Chance Me UMich CoE

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

In-State White Male

GPA: ~3.77 UW (I haven’t gotten my transcript yet, my counselor is difficult)

SAT Total: 1420
SAT Math: 680
SAT Reading: 740

AP Credits: APCSP (5) AP Lang (4)

Current classes: Weight training/US Gov, AP Lit/Comp, Spanish 2, Accounting 1, Theatre Arts 3, AP Biology

Past AP’s: APCSP, APUSH, AP Phys 1, AP Stats, AP Lang, APCSA

EC’s:
International Thespian Society Troupe Board Member (11,12)
Theatre Student Director (12)
Theatre Leads (Three shows over the past two years)
ITS Superior Award for Acting (11)
MIFA Theatre Superior Award (11)
AP Scholar (11)
NHS (11,12)
MIFA Forensics State Finalist (10)

I know that this doesn’t look super promising, but I’ve wanted to go to Michigan for I don’t even know how long and I’ve loved engineering and cars since I was a kid too. I don’t know how many points that could earn me in my essays but I really, really need this

2

IMO, even though you’re in-state (overall 41% acceptance rate) with your SAT Math score at 680 and your uwGPA being 3.77 (the average uwGPA for CoE is 3.9+), if I were advising my own senior student (I have a D21), then I’d say to play “conservative” and apply to LSA, if accepted, do well, and apply for an internal transfer to CoE.

Again, just one opinion with a limited set of facts.

3

As an in-state applicant, you have a decent chance of being accepted to U Michigan, however, it will be very challenging for you to be accepted to Engineering at UMich.

To begin with, your GPA is far lower than the median GPA for engineering majors of 3.9, and your SAT scores are below their median of 1440

Moreover, engineering is not just tinkering with engines. It is math. A LOT of math. The problem is that, while you have done very well academically, and have many strengths, your math skills do not seem to be those that are required for engineering-level math. Your Math SAT score is only 680, which is low for an applicant who is interested in being an engineering major. In fact, at 680, your math score is in the bottom 25% for all students who were accepted to U Michigan last year.

It also does not look like you have any real interest or affinity for engineering, and nothing in your academics or extracurriculars supports your claim that “I’ve loved engineering and cars since I was a kid”.

Engineering at Michigan is one of the most competitive programs in the world, and you will be competing for admissions against students who have SAT math scores of 800 SAT subject math scores of 800, GPAs of over 3.9, top grades in the most challenging math classes at their high schools, and math or engineering extracurricular activities.

Finally, do you have four years of math? If not, your chances of being accepted to engineering are even lower.

But again, why engineering? What about engineering attracts you?

4

Agree with MWolf, who’s giving you a frank answer. Add that, IF this is about engineering, you cite no stem activities. The APCS classes are not a replacement for chem and it looks like advanced math is missing. (AP stats isn’t it.) See this page for what’s expected:
https://admissions.umich.edu/apply/first-year-applicants/college-preparation

ps. tinkering is good for engineering. It’s part of the mindset needed. But so are collaborative efforts in the stem arena. Being willing to do more than just what most interests you is important to all the top colleges. Is there more you’ve done besides theater and forensics?

5

Agree with above advise and I have a kid there in engineering. Nothing screams engineering about you. What you gave us is humanities which is great. Look at the cross campus transfer from LSA into engineering. Apply LSA.

Google the words together and check out https://news.uga.edu/hannah-fordham-arts-engineering/

Some schools like Purdue have theater engineering.

6

Alright so first of all I want to say thank you to everyone who commented on this post! This really helped guide my research and my goals for this year. So first I’ll cover my EC’s. Through elementary/middle school I participated in FIRST robotics teams, but the kids on my middle school team bullied me a lot (they locked me in an office room in a basement once at the party the parents put together for us being finalists in a competition). I stopped participating m Freshman year and found extracurriculars I could be competitive in where I could actually have friends and leadership opportunities.

Secondly is my GPA. I got my official transcript and, with the way UMich would calculate I would have an unweighted GPA of 3.8 exactly. If I get all A’s this semester, and when I figure out how a summer college class I took factors in I could have above a 3.83 which I know is still under average, but still a .06 improvement that I hope would give me a better shot.

Next is my SAT Math score. To be honest, I didn’t realize we were taking the SAT this fall until about a week before I was taking it, so I didn’t really have a chance to study. The math score was really upsetting to me, as I usually do much better in that area, and have been studying to retake the test sometime in the near future. The dream is obviously a 1600, but I won’t be satisfied with anything under 1500 to be honest.

Finally, I saw that someone asked me about my math credits. I knew that dropping FIRST would be bad for my future, so I tried to make my courses make up for this. Including my senior year, I have taken 6 math classes and 5 science classes, not including the two computer science classes I’ve taken.

I want to be an engineer because I have been obsessed with how things work since I was a kid. Cars in particular interest me most, and a future in motorsport engineering is my end goal, but I enjoy the competition and innovation of the engineering field, as I firmly believe those to be the building blocks of progress. The combination of my interest in the field because of my curiosity, my affinity for hands on learning, and admiration for the work ethic of the field are what push me towards engineering.

My plan at the moment is to work on keeping my grades as A’s, to study myself dizzy for that next SAT, and maybe look into some type of internship so I could make myself a more prominent candidate. The hope is to be good enough by early 2021 to apply to CoE for normal admission, but in all honesty I looked into the LSA-CoE transfer and I would not at all be against that route. Once again, thank you to everyone who commented. In all honesty I only came here to see just a simple yes or no, but you really helped me to set more distinct and realistic goals as far as college prep.