Getting in to a Top Tier College? 177
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."
Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I asked a well-known consultant in Physics how he knew enough to be helping people who had been Physics researchers for years. He told me he learned more than nine-tenths of what he knew by himself, after he got a PhD.
Take care of yourself. Have a life.
Consider how much a university will be personally interested in y
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Also realize, that if you are currently a HS senior, that means you are about 2/3 done w/ classes for this year. Yea, you are very right when you say you fear it is too late, because it probably is.
I would not sweat it. CM is a quality school that will give you a good education.
RonB
Good luck with college and the remaining admissions process
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
When considering the "R" in ROI, you have to consider all factors, including fun, personal pride, etc. Many people I have met who "had to" go to top tier schools were so insecure that they needed that school name to feel like a whole person. That's silly! Feel good about who you are; you've done quite well - you don't need some school's name to validate you! Feel good about the 95.6% that you got right, not the 4.4% FAILURE RATE that you've had.
That said, if pride is a huge factor to you, and you need the validation, and you think you'd enjoy it, and the costs are comparable, go for it. Just don't feel bad if they "reject" you. You really don't need their validation. And remember what C.S. Lewis says: "pride is the greatest sin."
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The ROI on huge schools may not be that attractive, this is true. However, keep in mind that the "name" is going to be on your resume, and perhaps your office wall, for the rest of your life. With a name like MIT on your degree, you won't ever have a problem getting your foot in the door. I wouldn't settle. You will also never find yourself in an interview room saying things like "Somewhere U?, oh that's a well regarded school in $REGION for engineering..." while the inte
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School doesn't make you successful. You do.
I don't have a College degree in computer science and I just accepted a six figure salary for the largest Software company in the world. It's the 10 years of experience that did it. A degree would have prolonged that occurance by about 4 to 6 years. On a side note, I am proud to say that I had around 10 such offers in the same range in the last couple of weeks. (One tip: location matters... Live where the d
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Getting in the front door is fine if you are in your 20's. As you mentioned, past that, it doesn't really matter what school you went to. Your work experience, accomplishments, and most importantly your professional network are what gets you hired.
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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 signif
Indeed. (Score:2)
The state PAID me $800/year + tuition to attend for 4 years. I had good teachers, learned a lot, and did well. After that, I was interested in grad school and was accepted in a "top 10" university with a fellowship.
I think my experience is not all that unusual. If you are thinking you might ever get a Masters or PhD, I wouldn't spend m
Re:Who cares? (Score:4, Informative)
I went to a community college, but I decided to start open source projects while I was there. As a result, I've given talks internationally, and my software is used in some pretty cool places (industry, academia, other OSS projects like Tcl, OLPC, etc). Oh and I got a decent job out of college.
If you go to school "just to get the paper" even if it's from a top name school, you have to compete with all the other students for jobs/positions in your future. You have to put an effort into developing your portfolio before you grad. Otherwise, you're just another name with a degree.
That and once you're out of school nobody really cares where you studied. When I worked at AMD they just cared that I had some post-secondary degree. Technically AMD requires a masters degree (which I don't have) to work as a software engineer. They hired me anyways based on the need mostly, but also on the fact that I had proven myself competent through my projects. I left AMD to take a lower pace job (traveling %50 of the time sucks) that pays nearly as much. They too didn't care about the lack of a masters even though all my peers have their pinky rings and a masters.
Tom
Networking and contacts and random chance (Score:2)
Moreover, there is nothing more important when it comes to your future career opportunities than your networking abilities and ability to make friends and contacts who can help you decide where you want to take your life. Your most important contact might be someone from a nearby school who you met at a party once who has nothing to do with your major.
And there will be little nudges and profound unexpected events that affect your life in ways you could never have predicted.
It doesn't matter so much
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> despite your best intentions otherwise.
So true. As Shakespeare said, "there's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will."
Re:Who cares? (Score:4, Insightful)
I had to opportunity to go to Georgia Tech but decided that I would rather stay in my home state and go to Louisiana Tech. The main reason being that ROI factor that was described by a sibling post. LaTech was free for me (full scholarship). At GaTech, I would have received about half of the out of state rate in scholarships/grants (which by the way was more than the full in state rate @ LaTech). Would I have gotten a better education at GaTech? Most likely. But, I've always been one of the top performers everywhere I've worked since (Fortune 500 companies, so it isn't like I'm comparing myself to only three people). Those top schools only get your foot in the door easier. You, the individual, keeps you with a job.
