Chance Me/Match Me (my kid) Oregon Senior wanting Engineering in the NE, upper Midwest, West [3.8 GPA, 1240 and 1370 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Please help suggest colleges we may have missed or chances for acceptance at the colleges he’s interested in.

Oregon
Suburban large high school
White male
Has lots of interests, not any “passions”, is a nice kid who has done some theater (incl a musical), has run a few years for the cross country team, volunteers, had a rough end of Sophomore year/beginning of Junior year, but is now doing great, but during that time dropped activities like violin and taekwondo. Loves baking bread and cooking curries and ramen.

Intended Major(s)
Engineering, likely electrical

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.8
  • Class Rank: 90/292
  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1240 (will take it again)

Coursework
has some DE through his AP classes, not sure how many credits.
AP Seminar- 3 on exam
AP Lang/Comp -3
AP US History - 2
Senior year taking Calculus, AP Research, AP French, AP Physics

Awards
NHS, Thespian Society, Math honor society, French honor society

Extracurriculars
Worked 1 year at pizza place, 3 years of cross country, volunteers through a boys’ charity organization, will likely be president of French honor society.

Essays/LORs/Other
Probably a LOR from theater teacher/director, will also get one from a science/math, but not sure yet. Teachers love him, but has not had a teacher for more than 2 years.

Cost Constraints / Budget
No constraints

Schools

  • Safety-Oregon State University
  • Likely-Oregon State Engineering
  • Match
  • Reach-CWRU, Boston Univ, Northeastern, WPI
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?

Many schools that require LORs expect that they will be from two teachers in core subjects. A theater director can provide a supplementary LOR for those school which accept them, but he should really try to get another teacher to provide an LOR.

So were these also classified DE in addition to AP? Or are you referring to getting credit from taking the exams? (If you are referring to exam-based credit, the 2 likely will not get him any credit; the 3s might, depending on the college.)

His GPA is decent, but his class rank may hurt him for the reach schools. I like his ECs and, overall, he sounds like a great kid. The reaches are probably going to be tough for him, but if he would be happy with his safety, then he’s in a good position, as any reach acceptances will be pleasant surprises.

In terms of additional schools, what is he looking for?

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He hasn’t had a specific teacher for more than 2 years - Covid, retirements, etc. Meaning he doesn’t have a tight bond with a teacher, especially in math/sciences. His physics teacher this year is in her 1st year of teaching, and this is the first year he’s had his calculus teacher. His previous math teachers have retired. The theater LOR would be supplemental but is likely strong. His DE credits are separate and in addition to AP classes - for some of his AP classes he can also get college credit through one of our community colleges. I’m not anticipating him scoring high enough on any AP exam to gain additional college credits.

We are lucky to have such a great engineering program at OSU. I know he wants to go to the Northeast though. He doesn’t want a huge school, but bigger than 2,000 students. We’ve kinda looked at Lafayette, UPitt, U Rochester, but I feel like we are missing some winners. It’s hard to break free of the allure of highly selective colleges :wink:

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What about an English teacher or social studies? Any possibilities there? It doesn’t have to be a STEM teacher; in fact, for some colleges it is preferable to have 1 STEM and one humanities/social sciences LOR.

That’s great. Keep in mind that these are more likely to transfer to your public universities; some privates won’t accept DE credit, so that’s something to consider. However, it will be good for all applications to help demonstrate rigor.

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My S23 (CA resident) also applied for electrical engineering. Additional schools he had on his list (that may fall into match/low reaches for you, depending upon WGPA - and a higher SAT score would be helpful for some of these): Lehigh, CU Boulder (note it is harder to be directly admitted to Engineering; many high stats kids are admitted to Exploratory Studies instead), LMU, USD (test blind), and SDSU (test blind). ETA - Wisconsin-Madison is another one to look at, although an admit there is getting harder for OOS kids.

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Well, I am biased because my kid attends Oregon State (go Beavs! :beaver:), but I really do think his best fit school may be in his backyard. As I have posted elsewhere, my own student was admitted to higher ranked schools but resisted the allure and chose OSU because she preferred it.

