ACT/SAT Scores: 1350 SAT (English: 670, Math: 680)
Coursework
sophomore: AP Euro Hist (Test score 4)
Junior: AP US Hist (Test score 5), Honors Principles of Engineering, Honors Chemistry
Summer: Precalculus
Level of math: Will complete AP Calculus AB in Senior year
foreign language: 3 years of Chinese Mandarin
Awards
Presidental award for volunteering
Extracurriculars
Taekwondo black belt third don and work as TA there
High School Color Guard (co-caption)
Middle School Color Guard and band
Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: no major/difficult life events to write about
LORs: Expect good LORs from STEM teachers
Cost Constraints / Budget
Budget $50K/year.
Schools
Qualify for ELC
Will apply for all UCs and Cal Poly’s
Additionally, will apply below schools.
Do you qualify for any need based financial aid? If not sure, check the net price calculator on some of these schools’ websites.
If you don’t qualify for financial aid, and $50k is your hard limit, take UT Austin, Texas A&M, MIT, Stanford, USC, Caltech off your list as they’ll be unaffordable.
Plus, most of your matches are actually high targets/low reaches. UW as well.
Be aware that some of the schools on your list are test required for next cycle - MIT, Purdue, and I believe GT. If your son wants to keep these schools on his list, I’d recommend retaking the SAT.
I agree with DadofJerseyGirl that some of your matches are reaches- applying for engineering and being out of state make many public schools much more competitive.
If you have a 4.0, consider adding U of Arizona. It’s great for aero (Raytheon there) and a 4.0 brings you into the mid 20s.
Rutgers is a match. And A&M may be but it has secondary admissions - meaning you can’t assume aero. Purdue as well I believe. You have to deliver there and then get your major.
Other than Oregon State, Rutgers and A&M, your list is all reaches, some way high reaches given the SAT. .
if you’re happy with the other three - that’s ok. You can’t get in if you don’t try. But I’d add Arizona. It’s a home run given the 4.0 and a winner in aero.
Interesting you list a UC GPA but not UCs.
But do check the cost of attendance to ensure they hit budget.
Did he only take two AP courses? If so, how did you calculate his UC GPA? Were his honor courses weighted by the UC system? Look up his HS in the link below. If his HS course is eligible for weighting by the UC system, it will have a star next to it. After you figure out which courses were weighted, go to GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub to calculate his UC GPA.
The UCs use courses taken the summer before 10th grade through the summer after 11th grade (note, pre-calc grades will be included) when calculating UC GPA. 9th grade courses are not used in calculating the UC GPA. They are, however, used in the Cal Poly SLO GPA calculation.
@chuckml97 Texas and Texas A&M won’t be matches…at all.
OOS without a min 1400-1450 SAT…nope. For sure not Texas, perhaps one of the alternative A&M Eng programs-Galveston campus, TEAB, McAllen- but all incoming Aggies will enter as General Engineering.
Student won’t receive scholarships or In State tuition to either, so tuition will be close to $50k a year.
How many AP classes has he taken or will take besides the AP Euro/US & Calc AB?
CSU GPA = UC Capped weighted unless he has taken any CC/Dual Enrollment courses. Cal Poly SLO however uses 9-11th grades with an 8 semester Honors point cap, so please post his SLO GPA.
Not all the UC’s offer AE so does he plan to apply to Mechanical Engineering instead?
ELC guarantees UC Merced if space is available so it would be Safety.
Here are some admit rates for ME and AE for the UC campuses:
Engineering 2022 admit rates
Campus
Mechanical Eng
Aerospace
UC Berkeley
7.3%
4.5%
UC Davis
Extrapolated <30%
Extrapolated <40%
UC Irvine
15%
18.4%
UCLA
5.5%
3.7%
UC Merced
90%
Major Not available
UC Riverside
56%
Major Not available
UC San Diego
Extrapolated <20%
Extrapolated <20%
UC Santa Barbara
Extrapolated <25%
Major Not Available
UC Santa Cruz
N/A
Major Not Available
Some Cal State admit rates if available.
Campus
Mechanical Eng
Aerospace Eng
Cal Poly SLO
19%
13%
Cal State Long Beach
50%
44%
San Diego State
50%
48%
San Jose State
61%
91%
Cal Poly Pomona has no specific admit data other than last year’s MFA index of 4452 (A-G GPA x 1000) +450 to calculate.
As @Gumbymom said, Cal Poly SLO is a reach based simply on the acceptance rate. That said, it’s an objective algorithm that doesn’t include test scores. Depending on 9th grade, EC hours, rigor, leadership, work hours, etc, it’s certainly in reach.
In secondary admission, Purdue has automatic admission with a 3.2 college GPA, while Texas A&M requires a 3.75 college GPA for automatic admission. Some majors at Texas A&M admit very few non-automatic admission students in secondary admission. Look up the Texas A&M ETAM threads.
Purdue is a competitive Engineering program, but let’s not get carried away. My daughter was admitted with a 1400 and the Data Digest shows a class of 2023 Engineering enrolled student average of 1418.
Oregon State does not have an aerospace engineering major. He could do mechanical engineering with an aerospace minor, but if he wants an aerospace major specifically, he should find another safety.
Iowa State, U Alabama Huntsville, and Missouri S&T would all be safeties and all may get to OP’s price point.
For OP: UW is not a likely for engineering, engineering OOS engineering acceptance rate for Class of 2026 was 33%, and likely lower for Class of 2027. It may also not get to the desired price point. Freshmen by the numbers | Office of Admissions
We don’t know what else was going on with that specific case. You cant just decide based on one person. I know multiple kids who got in with mid 1400’s into CS in the last couple of years.
Yes. He only took two AP classes and two honors classes so far. I got his UC GPA from high school transcript. It said A-G GPA as 4.33. Assuming he will get A for summer precalculus class, the final UC GPA will be 4.31
Thank you for pointing this out. Actually we been to the Oregon State engineering tour. Son like the idea of mechanical major with aerospace minor. Out of all schools we been touring: Cal Poly, UCLA, USC, CAL Tech, UW, Oregon State. He actually like Cal Poly and Oregon State the most.