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Hi, I am currently a high school student in my junior year who is unsure about what schools to think about and is interested in Electrical Engineering. Could you guys please take a look at what I have so far and see what I should be thinking about in terms of colleges (matches/safeties/reaches)? Thanks a bunch in advance!

I live in South Carolina
Trilingual- English, Chinese, French

SAT 1 Composite Score- 1380 (700 Math, 680 Verbal)- I can probably raise that to at least a 1450 with a 800 or 770 in Math

Class Rank- 3 of 302 (Top 1 percent)- I can probably keep this rank
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 5.4 weighted
AP Courses:
Physics (Taking right now, expecting a 98)
Statistics (Taking now, expecting a 100)
Calculus AB (Taking next year)
English (Taking next year)
Chemistry (Taking next year)
Since my school is on a 4x4 block schedule, it’s impossible to take more than 4 AP courses per year, and it’s hard to obtain the required prerequisites to enter AP courses before your junior year.

Extracurriculars/Awards:

I have been playing the violin since fourth grade and it takes up quite a bit of my time.
South Carolina All-State and Regional Orchestras- Have been selected for the past 6 years
High School String Orchestra (Going to be 4 years)- Assistant Concertmaster freshman year, Concertmaster sophomore year
High School Chamber Orchestra (Going to be 3 years, we didn’t have one our freshman year)- Concertmaster sophomore year
High School Electric String Group (Going to be 2 years, this is our first year)- Principal Second Violinist
High School Symphony Orchestra (Going to be 3 years, last year was our first year)- Concertmaster
Anderson (Our local) Symphony Orchestra (Going to be 4 years)- 1st and 2nd violinist
Church musician (Going to be 4 years)
Math Team (Going to be 4 years)- Active member (We don’t really have a captain)
National Honor Society (Going to be 2 years)
Mu Alpha Theta (Going to be 3 years)
French Club (Going to be 3 years)
Academic Team (Going to be 2 years)
NJROTC Drill Team (freshman year in high school)
Was asked to work a summer at a local music shop. I now put in one day a week at a restaurant.
Worked at local United Way’s Success by 6 program twice to promote literacy in our area.
350+ hours of community service playing for the Anderson Symphony Orchestra, a non-profit organization that plays for the local Anderson community.
Honor Roll all through High School
National Honor Roll junior year
Who’s Who Among American High School Students
Selected twice to participate in the National Geographic State-level Geographic Bee

So, what do you guys think?

By Apacolypse (Apacolypse) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 09:01 pm: Edit

Well, what type of college experience do you want? A larger public school or small LAC? I see that you've been really involved in music. Do you want to continue that in college? Would you want to join a university's band/orchestra and perhaps play at football games, etc. Do you want to stay in the South or do you not care? Answering these will help you determine the right colleges for you.

By Xredcomet (Xredcomet) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 10:23 pm: Edit

I don't really care what part of the country, as long as the weather's not too extreme. I probably don't want to go to a small college, and playing in an orchestra might be a possibility in college, if I have the time. Also, do you think I'll get additional financial aid for college if I want to be involved with the music department, but not study music?

By Apacolypse (Apacolypse) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 12:31 am: Edit

Well, if you're interested in Electrical Engineering at a medium to large sized prestigious school and perhaps still be involved in an orchestra/band, you should look into Michigan, Stanford, and Berkeley. Though with Stanford, you may need to raise your scores a bit. Other engineering schools to look at are Illinois, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Texas, Wisconsin, and Carnegie Mellon. Of course, there's always MIT & Caltech, but you'll need to raise your scores for them too. Plus, I don't know how their bands are.

Though UVA, my alma mater, isn't as highly ranked in engineering, it literally just created a marching band, so that might be a plus (both admissions-wise & financially) if you do choose to apply.

http://www.virginia.edu/marchingband/home/about.php

By Alexandre (Alexandre) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 01:30 am: Edit

Cal-Berkeley (match/reach)
Georgia Tech (match)
Michigan-Ann Arbor (match)
Northwestern (match)
Purdue-West Lafayette (safety)
Stanford (reach)
Texas-Austin (match)

If you can raise your SAT to 1450, I would add MIT and Princeton.

By Mominva (Mominva) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 09:30 am: Edit

Lehigh has a 5 year Arts and Engineering dual degree program.

By Xredcomet (Xredcomet) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 10:36 am: Edit

Thanks a lot! This gives me a few schools to look at. Also, what do you guys think my chances are at getting into the ECE program at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign?