I’m a sophomore at a pretty rigorous private high school thats a T20 feeder, trying to optimize my junior/senior schedule for top engineering schools (Stanford/Cornell-type goals). I already have a strong interest in building things (hardware + AI projects like a wearable device, sensor systems, etc.), and I want to make sure I actually have something real and impressive built before I submit applications early senior year.
Im really unsure (and its also stressing me) about what I want to major in just because I've done so many interesting things in STEM. My current choices are computer engineering, information/data science, CS, mechatronics
Here’s my situation:
Current GPA:
- ~3.76 UW / ~3.86 W (as a sophmore)
- Mostly A’s, a couple B’s (2 in Spanish, and one Chem)
Planned junior schedule:
- AP English(mandatory)
- AP Computer Science A(optional)
- AP Physics(mandatory technically)
- Precalc(mandatory technically)
- Spanish IV(mandatory)
- 1 more elective slot (this is the decision, I pushed APUSH to senior year)
Option 1 (Engineering):
- CAD-based engineering class (first part is learning CAD, later becomes more flexible/project-based depending on student initiative)
- Could potentially use it to design/build real systems tied to my projects
- The teacher did tell me that the course fluctuates based on what the people in the class want to really do.
Option 2 (AP Statistics):
- More traditional academic class
- Would likely give me a slightly higher GPA (like ~4.2 vs ~4.1 if I take engineering)
- I heard its somewhat of a english class, and I would take it bc its like the fundamentals of ML
Extra option:
- I might be able to take 7 classes and do both, but that could cut into my time for actual projects (~10 hrs/week right now) also be very stressful
Senior year constraint:
- I’ll only have ~2 elective slots
- Options then are:
- Engineering 2 (advanced) (if i take engineering 1 jr year)
- Independent Study (I really want to do this bc it'll show initiative plus i basically just get to work on whatever I want)
- AP Statistics (if I dont take it jr year)
- I can only pick 2 of those 3
Is it worth taking AP Stats junior year for the slightly higher GPA, or should I take engineering and use that time to actually build things?
Also:
- What major would fit me? Given that I've done work in CS and AI, but also like doing real world tech (like a custom watch I designed to detect emotions: custom PCB, custom code, custom casing)
Would really appreciate advice from people who’ve gone through top STEM admissions or know how much this actually matters. Trying to balance GPA vs building something that stands out.
Heres some ECs incase ppl are wondering (sophmore btw):
- internship for SMU professor where I led a team of 5 and conducted studies for synthetic survey respondents
-(this summer) internship at an AI/hardware hybrid startup in SF (Im actually trying to decide if I want to do this or a UTD lab for deep dive AI, any input on that would help as well)
-Emotion detecting watch I mentioned: entering into SEF next year
- an AI app to find the cost of damage on cars from a picture (used in 20 autoshop locations)
-did a lot of decentralized tech commitments: 15+ nodes from companies like helium, karrier, wingbits, geodnet, and Wayru. I also built a custom system for CBRS onboarding to open5gs
-varsity crew, maybe captain sr year
-cofounder of tech entrepreneur speaker series
-AI club co lead
- (future planned): going to the Boiling River in peru to deploy nodes (that I also made) to locate illegal gold mining and deforestation to protect the river.
in terms of maker portfolio/misc projects:
- I have 2 IOS apps I made for fun, one being a social networking app
- created a 3d environment that tracks your head to simulate the illusion
-self moving chessboard
-rotating platform for 3d imaging
PSAT 10: 99th percentile, no studying