I thought it’d be a cool idea if all of this year’s seniors shared their college plans. Colleges you applied to, admission decision, and anything else you’d like to share would be awesome. I think it’d be pretty cool to see where the rest of the FRC Class of 2014 is going, myself included.
I guess I’ll start:
Applied:
University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, SUNY Binghamton, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, U of Maryland, Northwestern University, Villanova University.
So far, I’ve only received one decision:
Purdue: Accepted
This is an awesome idea, should be cool to see where my fellow FIRSTers are going.
Applying to:
Stanford (the one I really hope for), MIT, Princeton, Cornell, University of Colorado Boulder, Vanderbilt, Carnegie Mellon, WPI, Virginia Tech
So far I’ve heard back from:
None, but I should hear from WPI within the next few days EDIT WPI - admitted
Im not graduating from this year but my friends in FRC who are graduating have applied for
UT dallas:accepted (full ride + extra)
MIT: Put on normal admission
UT Austin: (3/4 of ride)
Rice: No word
Baylor: (accepted)
Schools I was considering: Drexel University, Carnegie Mellon University, WPI, Rutgers University, Rowan University, Cedarville University.
I ended up applying early decision to Grove City College for Electrical Engineering, and just received my letter of acceptance today. Grove City College is a smaller school, probably not well known around here, but they still have an excellent engineering engineering program in an outstanding environment.
I applied to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Sacramento State University, San Jose State University, and UC Merced. All for Computer Engineering. I know for sure that I’m going to apply to Embry-Riddle as well.
I’m strongly considering applying to WPI, I’m just not sure yet. Any insight from anybody that knows a lot about it and/or has been able to visit the campus?
The thing that is most appealing to WPI (at least for me) is the fact that they have an actual Robotics Engineering major. Aside from that, they are on a quarter system (don’t know if that matters to you or not), and they have a very project-oriented curriculum. Although, coming from CA, I hope you can get used to the cold if you decide to apply :).
Cornell, Northwestern, University of Michigan, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin, University of Maryland College Park, Rose-Hulman, and WPI.
All big, cold, Northeast/Midwest colleges. Bring on that snow.
Applying regular to Stanford, Princeton, Cal, UCSB, Cal Poly SLO, Boulder, Olin.
I think schools have grown tired of seeing FIRST on a extracurricular list. It seems, for better or worse, to look very pedestrian and not very impressive on college apps.
Not a HS student anymore but I am amazed at the number of folks applying to WPI. A bit curious if FRC’s control system affiliation with them has any bearing on that decision?
As an RPI alumnus, surprised not to see as much enthusiasm for my alma mater. Both are good schools. WPI was sort of RPI’s dark twin sibling across the state border whom we didn’t interact with much. Ultimately, all that matters is what gives you the best opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills outside the classroom (ie internships!!!)
At least in my experience, the response I’ve gotten from my involvement in first has been significantly more positive when I talk about specific stories and how they effected me within FIRST-- just being on a robotics team is like just being on a swim team or anything else. My MIT interviewer was nonplussed when I mentioned that I did FRC, but really started to come around once I talked about the non-technical lessons I’ve gotten from FIRST and my experiences volunteering in FLL and FTC. Just doing robotics isn’t enough-- it’s letting the passion for robotics and STEM/STEM education shine through that get people to bite on it.
I applied to WPI (and got in), and one of my main “exposures” to the school was through FIRST. Academically, I considered myself “good but not good enough for Ivies” and combined with their (perceived, at least) love of FIRST, I considered it an upper-level school that was definitely in my reach.
I’m not an admissions expert,but in my opinion, it all comes down to how you present your FIRST experience on your application. If you just say you were on Team XXXX and held XXXX position, that won’t get you anywhere that any other extracurricular won’t. It’s the other aspects that FIRST participation can help; recommendations and essay. My essay was about FIRST, one of my recommendations was from a FIRST team leader, and I think some of my other teachers even dropped in mentioning of my involvement in their recommendations.
THE Longest List ever:
Purdue University
Umass Amherst
Umass Dartmouth
Umass Lowell
University of Rhode Island
University of Southern Maine
University of Maine
University of Hartford
University of Connecticut
Central Connecticut State University
Stevens Institute of Tech.
Rochester Institute of Tech.
Stony Brook University
Western New England University
Hofstra University
I’ve been accepted to Central Connecticut, U of Hartford, and Hofstra. (No denials yet) Best part is 2 of the 3 have given me scholarship money!!! I had a below average GPA compared to all my colleges yet I have still received money mostly due to my FIRST experience. Hofstra even included a stick note citing my robotics for the reasoning for acceptance and scholarship.
After seeing a lot of students list “Boulder” as one of their colleges, and having gotten a countless number of emails from them in the last few months, I decided to check the school out. And I’m glad I did. It looks like a very great school to me, I think I’ll apply!
I’m currently a graduate student at WPI. Any WPI questions, feel free to come to me - I can at least point you in the right direction.
Same goes for Clarkson University - I just graduated this past May & spent some time leading the FRC mentoring organization as well as being ‘floor mom’ for the FIRST residence hall during my years there.
Grove City College is a smaller school, probably not well known around here, but they still have an excellent engineering engineering program in an outstanding environment.