Chances for UT Cockrell Engineering

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey, I'm wondering about what it takes for a top-ten percent'er to get into Cockrell. Is it super competitive? If the odds are small then what kind of stats does a typical 10%'er need to have to get into it (SAT, GPA, rank, ECs, etc...)?</p>

<p>I'm currently an in-state junior, so for my case those 10%'s should be about 8%, I guess.</p>

<p>First off, let me tell you the fact that I'm a "fresh-off-the-boat", came to the US 2 yrs ago.
So my freshman grades didn't very well reflect my real abilities (lowest was 79 for Reading (what is that?, I know)), due to the hardship of adapting to English.</p>

<p>Then I transferred to a regular HS (from the previous school which specialized in educating "fresh" immigrants) sophomore year, and took only one Honors class (Geometry).</p>

<p>It sucked when everyone was taking ALG 2 and I wasn't, because I had to take ALG 1 in the previous school.</p>

<p>This year, I am taking 4 Honors: Comp Sci, ALG 2 ( with sophomores:mad: ), Physics, Precalculus; APUSH; and 3 regulars: English III, Art 1, Spanish 1. (note that I'm taking 2 math classes, so that I can take Calculus next year.)</p>

<p>By the way, can you comment a bit on my under-construction stats:</p>

<p>-1900 SAT (CR 500, M 770, W 630) (embarassed 5 mins.)</p>

<p>-GPA 3.75 UW, 3.94 W.</p>

<p>-Rank: 61/720 (8% is about 59 ), but my rank is going to jump dramatically after this semester (jumped from 94/740 last semester. whoop!)</p>

<p>-ECs: (Not much, because I didn't know that college application would need these until this year.) Robotics, Math Team (school's best performer so far in UIL Math, hoping to pass District, which is in 2 weeks), doing TSA (school has tradition of winning Nationals), NHS(blah) and KeyClub, JV Soccer Sophomore year.</p>

<p>-Awards: Nothing except 2nd Place Maze Award and Engineering Design Award in RoPro (robot programming) at UT Arlington.</p>

<p>-Recs: Might get excellent ones from Math and Physics teachers (who most likely I'm gonna' have next year for Calculus BC and Physics C)</p>

<p>I'm taking:
-ACT and SAT Subject Tests (Math I, Math II and Physics) this June.
-SAT in October (so I have time to dead-study.)</p>

<p>*Alright, should I send the old 1900 SAT if I get higher scores (CR and all combined) in this October SAT?</p>

<p>*Do you think the Subject Tests would help lift up the chance when applying to Cockrell (assuming they would be in range 700-800), or the Admissions Officers wouldn't be able to see them anyways.</p>

<p>*Another "Do you think" that writing essay C about my language hardship would help a lot? Sorry for the wording but I mean I'm definitely going to do so, but what I'm asking is how much would that bring me up to the fair game?</p>

<p>*I think I'm not doing anything other than Engineering, my only passion. First choices would be AE and ECE.</p>

<p>*By the way, please suggest anything I can do to improve my chances, if you can think of any. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>{Sorry for a long post.}</p>

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<p>. bumpin’!</p>

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<p>bump…
I really need something out of you!</p>

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<p>If the quality of your high school is good, then you have a pretty good shot. I’d say your SAT score is one of your weakest points. Does your school count AP classes out of 5 on GPA scale?</p>

<p>I’m in the UT engineering honors program right now. I was not in the top 10% of my school (huge class of over 1000 students: I think I was like rank 104), but my gpa was like 4.16 or something like that. I didn’t do many ECs except debate, but I had really good SAT and SAT subject scores.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t send the old scores if your new scores go up a lot. I definitely think that subject tests will help you especially if you do really well (say 780-800). But if you have mediocre subject tests (like 700-750) then the benefit will be very minimal. Write the essays on things you feel strongly about. Don’t write insincere essays. If you believe that your language hardships fits the prompt for the essay well, then write about it. I think having genuine well-thought out essays will help you a lot. If engineering is your passion then try to show that to them. Tell them why you would succeed as an engineer and draw examples to show it.</p>

<p>Try to get good recs. Show your teachers that you have an analytical mind. Socialize with them and tell them your ambitions. If your teachers believe that you would make a good engineer, then so will the college.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>ender314, I really appreciate your response, and it really helps a lot. I thought no one would ever bother replying.</p>

<p>So may I know the SAT scores you had, so that I can have some sense of clear motivation?</p>

<p>About the SAT II’s, do you think I should take both of the two Math tests or just take one of them and take US History (my only choice left, because I’m taking APUSH). I heard that more diverse tests (Math, Science, Social Studies) would look better. For sure I would take Physics. So I’m planning on take 3, but not sure of which combination. On both of the Maths, I could dig out 800s, hopefully! Physics I think would likely be 700-750, maybe higher. But I’m feeling so unsure about US His. So what do you think?</p>

<p>Since you’ve had experience with Honors College, what do you think of it? Is it worth, for me, applying? Or would applying to Honors College probably increase my chances of getting into regular Engineering? By the way, I really believe in my abilities, especially in Math and Science. Not that I’m one of those high-schoolers who spend time researching with professors, I’m confident that I could be one of the most exceptionals (not bragging, because obviously I don’t have any solid platform to base on :D).</p>

