Chance My Son - Incoming CA Senior, Engineering [4.00 GPA, 4.31 UC GPA, 1350 SAT, Aerospace Engineering, < $50k]

Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State/Location of residency: CA
  • Type of high school: large CA public
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Male/Chinese
  • Other special factors *(first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): None

Intended Major(s)
Aerospace Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.00
  • Weighted HS GPA *(incl. weighting system): 4.31, UC GPA: 4.31
  • Class Rank: NA
  • 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.

  • Safety: Oregon State
  • Likely: UW
  • Match: Purdue, Rutgers, UT Austin, Texas A&M
  • Reach: Georgia Tech, MIT, Stanford, USC, Cal Tech

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.

3 Likes

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.

2 Likes

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.

Best of luck.

1 Like

Hi All,

Thank you for the reply.

Actually, we are planning to apply for all UCs and Cal Polys. Plus we will also check out U of Arizona.

1 Like

SAT is too low for Purdue. You may need at least 1550.

At AZ you get $32k off tuition with the 4.0 underweight.

It’s a great school for aero anyway but that’s just a bonus.

You have some acceptances.

Has he been to any of these ?

Do as others said - check net price calculators to see if you’d get aid.

Nothing worse than getting into a school and not being able to afford it.

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.

1 Like

UC GPA of 4.31 is that the Capped weighted or fully weighted? GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

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.

https://www.cpp.edu/admissions/freshmen/freshman-student-profile.shtml

SJSU Impaction Index calculation and this year’s thresholds. Impaction | Admissions

UCB/UCLA/Cal Poly SLO: Reach
UCSD/UCSB/UCI: Low Reach
UCD: High Target
UCSC/Cal Poly Pomona: Target
UCR: Likely
UCM: Very Likely

You might want to add SDSU or CSULB as Likely/Target schools unless OSU is preferred over these CSU’s.

Best of luck to him.

2 Likes

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.

1 Like

Where are you getting you 1550? I agree the SAT is lower side for purdue but their avg sat score for engineering is mid 1400’s.

2 Likes

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.

2 Likes

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.

2 Likes

I know India boy got rejected by CS with 1550 SAT. Maybe engineering school is easier.

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.

4 Likes

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

5 Likes

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.

1 Like