First, you won’t beat the price. Second, if he plans to work in the Pacific Northwest after graduation, OSU has a nice pipeline to local internships which can aid in that process. Third, he will get maximum credit for AP and dual enrollment classes. And the way you describe him sounds like it would suit him.

But that’s not what you asked. :smile:

If you want to cast a wider net and expand your list, maybe look at Colorado School of Mines as a reach and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology as a likely?

Edited to add: Looks like my suggestions may be too small? Not in the desired location?

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A few more options that are in the Northeast:

University of New Hampshire has a decent engineering program (a likely).

Or maybe Stevens Institute of Technology as a target?

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My son left Oregon to go to Cal Poly in 2014. His HS classmate did ME at OSU and then went to MIT for his MS. OSU has a pipeline right into many great companies, including Boeing, Amazon and Microsoft. He might go east trying for better, and get worse.

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If your son wants electrical engineering in the northeast, these are some schools that he may want to check out:

  • Binghamton (NY): About 14k undergrads
  • Clarkson (NY): About 2700 undergrads
  • Drexel (PA ): About 14k undergrads and another program that focuses on co-ops
  • Fairfield (CT): About 4800 undergrads
  • Manhattan (NY): About 3100 undergrads
  • Merrimack (MA): About 4200 undergrads
  • New Jersey Institute of Technology: About 9k undergrads
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY): About 5900 undergrads
  • Syracuse (NY): About 15k undergrads
  • The College of New Jersey: About 7k undergrads
  • Union (NY): About 2100 undergrads
  • U. of Maine: About 9800 undergrads
  • U. of Rhode Island: About 15k undergrads
  • U. of Vermont: About 12k undergrads
  • Wentworth Institute of Technology (MA): About 3700 undergrads…part of the Colleges of the Fenway consortium

For whatever the reason, when reading about him I really think of Clarkson.

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Safties/Likelies in the Northeast
Western New England
Roger Williams
URI
Clarkson
UVM
UME
RIT

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U.Mass Amherst. UNH, UVM. I think that UNH would be more likely than U.Mass. UVM is expensive out of state unless the student qualifies for a substantial merit scholarship, but at least in our experience the NPC for UVM does accurately predict merit scholarships. U.Maine would also be quite likely for admissions.

I suppose that if you wanted to go even further east and north then Dalhousie would be possible in Nova Scotia. Alternately Concordia in Montreal (just up the street from McGill) is quite good and he would get a chance to use his French.

Oregon is a WICHE / WUE state (WUE, Western Undergraduate Exchange, is the undergraduate part of WICHE) if you want to save some money and go not quite as far from home.

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WPI could be a possibility. The rest of the northeast schools you mention seem pretty reachy. The BU College of General Studies might be a possibility, and he could still track into engineering from there, but it’s a spring start and a different path that he might or might not like.

If he really wants one of the Massachusetts schools, and ending up full-pay would be acceptable, I’d consider ED-ing to WPI.

If he wants to keep going with French, he might like the International Engineering Program at URI. It’s a five-year dual-degree (engineering plus foreign language), and both study and internship abroad are built into the curriculum; and it tends to be a fairly ambitious cohort. Students get great jobs with participating companies. URI is in a gorgeous coastal New England location with good access to nearby cities (Providence, Boston, etc.) Downside, of course, is paying for 5 years at OOS rates, although there are scholarship possibilities. https://web.uri.edu/engineering/academics/iep/

Stevens, in NJ, is right across the river from NYC, with skyline views from campus. Maybe a smaller school than he wants (almost 4K undergrads), but great location and solid academics.

Clarkson is a pretty neat school, and it’s only 2 hrs from Montreal, and accessible for his stats. But it’s small (about 2700 undergrads) and… is “Northeast” worthwhile, to him, if it’s that remote? Even Lehigh/Lafayette… they’re excellent schools, but it’s pretty far from any sort of urban cultural scene, so is it worth the distance and expense compared to being in Corvallis, which is really pretty nice? For the more urban side of upstate NY, SUNY Buffalo is excellent for engineering, and both RIT and Syracuse U could be possibilities - more attainable than URoch. But, will the lake-effect cold/snow upstate NY cities give him the “Northeast” that he’s looking for?

