Chances for UC's Michigan etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics: Asian male studying in a competitive american private school in Europe. Family income around 50-60k

Intended major: Electrical and Computer Engineering

Academics: 3.69 GPA UW. Taking the IB diploma program with higher level classes in Physics, Chemistry, and Math (hardest possible classes) and standard level classes in Literature, German, and Economics. Class rank is top 15% out of 70 student

Test Scores: 2130 SAT. Reading:680 Math: 770 Writing:680. Waiting for ACT scores

I also have 2 SAT subject tests in Physics (720) and Math II (770)

Extracurriculars: 3 years MUN delegate, 3 years in high school musical, 1 year in Student Council communications officer, 2 years piano for a high level Piano exam, 1 year in school tennis team, and some other one-off activities.

“Safety” Colleges: UC Santa Barbara, UIUC, Purdue
Match Colleges: UT Austin, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Lehigh University, UC San Diego
(Super) Reach Colleges: UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell

I’m only expecting acceptances from two of the safeties and a match, but I’m just looking for feedback.

2

With your GPA, I do not believe UCSB is a “Safety” for you. It is rather a high-match and UCSD is more of a low reach!

3

Is by GPA restricting my chances by a lot? Looking at the CDS for UCSB and UCSD, by SAT is above the 75th percentile but my GPA is lacking.

Also, is there anything that I need to change in terms of safety/match/reach?

4

I’m in the same boat as you. High sat low(ish) gpa. I’d say that your reaches are fairly doable but I would include UCSD in that category. I think they value gpa a lot.

5

bump…

6

What is your UC GPA?

7

Purdue and UIUC are no safety for you either. CS at UIUC at is even more competitive than UMich CoE that it would be a high reach for you. Purdue would be a low reach GPAto high match due to the weak GPA. UCs and UMich put a lot of value on GPA. The admission average GPA at UMich CoE is 3.9 and around 1/4 admitted students have GPA 4.0. Your SAT score is below admission average while their OOS admission rate is below 20%.

8

@billcsho why are you talking about UIUC CS when I’m applying to engineering? How hard is it exactly to get into Purdue and UIUC?

Also out of curiosity what would you count schools as a safety school?

9

Because UIUC admits by major, not the whole engineering school. Although you can apply as undecided general study, but it will be just as hard to declare CS major later on. For UIUC engineering, the overall admission average GPA is 3.9 and the mid 50 ACT was 31-34. For CS, the admission average was 34 which is around 2280 in SAT. Purdue is a bit easier to get in, but their drop out rate is very high as the y weed out students in freshmen year.

10

@billcsho I checked the UIUC engineering site and I’m within range for everything but class rank. Don’t most schools also consider the rigor of the coursework and the school, or should I just assume that anywhere I’m applying to had students with the same or more academic rigor than me?

11

UCSB: High Match
UCSD: Low Reach

12

Note that you are not from in state. Majority of enrolled students there are from Illinois and their in state admission rate is above 60-70%. With the remaining seats, they are very competitive for OOS and international. You need to be near the top of the range. In addition, you cannot find the admission stat for individual program on their website but only for the engineering school overall. Your test score is within the mid 50 of the engineering school overall but you need to know not all students within the admission stat are accepted and OOS need higher stat to be accepted. In addition, you are looking at their most competitive major.

13

@billcsho then for the sake of choosing a safety school would OSU or WPI work? Or should I just give up and apply to the University of Phoenix or something other true safety school?

14

Which schools have you submitted applications to(for Fall 2016)?

15

I took the liberty of the SuperMatch feature on this site with your stats, to figure out what is really a match or safety. It suggested FSU, Baylor, NC State, UConn, and BU. Not all of these are safeties, but some of them definitely are for you. Apply to your current schools if you like, but give some of these some thought.

16

Note that safety schools are those you have a high chance to be accepted (usually above the 75th percentile of a school with a relatively high admission rate), affordable, and you are willing to go to.

17

The UC’s are $55K per year for non-residents. There is limited to no financial aid for non-residents.
Are your parents set to pay $220K for 4 years at a UC?

18

UMich is slightly more generous to low income OOS students than most other public schools. However, $50-$60k is above the threshold to be considered “low income” for near full ride. One may still get significant amount of aid with below $60k household income, but the remaining cost may still be very high. OP should really check the NPC of each school before applying.

19

I applied to similar schools as you did last year! (currently a freshman in engineering at purdue), here are some of my stats if you’d like to compare:

(Asian female born and raised in Canada)
SAT: 2030, Math800, reading and writing around 600
IB Diploma: HL physics, business, english, math; SL chemistry, spanish
Predicted a 39, actual 35 (lol slacked off after acceptance…)

Extra curriculars- 5 year cheerleader 2 years captain
-5 years competitive badminton 3 years captain (won tournaments here and there)
-student council VP
-work 6 times a week as a tutor at a company
-volunteer for local theatre
-3 years high level piano (but didn’t mention this at all on any apps cus i didn’t think it was worth mentioning)

Anyways, I got rejected by UCLA and UCB (didn’t apply to other UC’s); also UMich, deferred by U of Chicago, and rejected by all the Ivies. Accepted to Boston University, U of Waterloo, U of british columbia, U of Toronto, Carleton U.

To be honest was a bit bummed at first and didn’t feel the hype when I got accepted to Purdue. But after doing some research I found out that it’s a great engineering school. After my frost semester, I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I love it here, it’s an extremely studious environment and everyone around you is an enthusiastic “techie” or scientist.

I think that it’s not hard to get accepted to Purdue, but honestly a LOT of people have dropped out already throughout their first semester, so it’s very difficult to graduate. That’s why please don’t view its lower overall ranking with a whim and underrate Purdue…

On a side note, all the californians i met at Purdue were accepted to UCLA/UCB, they told me that their friends with low stats all got in, so i think being a local resident gives you a very unfair boost; if by any chance you get rejected, keep that in mind too.

20

@“aunt bea” All I know is that my parents have enough money to send me to college without financial strain. I placed a rough estimate since my parents are business proprietors so they can’t calculate actual income until the end of the calendar year and income can vary greatly. I can’t disclose any more financial information though.

@clo513 Do many people drop out of Purdue engineering because of first year engineering or is it because engineering post freshman year is extremely difficult? Because I’m taking HL’s in Math, Physics, and Chemistry (predicted 5 for all except 6 in physics), it can in theory skip most of first year engineering.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who gave me advice, especially for UIUC and Purdue. I’ll probably apply to another school that will be closer to a safety school.