Also, make sure you really like what you see about the schools in question. Spend some time at MIT or CalTech and don't go there unless you actually enjoy the environment. Yeah, it may look good on your resume, but it's probably not worth the 4 or 5 years of misery to get it.
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Link. While it'd be the last thing to use, it becomes useful to apply when selectivity interferes with admission to the point even state universities join in.
If it really didn't matter if you went to a selectivist run college or not, there would be no problem of the name, selectivity, and the prestige being removed. That means the education itself matters, nothing else.
Maybe it's time to consider selectivity a liability and not an asset in education - not the other way around.
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Your right that it is too late for you to start beefing up your activities. Most schools require that you say how long you've been doing any activities and how many hours per week you do them. So if an admissions officer sees that within the last month you've started ten new activities/sports/jobs/whatever, they will realize that your scrambling to add to your application. If you do anything, make sure you have an awesome essay and make sure that your references are people who know you well and will say how great you are. When my best friend was applying to schools, he had a reference that was bad mouthing him.
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Have you ever thought that there's a reason these places are selective and have their admissions standards set how they are for a reason? If, by the midpoint of your senior year of HS, the admissions board doesn't think you're cut out for them, maybe there's a chance they're right? 4 months away from graduation is a little too late to change your academic course significantly. The very fact that you've put this off as long as you have long might, in itself, be an argument for why you might not be cut out for a top-tier school.
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Hey, I went to NYU for CS ('03), and loved it. Going to a nerd school like MIT or CMU wasn't something I had any interest in. NYU is great for meeting all kinds of different people; there are very few of the typical CS nerds there. And the location cannot be beat, period.
The other thing to consider about going to NYU (or any school in NYC) is that the big tech employers are the investment banks. Granted, the work is not always glamorous, but I've yet to hear anyone complain about the pay. 2 years out of school, you can easily be making six figures, and NYU is very well known in that industry, and else where in NY, so if you plan to stick around, I wouldn't worry about name recognition.
Lastly, the name of your college is mostly useful for getting your first job; by the time you start looking for your second, people will judge you more on what you've done than where you went to school.
Anyway, enjoy NYU.
I think that seeking validation through association with a prestigious institution is a terrible idea. I think making a decision based on personal pride is a terrible idea too.
I think you have to find the place will do the most for you.
I suspect that if you find a school that really is a perfect match for you, chances are you will get in. The trouble is that the the converse is not true: just because you get in doesn't mean its the right place for you.
If the prestige of an institution is playing a significant role in your decision, a rational self-examination of your motives would be wise. Worrying about getting in is natural, but if you worry too much,you probably suspect that the place might not be right for you. In that case, a "rejection", while it sucks, is actually the best thing for you.
My wife got into three prestigious schools, and chose the least prestigious of them. She made the decision completely on a gut instinct, and it turned out to be a great decision for her.
Engineering schools are somewhat of a special case. First off, you really have to know you want to be an engineer, and it would help if you were pretty sure exactly what kind of engineer you want to be; ideally you're committed by the first term of your sophmore year. I knew a number of people at MIT who decided to go into Materials Science because they took August Witt's class to fulfill their. Maybe not a problem because it's a fascinating field and a great program. But as an older adult I look back at this and the idea of eighteen year olds choosing their destiny based on a single, great, charismatic lecturer is a bit scary.
I like the idea of the Northeastern co-op program. It gives you a little more time and some actual experience -- both life and professional. I've known a number of good engineers to come out of that program (and few bad ones from MIT, although mostly new graduates need a bit of seasoning). For people of a more practical, hands on bent, Northeastern might be a better choice.
Another issue with engineering schools is that if you do know what you want to do broadly speaking, you probably should look at the electives they offer in the field.
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