<p>Hi all:</p>
<p>Our son is a rising junior. He has developed a strong interest in chemical engineering.<br>
We reviewed the course content of the the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities chemical eng. program, and we liked it. I also believe UMn Chem Eng ranks pretty high. </p>
<p>Since we are from Kansas (Out-of-State applicant), we wonder how is his chance of getting admission. His stats are:</p>
<p>4.0 UW, 4.4 W GPA so far. Expects to maintain the same UW GPA and a little higher in W GPA in junior and senior years
Will complete 9 APs and 8 honor courses by end of the senior year
Class rank so far is 1 in UW and 8 in W GPA out of ~ 400 student</p>
<p>PSAT in sophomore was 180, preparing hard and expects to get 210 to 220 this fall
SAT - expects around 2200.</p>
<p>EC: science olympiad - reached national competition, science knowledge bowl
FBLA: national finalist
Marching band - 4 years
Approximately 300 volunteer hours, received Gold Level Presidential Volunteer Service Award in sophomor year</p>
<p>How do you rate his chances of getting admission to the Universityof Minnesota Chemical Engineering program ?</p>
<p>foreverdad…Based on his academic resume so far, I would think he stands an excellent chance of being accepted into CSE and the Chem Eng program. I believe U of Minn is ranked 3rd in the country for their Chem Eng program, so it would be an excellent choice for him.</p>
<p>Looking at PSAT cutoff scores for Kansas, it looks like 211 or 212 has been the cutoff for the last several years. If he does well on the PSAT and achieves NMSF/NMF status, U of Minn has (barring any snafus from budgetary issues) a $10K/year scholarship for NMF’s (Gold Scholar) as well as the university sponsored “official” NMSC scholarship of $1K-$2K per year (anything above $1K based on financial need). </p>
<p>Based on his class rank, he would also be solidly in position for the Gold National scholarship which would cover the difference between IS and OOS tuition. The strength of his overall application would also make him competitive for other university wide merit scholarships (Presidential, etc.). </p>
<p>If he achieves the score he’s hoping for on the PSAT and SAT he’ll be well on his way to earning a very nice merit aid package from the U. Congrats on your son’s academic success so far and Good Luck to you all from here on out!!</p>
<p>Wolverine…Thank you for the nice, encouraging reply. I passed it to our son and he was very happy. We plan to visit the university sometime in this year or during the next summer. </p>
<p>By the way, I read on the website below and noted UMTC being very generous in awarding AP credits. Do you know this applies to all colleges or some colleges/departments for example CSE/Chem Eng have different policy ?</p>
<p>[Advanced</a> Placement Course Awards](<a href=“http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/academics/ap.html]Advanced”>Advanced Placement Course Awards - 2021 | Office of Admissions) </p>
<p>Thank you again for the reply, I appreciate it…</p>
<p>foreverdad…You’re welcome!! Our D1 will be starting at the U in a few weeks (Biochemistry major in CBS) so I’m always glad to hear about students who are interested in the university.</p>
<p>We’re also OOS (Michigan) and we were thoroughly impressed with the whole application/admissions/scholarship process at U of Minn. We found their admissions office personnel to be extremely friendly and helpful with our seemingly endless list of questions (first time college parents 
) and everything so far has gone very smoothly with housing applications, orientation(s), textbooks…the whole nine yards. Overall, I think the U is one of the best values in the country for OOS students.</p>
<p>Definitely try to schedule a visit if time allows. D1 visited initially as an excuse to justify a shopping trip to Mall of America and absolutely fell in love with the campus and the school as a whole. As parents, we’re thrilled to have her attending a university that she loves and that wanted her as well.</p>
<p>Regarding AP credits, as far as I know there aren’t any College specific restrictions/differences. Credit for all of D1’s AP courses are showing on her unofficial transcript and will count towards standing, but she’s still deciding which she might actually use for course credit. They also have a language placement test she took online which placed her into 2nd year, 2nd semester Spanish (she didn’t take AP Spanish). As long as she gets at least a C (C- maybe?) in her first course, she’ll then receive credit for the 3 classes she skipped over. It keeps getting better and better!!</p>
<p>Hope some of this helps and your S starts the whole college search/application process over the next year. Good Luck!!</p>
<p>Looks like his grades and courses are on track. See If he can do some pseo as well. Then on the matter of testing make sure he has one very good score he just needs to find out whether he is better at the sat or act. For the PSAT if he wants national merit, tell him to get the blue book for sat it’s the best prep out there</p>