<p>And one more thing, how generous was the financial aid for you? I heard people say that UT Austin is very “cheap” on this for freshmen. Unfortunately, this is also one of my biggest concern. What do you think?</p>

<p>Sorry, I’m always lavish when asking about this kind of stuff.</p>

<p>Again, thanks so much for the sharp advices!:slight_smile:</p>

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<p>I forgot to ask about what SAT Subject Tests you took, and also the scores.</p>

<p>By the way, my school does count 5 towards GPA for an Pre-AP/AP A+. But as I earlier stated, I only took 1 Pre-AP course (Geometry) last year, because I stupidly thought that the APs were something over my reach, since it was my first year going there, and my second year living in the US. I didn’t even know they counted more towards GPA. Half of the reason I took Pre-AP Geometry was because it was math, and the other half was to avoid the awkwardness of taking regular Geometry. And also due to the bad grades in freshman year from the school I attended when I “got off the boat”, which is basically a fobs school, my weighted GPA was about 3.6 by the end of last year. </p>

<p>Now that I’m a little more sophisticated about what this “AP thing” is, I’m taking AP US History (the current 98 average is making me so regretful:() and 4 other Honors/Pre-AP courses. And they all count as 5’s towards GPA for A+'s. So my weighted GPA might jump over 4.0 by the end of this year (having 6-7 A+'s out of 8 courses). I’m taking about 6 APs next year.</p>

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<p>TexanFob, my SAT score was (I think) 790 math, 670 crit. They didn’t count writing back then, so I don’t remember how I did on that. I think I took math II and physics subject tests. I got 800 on math and 790 on physics. I think that the physics really isn’t as hard as you think it will be. Just study with one of those preparation books, and you should be fine.</p>

<p>As for what tests you should take, if you think you can get a good score on the history test (maybe 700+?) then go for it. Since you are applying for engineering, I really don’t think it’s that important for you to take the history one if you don’t feel confident about it. Take both maths only if you really want to. It’s not going to make that much of a difference. I know some of those tests are kind of expensive too.</p>

<p>The engineering honors program is very informal. It’s worth applying to, but it’s not that important if you don’t get in. The only differences between honors kids and non-honors kids is a few honors classes (smaller classes, but more difficult to make A’s). People in honors can also choose to write an undergraduate honors thesis their senior year. That would only help if you plan on going to graduate school.</p>

<p>The financial aid is only for those people who really need it. UT doesn’t give out too many scholarships to entering freshmen unless they’re the cream of the crop. The only scholarship I got was for getting into the honors program. The good thing is, the in-state tuition is really high value for your education.</p>

<p>Don’t stress too much about your grades. Like I said before, I think you have a really good shot at getting in. Also, remember that most universities look at how the student is improving as well. If your grades and involvement have been steadily increasing, then they will most likely see that and consider it in the application. I was a pretty bad student my first couple of years too (I just didn’t really care haha). You seem to care a lot about all of this, which is good. But just remember that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get in. No regrets, man. Just keep doing what you’re doing. You’ll be fine.</p>

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<p>Thanks, man. You’re making me feel safer now.</p>

<p>Yeah, I’m kinda caring too much about everything, probably because I read too many of the Ivy chances posts.</p>

<p>You seem like you just walked in to the honors program without doing too much. </p>

<p>I’m more confident now, and I’ll try to improve my test scores. I think my taking the SAT US History would be a variable, depending on how confident I feel when the day comes close.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>By the way, what major are you in, and are you done with grad school?</p>

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<p>No problem. I know that the whole college process is pretty stressful to people in high school.</p>

<p>I’m Mechanical Engineering. This is still my third year in undergrad here at UT. I do plan on going to grad school though, but I’ll probably go into Materials Science and Engineering.</p>

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<p>ender314,
My son is interested in mechanical engineering maybe something in nanotechnology in grad school. He is looking at Rice and UT what are your thoughts?</p>

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<p>I don’t know much about Rice engineering, but the Mechanical program at UT is very good. However, nanotechnology follows more closely under materials science or chemical engineering. UT doesn’t offer a materials science undergrad degree, so if your son wanted to go into that field for grad school he should look into either chemical or mechanical engineering at UT. I think the biggest perk of going to UT is the wealth of research opportunities available to qualified undergrads. As long as your son can maintain a 3.5 GPa he should have no problems getting very good research positions. I think if he is looking to go to graduate school, it may be better to go to UT simply because UT engineering is ranked higher and it will help him get into the better graduate schools. Hope that helps. Sorry for the late response, I don’t come to this site very often.</p>

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<p>ender314,
Thanks for your post. I’m glad to hear that there are research opportunities for undergrads at UT. The general feeling is that most of that goes to grad students. Thanks again. Have a nice holiday weekend.</p>

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<p>i have a similar circumstance to ender314
i bombed my 9th grade but did pretty well the rest of high school
i took the world history SAT II and got a 700, should i bother taking us history?
also if i want to get into cockrell do i need to take physics if im in honors? ( i cant take apc till next year)
Also does making ISEF(international science and engineering fair) help at all for admissions?</p>