Chances for School of Engineering?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

<p>I plan on doing BME (I may enroll if they let me into another engineering discipline, for I'll be motivated enough to make them change their minds after a year or two) and potentially graduate research. Med school and going straight into the job market are not ruled out as options. My reason for not being a narrow-minded pre-med person is that I don't want to be a doctor because of the prestige and money--I want to find out what I like first.</p>

<p>Before I list my stats, I would like to mention that my school has horrible counselors (my school is segregated into two parts: the majority of the students make up the 60% graduate and 17 average of ACT scores and the minority of the students are NU, UC, Ivy League feeder with multiple 36s and 2400s and national merit scholars.) I was never advised to take SAT IIs, and was never pushed into extra-curriculars as a younger student or even advised on anything to help boost my resume. I'm going to make a lot of excuses and I fully understand they mean nothing--I am just explaining my circumstances for my and your entertainment.</p>

<p>31 ACT (math score only 31 because I had not had finished neither College Algebra nor started Trig.)</p>

<p>Rank 47 out of 378 or about top 12-13 percent. A 4.0 GPA won't even get you into the top 25. (90% of the state scholars in the county go to my school)</p>

<p>3.62 GPA (I don't know what my unweighted is, plus all of the weighing down can be attributed to my first 3 semesters)</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Distinction, expected to be National by the end of the year
Illinois State Scholar</p>

<p>Very rigorous courseload -3 years German, incl. Microbiology and Organic Chemistry and Anat. & Phys. 9 AP Courses (none of the joke like Geography or Env. Science, all histories or sciences or English) </p>

<p>Great AP performance .All 5s one 4 (I wrote too philosophically and abstract on the English exam) one 3 (Macr. Econ, my teacher did not teach; the average that year for my school on that test was 1.6)</p>

<p>4 years of football, 1 year NHS (rough rough freshman year mentally made me shy away from doing quiz bowl or baseball and made my qualifications for NHS not met until after sophomore year)</p>

<p>I have an EXTREMELY favorable grade trend. GPA of 4.1 since 2nd sem. 10th grade and 4.3 GPA junior year with straight A's 2nd sem. Every class my soph. and junior year I improved any non-A's from 1st sem. to 2nd, and any C's (physics = GPA killer) went to A's--Nothing has gone down from a previous semester. All maths and sciences in those ranges are A's except for that 1st semester physics I mentioned and a first semester B in AP
Bio...I choked on the final and ended up with an 89...)</p>

<p>I'm a white male and I fall in to the "not enough money to pay for college but not so little money that I can get great aid" category.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading or skimming this text.</p>

<p>Any advice and thoughts are appreciated. Ask me any questions at all.</p>

2

<p>BME (called bioengineering major at UIUC) is a high reach. Last year’s middle 50% range for BME was 33-35 ACT and top 5% to top 2% class rank. For being offered other engineering you have a decent chance but are still in the lower end of the middle 50% range ACT and slightly below middle 50% range class rank. Grade trend and course rigor definitely help. Lack of SAT IIs means nothing since UIUC does not use them for admission. Understand that if admitted, you will likely be disappointed with financial aid offered as UIUC does not guarantee to meet and generally does not meet 100% of need (more like 70% and then that can include more loans than anyone likes)</p>

3

<p>Make sure you list your favorite secondary major choice - you have little to no shot at BME. They only take the top ~100 kids that apply for that, pretty much all of them being exactly what drusba said, 33-35 ACT and top 2% rank.</p>

4

<p>I put Materials Science and Engineering as a second option. I would do Chemical or Mechanical if they let me in at all. I should be a guarantee to get in to something, perhaps not engineering, then have the opportunity to transfer should I demonstrate capability.</p>

<p>Then I’d be in a tough situation. Do I take BME at Iowa, which isn’t as good but isn’t bad at all, where I have already received acceptance, or take a risk going to U of I with no assurance for engineering? I’ll have some decisions to make. </p>

<p>Since I’m unlikely for bioengineering, how plausible is engineering at all at UIUC for me? drusba answered this question, but I would be open for other opinions.</p>

<p>I did send my application on Oct. 2nd and transcripts/fee-waiver were received on the 7th. I don’t know how this and my state residency and the large number of students my school sends yearly to the school factor in but it may be worthwhile to note. I am not entirely familiar with the admissions process so I do not know if prestige of high school can account for anything.</p>

