We are planning a road trip with our son to visit colleges during spring break in March. Unfortunately, he will not have all of his admissions results before the trip. Any insight on his chances at CP SLO, UCD, UCSB, UCSD, UCI and UCR would be appreciated so we can focus on the most likely choices. His first choice major is Mechanical Engineering. He is an incoming freshman.
CSU/UC GPA: 4.14
SAT: 630 CR, 690 M, 570 W (CR+M+W = 1890, CR+M = 1320)
ACT: 28
SAT Math II: 570
Good extracurriculars
Good UC essays
His high school does not offer AP classes and does not award honors.
UCR/UCI are worth a look since his stats fall around the average or above. For UCSB/UCD it could go either way 50/50. UCSD and SLO are probably out of Reach due to lower than average test scores. If for any reason, he does get into the other schools not visited, he has until May 1 to make a decision and maybe you could fit an admitted students day before then.
Thanks Gumbymom; good advice. I think we may fly to Sacramento, rent a car at the airport, visit UCD and Chico and drive one-way back to SoCal over the course of the week. Maybe he will have heard from some of the schools before we leave on 3/19 (or during the trip), so we can fine tune the itinerary at the last minute.
@sddanr, your son should hear back from all these schools prior to your trip. Last year, UCD/UCSD sent out acceptances around March 13, UCSB around March 16, SLO Feb 15-Early March, UCI was around March 17 and UCR was Mid-Jan through March (running late this year). Good luck to your son and have a great trip.
Update:
Son received an email today saying he would be “recommended for admissions” to UCR’s Bourn College of Engineering, as well as an acceptance letter to SDSU’s Weber Honors College.
In some ways, this is a very strange process hearing one school at a time. He heard from the first school in October (Oregon State) and may not hear from the last until April 1st. It makes for a lot of speculation and nervousness. Fortunately, although he is still waiting on some of his favorite schools, he has several good choices already. He originally was not very excited by SDSU as we live close by, but he likes the idea of the honors college.
We will get a chance to learn more about SDSU’s engineering program and honors college at their open house in March. We are going to tour UCR this weekend and Pomona next weekend. It will make our road trip in March a bit more fun, not having to spend every day on a college tour. I have a route planned from Chico to San Diego that includes stops in Davis, Napa, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara.
@Collgbrwsr, when we visited UCR, my son liked it and left with a very good impression of the campus and the college of engineering. However, we visited Cal Poly Pomona the next weekend and he liked it better. This was predominantly due to two factors:
He really likes the “learn by doing” approach at CPP, and believes he would getter better hands-on experience at Pomona.
He is very interested in joining a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) formula (http://www.cppfsae.com) or baja (https://www.facebook.com/CalPolyPomonaBajaSAE) team in college, and the SAE programs at CPP seemed much more organized and competitive that at Riverside.
He has not ruled out UCR yet, but it is not currently a top pick for him. He applied to a crazy number of schools and is fortunate to have some good choices. CPP, SDSU and Virginia Tech are currently his top three. He would prefer to stay in-state and is still waiting on the UC’s. It is possible he could be swayed by a UC, but he is really excited about CPP.
Back to your original question though, UCR seems like a great school, and while it may not end up being the best fit for my son, our visit definitely raised our opinions of the school. For some, the location would be considered a downside, but this was not an issue for my son and he liked the proximity to our home in San Diego. The campus was also quiet while we were there. My guess is that , like CPP, it is usually quieter on weekends due to commuter students. This was compounded by our visit on Presidents Day weekend. I would definitely encourage anyone admitted to visit the campus.
Be aware that VT admits to frosh general engineering. Students must later apply to their desired engineering majors after completing the prerequisites. It looks like a 3.0 college GPA guarantees admission into the desired major; otherwise, students with GPA from 2.0 to 2.999 are admitted based on GPA ranking if there is space available in the major.
Thanks @ucbalumnus, he is aware of the general engineering freshman year at VT and that will definitely be a consideration. We have also heard that there is a significant “weeding out” in that first year. Do you have any personal experience with VT? Clemson and Oregon State also start with general engineering freshman year. At all schools he has been offered admittance to, it has been either directly in to Mechanical Engineering, or to the first year general engineering program.
As of now, CPP is still his most likely choice, with Virginia Tech and SDSU in the running and UCD, UCI and UCSB other schools he would consider if he gets accepted. WPI is his favorite school, but it is just too expensive. He heard from RPI today, but even with an $18,000/year merit scholarship it is also crazy expensive. We can not afford private school tuition, and I can not let him take on that much debt when he has good options that are much less expensive.
Our California road trip was reduced by one stop when he got denied from SLO - we will spend a day in Monterey instead. We will at least visit Chico and Davis, and will visit UCSB if he is offered admittance or waitlisted. He has already toured UCI, UCSD, UCR and CPP.
“Weeding out” of engineering can occur, particularly at schools with less selective admissions, due to students voluntarily leaving the major due to finding it more difficult than they like (even though they may be passing their classes with C or higher grades). Some involuntary “weeding” may occur when students earn D or F grades or otherwise get too low a GPA (usually 2.0 is the threshold).
However, when there is another admissions gate to the major requiring a GPA higher than 2.0 or grades higher than C, there is additional potential for involuntary “weeding” since a student may be in good academic standing but denied entry into his/her desired major.