But if you really want to get into those schools, the key is finding some way to set yourself apart. You have to be unique and memorable. I tell my daughter (who is a Sophomore right now) that there will be hundreds of people with top grades and the typical extracurricular activities. If you want to get into a top school, you have to do something different and something memorable. Whether it's start a small business during a summer (especially for someone going into a business related degree), in your case, participate in a unique engineering project (for example, if your field is construction related: mech-e construction-e, whatever, then design and build a neigborhood play house that is structurally sound). These types of projects show off your interest in the subject, help out the community (always looks good on your application), and will probably be quite fun for you. When you submit it to the schools, don't just write an essay about it, turn it into a professional portfolio. Since this is "above and beyond" the normal application, it will instantly make you more memorable.
Besides, CMU is a well respected school. The difference between CMU and MIT is negligible in the grand scheme of things. If you are expecting to immediately go into an advanced degree (masters, PhD), then getting your undergrad from CMU and your post-graduate degree from MIT or CalTech is more than sufficient.
Layne
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I totally agree. I did the "stupid" thing and transferred to a college on the other side of the country because I was chasing a girl in my sophomore year. She pic
Worked for me (Score:1, Funny)
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Probably too late, but (Score:4, Funny)
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Actually, he can. If he writes in his admission essay about how he has been propelled to succeed by virtue of his experience as a transgendered person in an unaccepting world, he can vault to the top of the "diversity" queue. Our applicant should do some research about programs for the transgendered at the university to which he is applying; he can then write about how he is looking forward to joining the accepting community of that university, where he looks forw
It's no joke. (Score:1, Interesting)
Beyond that, he finds that they get preferential treatment, even over Canadians. With many of the TAs being Indian
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The professor watched this happen and did nothing. After the test, he announced that he had "heard" that cheating might have gone on, and was increasing everyone's score by one letter g
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On another note, and this isn't a reply to the parent poster I'm replying to, but I have a comment. It doesn't matter what college you go too. Sure, it might help when it comes to resumes, but you can get a good education anywher
what makes you stand out? (Score:2, Insightful)
You're assuming he wants to get into _those_ (Score:1)
an education at Harvard and Yale. What gets you into these? If anything breed.
Best if your Papa already went there.
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perfect scores not necessary (Score:2)
More important is what classes you took (e.g., did you duck the advance calculus cl
Don't Worry So Much (Score:5, Informative)
To be quite honest, going to any high-end research university is going to provide you with great opportunities for learning and getting involved in research. Carnegie Mellon is a fantastic school, and although you might think MIT or Caltech are more "prestigious", people in the industry you're hoping to enter know that CMU has absolutely world-class programs in CS and EE. I might also add that CMU is more of a "general" school than a tech school which specializes in science and engineering. Chances are that you will have more of an opportunity to nurture your interests outside of EE by taking other classes if you choose to go to CMU.
Of course, I don't mean to slight MIT and Caltech at all. They definitely deserve their reputations, and they're two of my top choices for graduate school because of the excellent research that goes on there. While you're an undergrad, though, you'll want to be in a setting where you'll have good teaching, have an opportunity to get involved with research and major-related clubs, and hopefully have some fun. My advice to you is not to stress out about getting into MIT or Caltech, as you've already gotten in to a great place to be for undergrad (or for graduate school as well, seriously where did you get the impression that CMU is less than top tier?). If you are fortunate enough to get into either of the other schools, go on some campus tours, talk to some current students, try to meet some professors, decide whether you like Boston, Pittsburgh, or Pasadena better (all great places to live), and also think about what kind of lifestyle you want to have in college, and what you want to do outside of your major.
In any case, though, you're already into one of the best places you can be for college, so congratulate yourself and stop worrying! At this point, the main deciding factor in what you get out of your college education isn't which school you go to, but the initiative you take to take advantage of the resources available to you (in terms of faculty, ongoing research, etc.) once you get there.