I agree with looking at WUE schools. U of Utah would be a change of scene, major city, very affordable, and excellent engineering programs. Would he like it any better than OSU?

He has an excellent in-state safety; it may turn out that it’s hard to beat, and that the attainable schools that he does like better aren’t so much better that you want to pay a substantial price difference. He can always gun for summer internships in Boston - that’s when the weather is good, anyway!

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Given the rank, rigor and low AP scores, I’d think the reaches are that and he would go TO. WPI may be an in but it’s different so check that out - schedule, etc.

In the East - You can try Pitt, Drexel, UDel,UNH, URI. RIT might fit.

Midwest -Bradley, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri Science and Tech, Nebraska

Out West the two Arizona schools - u of A and ASU.

Good luck.

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EE, 3.8 GPA, 1240 SAT, no cost constraints, northeast, upper midwest, or west… that give a list of about 100 or so colleges (with a smaller list of states in each region), a large percentage of which are admission realistic.

What additional preferences does he have? Which states are within the definitions of “northeast”, “upper midwest”, and (especially) “west”?

It does seem likely that he would prefer a college with a significant residential population, unless he goes to a college that he commutes to. Is that a reasonable assumption?

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Few schools will give credit for a 2/3 AP score. If this is a concern stay where you are at. That combined with the low Sat has me concerned. How are his math and science grades?

Unweighted 3.8 is fantastic. Don’t let anyone tell you different. He sounds like a great kid and activities are fine.

Trust me I understand kids wanting to go away but he might actually be in the best place at home. Finding truly affordable good engineering colleges with good placement isn’t that easy. He can move and live anywhere he would like to later on.

If applying OOS to competitive programs might have to apply without sending his Sat scores.

He evidently isn’t great at timed testing national tests. I would make sure he is set up with help at any school he goes to. All will have peer to peer. Math /science labs help. Professor hours. Writing labs etc.

Engineering and college is much harder then what he is taking now. Much harder. He needs to be set up for success.

Sorry to look at this differently but this was the first thing that jumped out at me.

Good luck.

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A second vote for Stevens. It’s not a super difficult admit, great academics and STEM programs, and for someone coming from across the country, it has a fairly easy to get to location. And the view of Manhattan — wow!

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I’m a fan of Stevens. My firm has hired plenty of great kids from there and I really like the school (especially their president, who’s doing a lot of good stuff there).

But I would suggest applying test optional unless that SAT gets to the mid 1400s.

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It is pretty common to get some kind of credit for a 3, but not a 2. But subject credit and advanced placement may be less for a 3 compared to a 4 or 5, and students with a 3 are less likely to be prepared for the next course than students with a 5.

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Very true. An estimated 50-60% of engineering majors drop out of the major, and struggling with the classes is by far the biggest reason. Sometimes these struggling students end up finding something else they genuinely love (often business or social sciences) but sometimes they drop out entirely or end up in an easier major they don’t necessarily like.

So I think attending a school where the faculty members have experience supporting non-superstar stats students is a great idea. These schools may not be the most prestigious names, however. It also may be worth checking out schools that offer Electrical Engineering Technology in addition to Electrical Engineering, in case a student needs to “drop down.” The “technology” equivalents of each of the engineering specialties are basically less-theoretical, more hands-on, somewhat easier versions. Having one of the “technology” equivalents will put certain jobs out of reach, but MANY excellent and well-paying jobs remain. I have a family member who works for a large medical device engineering company, and those with the “technology” version are hired in engineering positions.

Some schools that have both EE and EE-Technology include Michigan Tech, Purdue, RIT and UMaine. I’m sure there are others.

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@Knowsstuff the unweighted GPA is very good until you look at the student’s class rank.