Chance me? / Least competitive engineering major?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
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ACT (breakdown):
March // 33 C 35 E 34 R 29 M 33 S
September // 33 C 36 E 36 R 29 M 30 S

GPA: 3.8 UW 3.9 W 4.03 UC (upward trend)

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 15% (9-12), top 10% (10-12)

AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), Biology (3), English Lang. and Comp (5), US History (5 - self study)

Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc AB, AP Micro, AP Macro, AP Environ Sci, Marching/Symphonic, Jazz Ensemble, Online US Government

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing huge, my school doesn’t have any honor societies or something similar. Highest alternate & most quizzes completed in Academic Decathlon. Bronze Award for Girl Scouts.

Extracurriculars:
Marching Band (Section leader 2 years, taught and graded students, extra hours put in, etc.),
Symphonic Band (Section leader 2 years),
Jazz Ensemble (Lead 1 year, receives awards at competition),
Academic Decathlon (Highest scoring alternate),
Service clubs (not too many hours filed in any one club),
Girl Scouts (10+ years, Bronze Award),
Robotics (1 year, it just started at my school)

Job/Work Experience: n/a

Volunteer/Community service: Girl Scouts

Summer Activities: Sugarloaf (music camp, got jazz award and a half scholarship), Biotechnology and various other classes at Sac State.

Essays: Personal statement about my rare disorder and how I was inspired by doctors to do medical research, how it affects me now, etc. Other essay about my experiences with failure in marching band and how I have grown through that group.
Teacher Rec: 2 English, 1 Science, 1 French (3 years).
Counselor Rec: She knows me well, so probably decent at least.

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My disease, I skipped mid year 6th grade

I’m a white California female, 100k single-parent income, will be 16 at graduation. Will being a female in engineering help my low math score? I missed probability questions, so I’m not worried about my math ability, just that my lower in comparison math score will hurt my chances. Also, what are the most to least competitive engineering majors? Thanks!

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What is your Cal Poly GPA? They use 9th grades in their CSU GPA calculation but you get no honors points for AP/Honors or IB classes taken Freshman year.

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@Gumbymom My total GPA is a 3.907. My school doesn’t allow AP courses freshman year.

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Hardest to Easiest Engineering majors based on acceptance rates:
CS/BME/ME/Aero/Comp Eng/Environ/EE/Civil/Material/SE/General/BRAE

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CP admits by algorithm. Things like personal statements, gender, quality of your ECs, etc. have no impact on your application. Go to the Confused About MCA Score thread and calculate your MCA. Then we can give you a better idea of your chances.

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@eyemgh It is ~4600.

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A 4600 is a good MCA score, and I think you have a good change at getting in for some of the engineering majors.

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No one knows where the tipping point is for each major, but I’d guess that a 4600 would not be above the line for CS, BME, ME, or Aero.

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@eyemgh Can you only add one EC? I am only missing ~200 points from a slightly lower GPA and test scores, does the lack of paid work really affect me that much?

My eligibility index is 1112 (ACT) and 5338 (ACT->SAT) if that matters any.

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And if I don’t get in for EE, will they look at my second-choice major of Biochem? Is biochem better for medical research? I really have no idea what I want to do, but I’d prefer to do something medicine-related.

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The look at your total number of hours per week on all ECs combined. The usually only look at second choices if they are majors that don’t fill. I don’t think biochem will be one of them.