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That said, I applied early action to MIT, was deferred (and devastated)... and ended up getting in during the regular admissions process.. and about to
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That said, I disagree about CMU being a "general" school; I have it on authority from a Carnegie-Mellon Ph. D. that the departments they are *not* known for are not very good. However, the main reason I went to Univer
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Hi Scott. It's true that I ask a lot of questions that may be tangentially related to the topic at hand, and I do so because I'm curious and I want to know the answer. If I come across as arrogant I sincerely apologize, but I hope that despite any ill will you have for me you will take my word that I ask questions for my own intellectual edification as a student. If I thought I "knew it all" already, I wouldn't have asked (come to that, I wouldn't have gone to college in the first place). If a professor do
Be a legacy (Score:1)
Tagged: skullandbones (Score:3, Funny)
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Avoid the nerdfactories... (Score:1, Interesting)
As an Ivy student... (Score:1, Insightful)
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Hmm. (Score:2)
Relax dude (Score:5, Insightful)
Getting a great education and trying to be the best are noble pursuits. But if I may, I'd like to give you a perpective on another outlook on life: I too did good studies, I wasn't an impressive student as you seem to be, but I did more than okay considering I may not have you abilities. Then, fresh out of school, I became a software engineer, then I rose in the company and ended up getting a good position and a really good salary for my age.
Then at 30... realized I had a fat bank account no life at all outside work. That's when I quit my job to start "lowly" studies in the completely different field of gunsmithing. Where am I now? I work on guns, I get a low salary (at least compared to what I got before), but I have week-ends off, I don't work my butt off unless I want to, I can see my family at 5pm, and I get up everyday at the same time and eat a proper lunch and dinner with them at the same time everyday. I sleep well at night, I lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol, I have time to bike more, which made me thin out, etc etc...
So I'm not the super-hotshot I was striving to be. I'm a blue collar now, so many of my former "friends" consider I'm a failure and turned away from me, but I'm happier and I'll probably live longer as a result. Sure I'm not earning what I used to, but then I realized I don't need the latest PDA, a collector car or a big house.
My adice to you is, while you have a great career in front of you, try to remember the pursuit of happiness is more important than a good career. If I were you, I'd chill out and go to CMU, which is a great university you've already been accepted in, and I'd try to fret over more important things in life.
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"I work on guns.."
...and I'll probably live longer as a result"
as opposed to working with... computers?Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, but maintaining guns is an honorable pursuit.. And much more stress-free than software programming. Back in 04, I switched from comp-sci to chemistry. I love that program.
Ply the Dean with drugs and hookers (Score:2)
Don't worry so much about it (Score:4, Interesting)
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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Dude, you should have chosen your example better: the richest man in the world is a failed Harvard student...
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The aformentioned 'failed Harvard student' really never worried much about 'being hired.' Some of the most successful people never worry about submissive stuff like that.
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Pittsburgh, Boston, Pasadena (Score:2)
Spend some time at MIT or CalTech and don't go there unless you actually enjoy the environment.
Carnegie Mellon == Pittsburgh == UGH.
MIT == Boston == YUCK.
Caltech == Pasadena == BLECCH.
The homeschooling movement needs to graduate to college - I think I might rather remain illiterate & innumerate than spend four years of my life in any of those hellholes.
And don't get me started on the insanity of spending $50,000+ per annum for the thrill of being miserable.
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To an extant Harvard provides a signal - it selects only top applicants so you know they were achievers; however:
1) If
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This seems to be the rationale of the elite grad. schools. Maybe they have a point, since those from other elite schools have shown that they can survive that sort of culture, though I believe that they rob themselves of much opportunity by giving graduates of other elites preference.
In industry, however, this is ludicrous. You are wrongly assuming that students in less prestigious schools are inherently less capable, motivated, and/or intelligent than those in the elite universities, when even the elites
Maybe Jante Law needs to apply here... (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
It is too late (Score:2, Interesting)
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Have a very high SAT score (Score:1)
Here's a homework assignment for you:
SAT score is a good enough proxy for IQ that most high IQ societies will accept it in lieu of an official IQ test. You can find out the mapping between SAT (and other tests) here:
http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/GREIQ.aspx [iqcomparisonsite.com]
1. Find out the 25th p
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I didn't do so well at studying in high school. Underachiever is the best word for it, I guess, although I felt I had accomplished things by the time I graduated (including programming Mandelbrot series representations in parallel. Fun stuff, actually) and I ended up not getting into a bunch of schools I wanted to because my grades sucked but my SAT scores were >1430.
My GRE score was a 1550 w/ perfect writing. I didn
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I'm in a Ph.D. program for CompSci right now, despite the fact I had a 2.5 undergraduate GPA. Great GRE scores and an excellent Real World employment history were what got me into the program.
If you're one hundred percent committed to academic excellence in your grad career and you've got a good employment history, then go for it. People do get second chances. I should know.