<p>Thanks to all.</p>

5

<p>You CANNOT transfer into Bioengineering at UIUC. They only accept first year freshmen into the program. So, if you want to do Bio, go to Iowa.</p>

<p>I think you have a medium/slight reach chance at getting into the popular Engineering programs, such as Mechanical and Civil, but you should be good to get into MSE or Chem.
If you get denied from one major, you can simply appeal the decision and list an easier major to get into. It is fairly easy (procedure wise) to transfer majors once you’re in the door, but for the popular Engineering majors I listed above, you need a very high GPA during your years at UIUC(3.8ish).</p>

<p>Also, I think prestige of high school does matter, but I would assume only if you live in Illinois and UIUC is familiar with the school.</p>

6

<p>Thank you again. I appreciate reality checks, not gestures of false hope that people I personally know give me. I’ll find out in December, I suppose.</p>

7

<p>Does anyone know if MatSE is more selective because it’s smaller?</p>

8

<p>I don’t think it is very selective because it isn’t a very well known or decorated.
BME is not as big at UIUC but is selective because it is a very popular major nowadays.</p>

<p>That is not say it is really easy to get in to MatSE, but if you can get in to the school of engineering at all I would doubt MatSE would reject you.</p>

<p>Also, I’ve been receiving mail about UIUC’s MatSE, possibly indicating that they are advertising because they would like more majors there.</p>

9

<p>Of note is that you really don’t have to make any decisions as to which college to attend until after you learn admissions decisions and find out financial aid offered. Apply and see what happens. Matse is no more or less difficult to get into than a number of the engineering majors. If you are rejected engineering but otherwise admitted (most likely to the Division of General Studies), there will be no guarantee that you can transfer into engineering and bioengineering would be out completely. It is not “easy” to transfer because high grades in math and science and overall are needed and getting those high grades is not easy for many.</p>

10

<p>Yeah he noted that it was easy “procedure wise.”
If I don’t get in to the School of Engineering at all, I’m pretty much going to go to Iowa, especially if their aid package masks the out of state costs.</p>

<p>Their BME program is larger and fosters in more internships, and I’ve already been accepted to it.</p>

<p>But UIUC has the in state tuition, the more prestigious engineering program overall.</p>

11

<p>If you truly want BME, and don’t get into BME at Illinois, then it really doesn’t matter whether the Engineering College is more prestigious overall, since you apply to a specific program within engineering, and not to “overall” engineering.</p>

12

<p>That is what I was implying.
Prestige of the engineering program does matter somewhat, though.
I will still have to take the maths and sciences—BME coursework won’t be the only required coursework for the major. While getting the major does trump the quality of the supporting coursework, it helps UIUC stay in the running.</p>

13

<p>I’m bumping this thread for any more possible opinions.</p>

14

<p>Do you still have unanswered questions?</p>

15

<p>I want to see if anyone else has insight on my chances.
But just to clarify, it appears that I have a pretty high chance to be admitted to DGS, and am somewhat likely/slight reach to get in to an engineering major?</p>

<p>Bioengineering is what I really want, but taking MatSE or ME or Chem E I feel won’t be such a downgrade especially since a minor in BE isn’t out of the question, right?</p>

16

<p>You’ll definitely get in DGS. (don’t quote me on that if you don’t for some reason)
I think your chances are decent at MatSE or Chem E, a little lower for Mech.
Regardless, if you don’t get into one they consider you for the next. </p>

<p>As for a minor in BE - I have no idea.</p>

<p>My application’s pretty much the same as yours, aside from majors, my ACT is good but GPA is killing me.(lower than yours, even) Just hoping in state factor and course rigor will get me into something.</p>

17

<p>Thanks mciasto.
Also, I didn’t tell my ACT overview. Does anyone think having a well balanced ACT (instead of the people who get 35s in math and english but 26s in reading and science) and a high science score help me out or factor in at all?</p>

<p>30 English, 31 Math, 30 Reading, 33 Science. 9 writing (ACT writing is sketchy at best)</p>

18

<p>I think balance would only matter if theres a huge difference in scores.
I’d kill for your math score. I got a 31 composite as well, but only a 26 in math. Hoping my other high scores will make them think I might be worth something.</p>

19

<p>It doesn’t hurt one bit to go EE/ChemE/MechE/MatSE in undergrad to BME in grad school. I work at the Micro and Nanotechnology Lab at Illinois where there’s a lot of bionanotechnology/nanomedicine work going on and I’m pretty sure bioengineering faculty/students are a minority in the field because of its interdisciplinary nature.</p>