Out of 4 friends I knew from home (upstate new york) who were going into flight (either aero engineering, pilot, atc, etc) only one (me) got into Purdue. I had a 3.4GPA in normal (regents) classes, was in many extra things (three bands, honors society, key club, know a few programming languages, ham radio club and license, air traffic internship). One of my friends had a 3.9. He did not get into Purdue. It is very true that extra stuff matters.

Because of this, many people at a school like purdue are not only smart, but many of them are very outgoing and activity based. It is rather difficult to get into a good school with just good grades alone. Just keep that in mind, a lot of people forget that. FYI, Riddle accepted me and all of my friends. One of my buddies explains a LOT of people at ERAU wanted to go to other schools....If I did not get into Purdue I probably would have gone into computer engineering at another school and do ATC some other time. I did not like most of the flight schools I visited AT ALL. They were not real universities compared to Purude, and I am very outgoing. I needed a social life and lift.

Good luck!! Meet a lot of people and do all you can!