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Not necessarily (Score:2)
Committee members are human beings (Score:1)
Big fish (Score:1)
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If you're of college age and you need someone else to tell you what to work on
Part of the college experience is becoming an adult, self reliant, and all that jazz. Unfortunately, all too often they confuse "
It's probably for the best. (Score:3, Interesting)
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Been There (Score:2)
First of all, don't worry about being deferred from early action. The people who get on early action are VERY good. Being deferred doesn't lessen your chances of getting overall. At this point, I think you just really need to play the waiting game. Don't pester admissions. They have enough people who think getting in here is a matter of life and death that they don't want to be bothered. Tha
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Don't be afraid to take the financial aspect into consideration. A degree from a slightly less prestigious school is probably worth 30k less in debt.
This is VERY TRUE. I know someone who borrowed a lot of money to go to a higher end private University and now he has over 80k in student loans to pay off, with no end in sight. Fortunately, my parents have contributed towards my tuition at a state school. I could easily have gotten in somewhere more prestigious, but this is "Good enough" for me and I a
Re:Been There (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't want to trash the school entirely. Caltech was a good fit for many of my friends. I do have to qualify that, however. Many of them admitted to me that they were unhappy, but they felt they wouldn't be happier anywhere else. I believe they were telling the truth, and it makes me sad.
Anyway, after a couple of years at a startup, I finished my undergrad at CU Boulder, and I really wish I'd started there as a freshman. It was still fun, but it's kind of cliquey, and many students made their friends freshman year in the dorms and didn't seem to feel a need to expand their circle after that. However, I probably would have had an easier time if I'd scaled back my pride. It's hard to make friends when you're convinced you're superior to everyone else! That can be a downside to the big-fish-in-small-pond supposed advantage of less highly ranked schools. Of course, the problem really has nothing to do with the school...
To the original poster: go where you really want to go. Try your hardest to separate your pride and insecurity from your honest desires. Don't make a decision this big to please or impress anyone else, or just to prove something to yourself. Don't let my experience be a discouragement, either. If you really think you can be happy at MIT or Caltech, go for it! I learned a lot there, perhaps things I wouldn't have learned at a less stressful school. Most importantly, I learned how to learn quickly: how to skim unfamiliar technical content in search of something that will help me solve an actual problem. I learned that I can't possibly know or remember everything (in high school I actually believed I could) so I learned how to find what I need to solve a problem. I stopped memorizing what I learned and started remembering where to find it. But the most important thing I learned is that I like many things besides work and academics, and if I don't have enough time to do them, I get very unhappy. Unfortunately, I had to learn that lesson more than once!
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Top Tier School (Score:1)
The biggest key to getting into a Top Tier School is to have your rich daddy make an extremely large donation, that'll get you in for sure. "Sleeping your way in" might also help.
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Seriously speaking, if they don't accept you, they don't deserve you! Go to the best school you get accepted to and work hard. Do the same as you are doing in high school: work hard, volunteer/lead some clubs and organizations, and most of all have some fun. Life is too short to worry
Don't give up hope yet! (Score:1)
As a side note, one of my best friends from high school, considered the loc
I know nothing about Cal Tech (Score:3)
Unless you mean Stuyvesant, this doesn't matter. It's actually better to go to a lower-ranked public high school than to many higher-ranked schools, public or private. The marginal bump you get for going to a "good" high school doesn't mean much to admissions officials, because grading standards are arbitrary and, frankly, because high school is such a poor indicator of future success (the only exceptions to these are at the extraordinary high end -- Stuy, Andover, Exeter, Bronx Bcience -- or where an admissions official knows the school's tough on grading so your 3.9 or whatever it works out to be looks a lot better). On the other hand, you can get geographic and socioeconomic status diversity points if you raised hogs in North Dakota and educational diversity points if that meant going to the same eight-person one-room schoolhouse for K-12.
Well, IvyLeage Engineer, you know that none of these schools are in fact in the Ivy League? That's not to say that they're not prestigious, and certainly not to say that they're not good schools. Honestly, though, I'm surprised you didn't apply to Princeton [princeton.edu].
