2006 high school grads - final college decisions

[Salik Syed]

hey I may be going to MIT as well, i was at CPW ... dunno if you saw me or not ... but i was playing guitar at the CPW student welcome thing thursday night

[ScoutingNerd175]

Syracuse University, Electrical or Chemical Engineering. I'm leaning toward Electrical. I am so exited. (My mom got me a large stuffed Orange, It's so happy!)

[nehalita]

Wow we have a lot of FIRSTers going to MIT here... is anyone planning to join team 97? I was over there during the cool projects open house (during CPW). Was anyone there?

[MARK]

yeah vu2000. that was me.

[robot180]

That must be the ultimate life...spend all four years of high school in FIRST, learn all of the secrets, apply to MIT, get accepted, join team 97, and be successful as an engineer.

HAHA, I thought I would throw a twist in it: go to Georgia Tech instead of MIT and join an Atlanta team, like 1040, instead of team 97.

[Vu2000]

As of right now, I'm not sure if I am mentoring next year. I need to take some time off and focus the first semester at MIT (there's a reason why they have pass/no record). I will probably help out next year, and then if things go well my first year, I will definitely be a dedicated mentor by sophomore year.

Mark, if I can remember right, I botched your name a couple of times too during the closing ceremonies

[slickguy2007]

Originally Posted by nehalita

Wow we have a lot of FIRSTers going to MIT here... is anyone planning to join team 97? I was over there during the cool projects open house (during CPW). Was anyone there?

If you can find the time....
Congratulations on getting into MIT Nehalita, you deserve it.


GO 1403!!!

Lincoln college in hickville illinios for 2 years then off to purdue for sports marketing major

-Courty-

[Jizvonius]

Originally Posted by robot180

HAHA, I thought I would throw a twist in it: go to Georgia Tech instead of MIT and join an Atlanta team, like 1040, instead of team 97.

I would suggest joining 1002 that works directly with Tech on campus. btw, check your PM's.

[RoboMadi]

I"m sort of jealous..... Alot of FIRSTers are going to MIT, while i got wait listed for it. agh agh!

Anyways, MIT is still the first pick if in any case they reply back, but so far I'm heading to George Mason University (Engineering Undecided).
I do got into Virginia Tech, Boston University, and WPI too.

[Rabbit222]

I wish I got accepted into MIT or Northeastern. I was so close to getting in, but congrats to those who have! However I decided to attend Penn State to major in manufacturing engineering. My major is industrial robot specific. I also plan on starting a few teams in the area, if I have time.

[Jaine Perotti]

I applied to only three schools, and was accepted into all of them: RPI, WPI, and University of Miami. All three of them gave me a considerable amount of financial aid/grants/loans, and all three have excellent engineering programs. However, I decided upon the University of Miami for the same reasons that I decided NOT to apply to the Ivy League schools and places like MIT and Caltech.

I believe that I am as bright as any of the people who choose to go to the really prestigious schools, and had it been my goal throughout high school, I could have gotten in and attended those schools. But I am not in love with academics. I am not the type of person who develops a strong passion for receiving perfect grades and test scores. I enjoy learning, but I am not very good at playing the "school game". Managing my time is difficult for me, as is staying organized (gosh darn ADD). Always having a 4.0 average is not my talent, and I never felt the desire to make it the central focus of my high school career. Of course, I always maintained good grades throughout high school (A-/B+/an occasional C), but they weren't perfect. Certainly not the kind of grades that Yale or Harvard would be looking for.

I used to feel bad about the fact that my transcript never seemed to match up with my true potential. However, I now realize that the fact that I DON'T obsess over my GPA means that I would probably HATE being in an environment where every other student was the class valedictorian. This is why I decided that schools like MIT and Princeton were not the right settings for me.

The other reason why I decided against the engineering powerhouse schools because I was interested in being a part of a small engineering program where my professors would know me by name. The University of Miami turned out to be perfect in this aspect because of the size of it's engineering program - only about 200 students in the freshman class. After speaking to many people, and making several visits, I found the atmosphere at the UM College of Engineering to be friendly, nurturing, and almost familial. Not to mention that the engineering program is one of the top 100 in the country. I loved the fact that while I would be working alongside qualified professors and bright students like myself, I would rarely find myself in a high-stress, high-competition situation. Students work TOGETHER on hands on projects, not against each other. Plus, I was enthused by the fact that there has always been 100% job placement for engineering students, and many opportunities exist for hands on undergraduate research.

So, thats my story. I am proud to be a Hurricane and I am totally enthused and excited about the coming four years. My advice: just because a college has a fancy name attached to it, doesn't mean it is the right place for you. If you are not the type of person who enjoys playing the academic "game", look for a college that will nurture you, instead of push you to be a perfect academic.

-- Jaine

[Greg Marra]

I will be a member of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (wikipedia) Class of 2010.

It's a (relatively) unknown engineering school (although less so among FIRSTers), mostly because it is so new that it is only graduating its first class this year. There are a few other threads about it kicking around on CD if you do a search.

I fell in love with the school's amazing sense of community among students and professors. The small size of the school makes it basically a giant family, where everyone is willing to help each other out and professors get to know you extremely well. I don't think it's the perfect environment for everyone, but I think for someone like me it will be wonderful. The ability to guide my own education instead of falling into a track like I might in the larger, less personal, engineering programs at other schools is really nice.

[Vu2000]

Go Greg! Olin has a large percentage of FIRST'ers, and your the next to join the wonderful school. Plus, Woodie Flowers is a distinguished partner for the college in academics, so this should be a big indicator of the academic program at Olin.

[Dillon Compton]

Congrats to all the MITers, and Greg, good job with Olin- I was going to apply, but I decided not to. Actually, the only "engineering" school I appled to was WPI.

Was accepted at WPI, Hampshire, and Hofstra Honors College.

I'm going to Hampshire College, with the intent to focus on biomimetical engineering & organic computing in robotic systems. They have a fun (albeit small) shop there, and a first-year student just modded an old bridgeport and turned it into a 3-axis CNC. I'll probably be taking some/all of my intro to engineeringish courses at UMASS Amherst or Amherst College, as they both have more "standard" curricula, but I'll be doing most of my Cog. Science and Comp. work at Hampshire, I imagine.

For those of you who dont know, which is probably most, Hampshire College is part of the "Five College" consortium; students at Amherst, Hampshire, UMass Amherst, Smith, and Holyoke are allowed to take courses at any of the colleges for no additional charge. Additionally, every student at Hampshire designs their own major, so you are literally free to do whatever you want with your education.