Congrats on the GPA. I'm almost certain that it won't mean much. The fact that it's on a 100 scale in high school is part of my point -- scales and policies are nowhere near uniform across high schools (they aren't in college, either, but they're closer). The leadership positions in clubs can be meaningless, but they can be great, too. It kind of depends on what you get out of it, and how well you communicate that to the admissions office. I'll assume that you had to submit a personal statement or something. If so, and you feel you did a good job conveying the meaningful life lessons you learned (it doesn't matter if you actually did or not, especially at these schools), then you should be golden. Honestly, though, as I hinted at earlier, your personal life is sometimes more important. The real world is something we all have in common, it's the best objective measure of the challenges you've faced, and it's more likely to resonate with real people (admissions officers are people too). I'd say the only things more valuable on an application are meaningful major academic achievements, standardized test scores, and maybe a really stellar recommendation letter by a faculty member who both knows you well personally and has worked with you extensively.
Unfortunately, I think you were right in that there's not a lot you can do now. If you submitted the applications before you got last semester's grades, you could send them an update. But random extra statements or recommendations at this point just look overly anxious, unless the school has an explicit invitation in its application instructions.
That said, chill out. CMU is a great school. There are people who would, literally, kill to get in there. And if you do get accepted to MIT or CalTech, you might be able to finagle more financial aid out of them by asking them to match what CMU offered. A tactful "Well, I really do love your school. It's just that financing school is important to me, and Carnegie Mellon offered me $10,000 more in grant money per year, so it's a tough choice..." usually does the trick.
Good luck.
Does it really matter? (Score:2)
I only went to a tech school and ended up with an Associate degree. While I did learn useful things there, I probably could've jumped right into the industry instead. Don't go to college just because it's the "next" thing you're suppose to do. I'm
A bit late, what is an Ivy, and why do you care? (Score:2)
First off, isn't this a bit late? Most undergrad applications are due by Jan 1st, a rare few by Feb 1st. For this part of the year you should be smooth sailing -- most high school teachers will cut you more slack than any other student, so rest a bit. But, DO NOT take this to mean do no work. This means take a day or two off and go do something you like, if you can. If not, see if you can get involved in a senior project. At my "top rated public high school," seniors who had a majority of AP/IB classe
Re:A bit late, what is an Ivy, and why do you care (Score:2)
Internships programs (Score:2)
Don't worry (Score:2)
Those recommendations and projects you work on at CMU will get you in many doors.
Then you'll have CMU AND another top-tier University on your resume.
choice of major + choice of school (Score:2)
I have a few things to say, both about your choice of major and choice of school.
Choice of major Electrical Engineering is a practical field of study, so it trains you to become a tinkerer, as opposed to theory majors like Math, Physics and Computer Science that train you to become a thinker. If you've always been a tinkerer, you should consider being trained as a thinker, so go for a theoretical science major.
Choice of school You should decide your school by merit, not by reputation. CMU is a great s
UIUC (Score:2)
Going to UIUC is around $22,144 per year ($598 ~ $681 per credit hour) so expect to pay...
at least $81,920 for a BSEE.
at least $86,400 for a MSEE.
at least $120,960 for a DEE.
If I were you... I'd go to my local community college for an AS in physics then transfer to UIUC. Doing this substantially reduces the costs...
$42,000 for a BS
Addendum... (Score:2)
"Almost 100% of Bronx Science graduates go on to four-year colleges; many attend Ivy League and other highly selective schools. Bronx Science counts 125 finalists in the prestigious Intel (formerly Westinghouse) Science Talent Search, the largest number of any high school. Seven Nobel Prize-winning scientists, also highest among all secondary education institutions, and five Pulitzer Prize-winning autho
As a Caltech alum (Score:2)
I graduated from Caltech in 1998. Since them I have founded an internet start-up, closed it down, worked for myself, worked for others, done low-level coding and high-level meetings, found myself and lost myself again. Right now I'm about three months from graduating law school and heading off to a high-paying job in Boston, but I'm miserably single and praying there'
What do you do for fun? (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember, engineering used to be a term synonymous with "professional genius." Have you done much on your own initiative? And if not, why not? Do you not have questions you want answered? Engineering may be something you get bored with, if you don't have that drive, and that drive should be obvious by now. I'll take a grimy Edison or a von Braun over a valedictorian with a complete modern science and math education, but no fire.
An Edison can learn the prerequisites on demand. A feckless valedictorian can't learn to be an Edison. Which are you? That's how you get in. And if you somehow slip through anyway, you'll shine at whatever school you go to, and you won't care, as long as you have toys to play with, problems to solve.
Make yourself top tier instead. (Score:2)
Let me repeat that: I have yet to see any substantial difference. On the other hand, I've seen tons of difference in undergraduates themselves.
When I was a high school senior I wanted to get into MIT. When I didn't get into MIT, I was c
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First, don't worry about struggling in your classes. Generally speaking, it's the people who struggle who succeed the most later. People who sail through their courses without ever having to challenge themselves tend to crash and burn in the Real World the first time they run into something bigger than they are. If you're struggling, keep struggling. Don't quit. Don't give up. You might discover you're capable of a lot more than you think--and that kind of gro
Are you male? (Score:2)
Which is going to cost you the least? (Score:2)
My suggestion to you would be to find a school, even a public university, with an emphasis on undergrad research and enough of a pocketbook to offer you a significant chunk of
Private schools (Score:2)
I was a postdoc at MIT. Compared to other schools, they did not appear to value undergraduate education. They are THE research university, not THE engineering educator. I had friends that went to MIT for undergrad, you meet the best and brightest and people that will be running things down the line, but you probably could get a similar or better education at a large research active state school. MIT does not need great / dedicated instructors, since the undergrads will do great things no matter what.
For
Bullet points from the front line (Score:2)
(2) I was deferred by MIT on early action, but they accepted me anyway, so I wouldn't fret too much yet.
(3) It's too late to do anything that might affect your admission chances, short of winning a Nobel Prize or curing cancer, or the like.
(4) To get into a school like MIT you need practically straight A's, graduating in the top 1% of your class, lots of honors classes, evidence that you may someday be a
I went to CMU undergrad, Caltech grad (Score:3, Informative)
IMHO, Carnegie Mellon, Caltech, and MIT are all fine schools. If I were to choose all over again though, I probably still would've wanted to go to Carnegie Mellon for my undergrad, as it's a more well-rounded school. I'm not too familiar with MIT, but Caltech is very much focused on science and technology. This is great for grad school, but I think you should have a more well-rounded education as an undergrad, with exposure to many different fields. Not just exposure to different fields, but people in those fields. Some of my best memories from college were late-night discussions about life, the universe, and everything with art and philosophy majors. Plus, Carnegie Mellon has women. It sounds like a flippant remark, but consider that -many- people meet their future spouse in college.
Also, if you're interested in CS or electrical engineering, Carnegie Mellon is on the same level as MIT/Caltech, and better in some specific areas. If you want to do robotics, the power of Christ compels you to go to Carnegie Mellon.
That said though, Caltech's undergrad populace also has this unique "frenzied" quality to it which I only found in a small sub-population at Carnegie Mellon. I like the frenzy, but some people don't. If you get a chance to visit Caltech, I definitely recommend interacting as much as possible with the undergrads to see if you jive well with them.
On a random note though, I don't know if you're into this, but Caltech and MIT both have active ballroom dance teams, which are pretty much non-existent at Carnegie Mellon. Of course, I didn't do dancing at all while I was an undergrad, but it's something I'm pretty into now.
Don't Bother (Score:2)
ObDisclaimer: I work for San Jose State University and never got around to finishing my Bachelor's (though I'm working on that, and am currently a SJSU President's Scholar). I do have 10 or so years experience as both software developer and sysadmin. The opinions to follow are mine and not my employer's/school's, yada yada.
Despite years of attempts to quantify "education" in terms of standardized tests, class sizes, and other metrics, the one thing I've learned over the years is that learning defies qu
Make yourself known (Score:2)
The axiom, "it's not what you know but who you know" is often used negatively but there's no reason you can't turn it to your own ends.
Forget MIT, try UMich (Score:2, Informative)
Face it... (Score:2)
Consider your decision carefully! (Score:2)
Now, if you want to pursue a career that requires a top-tier degree, that's different. For example:
Transfer (Score:2)
I was a weak student in high school; I was waitlisted at then rejected from Harvey Mudd [wikipedia.org] so I attended Rensselaer [wikipedia.org] for a year. During that year I stayed in touch with the Mudd admissions department; I took classes to make transferring work smoothly, made sure I did very well in all my classes, and even did a bit of research. When I reapplied to Mudd the following year, I was accepted. I attended and got the exceptional undergraduate education and eccentric hard-working brilliant commun
Are you doing a research paper? (Score:2)
Life is not objective (Score:2)
The answer is simple: You need to learn that life is not objective. There is no magic formula for you to follow so that you will get ahead and have a comfortable lifestyle.
Instead, realize this: Youth is irreplacable.
When I was in high school, I was told that good grades and extra-curriculars were required f
Re: (Score:1)
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